Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR EVERYONE IN 2014, 5 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – What's that they say about the best made plans of mice and men? Well, yesterday was very much a wasted day as we had to get a couple of new tyres on my wife's car and a wheel alignment. After ringing six different places I decided on a well known company which I knew had a good reputation, and would you believe had the best price of the lot. I still couldn't believe there was $119 difference in price for the same two tyres and a wheel alignment between the highest and lowest quotes from six different places; it sure pays to shop around.

Anyway we had to leave the car at the tyre place for an hour and so decided to go in the ute to my daughters and kill the time there. As soon as we turned up I got a job taking a load of old white goods to the tip for her and her next door neighbour (incidently these are the only things you can now dump down here for free). I'd no sooner got back when another friend dropped in and as soon as he saw the old ute, puts it on me to go and pick up a load of timber for him from Bunnings. By the time we got back it was lunch time so my daughter made lunch and then we went and picked up the car . By the time we got home it was 2.00pm and the day was stuffed and so was I. I sat down and put my legs up because they were screaming out and I woke up at 5.25pm after my first ever “Nanny Nap”...... must be really getting old.

The good news is that it's cool and overcast here today, so a good day to get some work done among the brom's.

Colleen – I thought I recognised that plant and I was right, it was one from one of my first ever Neo. crosses and the range of colours and sizes they came in was unbelievable. Mostly in the mid range size but there was one which was a tad larger than Gee Whiz (about 26” across) and looked just like the concentrica parent in colour only the centre was mauve and not purple.(See Pic.3)

By the way, I hope you don't think I was having a dig at you about your choice of pot size; I was just making the point that I had to hang all of mine being only in 4” size or they would have all toppled over as well, but they did grow well, so I guess you can't have it all ways.

You mention you have quite a few Mister Odean seedlings that came from me. My advice would be not to be too hasty in culling them as I've had a few nice ones so far which are a little bit different. (See Pic's 1 and 2).

Theresa – Plant prices in garden centres seem about the same there to those here. A friend who works in a nursery and is a member of out brom society told us that they usually buy their commonly sold every day brom's for about what we charge our members for them ($8-$10). They then multiply this price by three and that's their retail price. This allows them to make a profit, allows for having to hold and look after them for a while as well as cover any losses. Some of the larger outlets like Bunnings buy cheaper in much larger quantities and sell at an even higher mark up. The thing is, if there are brom's in your garden centres, there must be growers in the area also and these are the places you need to find for a better deal.

Ian – I have found with both types of Ae bromeliifolia I have, they are always full of seed capsules which indicates to me these plants are self fertilising and therefore I don't expect yours will be any different, so I reckon you will get seed when it's finished flowering which is a while off yet. Although I knew your albobracteata seed was doing well, I made the offer of the pup just the same as even though in my experience all of my seed came true to the parent (as most species do), you can never be sure whether or not an insect has cross-pollinated the plant with something else and the resulting seedlings may not be true to form and knowing your interest in species I thought you may like one that was the "real deal".

I also have found the trouble with Face Book is there are so many different bromeliad “planets” it's difficult to know which one you read something on and consequently you end up wasting time you can't spare looking for things. Much better with just the one forum and sticking to that; at least I know where I am.

Trish – It seems you are a bromophile in every sense of the word and the brom's will soon be taking over your house as well. It seem to me your affliction is contagious as you seem to have infected your Mum with it as also Ha! Ha!

I for one would love to see a copy of you new listing as besides showing what you have available, it may give me some idea of a better way to go about listing my plants.

It must be quite a dilemma for you having to decide between your two loves of bromeliads and art and what makes it even better is that they are both produce product you can sell; although you won't make as much money from brom's as you did with your art work.

I had a young friend of our family who was doing pen and ink drawings and he became friendly with a young aboriginal artist who taught him all about “dot painting”. It finished up with him developing his own unique technique which was a cross between his pen and ink drawings and aboriginal styles. He died at the age of 42 of pancreatic cancer and his wife gave me a copy of one of his works which I'll treasure forever. It depicts the story of him and his family from birth to his death which he finished shortly before his death. It is a beautiful piece of fine detailed pen and ink work and finished with a subtle water colour wash of different nice soft pastel colours.

I too have had a long history with dogs and have always had dogs as far back as my first one when I was four. His name was “Lucky” and he was a stray who was almost run over by a metal truck outside our house at Dunmore. When we couldn't find any owner, Dad said I could keep him and we were great mates for years and went everywhere together. Like you, dogs have always been more welcome in our house then a lot of people we know...... See, now you've got me side tracked again.

That beautiful plant I showed of Guzmania wittmackii is a most unusual colour and although it is an apricot colour initially, it goes on to become more of a cross between peach and coral which is as hard to describe as it is to accurately capture with a camera. Like most of the flowers with reddish colours in them, this old photographer can never accurately capture the true colour so you'll have to trust me when I say it's different to the pic's on the FCBS or any other plants of this type I've seen before.

More importantly, it's a great example of the advantages of giving and/or swapping plants with true brom friends. The lady who owned the Mother plant told me she only ever had one pup and she gave that to me as a gift. Unfortunately, she has just informed me that deer have got into her yard and eaten her Mother plant completely. Luckily, my plant is showing two new pups just poking up their heads so in a few months time I will be able to return the favour and give her back a pup. How true is that old saying ............”What goes around comes around.”

Great pic's of your seedlings, they're really powering along and you've done me proud Trish; let's hope you can finish up with one or two good 'uns from them.

Cody – Hi! How's the weather going over there in the U.S.A?

Theresa – What is the “Orbiter Bus”; is it a free bus like the one we have up the road from here in Wollongong which is called the “Shuttle Bus”? Anyway if you do manage to have a look around the nursery, just remember it costs nothing to look, it's when you buy that the purse starts to empty.

Do you live anywhere near Peter Coyle's place “Totara Waters”? If so why don't you go and have a bit of a look around there. Tell him you've seen pic's of his plants I've been posting on here and you never know, you might just get a bargain.

Time to go again and I'll finish with firstly Pic's1 and 2 which are of my Neo.'Mister Odean' crosses to show Colleen what she could get from her little lot of seedlings when they mature (but be warned they are slow to colour up, but in my opinion are worth waiting for) Pic.3 is the largest plant I got from that original cross of Neo. concentrica x ['Charm' x 'Cracker Jack'] and as I said was about 26” across. Pic.4 is Nidularium 'Leprosa' and quite an attractive plant with that unusual spotting. Finally, Pic.5 which is the Neo Shade House after I had finished dead-leafing.

All the best, Nev.