bromeliads for novices and addicts, sep, 2012

wow miss a few days and it takes hours to catch up at the moment. Unfortunately when I have the girls sleeping over the 1yo has a portacot in the office so access to big computer is not available. If I forget to turn the modem on before I put her down there goes access to the internet too. I have the night off tonight as mum does't have to work until 1100 tomorrow. She works at Dreamworld now so at least an hour from here. I expect I'll have the girls tomorrow somewhere between 9 and 10 but a sleepin pending after a couple mornings of 6am starts.

Tash I love neo kautskyi and we always try to have some seedlings growing as they sell well. I love growing species like them and hieroglyphica. I usually try to have some kautskyi growing in pure sun and some in semi shade so people can decided if they like it red/yellow or more green/brown. I have also learned that if I grow them in semi shade till they get a good size then introduce them to more sunshine to colour up they are much nicer plants.

We have ae freckles and another called speckles. I think they are actually freckles and fosters freckles. I would like to try one of them in a bit more sun to get the good colour into them. Speaking of good colour we are caring for my sisters chooks at the moment and splashing a bit of water around her garden that we did for her. She has some brilliant clumps of broms there including a portea petropolitania var petroplitania that is growing in the sun. I have never seen such a yellow specimen with red tips and a red tinge at the base. I love it. they are smaller plants but the colour is amazing. I think in the 3 weeks we have been watering them they look so much better now than when we first started. I don't think they get much water when my sister is looking after them. She also has the best clump of red macaw I've seen with so much red splotching on the tips and down to the centre. I'd love to take half of them home. It looks like they've been taking pups and spreading them around the garden to fill in gaps. Also some nice clumps of ae winkleri all in flower at present with those amazing black bits in the throat and tips. they look stunning in full sun.

I'm so tired tonight after 3 days of chasing little ones and hubby carries on that much about the mess they make I find myself cleaning up 10 times a day just to shut him up. He hides downstairs pottering around while I try to keep them amused upstairs. I take them downstairs often but them the 1yo just climbs back up the stairs anyway so much easier to just shut the gate and keep her there. I'm dying to just potter in the broms and pot up a few pups or seedlings or something but alas no time while babysitting. can't wait for the weekend with 2 days off.

Nice to see some new people posting and some absent one reminding us they are still around.

I'm off for a shower and bed. Have taken pics but haven't downloaded from the camera yet so will do it over the weekend. I'll address some individual posts then too.

Night all.
Wendy

wow Shirley your shadehouse is so full. you have a lot of broms. we'll have to get up to your place before the kids move back down this way very soon now. everything nicely spaced out too instead of crammed in like ours. We also keep saying we are going to get rid of all our NOIDs unless they are so spectacular we just have to keep 1. It seems it doesn't matter how many we sell on our open weekends you can't see where they came out of. The shelves are still too full.

Sue I meant to say it is nice to see your pics and think "I know exactly where that one was taken". It's nice to have been there and remember the layout to work out where your pics are of. It's looking well too so you should do well in the comp. Let us know how you go for sure. Jen told me about your weekend of catching up with her at Ballina. wish I could also be there. maybe I could convince Johnny I need a weekend away from him. Unless I could convince him we need a week away at Coffs again. we keep talking about it. Ah well. I have a few weeks but we need to work out the babysitting first.

