Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS IN SUMMER ..2014, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – It started out fine and sunny yesterday but in the afternoon became overcast and very cloudy. Lots of thunder and lightning but only about two minutes of rain; as we said a few days back, the weather’s so changeable you never know what it’s going to do next.

Trish - Good to hear you and Joe are starting to back off a bit to re-charge your batteries and the occasional "sleep in" is a good start. A normally early riser couldn't possibly sleep in until 8.30 if their body didn't need it so it's good to hear you are both listening to your bodies.

You say your Mum has an irregularity with her heartbeat; it wasn't until I developed a strange feeling in my chest one night and checked my pulse that I realised I also had an irregularity. I went to the Dr. next day and had all the usual tests with the diagnosis being I had "Atrial Fibrillation" commonly called A.F.

It effects about 5% of the population over 60 years of age so it's pretty common. There are various treatments for it depending on the severity, one of the most common treatments is a blood thinning agent to help prevent stroke and heart attacks due to clots. It is basically a more refined type of "rat poison" and the one I've been taking for some years now is called Warfarin.

It seems to be doing the job OK because I'm still here, and as far as I'm concerned the only side effect is more of a nuisance than anything else as I bleed easily when pricked by a brom., but it is also very easily stopped by applying firm pressure for a few seconds.

It sound like you Mum's doctor has given her the same good advice I was given, but the main thing is that she heeds that advice, I know how stubborn you women can be, and taking orders isn't one of your strong points; on the other hand it's easy for us blokes as we've been taking orders from our wives for years.

Regarding Vrieseas, especially patterned foliage Vrieseas, they are as you say beautiful plants with the added bonus that like Guzmanias, they don't have any spines on the leaves. I find that they do take up much more space than Neo's though e.g. I currently have a Kiwi Sunset which is over three feet in diameter, much larger than most of the Neo's and that's why I just have a few which I am now gradually moving to the garden to make more bench space. Like Neo's, there are more and more magnificent colours being produced every day thanks to a few dedicated hybridisers, two of my favourites being Jack Koning from N.S.W and Pete Coyle from N.Z.

As for your question about my Vriesea potting mix; mine is very basic and simple to make as it's the same as the one I use for Neo's which is 50% Brunnings Orchid Potting Mix and 50% Brunning Coco-Peat pieces (Large mulch size pieces for adult plants and 5-8mm pieces for small plants). The only difference is at this time of the year I water my Vrieseas every second or third day as opposed to the Neo's which are watered every one or two weeks, depending on how dry it has been.

This mix works OK for me in what I would loosely call a "maritime climate" as I'm just one street back from the ocean and we frequently get damp nor-easterly breezes, which would be totally different to the area where you live. I wouldn't recommend you trying my mix with your plants as we have totally different environments, but if you do want to try it, just try it on one plant which you have spares of.

Teresa - It's great to hear just how friendly Sugar is toward other dogs, and although some dogs are naturally like this, I think the social side of the dog training and shows does play a big part, but none so big as the way the owner trains them. I once heard a farmer say, "there's no such thing as a bad dog", it's a "bad owner" that's the problem.

Dog behaviour is an interesting thing, when I was a boy I had a dog as did the boy next door. Our dogs would run up and down the front fence (one on each side) growling and snapping as though they would tear each other apart. One day when they were doing this, they came to the gate which someone had left open. They just stopped what they were doing completely, stared at each other for a minute or two and then continued once again to run up and down the fence growling and snapping at each other. To me, it seemed like it was just a big game to them.

Colleen - Ten years is a good slice out of a child's life, but during those ten years you have brought them up with the good solid values which unfortunately aren't practiced near enough in this cranky old man's opinion. You have taught them they don' just get things, they have to earn them, as well as look after them once they have them as there isn't a box of replacements under the "money tree". I think one of the most important things I have observed is how you've always encouraged, guided and supported them in everything they do.

Something else which I feel is the most important of all; you've taught them to respect others, humans, animals and the environment they live in. You've shown them the way to learn teamwork with their camping trips and responsibility where they have to look after their pets and do their fair share of chores and all in all you've been a great example, leader, teacher but most of all, a wonderful grand mother/mother. Congratulations!

Shirley - Glad to hear the weather has improved in your area and you didn't get "smashed" like many others.

It looks like the history of concentrica x 'Leopard' has come up against a brick wall from what you say, which is disappointing as I was interested in finding out more about its heritage.

I don't have a spare pup of orlandiana 'Touch-of-Pink' at the moment as that seems to be the most popular orlandiana I have and everyone wants it. There are already two more people on the waiting list, but I'll put your name down and as soon as I have a spare, it's yours.

Thanks in advance for the parcel, I'll look forward to receiving it.

That's it for today and just for something a bit different, today I'm posting some pic's of some of the puya genus taken from the http://www.

Pic.1 is Puya raimondii which is the tallest bromeliad in the world. It can reach 3m tall in vegetative growth, and can produce a flower spike 9–10 m tall. With more than three thousand flowers and six million seeds in each plant it takes between 28 and 40 years to flower. Pic.2 show the actual Puya raimondii flowers. Pic.3 is Puya berteroniana with its wonderful metallic blue flowers while Pic.4 shows the standout pink bracts and blue flowers of puya dyckioides . Finally Pic.5 shows yet another colour with the beautiful light green flowers of puya chilensis.

All the best, Nev.