Sue this is another three toe
Bromeliads for novices and serious addicts #12, Aug 2010
Hi Again,
Jen-I have been into Broms for about 8 years-only seriously for the last 4 years.I concentrate on neos,mini's,vrieseas-mainly pattern leaf ones,bills & have a real passion for Alcantarea's-I have approx 40 different varieties of al,s-some of them such as my favourite-pupurea of which i have 6 plants-goodness knows where i'll find room for them as they grow-I love them for the statement they make & the fact that you can have the same plant for so long.
Hi Max ...welcome.
Your brom garden is just too perfect! * jealous*
Can anyone tell me the name of this brom please?
It had Neo. 6th America on the tag but on a Google search I didn't get any results.
Hi Max, welcome to the brom addicts site. Your garden is beautiful and I'm sure that it gives you much pride and pleasure. Marleneanne you are getting quite a collection of lovely broms too. I haven't bought any new ones lately. Colleen
Hi Marlene, take your pick it could be one of three Red Macaw, marmorata,or correia-araujoi,I'm leaning towards Neo correia-araujoi.notice the lower case in the spelling of the last two neo's this denotes that they are species and for more information on those two look up Derek says on the F.C.B.S. site cheers Mike
Welcome Max...I am a lurker who thought that your garden was SENSATIONAL.....
It will be very interesting looking at your posts.
Jean, this purchase makes quite a few now... what a bargain buy....they will be lovely when they colour up.
Sue, it was a NT photo from a CaneToad website...
Colleen, I liked your reaction to the Cane toad...made me laugh..
Lovely photos everyone.
Dianne
I forgot...for those who didn't see him in the tea room...here's a lovely garden ornament for those beautiful gardens...
Nice Breeindy. Neo. pemiento is one I had on my wish list for awhile. I never did get it, but theres still time...he he.
Hello Max, great to have another bromeliaddict amongst us. I'm sure you will get the gist of posting pics for us, with the help of Mike. Its not too hard when you've done it a few times. Most of us are short of time, hence a quick post (for me, almost nightly) and then onto something else. I hardly look at the other threads these days. I think I've become a thread-snob! Anyway, I really enjoyed the pics of your gardens, and saw alot of very nice stuff, set up really well and with good ideas. One day when I get up to Mikes for a visit, I'm sure he'll bring me to meet you too.
Mike, I love your Guzmania. Now that I'm getting a few more protected shade areas, I am finding I am taking notice of them more, and bought G. 'Neon' last week. Its not fully in colour yet, but I will show you when it is. Your V. 'Gruberi' is lovely. I bought mine thinking that it would look like yours, not realising there were a few variations. The one with purple in it is a bit like yours, just darker where the rust colour is in yours. It could have been the light they were grown in. I saw them at the local botanical gardens, and thought if I moved mine into better light I would get the same effect. uh-uh! Mine is like the first one you posted.
Jen, i think they get a flower much the same as V. ospinae. I haven't seen one yet though.
Colleen, the warmer weather is just around the corner. Time for buying is nearly here! I potted up some sad looking succulents today to keep the urge to pot broms, at bay. A few more weeks yet before I start. Is that N. 'Break Of Day'? Looking good.
Mike, I looked at Neo. correia-araujoi. Gosh, isn't it variable, (going by the pictures) but after reading the article and seeing that it is thought/beleived they are a natural hybrid of two other species, its easy to see why seed grown plants would differ.
Marlene, whatever it is, its very nice. I wonder how it will go in bright light? I bought a 'supposed' Neo. 'Red Macaaw' off Ebay, but I don't know. I'm not convinced. It doesn't look to me like it will be a very big plant, and the leaf tips have quite a dent in them. I guess i will have to wait and see. I probably paid a little bit much for it, but not outrageous like some things I've watched on Ebay! Theres not much that appeals to me on there at the moment. Its a bit sad. However, i will be tripping up to brisbane in the not too distant future, so I expect there might be some serious brom shopping going on while I am there!
Oh No, not Neo. 'Jewellery Shop' again!
Dianne, too funny! He would go good in a blow up pool ring and floating in the pool! Or sitting ontop of the septic system, or hanging out of the mouth of a fake crocodile. Classic!
Hi everyone. Welcome max! Looking forward to seeing photos of your broms.
Most of my broms are single but when they start to pup i'll swap you's for sure.
Bromalong- ive always loved the look of them patterned brom like the last one posted but them seem to be so expensive compaired to other broms.
