Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for the novice and addict. April 2013, 1 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – It seems like the weather has taken a bit of a turn and it's raining this morning, so no work out in the yard today. I have a few “non-brom” associated bits and pieces I need to do and they can be done in the garage so I'll probably get them out of the way so I have “open slather” on the brom's when the sun comes out again.

Sue – It seems like you've been pretty busy at your Mum's and a garden makeover would be right up your street and a good way to vent your frustrations at being stuck inside sorting out stuff your Mum has hoarded over the years. It seems like we all become bits of hoarders as we get older, but it's good to occasionally look at what we have accumulated over the years as they very often are associated with happy memories of another time.

It seems like this thread is going more toward fish today than brom's but as they say, “a change is as good as a holiday' so I'll tell this little story as well. It's interesting to hear that you are now “free ranging” your gold fish in the “boat pond”. I once did a bit of casual carpentry work on a farm near where I lived and one of the farm workers had done something similar. One day when I was there working on the bails (for non-farmers that's where they milk the cows) Ernie who was the farm labourer was going down to bring the cows in for milking and he said, “Time to bring in the cows and feed the fish” as he headed off down the paddock. When he returned I asked what he had meant about feeding the fish and that's when he explained. There was this huge circular concrete water trough (about twenty feet across and four feet deep) for the cattle to drink from and Ernie had planted some Water Lilies in the centre and put in a few little Koi Carp a few years previously.. These loved the pond as they were able to stir up the mud on the bottom (as Carp like to do) and the day I first saw them I got quite a shock as by then they had been there for some years and had grown into quite large beautifully coloured specimens. All the care they ever got was just few Chook layer pellets tossed in the pond each afternoon when Ernie went to bring in the cows.

It seems like the northern side of your tree is the perfect spot for the “Chantinii type” Aechmeas because from what you say it seems like it's a bit of a sun trap which has created just the right micro-climate for these plants.

As for the Guz Sanguineas, I have only ever attempted to remove a pup from the Guz. Sanguinea on the occasions when it produced two; I can get the pup off OK but as you mentioned earlier, it almost destroys the Mother plant. Since I've had it it's only thrown double pups on two other occasions. Regarding the Guz Sanguinea seedlings you mentioned, I found they were very slow to establish any roots and grew very slowly and consequently gave them all away to other growers. It seems they are Guz. Sanguinea var. Brevipedicellata, and one of my friends who I gave some to, specialises in species and brought a couple in flower into a Brom. Society Meeting last year. They were growing mounted on a piece of “bush wood” and he told how he had found they preferred to be mounted rather than growing in a pot which could be the reason I found they seemed reluctant to make a good root systems. They are only a small growing plant with his biggest one being just six inches in diameter. I guess that's what I get from buying seed from an otherwise unknown supplier as although they weren't what he said they were, at least I did get a result and there are now dozens of plants spread all around the country as a result. To see a good pic of one in flower, go to:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community/gallery/showphoto.php?p...

They're great pic's you've posted and the Red Dragon is a “ripper”; was that one of John Catlan's?

I'm pretty sure that the plant in your second pic is Ochagavia litoralis. I had one once but gave it to a friend up north as it didn't like the colder months down here.

I'm pleased to see the result of the seedling Vriesea that I swapped with you, you've done a good job with it and it looks great. I think V. heiroglyphica x platynema is correct, it sounds right anyway but without looking at the files I can't say for sure.

Vriesea Angela is another Vriesea that's very much under rated in my opinion and as you say, with more light comes more colour; the main thing I like about it is , that it's a good grower and pup producer and doesn't get too big like some of the other Vriesea hybrids.

Your last pic of Vriesea Zapita is an interesting one also a it is a hybrid made up from Vriesea (Racinae x Red Chestnut) x Gigantea. It has two species in its breeding, Racinae and Gigantea and as Racinae has recurved leaves, it's very likely that's where it inherited this trait from.

Trish – I read with interest your story about your asthma attack in the baker shop; it seems you should have been an inventor as your use of the bag full of Ventolin spray was really just a crude improvised “spacer”. How I wish I'd thought about that; my youngest son has had chronic asthma since he was about three years old and when I think of his early years and the trouble we had trying to synchronise the “puff” from the inhaler with his inhalations it was just so frustrating. Eventually he got a spacer, however they weren't available in the early years, but your idea would certainly have saved us a lot of heartache.

I like the story about “Beaker”; it seems you must be a kind soft hearted person. I have a brom friend who also had a pet fish called “Herbie”. Anyway poor old Herbie eventually went to the “big ocean in the sky” and Paul was left with this huge fish tank in his lounge room. Being the ingenious type of person that he is he had soon converted it to a terrarium containing small bromeliads. He even mad a little RIP marker and eventually put that in the tank as well, so I guess he's just a big “softie” like you. So there's an idea for your now empty fish tank and you can play with brom's inside when ever the weather doesn't allow you to go outside. You can read “Herbies” whole story at: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bromeliad/msg0121425...

You've posted great brom. pic's as usual as well as the one of your “cheeky” little dog. Is that wall he's sitting on what separates you from the “wetland” at the back of your yard?

Bree – It seems this day is just getting fishier by the minute. I never realised that Catfish were so nicely coloured as I've never seen them in a tank before. I've caught them and eaten them, but like a lot of fish, once they've been taken out of the water they loose a lot of their colour. Anyway, thanks for sharing the pic's with us.

I've raved on too much once again so I'll finish with a few brom pic's just to keep on topic and balance out our fish stories. Pic'1 is Neo. Aussie Dream 'Red Glow', Pic.2 is Neo. 'Bea. Hanson' x 'Rosea Striata' ,one of my earlier hybrids. Pic.3 is another of my Neo. 'Concentrica' x ('Charm' x 'Cracker Jack') hybrids, Pic.4 is Neo. 'Ice White River' and Pic.5 is my best clone of Neo. 'Marble Snow'.

All the best, Nev.