Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS JULY & AUGUST 2012, 1 by weed_woman

weed_woman wrote:
Morning all, had a day off dg yesterday. I had things to do in the morning and decided to get out of bed early! heh heh. Should be doing that today also, but here I am.
Shirley, I have Alc. heloisae. I love it. It is getting really red tips in the winter sun. I will snap a picture today. Its dusty here too, which, if anyone has been to my place, is quite unusual. The swamp is still too soft to mow though. I actually watered a few broms in the garden yesterday evening, mostly guzmanias and Vrieseas. It was so warm here yesterday, I wore shorts! And no fire last night, so Spring is on its way. The comp is in about 4 weeks, but all the flowers in my garden will be gone then, Azaleas, Kalanchoes and Arctotis all look good now. Luckily there are enough Cordylines and crotons to add a bit of colour, not to mention the broms.
Tash, I'm glad you finally got the seedlings up and away. It must have been annoying to lose so many in the beginning! I had a go at pollinating some Billbergias yesterday, just selfing them, as most are hybrids anyway, and should throw a variety of seedlings I'm guessing they will be quite quick to mature (seed) as the flower is so short lived. I've never seen seed on billbergia, but assumed they'dform much the same as Aechmeas. I am watching A. chantinii for seed, as it haslots of fat pods, but none have changed colour yet. I also have A. 'Dark Goddess' that has fat pods, but no colour. Fingers crossed.
Nev, good luck with your show entries and the sale. I am sure your 'life of a bromeliad' display will go down a treat. At least children are welcome in your neck of the woods. I hear tell that a particular society up north isn't so tolerant. Silly eh? Best to stay off FB for you, by the sound of it. I've never had trouble, touch wood, but find I don't have the same experience on the brom forums there, that I can get here. This is where it all started for me, and I've made great mates from here, so I'm hanging in.
Well, I'd better make an effort to get up and do stuff.
first, a couple of pics.
pic one is B. Catherine Wilson with lots of pollen
pic two is Arctotis amongst some N. Hannibal Lector' and N. 'Break Of Day'