Hi everyone. Dianne that garden ornament was a scream !!! would love one" after Sue's suggestions", re the septic tank, you are quick sue love the idea. Sue I know how you feel Re: Red Macaw ! there are some sellers that you should never buy from I have one that I got locally that's nothing like the real Mccoy /Macaw ( come to think of it I don't think any of his plants were correctly named )it gets a bit confusing sometimes ,if marmorata looses its patterning it can look a bit like correia-araujoi and sometimes a Macaw will try to fit in there somewhere ,but when they do the right thing they all three are brilliant plants tried to find some pic's no luck ! will to take some and post them, Breeindy I agree some of the patten leafed Vriesea's can be a bit dear, its hard to compare them with other broms, when you consider it could take six plus years before you get a pup or two and that might all, Marlene I have not seen V. ospine gurberi in flower yet only photos on FCBS site I'll post a pic when it dose,Cheers I posted the wrong pic Re Guzmania moon light the one I put up was a noid, this is moon light sorry!!
Waaaah I want one of those bromalong. Colleen
Wow I'm out of breathe just trying catch up!
Welcome Max! You have a spectacular garden & I guess if you're working full time, you don't have time for much else. But I hope you'll have some time to spend with us folks here at BA (bromeliads anonymous). We'd love to hear of anything that's going on around your garden & pics are much appreciated ;-)
Jean you've picked up a few nice babies there - I think you are seriously hooked!
Re your mystery plant (Aug 5 post), leaf-wise it looks like a neophytum. I've got a similar un-named brom which has purple flowers in a pinkish sheath - it's flowering at the moment. The leaves of mine are a little more upright though. From the flower I'm guessing mine's at least one half Aechmea.
This message was edited Aug 8, 2010 8:08 AM
Grrr just lost my post!!! here I go again.
MarleneAnn re your mystery - I'm with Mike - it looks very much like Neo correia-araujoi to me. here's a pic of mine (pink toed variety) which has been grown in good light, but only late afternoon sun. I imagine it would go redder in the tips in more sun. I thought your tag might actually have been Neo Sth America, but FCBS or google search doesn't come up with anything obvious.
Sue you are spot on with that statue on top of a sewerage tank!!
Your Jewellry Shop is is a real jewel. I love the way the leaves stand up evenly from each other & are nicely spaced - is that "good conformance"? It's a real credit to you!! Don't worry we know it's ya favorite ;-)
Mike, Guzmania Moon Light is very pretty!
This message was edited Aug 8, 2010 8:13 AM
Breeindy, I'm up for swapping when you are!
Mike, that new photo matches the name 'moonlight' much better than the last. I did wonder, but wasn't convinced enough to comment, and then forgot aboit it entirely when I saw Diannes ornament! too funny. Its a beautiful Guzzy. I think i'll put that on my list!
Leisa, I don't know if my Jewellery shop is a good example or not. It used to look like the pictures i've seen, but has continued to colour up. How much more can it get? I have another that is growing in less light with more fert, and it looks more like the pictures, so it will be interesting to see who flower and pups first. It is one of my favourite neos, for sure.
Heres the other, which is also a bigger plant
Leisa, I know what you mean. You stop lurking for a day or 2 and you lose the plot. Sue, I wondered about Mike's Guz. 'Moonlight' as well. Funny colour for the moon. Mike, I love both of them anyway. Max, if you have only been collecting seriously for 4 years I can't wait to see what your collection will be like in a few more years. But where are you going to live? The house will definitely have to go. I'm just starting to get interested in minis. Neo. 'Chilli Verdi' below is my current favourite. Interesting to see you are an ebay addict. Isn't it wonderful. I think my husband thought I was having an affair with someone called Russ because all these parcels kept arriving from him. Some people say that people only put their junk on ebay but most of the sellers I know are the opposite because of the higher prices and feedback system. You'll have to get Mike (or any teenager) to show you how to post photos so we can keep drooling. Jen
Guys, interesting your comments about Vr ospinae & var. gruberii. Mike you mentioned some patterned leaved Vr can take up to 6 years to pup? Is it normal for Vr ospinae var. gruberii to be slow to pup? I bought mine last year & didn't realize at the time it actually had a small pup attached. I've since seperated it off, thinking I might get another one, but no action so far.
Re the colouring, sadly I don't seem to have taken any pics of the parent when I first bought it, but as I recall it;s colouring was more brown & white rather than the current green & white. But yes they certainly have some variation.
This message was edited Aug 9, 2010 10:17 AM
Sue that 2nd Jewellry Shop is just perfect!! It's such a pity you don't live closer to Bris - you could enter it in the BSQ meeting comp.
Jen, Neo Chili Verde is a real little champ for colour isn't it!! I even get fairly good colour (red in the centre) growing it in only good light, but very little direct sun. And I didn't realize mine should have white stripes until I tried to sell a pup on eBay & someone commented whether it was "no var". That's how I'd bought it & from a reputable nursery. Embarrassing!! I've since bought a thing called Neo. Hot Chilli from the same grower & it definitely has strips.
