Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads For Novices and Addicts - October 2014, 3 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Had a great day yesterday, we spent the morning riding the old steam train with my grandson and his Mum and Dad, and the little bloke had a ball. Most of the staff know him by name now as he’s a regular visitor and there’s lots of “High Fives” each time he meets one of them. I spent the afternoon sorting plants and getting some ready to send to Shirley this morning.

Trish – As I said, often it’s not the case that these NOIDS aren’t registered, it’s just that the names were taken out by owners who didn’t understand the importance of accurate names as much as we do. I know it’s just not possible, but it would be very interesting if someone could sit down with pic’s of some of the many nice Queensland NOIDS and compare them to the pic’s on the “Bromagic” files of the Alan Freeman plants, both registered and unregistered and I'm sure we'd find some matches. Anyway, just in case anyone’s interested and has heaps of spare time, here’s the web address: http://www.bromeliads-of-australia.com.au/gallery/a/ Ha! Ha!

The interesting thing about Neo lilliputiana is that the flower seems much larger in proportion to the plant and this is emphasised by the fact that it grows much higher than normal Neoregelias.(See Pic1)

Regarding Bromelia pinguin, it is also very common in Jamaica, where it is planted as a fence around pasture lands, and its prickly leaves tend to keep the cattle enclosed. I have also read that it was used as a secondary perimeter fence around one of the Mexican Gaols.

Magpie63 – First of all, a very warm welcome to our friendly little forum, we are few in number but very big on friendship and pleased to have a new “brom friend” to share our love of these wonderful plants with.

To answer your question about the plant in your picture, it is a Vriesea; as for its varietal name, I’m sorry but I can’t help you. There are mainly two different sorts of Vrieseas, the patterned foliage type which are grown for their coloured foliage and the type shown in your picture which are grown for their beautiful flowers. There are thousands of these plants produced annually and sold with just a generic name label (if any label at all) as a substitute for cut flowers in the home. They are often just thrown out when they finish flowering when used in this way, but having said that, they are perfectly good to grow in a shade house or a protected part of the garden as well and will continue to flourish and produce flowers each year.

The part you see in your picture is not the flower as a lot of people think, but is part of the inflorescence and generally called a “paddle”. The flowers which are usually yellow will emerge from each side of the paddle (often just one at a time) starting at the bottom and working their way to the top. After a couple of days they will die off and turn brown before another one opens. Even after they have all flowered and died, the paddle will retain its colour for some months which makes them a useful alternative to a bunch of flowers in the home.

Shirley – That’s certainly an interesting bit of history and I must say the plant is very appropriately named. When I looked up Neo.’Great White’ on the BCR there is lots more information about it which makes quite a story for anyone interested.
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=10057#10057

As for Neo.’Out of Africa’, I wouldn’t be too hasty in calling it a NOID just yet as stranger things have happened with Neo’s. True, it may be wrongly named, but there is also a slim chance it happened to produce a variegated “sport” which in turn produced variegated pups of its own. The only real way to be sure is to see what sort of pups your plant produces; if it produces ones like the pic. on the BCR, then you have the plant correctly named. If it produces more like your variegated plant, I think you’re in front because I think that’s a superior plant albeit unnamed.

You mention the instability in Neo.‘Mad Max’; just let me say that this is a common complaint with many variegated plants (some more than others) and not just ‘Mad Max’. I spent quite a bit of money a few years back trying to get a stable Neo.’Royal Burgundy Supreme’. I got them from three different sources, but each one reverted and just produced plain pups without the pink marginated leaves. Ever since then I’ve lost interest in variegated plants; I still like them but I won’t go out of my way to chase them.

Incidently Neo. ’Royal Burgundy Supreme’ has an interesting history as well which you can read about at: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=6866#6866

There’s no doubt that the Desert Rose (Adenium) is an unusual and attractive plant. It’s flower reminds of a frangipani even though it’s a much smaller plant. They seem to favour the warmer climates as I’ve had no luck with them here. Tash sent me down a couple of plants as well as some seed. The seed all germinated and grew well but as soon as winter came they virtually died over night. The two larger plants struggled on for another couple of years until they too eventually succumbed to the cold winter. Anyway the plants in your pictures are a great examples of beautiful, sculptural perfection.

Time to go again so I’ll finish with firstly, a picture of Neo. lilliputiana for Trish plus four more random shots from around my backyard.

All the best, Nev.