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

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – I hope you’re all having an enjoyable Easter break and all of your brom’s are jumping out of their pots.

Jen – I saw a series of pic’s of Kerry Tate’s garden a few years back now, I think it was when we were all members of the (original) Garden Web Forums. It was truly amazing and she had so many different types of brom’s mounted on trees it’s a wonder that the branches could support them.

It was only a couple of years later that she broke the devastating news that she had been hit with a “black frost” which had pretty well wiped out everything; however not to be deterred, she started rebuilding her garden again and some of the damaged plants eventually put up pups and I believe it’s now back to what it once was. Just to see the pic’s of those burnt, brown looking plants was realy heart breaking.

I like your pic’s, especially the Neo Cee Bee; I can’t see where it’s registered, is it just a new hybrid? Whatever it is, it’s very eye catching.

Wendy – I’ll post your pic this morning and see what the other forums can turn up in the way of an ID for you.

When you mention that you have a Neo Jay Bee, it's interesting what you say about the name and it does sound like they could be from the same grex. Where did they come from? Are they local hybrids or are they plants that perhaps Olive might have imported, any ideas? Wherever they come from, if they all have the shape and colour of Jen’s they’ll be well worth having.

Glad to see you’ve reached your target weight and passed it; I must get the diet off you as nothing I’ve tried works and not being able to walk very far any more doesn’t help either. It’s good to see you enjoying yourself and eating all those things again which you’ve listed . I just have one question though, what did you eat when you were on the diet, just the cardboard boxes?

That’s a nice coloured Ae macrochlamys; I notice that they are quite variable in colour, and range from that nice soft colour of yours right through to a red form. It’s also interesting to see that even though it is a species, it was called 'Purple Globe' in 1980's in Los Angeles; looks like someone got their wires crossed.

I’ll finish now with firstly, three pic’s of Hallelujah. This is what happens when a plant needs dividing and you don’t get around to doing it. Also it’s been grown beneath 75% beige shade cloth and NOT fed. Pic No. 4 is a piece of the same plant grown under the same conditions except it had minimal feeding. I think this proves what Nitrogen does to the colour, even the small amount in a LOW Nitrogen fertilizer. Pic No. 5 is of a beautiful plant of Deuterocohnia Brevifolia which was shown by one of our Brom Society members at the 2009 show and cleaned up all the prizes.

All the best, Nev