Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR MARCH ....2014, 5 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi Cody and Wendy - It seems like it's just the three of us again to try and keep things going; and when you go on your trip Wendy it will just be Cody and me. Have you heard from Colleen at all? I sent her a D-Mail the same day as her last post to say I would send some plants to her and Jean on the following Monday but I haven't heard from her, so I hope she's alright and she got the plants OK.

I was trying to sort out in my mind why there's just the three of us. I know Jean's tied up caring for her sick hubby and Trish is trying to come to terms with all the new changes at work. Shirley told us she would be off the air for a couple of weeks and tropicbreeze will also be busy with the loss of Mum. Ian of course drops in occasionally as he gets ready for the "big relocation" and Theresa still drops in occasionally also, but wouldn't it be nice if some of the old regulars like Jen, Tash and Sue would still drop in from time to time. Anyway I guess it's just up to us to "keep the home fires burning" until they all return.

Anyway, I spent yesterday doing the final tidy up of the front garden and putting on the mulch and finally it's finished, so another job off the list. I gave everything a good water when I finished, mainly to settle the mulch and I had intended to water it again this morning to make sure the mulch is really saturated, but just since I've started typing, the heaven have opened and it's now pouring with rain so maybe I won't have to water again after all.

Cody - G'day to you mate as well, you're beginning to sound like an Aussie.

It seems like Alex is no different to all the other boys his age all over the world; they all love speed. So it's up to the parents to get the message through to them that speed's OK as long as it's controlled and they are constantly aware of the dangers associated with it. I have no doubt you are a good Mum and keep re-enforcing the safety rules to him.

It's only natural you want to protect your kids, and you should do all you can to show them the right way to do things, but you can't wrap them up in cotton wool and they eventually have to learn for themselves.

I think what's wrong with the world today is that there's too many signs telling people what to do and people become too reliant on them. If they learn from experience rather than constantly reading all of the signs, they will be better drivers and riders. What the "powers to be" tend to forget is that while you're reading a sign you're not watching the road and this is where the accidents happen. I don't know about America but Australia has gone so overboard with signage it's almost got to the stage where there are signs to tell you how to read signs............................. There are signs everywhere!

Wendy - I know exactly what you mean when you talk about your son with two broken hands, I had to have both wrists operated on for a Carpal Tunnel problem a couple of years back and the surgeon wanted to do the operations a month apart. I told him I wanted them both done at the same time and as I wasn't going to have two operations with two lots of surgeons charges and two lots of hospital fees. He gave all sorts of excuses why this couldn't be done. (He didn't say the main one was he would only get one lot of operation fees if he did them both at the same time) and it wasn't until I said I was sure I could find another surgeon that could do them both together, that he finally agreed. But I must say it was a bit awkward for the first week, (and I didn't have one of those portable shower heads), but it all turned out OK.

I must agree with you, Nid. Procerum does look nice in a clump, I didn't realise I had so much of it until I started tidying around the frog pond, and then I remembered I divided a plant a couple of years back and just "parked" them all near the pond until I found a permanent place for them, and that didn't happen did it?

Regarding the parents of that Neo seedling, I think 'Blackout' could be one, but I'll have a look today and tell you tomorrow. It's only a baby yet, but I do like the colour and the nice wide leaves (usually a good sign).

I have no doubt that Johnny will sort out the problem with the rat proofing as from what you've told us about him in the past, it seems he's pretty good at improvising and working out ways to get things done.

I like the colour of the "Guzzie" in your Pic.1 and it will be interesting to see what the inflorescence on the plant in Pic.2 turns out like and whether it will stay low in the cup like Sanguinea or grow tall like a wittmackii. I've recently flowered a wittmackii with peach/orange coloured bracts and white flowers. The inflorescence was almost three feet high and it was really something "very different" to my other Guzzies. It looks like yours will have the white flowers but it's not going to inherit the tall inflorescence like some of these species have.

Time to go again and finally a big "Get Well Soon" to anyone on the sick list and a big "Hi" to any of our friends reading the posts but not posting, c'mon drop us a line or two.

The pic's today are more from Peter Coyle’s collection. Pic’s 1 and 2 show a couple of his new Billbergia hybrids, Pic.3 is a new variegated Cryptanthus hybrid and Pic’s 4 and 5 two new Neoregelia hybrids with amazing colours.

All the best, Nev.