Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads For Novices and Addicts - October 2014, 1 by bromishy

bromishy wrote:
Hi Everyone!

Can’t believe it’s almost Wednesday… must remember to put the bins out in the morning LOL.

The weekend flew by but I had a great time preparing for the market which went really well on Sunday where we went with a trailer full of broms and only come home with about 10 out of 60 broms so it was a very successful day and I had a great time chatting with all the customers that came through passing on growing tips and answering any questions they had. The weather was perfect with a nice breeze blowing so that kept the heat down a bit and I had a great spot shaded by beautiful tree’s which was lovely.

Hi Jean so very pleased to hear you also sold most of your plants to the same person and that at least they live close for you to visit any time you want which works out great for you especially if down the track you might be chasing the same plant again and could do some swapping of some sort.

Looking forward to seeing pics when you get a chance, as well as when your 15 Rose bushes have grown, I can imagine how beautiful they will all look in full bloom and would luv to see pics down the track. What a great pic of your resident Koala having a peaceful nap, I always like how relaxed they look in the way they just lay around so comfortably without falling out of the tree given some of the positions they can be in he he.

Also pleased to hear you liked the picture of the tiny little frog in Joe’s brom, we ended up getting one of the pictures framed and it’s now hanging in our living room area for us to enjoy every day. As for our Sausage Dog “Lexi” in amongst the brom pic, she does her utmost best not to knock any over even with that spaghetti body of hers, something I drummed into them from the very first day I adopted them from the R.S.P.C.A, whenever they were in the garden near the brom’s I would say to them “Be Careful, Be Careful” and they now know to be careful around my broms, most of the time unless there is a snake in amongst them then that’s a different story and they cause a bit of destruction along the way when all they want is the snake LOL.

Hi Teresa pleased to hear you had a great time with Sugar at the show and thanks for sharing those great pictures with us, she is such a very pretty girl and looks like she tries here hardest to make you a proud mum. Lexi’s cute little face in the broms is sometimes the reverse where we only see her tail and bottom but I always seem to miss getting a picture of that as she slithers her way in there quicker than I can click our camera ha ha.
Also pleased to hear you liked Vr. ‘Cracker Jack’ and the Dessert Rose garden; we have just put in a Succulent & Cacti Garden also so I will have to take and upload some pics to share with everyone, it’s finished but needs a lot more plants in it but this will take years to fill and something that does not need to happen overnight but at least the hard parts done cleaning out the old garden bed and putting in new irrigation, lights, pebbles etc. makes a huge difference from before.

Hi Brian I just got rid of a trailer full of broms and you have just acquired a trailer full of broms he he. How exciting that would have been for you and by the looks of the pics you shared with us you came home with a fantastic hall. Next you will be like many of us here trying to off load a few to make room in the garden for some more; it’s a never ending backwards and forwards and forwards and backwards kind of thing especially once those pups start popping up everywhere, but it’s great fun and something I will never tire of.

Pleased to hear you liked the pic of the frog in Joe’s orchid, we picked out the best of the pics he took and got it framed and it looks fantastic.

It was great meeting some of the locals at the market on Sunday as well as a lot of people travelling from different parts of Australia that took broms with them to take or post home.

Hi Nev hope you are on the mend and can totally understand why you are felling so frustrated at the moment being “Grounded” as you say, it’s times like this I wish we lived closer as I would be over in a flash to lend a helping hand as there is always so much to do isn’t there around the place; like I went for a walk around the garden late this arvo when I got home from work and there are hundreds of large old avocado leaves that have littered all my broms with the wind that came through on the weekend so I have a lot of cleaning up to do between now and the weekend otherwise that’s all I will have time to do on the weekend and I have so many other things I need to get done around the place, it’s never ending but I do enjoy it. Just do what you can do as the most important thing is to take it easy and give your hand time to heal, and lucky broms are tough and I am sure they can do without you for a bit.

Pleased also to hear you like the Frog Pic and the new Desert Rose Garden, we have to get a new leaf blower to blow the leaves off the white pebbles though because the gumtree leaves have started falling so not looking so neat at the moment but still very nice compared to what it looked like before.

Thanks for sharing with us all the great info on the mealy bugs; I will have to put some time aside over the weekend to have a good read.

Hi Colleen thanks the stall I had at the market was a great success and I had such a great time meeting and chatting with people that knew mainly very little about broms but with the odd collector in there chasing one’s on their wish list.

Yum I luv stone fruit especially nectarines and the white one’s have been beautiful from the shops of late but I am sure nothing compared to what you have been eating. Sounds like you guys got a good downpour of rain and the boys sounded like they had a great time getting caught in it and it’s something I too remember I always enjoyed as a kid getting absolutely soaked and jumping in puddles LOL.

Hi Shirley thanks did great at the market, better than I had expected really but it helped that there were so many people around, from about 9am to 10.30am was where I was flat out busy but for the whole 5hrs I hardly had a chance to sit, eat or drink, it was just like go, go, go from the very start and slowed down a bit in the last hour.

Our pouches too are feeling the heat so I have a half clam shell pool (for kids) that I fill with a couple of buckets of water for them to play in during the day, Lucy jumps in it and luvs it, Lexi just drinks from it as she is not much of a water baby unless we hold her and take her in the pool with us.

Lovely pics you posted, I especially liked the pic you posted of Pic 2 Neo’ OBE, I have not heard of this one before, can you please shed some light on its parentage?

Anyway I must fly, its way past my bed time, one quick picture to attach but that's all I have time for - one from the back garden taken over winter. Sorry sideways shot by the looks of things taken on my phone.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish