Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for Novices and Addicts - November 2013, 5 by perke_patch

perke_patch wrote:
Hi everyone
hope to have an early night tonight. we had a dickhead going round and round and round on the intersection last night at 1am. he ended up drifting and I'm sure he hit the curb. anyway he went west towards IGA but I'm sure that was closed by then. Anyway we just settled back in bed and started drifting and the idiot came back and did it all over again. This time I had my nighty on and was ready to run out the front with Johnny grabbing the phone as I went. within 10 mins we had 3 cop cars cruising the streets. I told them I thought he was just round the corner as I saw his headlights as though he turned into a house or the park. we heard yelling so maybe they knew where he lived from our description of his car. turns out when we drove round they way this morning he does live just round the corner. fancy doing that and pissing of your own neighbours. he'll be sorry if he does it again cause now I know he lives at 22. LOL

Nev it doesn't matter how often I turn photos around, for some reason they just turn back to be posted. sorry about that. the photo of that spike doesn't even give you an idea of half the colour it has now. it is spectacular. should have lots and lots of seed this time next year.

Shirley with collecting seed from your billbergias I've attached a pic of what you need to look for. bet you can't find the pod full of seed. hahaha. anyway I was told to look for a change of colour and firmness in the pot. so if your billbergia pod is dark green look for it to change colour maybe to almost white? if pod is red or purple, look for a change of colour and when pressing it should feel soft and squishy. I also find that if you give them a tug a seed pod not ready will be hard to pull off but when they are ready they almost fall off when you touch them. then just sqeeze the seed out into a sieve and wash them under the tap then leave to dry.

Nev today I had to move all my plants from the edge of the downstairs patio area so I could clean the gutters and I just had to stop and admire those ae calichroma x blanchetiana seedlings you gave me (see pic 2) . I just love that deep rich colour. you can't get an idea of just how intense the colour is from a photo. I potted up another 3 or 4 this week and I'm slowly introducing them to the sun. every so often I push them out a bit further so they get a bit more sun each time. eventually they will be in really good strong sunshine and I hope I get some more really deep colours like these. thank you so much for sending me these. my favourites for sure. I nearly shared one today with my sister who has bought a new home and is doing her gardens. I thought about it then decided no I couldn't let either one go. LOL
Pic 3 and 4 I've attached because they are the same plant. the washed out one at 4 is how we've always had them under shadecloth and I have trouble getting someone to buy them so we put one in the garden we created next door for our neighbour. it is getting full sun all morning till about 1pm when carport shades it. it is now the most vibrant colors and is stunning. I also put a washed out billbergia that didn't look much at all growing round our tanks under the tree and only getting late afternoon sun. Now after a period in a lot of good sunshine it is the most stunning billbergia I've seen. just want to go take it back but I'll wait for a pup. just goes to show that the plainest of plants can because a Cinderella if moved into a better position with more or less light.

If anyone wants to try some acanthostachys seed raising I have about 10 or 12 seeds. they are so big you can sow them individually in small seedling trays. Hayden our grandson has done that and we have 2 dozen growing. I did see another seed pod last week and couldn't stop myself from squeezing and washing the seed. it's now dried out and ready to go in the fridge. Pic 5 is my acanthostachys flowering at present.

Hi to all not mentioned like Tash, Trish, Ian, Jean, tropicbreeze, Jen, Sue, Cody if you are still reading, and anyone I missed. Night all. I'm off to bed now.
Wendy