Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for Novices and Addicts - September 2014, 5 by bromishy

bromishy wrote:
Hi Everyone!

We had a little bit of rain last night but as quick as it came it was gone as still a lot of wind around at the moment.

Hi Nev sounds like the grandkids are keeping you both amused and busy at the same time, they sound delightful and I am sure you will all have a lovely time together and possibly have already though of things for them to do to keep their growing minds occupied.

Good to hear your camera’s not broken and that it was only a battery issue. The battery on our camera is nearly caput as well as the spare one’s we brought as spares so I tend to just now use my mobile phone plus I find it takes better pics than my expensive digital camera does; mobile phones have definitely come a long way since the ‘brick phone’ LOL as well as I can take video’s on my phone for special occasions which means we also do not use our video camera anymore either now days.

Yes it’s hard to get anything done when we have visitors and the weekends come and go as quickly as they came. I tend to find of late that I am getting frustrated at how quickly the weekends fly by and no matter how hard I try during the week to get everything done housework or business wise it still seems to encroach on our weekends and I end up feeling tired and deflated all the time when instead I should be enjoying and relaxing during the weekend; anyway hopefully we will find a way to get back to some sort of normality in the not too distant future.

The potting of my seedlings that evening I spoke about really did me the world of good as I get great joy out of seeing things grow and the shapes and colours they take on, I know it is something I will never tire of doing aside from the great joy I get out of growing / collecting bromeliads and being surrounded constantly by these amazing plants and the beautiful shapes, markings and all the wonderful colours / contrasts they come in.

Thanks for the B’Day wishes for this Sunday, shame I have to work the next day but I plan to celebrate a little earlier this Saturday and be surrounded by bromeliads on Sunday, that’s my birthday wish for this year that I am sure will be granted, me in the garden playing with my broms will keep me very content all day long until the daylight has gone.

Nev and so you should have been pleased with your win with your Neo. ‘Dunmore Ruby’ it’s a stunning plant. I checked out the seedling you gave me that I have in my Igloo and it’s colouring up very nicely now and I will have to take a pic to show you to see how you think it is travelling. I think I also have another seedling somewhere but have forgotten to check how it is doing since it was recently re-potting but sure it will be growing well as it is now in a slightly larger pot with nice fresh mix.

Thanks Nev in the wee hours of this morning before I headed off to work (while eating breakfast) I sat and read the article that Rob Smythe wrote on ‘Bromeliads and Mosquitoes’ and found his findings/research very interesting indeed because it was very detailed and informative and I found myself looking up to see what a Mesocyclops looked like as well as the Spirogyra form of alga. I plan to have another read of it over the weekend just in case I missed anything, so thanks once again for going to the trouble and the next time we visit Rob I will be able to thank him personally.

Nev those are lovely pics you posted today and WOW how great does your Pic 1 of Neo. ‘Blackout x ‘Mister Odean’ look; I think you may have given me seedlings of this one which I think I recently re-potted so I will have to check and see how they are doing also? WOW also with Pic 5 of Jack Koning’s latest new Vr. Hieroglyphic x ‘Simpson Desert’, I am drooling all over the entire place and need a bib he he; what a great combination of both markings and colour and imagine what it will look like when it is fully grown.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

I still have to download all the pics I took so until then I will attach some old ones.

Pic 1 - Neo. 'Prince of Darkness' - I noticed the other day it has produced a couple of nice pups
Pic 2 - Back garden, the very BIG Neo. at the back is 'Rosy Morn'
Pic 3 - Neo. 'Grace'
Pic 4 - Neo. 'Bakers Tiger'
Pic 5 - Neo. 'Morando'