Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for the novice and addict. April 2013, 4 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – After the rain stopped late yesterday morning it remained overcast and cool for the rest of the day so I finished “Seasolling” the other half of my brom's that I hadn't done the day before, so it wasn't a wasted day (brom wise) after all. More rain overnight and it's quite cold here this morning so I don't know what I'll do today until the sun comes up. Maybe a bit more ceiling scraping as Shirley says, “slow and steady wins the race”.

Shirley – You're already down for a pup of Fairy Dust after Jen who was first on the list. It's strange that you both have similar tastes as she asked for Neo. 'Fairy Dust' and Neo. 'Burgundy Moss' one day and you asked for the same two the next day. Is there a bit of mental telepathy going on there?

The crossing of Neo. 'Mandella' with Neo. 'Blackout' does sound like the perfect recipe for some wonderful dark brom's but never forget “Mother Nature”; she can sometimes “bugger things up” by reverting back to something away back in the “family tree” of one or both of these plants and you could finish up with something entirely different looking. Mandella has dark coloured plants all back through the breeding line but as I can't find Neo 'Blackout' on the BCR it's unknown what was on that side of the family tree, so you sow your seed and you take your chances. I have a Neo. 'Gold Fever' which I crossed with Neo. 'Noble Descent' and many of these seedlings are plain colours in shades of pink even though Neo. 'Gold Fever' is very heavily spotted.

I think Hohenbergia correia-araujoi is like a lot of brom's with spectacular foliage, and has flowers that are quite insignificant and mainly of botanical interest only and usually disappointing after a very long wait to see them.

Looking at your succulent wall reminded me of some pictures I once saw of a Brom wall in N.Z. It was a long sloping retaining wall alongside a driveway which was initially planted with a few brom's just after the wall was built to take away the “raw look” and then another pic three years later, revealed an almost solid wall of brom's..... fantastic stuff!

As for the Vriesea Hieroglyphica x Platynema seedling Sue posted, that was from a cross I did once on a “momentary whim” just because both plants were I flower at the same time. I was going around about 9.00pm one night looking for something that had been chewing the leaves on another plant and saw these plants both with open flowers at the peak of readiness for pollination, (In the wild, these plants are pollinated at night usually by moths or tiny bats) so I cross pollinated them. I can't take the credit for Sue's seedling as it was Mother Nature and Sue who did the rest.

I can't help loving the silver streaks of the underside of the Neo Bird Rock' leaves, they always fascinate me. Your Neo. 'Bold Streak' x 'Mc Williamsii' is quite different to mine as yours has much more pink on the top of the leaves; maybe it's that Queensland sun? Wonderful shape on that Neo. 'Ninja' but I'd have to be careful of those savage looking spikes.

Breeindy – Great pic's you've posted today. Your first one looks like a plant of Ae. 'Reverse Ensign', but what about the colour of the pup? It looks like your Ae. 'Reverse Ensign' (which is a sport of Ae. Ensign) may have sported itself and produced yet another form of Ae. 'Ensign' which if it retains that colour, in my opinion would be worth naming and registering on the BCR.

Neo. 'Storm Warning' is a beautiful plant which reminds me a bit of Neo 'Burgundy Moss' with a nice green centre.

Sue – Gee Sue, it sounds like your Mum has her own private Zoo; she must be a nice lady as anyone who likes animals is OK in my book; and to have so many animals she must be a bit more “special”. Anyway all of your cleaning and sorting hasn't been in vain as the chooks like the Lucerne hay; they must have thought Santa had come already.

Thanks for the feedback on Red Dragon, I must look at the one Jen gave me as it's still only small but doesn't have the colour of yours so maybe I'll increase the light a bit and see what happens.

You mention about the “lower case “ letters for species, I'm always getting into trouble for not doing this. After five years of technical drawing during my apprenticeship (over fifty years ago) I still find it hard to use lower case for the start of a name, it just doesn't look right. I know I'm not conforming to the BCR “rules”, but it's what I feel comfortable with and if people don't like it, well they can always write another name tag.

Sorry about the Neo. 'Marble Snow', I don't have any spares of that clone and I already have a waiting list of six, but it's a pretty good pupper so I'll add your name also. I noticed another plant among my marbled type Neo's the other day with a Marble Snow tag, but it had a much different centre with a cream/pinkish colouring which I don't remember seeing before. When I looked at the back of the tag I see it came from you. What do you know about it was it a Neo. 'Marble Snow' or a Neo. 'Marble Snow' hybrid?

As for your pic's all I can say is WOW! That black “Gollywog” type in the front with the yellow shirt reminds me a one I had as a little boy and she was called “Elsie” (haven't a clue why I called it that) anyway Elsie and I were great mates. There were no racial barriers in our home and she went everywhere with me until I grew out of her. You see I grew up in a small neighbourhood where there was also an Italian, English, and German family and kids from all of these families played happily together with some of our best friends who were aboriginal kids who lived in Shellharbour. I suppose you could have called us kids the “League of Nations”, but we all played together without a hint of racism and it wasn't until I went to work at the steelworks that racism poked up its ugly head.

Out of your plant pic's, the ones I like the best are firstly the Neo. 'Downs Autumn' which is similar to the two variegated Neo's I posted a short time back which were seedlings bred by a South African “Brom Friend” of mine. (Do you have any spares to swap?) Secondly the Billbergia 'Super Duper Grace' which I hadn't seen before. Also what is the Bill. on the left of that one? I like that as well. I meant to tell you I was looking at the pups on the Ae. Bromeliifolia 'Rubra' yesterday and they have grown quite large, but I'll try and find something to pack one in and get it off to you, next Monday.

I'll finish now with a few more Neo file pic's and Pic.1 is Neo. 'Bill Morris' just starting to colour up; Pic.2 is Neo. Blushing Tiger; Pic.3 is Neo.'Black Forest', Pic.4 is Neo. 'Brush Stroke' and Pic 5 is another of the seedlings from my Neo. 'Painted Lady' sport.

All the best, Nev.