Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads For Novices and Addicts - October 2014, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Guess what, I’ve found Colleen and hopefully we’ll be hearing from her again soon.

Dianne – Let me start by saying firstly that not all Vrieseas will respond to extremes of light like Vr. 'Orange Sundae' does, but there are others and Vr. Evita and Vr. Asahi are two more that come to mind. Other plants will react in a more subtle manner, but there are changes in colour nevertheless.

The beauty and main attraction of bromeliads I think is the fact that they are so versatile. They will grow in the garden, in pots, hanging baskets, mounted on living trees, mounted on driftwood or old bush timber and even will grow on rocks, and growers of these wonderful plants have them growing in all of these different situations.

Pots however are probably the most unnatural way to grow them, but the most popular nevertheless, and as you said is mainly due to portability. I grow my plants in all of the situations mentioned above, but the greater majority are in pots, simply for convenience and being able to move them around until I find the ideal spot for them. Although I grow a lot of plants in pots, they aren’t all on benches as I have probably twice as many hanging at various levels throughout the shade houses.

It’s true that in the garden the plants will grow much larger as their roots can roam and find the moisture and nutrients they require whereas in pots they are confined and restricted to what you provide for them. It is interesting though that some plants will tell you what they want if you really look at them.

Take Aechmea orlandiana and Quesnelia Liboniana as examples, if you plant them in a pot and they do their best to grow out of it. When the new pup comes up it usually heads over the side of the pot; this can be interpreted as them telling you they don’t want to grow in a pot. Take them out and mount them on a tree, and they will grow twice as quick. Another reason why we can learn a lot by just looking at our plants.

Your idea of cutting and pasting snippets of information is a good one as all of the Bromeliad Forums are a wealth of information and different ideas from different growers, some of which may suit your requirements and some that won’t. On some of the bigger Brom Forums there is an archive section where everything is on file and it more or less becomes an “on line” bromeliad encyclopedia from the past to the present and to which information is constantly being added.

Teresa – Yes Catlan’s Leopard is a really nice plant, but once again, you have to get the light just right to get the best colours. The history of this plant tells us that it was bred by John Catlan who is a Queensland grower and hybridiser. It is thought this plant was the result of a selfing of a select clone of the species Neo. concentrica which is also a firm favourite of mine (and another with a purple centre). According to the BCR it can grow a mature rosette to 90cm which is a massive Neoregelia. Mine has never got larger than 45cm which makes me think that the 90cm plant was possibly grown in a garden situation.

Now for a few pic’s to finish, Pic 1 is Neo.’Fairy Tale’ which is very similar to Neo.’ Rain Cloud’ which I posted on the 18th, Pic.2 is Neo.’concentrica x (Charm x Cracker Jack), Pic.3 is Neo.’Painted Lady x concentrica), Pic.4 is Sue’s plant of Neo. ‘Ashanti’ and Pic. 5 is one of my newer hybrids, Neo.’Darkside x Mesmerise. It’s nothing in the shape department but the colour’s nice and I’ll give it another year to improve a bit before I toss it.

All the best, Nev.