Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for the novice and addict. April 2013, 5 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi Everybody – Well that sees the end of Easter, not long to Christmas now. I wonder when the shops will start advertising Christmas presents.

Sue – Thanks heaps for starting the new thread. It's good to have someone like you that old computer illiterates like me can rely on. Sorry to hear your post went up in smoke and vanished. It happened to me a couple of times when I first joined this group but ever since then I type my posts first on MS Word, and then when I have them how I want them I just cut and paste....no more problems since.

I like the colouring of your Ae. 'Dark Goddess', I've never seen it before but I'd bet pounds to peanuts that it has Ae. Chantinii in it somewhere in its Family Tree, and so that rules it out for me as everything with Chantinii I've tried (except Ae. 'Echidna') can't tolerate our cool winters down here. However I can still “drool” at your picture.

My Guzmania 'Sanguinea' is just starting to colour up as I said in a recent post, but it seems to have stopped half way. I moved it to a spot in the garden last year to make a bit more bench space and it seems it doesn't like it there. The upside is though I've just noticed it has two pups this time so that has to be a bonus. As you say it usually only has one pup and it destroys the “Mother Plant” to remove it, however mine produces two pups about every three or four years and the spare doesn't last long as there's always someone looking for it. Interestingly I bought mine at a local market and would you believe it was labelled as Neoregelia 'Flame'? The lady seller assured me it was an extremely rare Neo. and I wouldn't find a Neo. like it anywhere.... well she got that right as it wasn't even a Neo. I didn't know what it was at that time as I was new to brom's so I grabbed it as I thought the $5 price tag was very reasonable even if it was growing in almost straight sand!

I like your nice dark 'Orlandiana' it's a beaut and the other two Aechmeas in your last two pic's look very interesting as well, any chance of another picture when they flower as I haven't seen either of them before? Good to see you were able to “cash in” on a plant of Neo. 'Razzberry Ripple' also. It seems you and Ian are the lucky ones to have a Big W that sells Olive's plants. Did you get yours at Coffs Harbour? I had a friend who came back from a Tillandsia conference in Melbourne a few months back and he said that Olive was there and told him that they would be supplying most Big W stores from Brisbane down to Coffs Harbour and she told him the first shipment was to be “patterned foliage” Vrieseas a couple of weeks after the conference. I mentioned it here at the time but I don't know if anyone got any but it's good to know they will be available through Big W.

Breeindy – Good to see you back again; seems like you've been very busy with other things. Gee I hope you don't get another flood now that you've planted your raised veg. garden beds, where will you put your brom's? It must be great to have enough space to have a few chooks; when I was a kid everyone had chooks down the back yard, but then we all had big blocks where we lived in rented quarryman's houses. Nothing beats fresh veggies and eggs and of course when Christmas came around in those days it was our own roast chook as well. That was in the days when chooks and veggies had flavour, not like the “mass produced rubbish” we buy today..... I know, here goes that “cranky old man” grizzling again. You also say you have fish as well, gee where do you get the time to look after them all?

Ian – You say you stuffed up again; let me tell you I'm always doing that, but when I served my apprenticeship many many moons ago, I worked with an old Scottish carpenter and he always said, ”It is nae a “stuff up” til yea can nae fix it”.

You've again posted pic's of another nice looking lot of plants; I recognise your first NOID from somewhere and when I remember I might have a name for you, but it's the second NOID that interests me and I'm very curious to see what the emerging inflorescence will produce.
As for the pic's of 'Predator' and 'Garnish' side by side, you can now see why I said the other day that I gave up trying to ID albo-marginated Neo's as they are so much alike in a lot of cases. Also, I see what you meant the other day when you said about your 'Medusa' with vertical leaves; most unusual; maybe also a result of tissue culturing.

Shirley – I thought of a way to try some new therapy on my back; when I awoke the other morning and it was so sore, I forced myself to climb the ladder and do some more ceiling scraping. I thought, it's already sore so why not; and you know what, after a few hours it started to ease off and I think it may have been because I was giving different muscles a workout they don't normally get. Any way it's much better now so that's a positive outcome.

I never thought about the possibility of our Neo 'Pink Stars' being NOVARs, I just thought it was a case of someone Just putting a “pet name” on a nice looking NOID. Anyway, what ever the reason, it's a nice plant and I'll keep growing it. I have to agree with what you say about the Mulford Foster hybrid not being registered and yet its children are, I have found a few unexplained strange things on the BCR since I started to use it more frequently but I guess because the info is entered by humans and all humans can make mistakes this can happen with anything. On the other hand, there may be a logical explanation for the Mulford Foster “thing”, maybe I'll have to put on my detective hat and see what I can find out.

I like your pic of Neo. 'Bruiser'; it's another hybrid from Chester Skotak (the master of variegated Neo's) This time he's used one of his favourite parents Neo. (Carolinae x Concentrica) but crossed it back to Neo. Concentrica so it has a double dose of “Concentrica goodness” in it and because of this, theoretically it should be a good strong grower . I love the pattern on your Hoehenbergia, it reminds me of the pattern on the skin of a snake I once saw at a reptile park a long while ago.

A few file pic's to finish with today, Pic.1 is another of my seedlings Neo. (Charm x Cracker Jack) x self, Pic.2 is Neo. 'Ferny Grove', Pic.3 is Neo. 'Fairy Dust', Pic 4 is another of my crosses, Neo. 'Concentrica' x ('Charm' x 'Cracker Jack') and Pic.5 is Neo. 'Enchantment'.

All the best, Nev.