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

weed_woman wrote:
Wow,newbies! yay! Hello Trish and Ian. Its nice to meet some fellow collectors and two at once is just awesome. Love your pictures,Trish, and laughed at your husbands description of broms as 'Bottom Feeders' It gave me a real chuckle. I'm sure we are all looking forward to pics of your broms and gardens, and Bree and i both like orchids too, so i am sure the rest of our forum wouldn't mind a pic or two of those either?
Ian, good on you for trying with seed. Acanthostachys strobilacea are one of the fastest broms I've grown from seed, and Aechmeas are quite fast too. I find the broms that have seed like dandelions (fluffy like the Alcantarea seeds) take quite a bit longer than the ones with seeds in a berry type. I hope you will show them off to us with photos? We LOVE photos!
Wendy, your seedling area looks like it will take no time to fill! Its a bit flash with the oiled timber floor! heh heh. I bet you're excited about the new car? The new bridge we made will mostly be a dry creek bed, as i don't want to give the mossies and leeches a new home! Hopefully it won't rain so heavily that it washes the rocks away, but in the past it has been quite heavy and I don't imagine it would have that much force. Time will tell.
Shirley, your Neo. 'bruiser' sounds like he could become a bit of a bully in your collection? heh heh. And I'm sure you are working quite well on expanding it too :). I tell you, I am about to run out of steam soon, so i'm making a last rush to get the last paver in, but looking out the window it looks quite bleak, and maybe we will get rain? I have been waiting for it, and have done a little bit of watering here and there. I think mother nature is trying to give me the chance to finish my project, but I got caught up with my visitor, as you do, so maybe she is sick of waiting and the farmers need her more? I think you should do some watering anyway, as it will prepare the ground for rain by wetting the surface, and allowing the rain water to soak in, instead of running off. thats my theory anyway. Besides, I find it very therapeutic to water the garden, how about you?
Karen, I have a little min Neo called 'Bucaneer' x johannis, which looks like yours. I've been trying to get a clump or years. It seems slow to grow, so i fertilised it, but then it gets lanky pups and loses colour, so I guess I should just leave it alone. I found a seed pod on it once and have managed to grow two seedlings from it, but so far both are larger than the parent, and plain green. If they don't start to impress me soon, they will be banished into the garden! I think your Vriesea heiroglyphica has done well to grow out all the damage. i find they respond well to regular liquid fertiliser at half strength, about every two weeks in spring/summer.
Hi Tash, your shadehouse pic is SOOOOO colourful. Your winter sun must be the best for Neos! I think the weather predictions for this year are for dry spells, so hopefully the flooding events are behind us for awhile. I am almost tempted to mulch the gardens that go under, but haven't quite convinced myself its safe to do so. I think all Billbergias are a bit slow to get started, and seem to do better in a clump. Maybe they need the energy produced by the extra stolons to grow faster? John Catlan recommends cutting through the stolons between mother and large pup, but leaving them in the pot, thus giving the mother energy to produce another pup. I am going to try it, as everyone wants a B. 'Hallelujah' and I don't want to divide my pots as I like the clump too much.
Nev must be busy with his sales plants, or maybe he can't hobble to the computer? I'm sure he will be thrilled to see new names (cause we can't really see faces eh?)
Hello to any lurkers looking in. Don't be shy.
Well, I'd better see if I've got any pics to share since i was here last
All I can find is a pic of one of last years winning gardens. Its just a small part of a lovely bush walk that had a few broms and Cliveas, ferns e.t.c in it. I visited them on monday, which was an eye opener, and made me realise I am not the competition type! heh heh.
Sue

This message was edited Aug 30, 2012 8:07 AM