Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS MARCH 2012, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Good morning everyone,

Well it looks like Mother Nature’s being kind to us with a nice day again today, and I hope all who have recently been on the sick list are now well and truly on the mend and can soon get out in the garden and start enjoying your brom’s again.

I’m having a day off from the brom’s today and we’re taking my two year old grandson over to the Illawarra Light Railway Museum for his very first ride on a steam train. A little point of interest for the Queenslanders in our group is that two of the steam locomotives we have running were originally donated by Sugar companies in Queensland and they spent their working life in the cane fields of North Queensland. Fittingly they are called “Tully” and “Cairns”.
See: http://www.ilrms.com.au/ Also, just so Colleen won’t feel left out, there’s a South Australian connection as well as the loco called “Tully” was originally built in Adelaide in the 1940’s.

Colleen – Your plants look great and the picture’s really do tell a story of how well you’re growing them. Seems like you’ve been very busy lately and what with the two boys and all your brom’s you’ve really got your hands full; however it’s great to have the young ones around isn’t it, they keep us hopping, but somehow it takes our mind off our own aches and pains, I know it does for me.

You’ll think Santa has come when you open your box of plants your brother is sending and you’ll really have to take some pic’s and share with us what you got. I don’t think there’s anything better for a brom fancier than opening a box of brom plants, unless of course it’s two boxes.

Also Colleen, I just thought I should remind you to plant the Bird’s Nest Fern in a pot, as they will grow very large if you put them directly in the ground; I currently have one here that’s about six feet across and last year I had two others which were eight feet across and which I gave to a friend to fill a “damp spot” in his back yard. The same goes for the tree fern as they have about an eight foot span if in the ground also, but they really do look good with brom’s growing beneath them and gives that real “rain forest“ look and smell.

Shirley – It only seems a short time ago when I was saying (just like you) that I can’t wait until my plants give me pups to swap. Now I have so many it’s getting harder and harder to find homes for them. Swapping is certainly a great way to build up a collection, and as Jen can testify, I almost have my back yard full of brom’s and I’ve bought only a small proportion of them with the bulk having been swaps or ones I’ve grown from seed.

As you say, 17 is a good age for a dog, but as the vet says, old dogs are like old men, they sleep and fart a lot! My old bloke follows me everywhere and never lets me out of his sight. He’s still a very good watch dog and will always bark at something different as long as I wake him up first. I think Jen must have been in the house for about ten minutes before he came down the hall and gave his solitary bark, and once he got to know her, everything was fine and he went back to bed again.

Karen – Pleased to hear you got a good report from the “bone doctor”, one less medical problem to worry about, but then at our age, what would we do if we had nothing to worry about?

I hear what you’re saying about the road just being an incline, but no doubt like me you’re finding that as we get older, slight inclines become hills, and steps become steeper and steeper. However I hope the machines have gone now and you now have some peace and quiet again and can get down amongst your plants to enjoy them and don’t have to be bothered about the hill or the noise.

Jen – I’m glad you enjoyed your visit as much as we enjoyed having you and it was just great to chat non-stop about brom’s. Like you said it seemed like we had known each other for years. There’s just one thing though; when I went down the back yesterday I found two of your plants you had forgotten to take, still sitting there o the grass where we put them so they wouldn’t be forgotten, (that was a waste of time wasn’t it?) One was the Ae Distichantha Glaziovii and the other was the Blanchetiana seedling from U.S. seed. Anyway, not to worry, I’ll send them up to you after you’re back home and settled in again.

Wendy – Pleased to hear you have those mini’s I posted the pic’s of yesterday and I want you to put my name down for a pup of the Neo Shamrock please as I think it’s a great little mini.

From what you say about Bunnings and Masters, it seems like the consumer will end up being the losers and not get better prices after all. If Masters are getting sole control of these products, it means they can charge what they like as they have no competition. A very shrewd business move but also one I think is a bit underhanded as well. It’s not only “Wattyl” paints they’re doing this with, but at this stage it’s also “Brunnings” and “Amgrow” garden products as well as another brand that I haven’t yet been able to find out the name of, and who knows what other products.

Shirley - No I didn't sleep in, I started this the same time as I usually do but had to type slower because as I mentioned yesterday I've lost my voice! Ha Ha

Seriously though, I hadn't finished when we decided to get an early start to the museum with the grandson before his morning nap, was due and boy did he have a wonderful time, however he crashed about five minutes after we got into the car to come home and no doubt had lovely dreams about Thomas the Tank Engine.

That’s it for today and I’ll finish as usual with some pic’s; Firstly “Clyde the Wonder Dog” having his Nanny Nap in his rocking chair. No.2. is Alc. Silver Plum, No. 3. is and Alc. Imperialis seedling as yet unnamed. No. 4. is Alc. Alc. Vinicolour and No. 5. is Alc. Bobby Gold (one of which sold on Ebay the other day for $1500


All the best, Nev.