Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS FOR MARCH ....2014, 1 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Here we are again at the start of another new week. Not much done here yesterday, we took one of our grandsons to the light Rail Museum for some train rides in the morning and I spent the afternoon potting up a “mixed bag” of “odds and sods”.

These were the ones that had been put in the “to be done later area” and consisted of Canistropsis, Billbergias, Vrieseas, Neo's and Aechmeas. While I was looking for somewhere to put them I spotted a pot knocked over and when I stood it up I noticed a flower spike just emerging. When I looked at the name, much to my surprise it was Aechmea 'Del Mar' which I got from Sue as a pup some time ago and had forgotten I even had it so it got potted up as well and now I wait to see what the flower turns out like.

Hi Theresa – How's things going over there in New Zealand?

Ian – I remember when we moved, I went through the same things you are going through now, checking, double checking, a little maintenance of the house here and there and a bit of painting thrown in as well. Just as you're about to leave you realise the house is looking better than it ever looked and then ask yourself the question; “am I doing the right thing moving from here”?

Then you have to have a reality check and remember all the reasons you decided to move in the first place. I don't know how long you've lived there but in my case it was where I was born and the day we left was a sad day for me I must admit. The thing is, nothing can take away the good memories.

I like the xAnagelia 'Madam Lash'; this is another plant we have to thank John Catlan for as well as Aechmea 'Aztec Gold' which was another of his creations.

As I look at the rot on your Alcantarea, it seems like you still have a fair bit of sound tissue around the base. I would trim it back as far as necessary to remove the rotted tissue and then dip the end in Flowers of Sulphur and leave it for a few days to dry out completely before deciding on your next move.

That's a nice looking 'Galactic Warrior' Ian, and I hope you don't think I'm starting a “Pick on Ian Week” but if it was mine, I'd take it out of the blue pot and put it in a dark green or black one and see how much better it looks. I give this suggestion because after much discussion and various colour trials over a few years at our brom society, it was a unanimous decision that these two colours best compliment the plants.

We now have a rule that all brom's exhibited in the Monthly Point Score or the Annual Show must be in black or dark green plastic pots as it was decided that fancy coloured pots detracted from the plant; e.g. if you have a table of plants in the required standard coloured pots and put a plant among them in a brightly coloured pot, all eyes are drawn to the coloured pot and away from the plant, and after all it's the plant we should be looking at and not the pot.

In my own collection I changed over to all black pots about five years ago and I'm pleased I did because all of my plants look so much better when they don't have to compete with a brightly coloured pot. It's just a little thing but it makes such a big difference.

Wendy – We have a similar problem, however mine is more advanced than yours. I too can remember faces and can even remember the names of many of the steelworkers who passed through the ambulance rooms during my thirty years working there, but introduce me to someone new now and an hour later I can't remember their name.

As for what you said about the plants, “some days I can stand looking at a brom and know that I should know the name but it just won't come to me. I just have to walk around looking for another one and hope the label hasn't faded on that one”, I do exactly the same thing, but once I have found the name I forget where the plant was that started it all......doh!

Passwords; well that's a whole new ball game and what I've done is to make a thin, slide out shelf beneath the top of my computer desk and on this I have written all of the current passwords. I know it's not very good security, but then there's only my wife and myself in there anyway. I knew a bloke at the steelworks once who reckoned he had the fail-safe way of remembering the password on his credit card; he just wrote it on the card where he knew he wouldn't lose it ???????????.

I'm pleased to hear the party went off well; they always seemed a lot of hassles to organise to me but as that bloke on the”A Team”often said, “I love it when a plan comes together”, and although when my daughter organised my 60th Surprise Party and after I got over the initial temptation to “write he out of my will”, I really enjoyed it and it was great seeing my brother and his family as well as all of the blokes I worked with on our shift 4 in the ambulance.

I think now that every time the grand-kids have a birthday party, I possibly missed out on something as a kid, as none of the kids where I lived ever had a party; we always got a birthday present but no party. On the other hand we were luckier than the kids of today as we had the freedom to roam all around the countryside rabbiting, fishing, swimming, bird nesting and exploring, without the fear of being accosted by some “sicko” as often happens today, so I guess it all evens itself out in the end.

I'd just like to inform you all before I go, that Geoff Lawn has just registered a new Billbergia hybrid for me. It was a Rick Cairn's seedling which I got as part of a swap for some Neo seedlings and it was made from Bill.'Fred Red' x 'Hallelujah' and has been registered as Billbergia 'Stephen Stone'.

Just to fill you in a bit about how I decided on this name; Stephen was a friend of mine and always a bit of an artist. He did a lot of nice work but two years before he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer he became friends with a young aboriginal chap near where he lived and this chap taught him a lot about Aboriginal "Dot Painting". They became very close friends and spent a lot of time together painting and Stephen's style changed and became a combination of his own personal technique combined with the Aboriginal painting styles. The last time I saw Steve, the plant I have just registered was about three quarters grown and showing some nice colour which attracted Steve's artistic eye and he said the white "dots" reminded him of Aboriginal "Dot Painting". He also asked if he could paint a picture of it for me next time he came down and obviously I agreed. However he passed away later that year at the young age of 42 and never got the chance to paint the picture of the plant he liked so much, that's why I thought it would be nice to name the plant after him as a lasting, living legacy.

Time to go and I'll finish with a few pic' of Bill.'Stephen Stone'.

All the best, Nev.