Re eBay, it can be very addictive, especially the thrill of picking up a bargain & then the challenge of maybe buying a couple of items from the same seller at once to save on postage. What stops me, is I seriously ask: "Right if I get this plant, where am I going to put it to allow it to grow to it's best"? Often the answer is: "Douh I actually don't have room for it!". So I've become a serial watcher on eBay!! It is nice to have a parcel appear at your front door though - so I ignore the logic every so often any way & ask the broms all to breathe in a bit to accommodate a new sibling ;-)
I found this flowering the other day. It's a nice stoloniferous plant, that has coloured up nicely over the winter in almost full sun. I hadn't noticed the flowers, as it was hanging up quite high - lucky I had to move it.
opps forgot to give the name Bill. amoena stolonifera. Here's the plant.
Very Pretty!!
Pretty in pink! Broms as a table decoration.
That is Beautiful, Leisa. Love the settings and color coice. Welcome Max.
Sue, you have a lot to answer for. I did it again. I saw a lovely Jewellry Shop pup on eBay for only $8 so I grabbed it. I'll post a pic when it arrives. You have made me into a bromaddict.
Alas though. Poor Chantinii couldn't stand the cold so I know not to buy any more of those. Her middle fell out yesterday when I touched her. Maybe a bigger plant might have done better as she was only a small pup.
My lovely Aecmea Inca that hubby bought me last year has also gone to brom heaven. I noticed her getting black in the middle a few weeks ago and thought she may be dying after so many pups as she had 2 nearly full size pups and 2 small ones attached when brought home. I sold the large pups and was going to keep the smaller ones, but even though they grew well and were quite large by now, they turned black in the middle too. When I looked yesterday, the centres just came out in my hand, all rotten.
I kept the broms all pretty dry during the cold, just making sure there was a little water in their cups. What did I do wrong ? Everything else looks good , even some I thought may die in the cold, have come through well.
Now I will have to replace Chantinii with a different ,hardier striped one and maybe look for a large aechmea similar to A. Inca
Jean.
Jean I don't know if this is correct or not but I was told to make sure that there was no water in the wells if frosts were around because the water freezes and makes the brom rot. It sounds logical to me. What do you make of that information bromaddicts? Colleen
On that question ctmorris- do i keep water in the middle of my broms all the time, even in winter? We don't really get frost but its raining alot atm so they'll be full now..
I did a search online to find out more on how to look after my Bil. nutans & got very little info so wondering if anyone can tell me if I should trim the spent flowers off?
they look a bit sad now...
the pink stem still looks nice though.
Leisa, your table arrangement is great. They make a good statement eh? I love your V. 'Gruberi'. I like all the white 'windows' in it. One of my friends has one very similar, that I have on my swap list. I prefer that one to the yellow/green. They are slow to pup. I read that on another forum, and that you can add a fertiliser pellet into the leaf axil to try and encourage another, but I don't know what the outcome was. I'm assuming 6 years to flower and pup is if the plant is grown from seed? But there are probably some that do take that long even from pup. Thanks for your com;liment on N. 'Jewellery Shop'. I take no credit, because I placed it in an ideal situation as it was growing, so nature has done all the hard work. I wish I lived nearby to somewhere with a society though. I still haven't taken the steps to start a bromeliad meeting in our area yet, but I have collected quite a few phone num,bers of interested parties. I keep saying I'll do it soon, but seem to be busy with many things. Your Bill. amoena stolonifera is a lovely pink, even without the flower.
Hello Charleen, always a nice comment from you. I hope the weather is being nice to you and the long ears.
Jean, jean, jean! tsk, tsk, tsk. Don't blame me for your blooming love of broms! It states in the title that this thread is for addicts! Congrats on your N. 'Jewellery Shop', and at such a good price. you'll love that one. Sorry to hear that lovely little Aechmea Chantinii didn't make it. I would have been very upset about that one.
I would go with Colleen on that idea. I've never owned broms at the same time as living in a frost/cold prone area, so I haven't got any experience, but it makes sense that the water in the centre would chill the plant at its growth point. Maybe check all the broms by tipping out the water and looking for any signs of rot before it starts, then top up a little if they appear ok? If there is any rot, leave them dry. I think it'd take a very long dry period to keill a brom, whereas cold and wet kills them pretty quick. Never mind, spring is nearly here. I'll have to do some research to see if i can find a cold hardy, stripey brom that will take the cold.
Bree, I was getting abit worried about all the rain we're having during our winter. I've put my 'known' cold tender plants under cover and have given them no water at all over winter. So far they look unchanged, but I'm not game to go touch the centres as Jean did. I think I'd cry over some of them, but it'd be a learning experience I s'pose.
Theresa, you can go ahead and trim off the flowers. This will direct the remaining energy of the plant into producing offsets. The flowering plant will eventually go brown and die, and you can cut the dead leaves as they go brown to keep it looking good. Yours is an easy and forgiving plant to grwo, so don't worry about it too much. I think you've got the knack if you've kept it going through a Christchurch winter! I'm amazed!
