Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for novices & addicts, October 2012, 5 by bromishy

bromishy wrote:
Hi Everyone!

What a beautiful day it is today with the right amount of breeze blowing to keep cool in the garden.

I got all my broms potted as well as some variegated agave seedlings potted to sell down the track for some extra pocket money to use for my garden supplies. I do this also with all my gingers and heliconias also. A bit too hot yet to plant my vegetable seedlings into the veggie patch; missed the opportunity this morning as we took our dogs to the beach for a nice walk. Planning to get the vegetable seedlings into their bed later this arvo when the sun starts going down and want to give the veggie patch and herb garden a good water as well as the heliconia and ginger garden.

Hi Nev, thanks for the great advice regarding using the original Seasol for my vegetable seedlings; we are heading out to Bunnings tomorrow to grab some more supplies so I will buy some then. I normally give mine a soak in a very light mixture of seaweed solution, is this similar to Seasol???

Nev, I use the gravel mainly for support and also a little in the bottom for drainage, it seems to work great and and all my broms seem to thrive from this method whether they are pups or large plants. I hardly every need to prop my pups up with any other support but sometime I do have to use wooden skewers in my smaller pup vrieseas just to give them the extra stability as well as still use the gravel method. I wash the gravel well prior to using.

Nev, I have heard through another bromeliad collector in Townsville Rob Smythe's name in passing conversation that he has a wonderful collection but I have not met him in person but hopefully our paths will cross one day, which is very probable given we share the same interest. If I ever get to meet him I will definitely pass on your hello.

Nev, glad to hear I got the spelling right for Ae. Corriea Araujoi, I am not too sure if I say it right but when I do say it my French accent takes over and no one seems to correct me when I say it lol. Also luved all your neo pics, your neo's always look so full of health and great colour what’s your secret?

Hi Wendy, luved all your neo’s especially Lilac Prince like Nev this one was my favourite as my favourite colour are lilac and purple.

Anyway, I better get back to gardening as day one in the garden is nearly over and done with already, can’t believe how quickly the day has flown past, looks like I might be working in the garden with the spotlight on again, becoming a bit of a habit of late lol.

Also off to the market in the morning to see if anyone new is selling broms.

Oh before I forget, I nearly forgot to mention that I am pleased to discover this morning another pup on one of my vrieseas, so far two pups on the one plant that is yet to flower so I am very pleased to see this happening again - yeah. I must have about 70 / 80 different types of vrieseas now and I still want more, can’t get enough of them, my concern is now the pups that will be coming on each and every one of them and where am I going to put them all, I will have to rethink my theory of keeping 3 or 4 of everything, maybe a couple of pups of each will be sufficient.

Anyway better get going, catch up with you all next time.

Happy Gardening!

Pic 1: Till. About to flower in Mango Tree
Pic 2: Mixture of Broms out in the garden (photo a couple of months old) colors are more intense now. At some stage I will surround these puts possible with bark to hide the pots but for now I want to hold off to see what summer has in stall and whether they can stay in the same spot over summer.
Pic 3: Neo NOID - Any ideas ???
Pic 4: Neo Wee Willy (so cute)
Pic 5: Neo The Duke (it has grown heaps since this pic was taken)