Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for Novices and Addicts - September 2014, 1 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Well I’m still wrestling with these bloody advert’s on my monitor and have to move things around to read the posts and believe me it’s very frustrating.

I haven’t had an answer back from DG yet regarding my complaint and I’m now beginning to wonder if this latest “gremlin” prevented the message getting through. Any other occasion I’ve sent in a complaint about a problem I’ve had an answer the next day but not this time.

Quite an unpleasant day here yesterday with a sudden rise in temperature to 36c with a warm westerly wind blowing to make things more unpleasant. Today it’s only 26c with a cool southerly breeze blowing so now I have to get out of the shorts and back into the “trackies”.

It’s that time of the month again and time for a new thread, which I said I’d have a go at doing this time, but given the problems I’m currently having, plus the fact I seem to have misplaced the directions Shirley sent me, it may be better if someone else starts one. Who knows, a new thread might just fix the current problem some of us are experiencing.

Teresa – I’m pleased to hear DG is looking better for you as it certainly isn’t for me.

What’s with the aviation is this what hubby works at? I don’t expect there’s too many brom’s in that line of work, although you did post some great shots which you took during your break.

Although the flowering Alcantarea in the first pic looks great and the Neo’s which you obviously couldn’t resist (because they are spotted), I especially like the effect with the brom’s on that rustic looking fence, I think it’s fantastic and certainly an idea worth trying. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Trish – I’m pleased you had a nice birthday celebration (not the hangover afterwards). It’s true that a bit of wine helps make celebrations go off much better but unfortunately for every plus there’s a minus and that comes the next day with a thick head. The main thing is that you enjoyed your day.

It’s good that you have a new “Brom Friend” and hopefully it can turn into something good for all of you as it’s great to have a mate with similar interests. One of the great US brom growers (I just forget his name) once wrote that all brom growers should have a “Brom Buddy” as he called it. I have to agree as when my brom mate was alive we had some great times and brom discussions together and we learnt a lot for each other. It’s a good way to share knowledge and something from which you will all benefit.

Speaking of the Neo mini’s you scored reminded me that it was only two years ago that I decided I would have to start down-sizing and gradually get out of the large Neo’s and into the mini’s. Well I got into the mini’s but not out of the large ones. The good news is though, that in our show this year I won first, second and third in the mini class. I got first with Neo.’Auroa’, second with Neo. ‘Dinkum’, and third with Neo.‘Turmoil’. What’s more, all of these plants came from pups that I had previously swapped right here on D.G. with other members.

I presume when you mentioned Neo.‘Something Special’, you meant xNiduregelia ‘Something Special’ which after all isn’t a Neo. but a bi-generic. I agree with what you say about the leaves though; xNiduregelia ‘Something Special’ has soft spines on the leaf edges which are different to Brian’s plant now that he has confirmed the leaves are spineless.

This leaves us with the possibility that it could be a spineless Neoregelia, a Guzmania or a xGuzvrisea. There is still something about the centre that reminds me of a Nidularium though, is there such a thing as a smooth leaved Nidularium? The other thing I’ve noticed is that the leaf edges seem to be brittle and appear to be easily damaged which is a trait I’ve noticed in some Nidulariums as well, so maybe a “spineless” xNiduregelia may also be an option if there are such things, and as I’ve learned since my involvement with brom’s, anything is possible.

Nice pic’s you’ve posted again, and comparing your first pic with that of Brian’s unknown Vriesea, I don’t think there’s any doubt that his plant is Vr. ‘Red Chestnut’ and a very nice one at that. Your Ae. orlandiana is a “beaut” does it have a varietal name?

I don’t know any of the next three and I must say Neo. 'Adventuous' didn’t do anything for me until I looked it up on the BCR and see what a beautiful plant it is when finally mature.
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=2844#2844
Likewise with Neo. 'Koolau Dawn' which is only a pup and also has a lot more growing to do before it turns into the beautiful Hawaiian hybrid of Sharon Petersen’s shown on the BCR
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=5294#5294
Neo.’Proud Beauty’ also has some growing to do yet and as the picture on the BCR isn’t very good there’s nothing to really indicate what it will be like, but it was bred by Grace Goode and she never named plants that weren’t good anyway.

Brian – It’s interesting what you say about loading photo’s; some of our members have also found that when loading photos from other than P.C’s, they sometimes come out sideways on DG. It doesn’t worry me though as I’m way behind with that sort of technology and just have my old PC which I got from Noah when he cleaned out his Arc.

Thanks for the new pic’s of your unknown plants. I’ll post the pic of your Tillandsia to my friend but the actual flower will tell the story for sure. I’ve found that even though they look like they’re about to flower, sometimes they sit at that stage for months, so don’t be concerned when it takes longer than expected to flower. See comment about your ????Neo. above in Trish’s post.

That little area you have is now taking shape and starting to look great especially the mesh on the wall for hanging plants from. Before you know it, it will be full of plants so make sure it’s securely attached to the wall.

Jean – Nice to keep hearing things are going well for you and you’re settling in to your new home. As for these adverts, they’re driving me “nuts”. The ones on my screen don’t have a small x anywhere and there’s only a small triangle and when I click on that, it just brings up the entire add, so I’m not as lucky as you as I’m stuck with them until DG decides to do something.

Anyway, enough whinges, I’ll try an see if I can load some pic’s. Pic 1 is of my Red Chestnut to compare with Brian's plant and the next four are from our show. Pic.2 Ae. Ensign, Pic.3 Ae, fasciata variegata, Pic.4 a different clone of Ae, fasciata variegata and Pic.5 Bill.'Stephen Stone'

All the best, Nev.