Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for the novice and addict. April 2013, 4 by works4me

works4me wrote:
Hi all, another day spent working in the garden … and no rain interruptions either. A trip to the dump after lunch and then back into it again.

Nev, don’t overdo it with your ceiling scraping … remember, slow and steady wins the race.

Love your pics Nev, especially pic 1 of your seedling and also pic 3, neo Fairy Dust … if I haven’t already asked, could you please put me on your pup list for that one. Your neo Enchantment is coming along nicely.

Sorry, but it’s after 11:00 pm and I am so tired. I will finish this in the morning, I’m off to bed … ‘night all.

Hello again, it’s Wednesday morning and I will take up where I left off with last night’s post.

Trish, sounds like you had a nice couple of days with your friends and your girls now have a new friend too.

I will try to make good on my promise to take pics of all my broms with purple tones and if there are any that take your fancy, just let me know and I will save a pup for you.

Gee Trish, your asthma sounds awful but you are obviously well prepared in case of an attack.

I am really looking forward to getting Nev’s seedlings too. I have just bought a neo Blackout and I have neo Mandella and I think a cross of the two would produce some awesome looking neos, perhaps they could be called neo ‘Blackman’ though I don’t suppose that would be politically correct, would it?

Trish, your story of Beaker, the one-eyed goldfish and his unfortunate demise made me want to laugh initially, then cry, then give you a big hug ... then I imagined the eyeball in the bucket and felt really sorry for you (and Beaker).

Enjoy the rest of your week off.

Trish, I was looking at your pic of Lucy and saw you have the same link wall that we have around most of our gardens. I used to try to clean off the mould that continually grew on it with the water blaster as I loved it when it was nice and clean.

Then I decided to try something else and I put succulents in the space between the blocks and was surprised that they grew. My hope was to have a growing ‘succulent wall’ sort of like a vertical garden that looked after itself. I will try to find a pic, though it won’t be a recent one. Actually, if the succulents grow there, then maybe broms would too, especially the aechmeas that grow well in trees and the climbing mini neos … hmmm, something to think about.

I hope Lucy didn’t suffer too much from her snake bite. My first thought when I see a snake is the get Rebel away so he doesn’t get bitten.

Sue, I know how your Mum feels as I am a bit of a hoarder and we have what used to be a games room which is now more of a store room for ‘stuff’ that I can’t bring myself to dispose of.

I love the Ae Chantinii varieties and also Ae Orlandianas and am very happy to hear you might have some spare pups of Ae Dark Goddess in the not too distant future, thanks heaps.

Today is shopping day for us and I will check out Big W in the remote hope that they might have something nice in the brom section. They only ever have the flowering guzmanias with generic labels and they sell very few. Most of them end up on a clearance table after they have cut off the flower and overwatered the plant and they’re near dead. Their nursery manager is obviously not a brom fan.

Sue, my hohenbergia is taking so long for the actual flower to emerge … after waiting so long I just hope it’s worth the wait. What colour is the flower, please. Love all your pics, they’re just beautiful. Your pic 3 of Nev’s Vr hiero x platynema is gorgeous … not bad for someone who’s not really into growing vrieseas, hey!

Nev, I love your Vr hiero x platynema seedling in Sue's pic.

I don't have any fishy stories to add. The kids had goldfish when they were young and they still have big fish tanks in their homes and huge fish but too much work involved keeping the tanks clean and the fish happy … I’ll stick to my plants.

My pics are 1 – neo Bird Rock, 2 – neo Bold Streak x McWilliamsii, 3 – neo Ninja, 4 – a small section of my succulent wall

That’s it for me, have to get going now. Sorry about the long post ... but it's two days worth.

Bye, Shirley