Australian and New Zealand Gardening: OUR BROMELIADS INTO 2015.. , 1 by splinter1804

splinter1804 wrote:
Hi everyone – Looks like another nice day here today, so back to work in the bottom shade house. I have a couple of benches I have to renovate; when they were built they were OK and adequate for the job but now all of the Neo’s have grown into quite large heavy plants, the front of the benches have dropped a couple of inches with the weight which makes plants more inclined to fall over. Somehow I have to jack up the front bearer and put longer support timbers under them. It will be an awkward job entailing a lot of bending and kneeling and I don’t know how these old legs will handle it, but there’s only one way to find out I guess.

If I get time I also want to take some new pictures so I have something to post instead of the same old ones over and over, so hopefully you will have something new to look at tomorrow.

Teresa – That foliage colour change with the Vr.’Evita’ and Vr. ‘Orange Sundae’ came about quite by accident; I’d re-potted a plant of each and found I had no bench space on which to put them so decided to temporarily hang them until I found a suitable location.

Like most temporary things I do, this arrangement became permanent and it wasn’t until maybe a year later that I noticed the different coloured leaves; I quickly got them down suspecting that they were both rotting, as often the first signs of rot are the leaves changing to a brighter colour. Because these were up high, I thought maybe the water in the centre had overheated during one of the previous very hot days and scalded the centre of the plant and cause it to rot. I must say I was pleasantly relieved to find this wasn’t the case and it was a foliage colour change due to the extra light and something I saw as quite an attractive feature. It’s even better with the Vr. ‘Evita’ as that plant has yellow flowers which makes even more of a contrast. I have a picture somewhere of two ‘Evita’ plants, one grown in low light and the other grown in strong light, and if I can find it I’ll post it.

I still shudder when I think of what could have happened if “Sugar” had caught one of those larger rocks thinking it was a ball. It doesn’t matter what you do or where you go, there always seems to be someone willing to spoil it for everyone else. I think those boys needed a well placed boot up the bum which would give them cause to think of the possible serious implications of their actions....... Here I go; cranky old man again, and I promised I wouldn’t be like that this new year too.

Colleen – Your lovely picture says it all; two happy, contented young boys obviously very comfortable and satisfied in the loving environment in which they live. The thought of getting stuck into the prawns may also have contributed to the happy look on their faces, but that’s just natural for young boys with big appetites.

I suppose your ear has taken a pounding listening to all that happened during their holiday, but I imagine the staying up late on New Year’s Eve would be one of the highlights.

It’s funny you say you didn’t get anything done while they were away; I had a similar experience when my kids were younger. The three of them and my wife had all gone up to Port Macquarie for a long weekend to the Surf Life Saving Association Junior Country Titles. (All the kids were in the Surf Club at that time and surf carnivals were a regular thing).

We had planned for me to stay home and paint the lounge room while they were all away as I would have open slather with no kids getting in the way and would breeze though it in no time. WRONG! It just seemed so unnatural with no “kids noises” I just couldn’t get motivated and in the end the job didn’t even get past the preparation stage, and it wasn’t done until they were all home again and things were back to normal.

As for the wire for the shade cloth, why not wait until Uncle John comes up again and let him do it; you can’t afford to be taking a nose dive off a ladder, and besides you say the shade cloth as it is, is doing the job anyway.

As for the natural Christmas Tree, I remember when I was a kid I decided we should have a Christmas tree and as pines didn’t grow in our area, a young Casuarina (Swamp Oak) had to suffice. What I didn’t know was that these trees attract mosquitoes and after it had been in the lounge room for a couple of days, I accidently bumped against it one day and disturbed hundreds of mosquitoes. It wasn’t long before the ultimatum was issued by Dad for the removal of the tree. After that it was all artificial ones.

I don’t visit the tea room, but it’s good to hear Dianne is OK; just a pity she doesn’t drop in here anymore.

That’s it for today, so a few pic’s to finish with. The first picture is of Vr. ‘Orange Sundae” growing on the bench in the Vriesea shade house with the other Vrieseas. Note the difference in the foliage colour to the one I posted yesterday that had been hanging near the roof. (Excuse the bird poop from the birds sitting on the TV antenna above) Pic. 2 is an assortment of Vriesea gruberi plants from the collection of a friend. Pic’s 3, 4 and 5 are Neo’s in my Neo shade house about 2009, just after a recent thunderstorm.

All the best, Nev.