Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS GOING INTO WINTER 2015, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – I don’t know what the temperature is here his morning, but my bones are telling me it’s very cold. It was the same yesterday and didn’t start to warm up until around lunch time and then at 2.00pm it started to get cold again, so not my favourite weather.

The builder kept his word and finished the job as he said he would and even gave both awnings a fresh coat of white enamel (which wasn’t in the agreement) and which he said was a “freebie” to make up for the holdups, so I’m very pleased with the outcome.

Teresa – The “Swiss Steak” sound interesting, what exactly is it?

Yes the museum garden is starting to look good again now and let’s hope it stays that way. Last time Barry got it looking nice, vandals came in and ripped out most of the plants and it almost broke his heart to think anyone could get any pleasure out of doing such a thing.

I once put a coat on my little “Clyde” one very cold winter we had here and he just sat down and wouldn’t move and had that look on his face like he was in trouble for something. As soon as our back was turned, he tore it to bits to get it off and gave me a look that said “only little girls wear coats”. It was so funny we still have a laugh about it sometimes.

Trish – Yes that story about Neo Meyendorffii is a real tangled web, but that’s not the only one a there are several others and two of the most commonly known plants that come to mind are Neo carolinae and Neo fireball. Fireball is a “lulu” because even after all these years and it being a parent of many hybrids, the experts still can’t decide whether it’s a hybrid or a species. See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=4351#4351

That’s quite an interesting mixed lot of pic’s you’ve posted this morning. I’m particularly interested in the cockatoo which is Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo .
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-tailed_black_cockatoo

The name Black Cockatoo "Gang Gang" is confusing as they are two distinctly different species with the Gang Gang Cockatoo being a dark grey in colour with a beautiful red crest. It would be great if it’s a proper Gang Gang as they are becoming pretty scarce and are now listed as vulnerable in New South Wales. This is partly due to habitat destruction and because of poachers trap and export them for huge amounts of money. I have seen Gang Gangs down the coast around the Shoalhaven area in small flocks when I was a lad but now you only see the occasional pair. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang-gang_cockatoo

In our area we have the Yellow-Tailed Black Cockatoo which fly around in small flocks of six to eight and they mainly eat the seeds of the Casuarinas and Silky Oaks. In fact they are so quiet, you only know they are there when you hear the seed shells falling to the ground.
See: http://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/Yellow-tailed-Black-Cock...

Sorry to be off topic again, but watching wildlife, especially birds is one of my pet hobbies, even the strange looking bird you have that the little sedge frog has taken a liking to.

Time to go again and today’ pic’s are 1 Neo. ‘Heart Music’ x concentrica, 2 Neo. Laurie Mueller Hybrid (This was the only name that came with the plant), 3 Edmundoa lindenii, Pic.4 Neo. ‘Syncopate’ and an oldie to finish with (Although nothing like the pic on the BCR) Neo. ‘Red on Green’.

All the best, Nev.