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

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi Theresa and Ian – Well here we are half way through the weekend already. The rain has finally stopped here so maybe the weather forecast is right for a change. I was able to get out around the garden yesterday for the first time for a few days and as usual I found something that wasn't there last time I looked. It's an Aechmea and that's it; that's all that's on the label but the thing is there is an inflorescence starting to emerge from the centre, so something new to look forward to. Judging by the foliage colour it could well be one of the Ae spectabilis seedlings I grew from seed a few years back, however I'll just have to be patient and wait until it flowers to be sure.

I relocated lot of Bill's to another area yesterday and was amazed to see all the new pups popping up all over the place, and it seems that finally I've got the right combination of potting mix and light that agrees with them.

Theresa – Like you say a lot of people assume New Zealand will be much colder than Australia, (including me), and I think it's due to all the pic's of the snow we see on the travel brochures that gives this impression. I know it wasn't until I started visiting some of the brom forums that I found out that some magnificent brom's are bred and grown in New Zealand.

Ian – Thanks for the info about “Rightsurf “ and “adaware”; all I have to do now is find out what “adaware” is as I'm really not up to speed on the names of different computer related things. I assume they are two programmes which have been attached to something you down loaded and have remained within your computer until you've just now managed to kill them.

While we're on computers, is there anyone who knows how to start a new thread for April as it will be the start of the month on Tuesday and as Jean usually does it but is otherwise occupied nursing a sick hubby, we need someone else to do it.

The word “grex” has been discussed quite a few times now on various forums and for some reason the BSI is trying to dissuade people from using it when discussing bromeliads as they seem to think that as a term relating to brom's, it's too vague and leads to confusion.

Personally I think it's quite simple; the dictionary defines “grex” as “(Botany) a group of plants that has arisen from the same hybrid parent group”. So if we cross plant “A” with plant “B”, all resulting seedlings from this crossing are collectively known as a grex which we could call plants “C”.

It seems to me the problem comes when naming individual plants. As an example, under the old system all seedlings grown using seed from the same seed pod were firstly registered with the “grex” name (using the example above) of “C” and then if they were good enough for registration, they were given an individual varietal name to separate them from the rest of the grex.

For instance in the above example the plant would be registered as Neoregelia “C” variety 'Ian'. Once registered as such, this same name couldn't be registered for any other plant. This system worked well for bromeliads and orchids or many years and is still used today in the orchid world. It was the B.S.I. who changed it so that the grex name is no longer used and just the varietal name is registered e.g. Neoregelia 'Ian' .

A good example of this was the Neo. “Aussie Dream” grex where the registrar at the time wouldn't register plants using the grex name along with the varietal name and an example is Neo. Aussie Dream 'Lovely Lady' which is now just called Neo. 'Lovely Lady' (with a foot note saying "See 'Aussie Dream' for listing of many other cultivars").

The fact is that although a lot growers still think the old system was the better of the two and take the attitude of 'If it ain't broke don't fix it”; the bottom line is, that the Bromeliad Society International is in control of all registrations internationally and they make the rules and we have to abide by these rules if we want to register a plant.

I personally think that without complicating anything in the registration process, the use of the grex name still has a place with individual growers as you've just illustrated whereby these growers know exactly what seedlings came from what seed batch simply by looking at the grex name, and besides it's much quicker to write a grex name on a name tag than the whole formula name.

How do you find the white plastic Venetian blind strips handle the UV. rays of the sun? This was one of my concerns (apart from the Bower Birds) as they are thinner than the usual name tag I thought they may become brittle with age.

Looking at your pic's now and Ae. 'J.C. Superstar' is a nice plant with the pink and silvery banding but for anyone who hasn't grown it before, it does need good light to show this colour. Grown in low light it just comes another grey/green “nothing plant”. I really can't comment on the Dyckia as I don't grow them and know nothing about them; too many prickles for me.

Neo. 'Pink Spider' also has lots of prickles but I still grow it as Neo's are my passion. It's a primary hybrid from a crossing of two species Neo. pendula x eleuthropetala and when grown into a large specimen is a spectacular looking plant. (See Pic.1 of a nice example of a larger plant exhibited at our 2013 show)

Your Pic.4 shows seedlings; and a nice healthy looking batch they are and possibly even some champions of the future? Where would we be without these as we continually strive to grow that plant that is better and different than all of the others.

Finally xAnamea 'Scorpio' a bi-generic cross (and for those who aren't familiar with the tern “bi-generic” it simply means using two parents each from a different genera) in this case ananas and aechmea. As it's a “Hummel” hybrid we don't know which ananas and aechmea he used as parents as he rarely listed the parent's names when registering his hybrids. When not in flower it is a pretty ordinary looking plant but it does get nice mauve/blue flowers located down in the centre of the vase. (See Pic.2)

That's all for today and the pic's I've chosen today are none of my plants but a mixture from other growers. Pic.1 Neo. 'Pink Spider' exhibited by a society member at our 2013 brom show, Pic.2 shows the attractive flowers of xAnamea 'Scorpio', Pic.3 is Nidularium 'Litmus' also taken at out 2013 show, Pic.4 is Ae. pineliana unfortunately the bright yellow flowers have finished but the brilliant scarlet bracts remain and Pic.5 is an interesting Tillandsia “ball” also taken at our 2013 show (Sorry I don't know the name).

All the best, Nev.