Australian and New Zealand Gardening: BROMELIADS IN SUMMER ..2014, 1 by SBMLM

SBMLM wrote:
Hi all,

Muggy day yesterday and finished off with a lot of lightening and rain in the afternoon.

Struggling to get around for the last couple of days as I stupidly agreed to fill in for a game of cricket on Saturday. Muscles were popping that I didn't know existed.

Good on you Jean, last thread was getting a bit long.

Colleen, I also think the ferns and bromeliads are a good match. Lake Bonney looks like a nice place. I had a read on the Donald Cambell attempt, interesting. Take it easy with the spider bite thing, sounds a bit nasty. I can remember going to stay down at my grandmother's house at Woonona and she used to bake Anzac biscuits, eating them straight out of the oven was brilliant. Strange the things you remember.

Teresa, what are you studying? I have just today finished a Tafe course that I started 2 years ago to get my qualifications up to scratch. Started out feeling really strange sitting in a class full of 20yr olds, but after doing the same job for the last 30yrs I really enjoyed doing something different. Also I didn't realise how much I didn't know about the different regulations and standards.

Diane, getting better I hope.

Trish, the pictures you put up of your Vrieseas are very nice, aren't the lines on them great. I especially like the one in the 4th picture. I haven't decided on a shade house up the back. I think I might be able to get away with putting them under the existing trees, wife's not keen on me taking up the whole yard as yet but I can see that happening.

Shirley, yeh I have a son who is into the computer games, they know how to charge for them don't they.
I agree with you about the heat, it seems too early to be having the hot days we are at the moment.

Nev, well done on your 51st wedding anniversary, that's brilliant.
The cruenta (broadleaf) is a nice pic and I think along with the Neo. Fools Gold, Neo. Marble snow is a favourite.
After your recent post on watering of bromeliads, I had repotted quite a few plants and given them a hosing. After a week of hot weather I decided to pull a couple of plants back out of the pots just to see how dry they really were in different sunlight conditions. The plants that I had mixed a bit of soil in with to make them more stable in the pots were far wetter than I would have thought. Even the other mixes had retained a bit of water, so I think cutting back on the watering might be the way to go.

Anyhow hi to everybody else and a couple of mixed pics to finish.

Brian