Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for novices and Addicts - Dec 2012, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Good morning everyone – Once again it seems like it's going to be a beautiful day and a chance to get out in the yard and finish a few more overdue jobs in the garden.

Trish – Everybody who sees Neo. 'Serendipity Girl' x 'Concentrica' comments on it and wants a bit but unfortunately it's a very slow grower and a bit reluctant to produce much in the way of pups (just enough to make sure I have a spare plant).

I like the colour of your 'Pink Fairy Floss' and I especially like the very pale variegations, most unusual. Do you know that plant is a hybrid from a cross using Neo. 'Pink Sensation' (the same as the one I posted a pic of on Dec 1st.) crossed with a Neo 'Pink Sensation' sibling. It was imported into Australia by Olive Trevor and is possibly the same plant as a Groves hybrid called Neo 'Cotton Candy' in America. http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&i...

Oh and congratulations on your temporary shade set up; so neat and tidy, just like the rest of your garden. Also, thanks for the offer of a bit of your Pink Ginger plant, I would love to try growing it down here and now that I have all the cultural information it doesn't seems such a daunting task

Shirley – I love you beautiful Neo 'Macho', it's a great looking plant, but look at those “teeth” they certainly draw blood very easily, that's why I got rid of my plant.

I found on the BCR that the original plant was identified as “a form of pascoaliana/ carcharodon found in 1983 at a dump site North of Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro. Selected because of colour, large size and compactness! And is part of the Carcharodon Group.”
If you would like to see some other pictures of it go to:
http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&i...

Ian – You say you've gone into growing brom's “boots and all” and that's exactly the same as the approach I took when I first started. However as things gathered momentum I found I had to pull in the reins a bit as I was running out of places to accommodate the plants. So I thinned things out a bit and gave away a lot of plants only to then become interested in the seed growing aspect of brom's and then I was right back to “square one” again and running out of space once more. It looks to me you may also be heading down that same path and will soon run out of places to put all of your plants.

Ian you mention Jakob Koning; he's a hybridizer with many "runs on the board" and to see some examples of his wonderful work, go to: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php

When I used to visit the “old” bromeliad section of the Garden Web Forums, Jack Koning along with Lisa Vinzant and many other well respected hybridisers and growers freely gave advice to growers like myself who were new to this hobby. Those forums were and still are, a “wealth of information” and to the best of my knowledge, it's all still contained within their archives.

The plant in your second pic I think is one of the Porteas; possibly Portea Petropolitania var. Extensa as all of mine are in spike now also.

Wendy – As I look more closely at the pic of your Neo.'Pink Concentrica', I think it looks a lot like a hybrid bred from Neo. 'Princeps' which a friend of mine once grew. I'll contact him and see if he still has it and if so try to get a pic I can post. There also seems to be some similarities between it and a “so called” Neo Princeps 'Rainbow' [Special Form] unreg. which I grow, see Pic.1.

I know exactly what you're saying about finding a plant one day and then not being able to find it later. I have often spotted a plant in flower with no name tag (possibly because its identity was unknown) and once identified, I go to get a name tag and pen only to find it seems to have vanished when I return? I guess that's just another of the joys of getting old.

Well that's it for today and Pic 1 is for Wendy, Neo. Princeps 'Rainbow' [Special Form] for comparison with her "Purple Concentrica". The other four pic's are just random shots taken from around the back yard for Trish as she asked to see some of my (so called) garden the other day. Pic 2 is looking from the back deck toward the back of the yard and the old "half dead" Peppercorn Tree, Pic.3 are some Ae Chianti 'Jean' plants hanging on the southern side of the house in the Vriesea shade house. Pic 4 is part of the eastern side of my Neoregelia shade house and Pic 5 is looking toward the northern side fence from the back deck

All the best, Nev.