Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS MARCH 2012, 5 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Good morning everyone; (well it’s not really a good morning), It’s been pouring all night and is still pouring, I'm sick of it and I’m stuck inside and quickly going “stir crazy”!

Shirley – I can just remember something about that plant you speak about but can’t be sure if it was Breeindy’s plant or one on another forum. I think from memory it turned out to be one of the Vr. Ospinae types where the new pup comes up the middle of the main plant and which “appears” to be flowering for a second time when in fact it is the new pup that’s flowering. I’m really not aware of any brom, that flowers more than once per year, but then I don’t know all there is to know about brom’s and there are always exceptions to all rules, with new things popping up occasionally to dispel all theories, so who knows?

Wendy – Johnny’s idea with the junction box seems to have done the job, but it’s just as well no one from Telstra saw him doing it or he would have got the blame for all of the phone troubles; you know they’re always looking for someone to blame other that themselves. I don’t think the “creature from black lagoon” was a tadpole, as from what I’m told, none of them ever had that shape and as you know when they are changing from tadpoles into small frogs the head always becomes enlarged first, and this didn’t happen, they just looked like “maggots with tails“ the whole time.

I do wish you hadn’t shown the painting job here; all you’ve done now is to remind me I have two ceilings I have to paint and have been putting off for some time.

Tash – Sorry to hear you’re unwell. Whatever you do you must force yourself to drink lots of fluids especially water as the antibiotics can only kill the bugs, but it’s up to you to flush the dead bugs from your system; so lots and lots of water. Remember that antibiotics kill the good bacteria along with the bad bacteria so you also you need to get onto a product containing probiotics such as Yoghurt or Yakult to replace the good bacteria. This combined with lots of water will make you feel better quicker also.

Karen – That Vr Evita is really a beautiful plant and a very good grower as well. I had two pots with seven flower spikes on each this year, but they had just got to the stage where they had to be divided unfortunately. Your pup is from the first pot I divided and the second pot is still waiting to be done as it hasn’t stopped raining long enough to let me do it. It does have a really nice red inflorescence stalk topped with contrasting multiple yellow paddles with yellow flowers and is very eyecatching.

Kristi – I was only saying on another forum this morning that it only seems like yesterday when we were all complaining that we were in drought with severe water restrictions in place, and now we’re being flooded. This just supports the old Australian saying I heard as a boy, which said that "in Australia, a drought is always broken by a flood". It seems like Mother Nature doesn’t like us much anymore and keeps sending us droughts, bushfires, cyclones and floods. Anyway, if we didn’t have them we would have to find something else to whinge about I suppose, so we should be making the best of what we have.

As for the “Mystery Monster”, it seems we have agreement from a highly respected bromeliad hybridizer/retired chemist and a retired scientist who both say that it is indeed a “maggot”. The tail is something they grow to adapt to life foraging for dead tissue in water. I guess Wendy was on the right track when she thought a tadpole which had turned into a frog and hopped away, instead it was a maggot that turned into a blowfly and flew away.

The brom grower/chemist has seen and studied it before in his own collection. Apparently the blowfly is attracted by the smell of the rotting dead flowers in the cup of the brom and lays its eggs above the water line. When the water line rises the eggs then become submerged and it’s here after hatching they adapt by growing a tail to help them swim in their new home in the water........... Ain’t nature just fantastic!

Well that’s about it for today except to show you all a new collection of pic’s from another New Zealand grower and hybridizer named Peter Coyle. Part of Peter's business is also running a resort called “Totara Waters” and if anyone is interested in looking at some superb gardens, check out his web site at: totarawaters.co.nz and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Peter has kindly given me permission to post his pictures on our little forum for you all to see and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

I’ll start with a few of his new hybrids 1. Neo [Rosea Striata x Concentrica] x Vivacor, 2. Neo. Gespacho x Alkazar, 3. Neo. 'Bottoms Up', 4. Neo. Lambert's Pride x Treasure Chest, and 5 is a group of Neo. Lambert's Pride x Treasure Chest seedlings from the same batch of seed which just shows the variation you can get and the reason why growing from seed is so interesting.

All the best, Nev.