Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS GOING INTO WINTER 2015, 5 by bromishy

bromishy wrote:
Hi Everyone!

Did not get time to chat with you all yesterday as had heaps on and not enough ours in the day and by the time we got home it was pretty late and things to get ready for work the next day.

Hi Teresa, great to hear you and Sugar are all rested up. We took the girls in for the vaccinations on Saturday and come Sunday they both felt under the weather and sleep for most of the day and did not want to go outside to play like they normally do when mums in the garden playing with her broms.

Ha ha sounds like the Clematis is growing out of control, are you going to keep it or get rid of it and plant something else easier to maintain and enjoy?

Good to hear you got new lenses and hopefully you get used to them soon. I still have to book in to get mine checked again as it’s been awhile since they were last checked.

Hi Nev sounds like you have been very busy indeed and doesn’t it make a difference no matter how much you get done at least it’s something and a step closer to getting things done.

Pleased to hear you are holding onto the Billbergia’s, they look healthy enough to do so imagine if you do stabilise a yellow Bill., that will be something special indeed and where can you go from there.

Yes I know technology has come a long way and it can take up a lot of your time if you are not careful so we often have gadget free days so as to not end up with square eyes LOL. That’s funny the young bloke not being able to read your running writing, I too get that here sometimes at work and I shake my head and laugh.

Thanks for the link from the Garden Web post (2007), I will have to take a look when I have a bit of spare time and take some notes on storing pollen.

Great pics you posted, WOW look at all those Tillandsias, imagine when they all flower like that in a row, would be nice to see. Adore the colours in your Neo’s, especially that Neo. ‘Thunderbird x Self’; and what an unusual flower on Edmundoa lindenii rosea, not something you see every day.

Hi Jean I rang Mum on Sunday and the rain was bucketing down the whole time we spoke for 1hr, really heavy and came with it wind also; Mum ended up staying rugged up inside and naturally did not want to venture out at all in the dangerous weather but I hope she still get visitors like my brother and her boyfriend during the course of the day. Mum did say she potted up all her broms I sent her and is happy they are all miniatures so she can easily find room for them. She did say that her Neo. ‘Bullis’ Margaret’ that I gave her a couple of years ago is doing exceptionally well and is full of wonderful colour. Thanks I am really looking forward to catching up with Mum end of June and into July, I just wish I could get more time off work but unfortunately we will be in the middle of a Roaster Shutdown at work so will be needed at work, but I have taken a couple of days off, a Friday and a Monday and then we have the weekends together wish will be nice.

Lovely pics you posted and how beautiful is your latest new triple Brugmansia, the flower looks so delicate, how long does the flower last? Also what a pretty Clivia and good looking Tills’ also, have you seen the Tills’ flower before, always something nice to look forward to but easy to miss because they are so small?

Anyway before I forget let me tell you all my encounter of what happened with that little Python picture that I recently posted on this forum. I discovered it hanging there early morning when I was getting ready for work, wrapped in my sarong after going for my usual morning swim I saw it hanging there with no movement whatsoever; the snakes head appeared lifeless, almost dehydrated and possibly dead but the body looked healthy but no movement whatsoever; anyway I could not see anything but the one lifeless looking head and it was hanging up height on the fairly lights that are situated around our pool, so I decided to grab something to poke it with and the only thing I could find was a dead leaf off my bromeliad ‘Painted Fingernail’, so after grabbing this I headed back to the snake and used it to gently lift and poke it’s lifeless head and so no movement whatsoever after a few attempts, then I remember saying something like “Oh you poor thing, your died” and proceeded to turn off the video I was taking on my phone to free up my hands so I could unravel the snakes tail from the fairy lights and properly dispose of it so it did not stink the place up or attract our dogs; except for when I reached up high on my tippy toes to undo it’s tail with both hands all of a sudden the snake came alive dropped and unravelled before my eyes right in front of me but still hanging onto the fairy lights with its tail and suddenly dropping something right in front of me and the Python hung there looking at me like “What the frig are you doing to me”. Anyway I stood there laughing for a while recovering from such a surprise and then it dawned on me where is the other snake it had hold of or was it something else it had hold of and the head that I was tapping that I though was dead might have been alive? Anyway I got a video also of it slivering along the fairly lights and trying to hide in the crevice of the roof guttering and then turned the video off and looked for the other thing it had dropped but could not find anything and even checked my Sarong because I thought it might have got caught up in the tassels as it fell right in front of me. Later on when I got to work I showed one of the girls the video without my glasses on and she said out loud “Trish there are two snake heads in your video not one, one up top and one down low and the one up top is a larger head than the bottom head, how could you not see that”, I explained to her that the snake was hanging up high in the fairly lights so I really had to stretch my hand out to take the video, then I replayed the video later (with my glasses on) and saw the bigger snake head up top smiling teeth and all, right where my hand would have been trying to unravel it’s tail and surprised it did not have a go at me given I was that close so lucky me that the snake must have just been too busy to try and attack me. It ended up being about 3 ½ foot in length and I got two video’s of it so Nev I will try and email you both videos, sure you will get a good laugh out of them. And the moral of the story is I should have gone to Spec Savers, think my eyes need checking LOL.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

A few variegated broms today to share.

Pic 1 & 2 - Neo. 'De Rolf'
Pic 3 - Neo. 'De Rolf' with more white, adore this one
Pic 4 - Neo. purchased as Neo. 'Gray Nurse'
Pic 5 - Ae. 'Rodco Inverta'