Australian and New Zealand Gardening: SPRING AMONG OUR BROMELIADS..., 1 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – What a busy weekend; the Royal Australian Navy's 100th birthday and all of the Sydney Harbour celebrations that went with it as well as the NRL Grand Final with the Roosters beating The Sea Eagles (the team everyone loves to hate). Now that's all over I can get back to growing brom's again.

Cody – Often bottled water isn't all it seems either; recently in Australia a bottled water company was fined for filling the bottles directly from the tap of the town water supply. Another misconception is that all spring water is pure and this isn't always necessarily so either. A short distance from where I live there is a road which goes up the escarpment to other towns away from the coast. About halfway up this pass is a spring where for many years a lot of the local Scotch drinkers went to get water to have with their Scotch because it was said to be the purest water in the district. When the university did a survey to see where this water came from they found it started in a small creek on top of the escarpment and as they followed this creek to see where it came from they were shocked to find the rotting carcass of a cow half in and half out of the creek.........So you see, things ain't always as they seem.

Theresa – I too remember the smell of Chlorine in Queensland water and it was fifty years ago when we were on our honey moon in Surfers Paradise. It worried me so much that I went down to a local chemist and enquired about it and if it was safe to drink. I was assured me it was OK, but it certainly smelled different to the water I was familiar with. Maybe they just had to overdose the water supply to kill a particular bug at that time, who knows?

Trish – It sounds like you're having a “ball” with your Mum and it's great to see you share similar interests.

You say your Mum doesn't have a computer and if she's anything like I was she probably says she doesn't want one and wouldn't be able to learn how to use it. However my kids kept on to my wife and I and eventually we got one and I must say although I'm always complaining about it, getting a computer is one of the better thing I have done, especially now I know how to negotiate the various brom forums. Try and talk your Mum into getting one as well, as I'm sure she'll get a lot of enjoyment out of it on those “bad weather days” when she can't get out in the yard. Lots of Senior Citizens Clubs now run various computer courses for seniors and as well as getting support while she learns how to use it she will make some more friends as well.

I think the main thing I like about 'Dunmore Ruby' is the natural gloss on the leaves; it doesn't matter what time of the year it is, it always looks like the leaves have just been cleaned as though it was being prepared for a show.

There were a couple more from that grex with similar colour and better shape but they don't have the shine on the leaves. There is another one I may register yet but I'll have to wait until I can get a decent pic of it and at present it's full of seed capsules as I'm using it to breed with.

As I look though your pic's today, the plant that stands out for me is the light coloured Neo. in Pic.5.
It certainly looks different and makes a real feature plant among the others. Can you tell me the name please?

Shirley – The reaction you get when you drink wine could be from one of the chemicals they use during the wine making process. Also some people I know who have had reactions, have a known allergy to eggs and eggs are also sometimes used in the final process to “clear” the wine.

There are quite a few wineries who are concentrating on organic wines now just for people like yourself. There are no chemicals used in the production of these but possibly still eggs as these are a natural product. Anyway, probably worth a try to see how it goes. I have tried some, and believe me they tastes just as good as the non-organic wines.

The plant in your first pic. interests me because besides being a nice colour, it has an unusual compact upright type of growth which is a bit unusual and I'd be interested in seeing another pic in a few months time or perhaps when it matures.

Your second plant definitely isn't 'Perfecta Tricolor' as it isn't variegated and 'Perfecta Tricolor' is. See: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&i...

It is a nice coloured plant though, with obvious Neo. concentrica influence and could still mature into something special.

What was the crossing of the seedling? There's certainly some prominent markings on it and once again I'd like to see what it looks like at maturity. Another thing I have found with seedlings is that the plants that mature from subsequent pups always seem to be a better shape than the original seedling. I don't know why but perhaps someone here with more knowledge than I can explain.

Jean – I was just getting poised to press the “send” button when the message came up to say you had posted, so I thought I'd go and have some breakfast and then finish off my post. Now I find that Ian has posted also so maybe I won't get to send this any time soon. Anyway, it's good to see everyone posting and sharing their information with us all so keep up the good work.

Sorry to hear your weather is still unstable, it was cold here yesterday also and this morning started out cold and then the sun came out and looked promising, but as I look out the window now it's clouded over again and is spitting rain...... talk about unsettled weather when will it stabilise?

I drank water from a house tank right up until just after we got married and they connected the town water. We always said the tank water tasted much better than town water; but when I think back as a kid when we climbed up on the tanks and sometimes took off the strainers to see how full the tanks were and forgot to put them back on, next time we looked we sometimes found a dead frog floating in the water we drank. It makes you wonder just how dangerous these things really are, I mean, with one dead frog diluted in 800 gallons of water, you wouldn't taste too much frog would you?

Your Neo.'Imperfecta ' is looking good Jean, you must be doing all the right things.

Ian – I like your albo-marginated plant of Neo Concentrica alba X Maurice Featherstone in the first pic, it has great clean and clearly defined margins and looks like an albo-marginated plant should look. Your next plant of Neo.'Gold Fever' is always a winner in any company, it's one I've had for years and is one I'll always grow.

I don't know about Neo. 'Bill's Gift' as I haven't seen it before, but when I looked it up it is quite interesting: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&i...

I think the Ae.nudicaulis red form has now been given a name but can't remember what it is at the moment so I'll get back to you on that one.

Ae. 'Red Bands' previously was getting around down here under the name of Ae. Triangularis 'Red Bands' as it was thought to be a form of Ae.triangularis; in the U.S. it was also called 'Seaborn's Red Bands', anyway to save confusion it was registered as Ae. 'Red Bands' in 1977. The info about this plant on the BCR is well worth a read and can be found at:
http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=AECHMEA&id=4...

Just a few file pic's from the web to finish with today as I've been lazy over the weekend and not taken any new ones. Today's pic's are of the genus acanthostachys, and there are only two from this genus that are recorded and very easily grown by hobbyists and they are both quite different in appearance. Pic.1 is acanthostachys strobilacea which is the most commonly grown plant of the two listed, and the flowers are unusual as they are located about midway along the thin long leaves which will hang down as they get longer sometimes reaching up to 30” in length. Pic.2 shows the flower in close-up and we can see how they somewhat resemble tiny pineapples. Pic.3 shows the plump seed capsules which usually contain thirty or so quite large, easy to grow seeds. Pic.4 is acanthostachys pitcairnioides and as you can see, it is a very different plant with vicious "skin tearing" spines all along the thin leaves. The flowers differ in colour as well and are located right down near the base of the leaves. Pic.5 is a close-up of the flower and clearly shows the unusual backward facing vicious leaf spines.

All the best, Nev.