I'm sick of the rain! I can't do any work, and I have no bromeliad spending money! I am losing weight though, because I don't have money for food either! Nah, just pulling your legs. I can't wait untill we get some dry weather though, the house is starting to look very clean inside! Don't know what I'll clean tomorrow.
Sue
Jean I can't help you with dealing with frozen centres really. I have heard though that even if you empty a brom of water, it will somehow produce more to ensure there's always some water in the tank. So it might even be hard to get them completely dry if a cold snap is expected. Also with other plants, I've heard that using fish or seaweed emulsion is supposed to help build good plant cell structure that might protect is from the cold also. But I've had no experience with the cold really.
Dalfyre, the standard wisdom is to cut off the flower, so the plant puts it's energy into producing pups. Even if you leave the flower on, it will typically produce pups anyway, but perhaps not as many or not as big.
Hi everyone. Sue you can always come here and give me a hand with the cleaning. There;s always plenty of that around here. Son John is here for a couple of days so he would love to here all about the broms. Colleen
Douh just lost a post!!
Sue I know how you feel re the rain (except for the need to clean for something to do). We've only had a few odd days of rain - but it seems so weird for rain in winter here!! And it's pouring here at the moment & I stupidly watered yesterday.
Colleen say hi to John! I'd love to see some recent pics of his shadehouse...
Colleen, I'll see if i can find the magic carpet and come down for a visit. You me and John can talk broms while I clean your house! i don't really like cleaning, but am running out of things to do. Sorry about my spelling tonight. I have fat, fumbly fingers today, and also have the dropsies. (where you drop everything)
Leisa, we must have been typing our posts at the same time. Glad to see we give almost the same advice. I was thinking about your comment about the brom producing its own moisture. I wonder how a loosly scrunched ball of newspaper would go for protecting the centre? Maybe jean could do some experiments, if I can get her another Inca for next winter.
We usually have a long dry spell for winter, so its a bit annoying to get so much rain. Sorry to the farmers out west, but we haven't had a drought here and have been inundated and flooded a couple of times last year, and they are predicting more of the same for this summer! *sigh* I'm glad I decided to plant tropicals, at least they appreciate the wet, although not in the winter!
Sue
John says hi to everyone and he will send me some more pics of his broms when he gets back home and I will post them for you to see. You sound as though you might be tired Sue. Colleen
Hi everyone if anyone out there would like to swap some rain for Broms I'v got the plants just send it via Tannumsands!!! Leisa some Vr's can take a long time to set pups and even longer to flower it could be that our winters in C Q don't get cold enough or our winters are to short, last year winter happened on the 22 of june or it might have been the 21st !!! Sorry to hear about your plants Jean if it got cold enough to freeze the water in the cup's of your plants then that will do it every time some can take it' but not many ! I think if you want to keep growing brom you are going to have to protect them in winter even if it means covering them with plastic ,a well know en breeder that I know lives in Gympie Queensland Bl***dy cold place in winter she grows her broms and tills in plastic igloos and when it gets really cold ice covers the igloos and this can happen a few time each winter the ice gives the plants some thermal protection and on the nights when frost is expected she will also burn a candel in each igloo and that is enough to stop her plants from freezing,Dalfyre re your Bill, Sue /Leisa were spot on.the pic is of a correia-araujoi followed by Red Macaw
This message was edited Aug 10, 2010 7:01 AM
Red Macaw
the next one is of a Marmorata this plant is a very light form, but still shows the marmoratatation/or patterning of the common plant so its not hard to see the confision between the three
last is a common marmorata in the garden and forgoten (for good reason) by the way leisa that Vr ospirae var gruberii you posted is a really smashing plant
HI everyone !!! Jean awhile ago I came across a posting on Garden Web that blew me out of the water it is unbelievable what some people can achieve with there plants and it concerns growing broms in cold places here's a link hope it works ! http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bromeliad/msg0517024317421.html?36
If you take a look you need to go through most of the thread .it shows a summer photo's and then a winter one. cheers Mike
This message was edited Aug 10, 2010 8:16 AM
OMG Mike, if those are standard red bread trays under Neo. correia-araujoi & Red Macaw - those broms are HUGE!! i guess that's the positive side of living in a tropical region - neos just keep growing. And having to wait ages for a flower is the down side. Those pics on Garden Web are amazing with the snow in winter!!
Jean I put water crystals in some old misshapen mother plants to keep their tanks moist & maybe get a few more pups. I should try putting the crystals (fully expanded with water) in the freezer & see if it actually freezes or not. If not, then it might one way to stop the water in the tank freezing... I'll give it a go soon & let you know.