Night again.
Wendyu

good morning all. Its a little bit early. I have been awake since before the rooster started to crow! I thought I might as well catch up now, and hope I can go back to sleep later. I don't know if i am a bit stressed from all the garden work yet to do, or what? most likely! 11 more days till judging!
Thank for the nice things you've all been saying. Alot of effort has gone into the gardens over the years, and it really is a nice place to be.
Ian, thats a great idea to use the mesh for scale. (proportion). I am not familiar with your Neoglaziova, so will have to go research now! Your pineapples look great.
Bree, I know your pain. It is hard when you travel and have others to consider. I get my husband a motorcycle magazine to read while I check any garden or nursery out while on the road. Good luck with getting to the orchid show. Love your pics too.
Nev, just wondering, did you miss my last post again? I wonder if DG is playing up for you again? There has been a bit of smoke drifting around here, from distant fires. Yesterday it was 32 outside and a stiff breeze. Perfect bushfire conditions. Our neighbour had 5 bushfire brigades on his property a couple of weeks ago to do a burn off. I am assuming it was used as a training exercise? It only a hectare block, but the owners are not much into yard maintenance. It took them all day to do it, and thankfully the wind was blowing away from us, but I would have hated to be the neighbour on the other side. I hope my neighbour donated generously for their time!
Jean, Jean, Jean....you say you're not into the broms as much as us! You can deny it all you want lady, but you are hooked! heh heh. The first step for the addicted is to admit it, then accept it, then go with it! Then join a support group, like here.
Shirley, your shade house looks awesome! Its so neat, with everything in the one colour pot and the nice gravel floor, and the styrofoam boxes. Thats a fairly large space you have filled there! You might as well keep extending......you know you'll need to! You have a lovely collection and your shade house shows it off well.
Wendy, I don't know how you do it? A one year old is a lot of work! Especially when you have got your own thing going on. Are there no other options for your daughter? I hope its only temporary for you. I know you must love your daughter and grandkids, but it must be quite tiring and difficult by the sounds of it. I hope you can get some time to yourself soon. If you make it down, you are most welcome to come out with us. Doesn't Johnny need to go fishing at Moonee? heh heh.
well, guess I will try and get a couple of hours sleep. Else I will get up and do something until its light, then have an early night tonight. No pics cause I can't find my camera in the dark!
Sue

Hi everyone,

Once again Dave’s Garden is playing games with me and the same thing happened again with my posts yesterday that happened on the 4th. After I posted, there were two more posts which magically appeared which weren’t there before I posted; even though they were posted before mine. What’s going on here? I could have saved myself some time on both occasions as Sue answered the same question that I did. Anyway, I suppose it’s good to see at least we are in agreement with each other.

The old bones are aching a bit this morning as I think I overdid it a bit yesterday. I spent the whole day washing and "prettying up"about twenty plants I intend to exhibit as well as preparing a trial run of my table top display on the “Life Cycle of a Neoregelia”. When all of this was done I then started preparing and tidying up the plants I intend to try and sell on the plant sales tables.

I haven’t exhibited for two years now as I found it was a bit of a challenge getting all the plants ready in the time frame. i.e. it’s no good cleaning plants weeks in advance otherwise dust gets all over them again and you only have to do it all over again nearer the show, so everything has to be done in the three days leading up to the show.

This year requires a bigger than usual effort as three of our biggest growers won’t be exhibiting for various family commitments, so rather than show the general public what a slack lot we are, a few of the members with larger collections have pulled out all stops to make the show a success. Unfortunately with all of the winds we’ve had, a good percentage of my plants aren’t in show condition as they all exhibit some sort of wind damage; really they are definitely not up to show standard and in my opinion, not even worthy of putting on the benches and certainly won’t be worthy of a prize; but that’s not what it’s all about is it? It’s about sharing the beauty of these wonderful plants with the general public and showing what an interesting hobby brom growing really is.

It’s up to us (the growers) to hide the damaged bits as best we can and try and put on an interesting show, after all the general public (unlike judges) won’t be looking for tiny cracks in the leaves or the occasional dead leaf tip or whether or not the plant is exactly in the centre of the pot or has a single scale hiding down in the centre of a Billbergia, they will be just looking at it through the eyes of people looking at a colourful garden.

Sue – You could be on the ball about the spots on ‘Periam’s Pride’ being a “climatic thing” as I looked very closely at my plant (out of curiosity) yesterday and couldn’t find a single spot.

As for the new “Masters Stores”, we are getting one down here as well so perhaps it will give Bunnings a bit of a “shake-up”, whatever it does it must make it better for the consumer as competition is good, and keeps everyone on their toes.

After reading what you said yesterday about Ae. ‘Freckles’ I went looking, and sure enough, you’re right again as I do have a plant of it, and there on the back of the name tag is the name “Sue”. Is your plant Ae. ‘Freckles’ or Ae ‘Foster’s Freckles’ ?

Well it’s now 5.02am and I’m reading your post of the 6th and it’s definitely the last post on the board so we’ll see what happens this time and whether some other posts appear after I send mine.

Breeindy – Neo ‘Rosella’ is a beautiful plant, especially when grown in very good light. Last month I posted a pic of one that I had been grooming for the show and you can see just how the good light brings out the colour.

Jean – You’d better watch out for the Ae. Callichroma as I seem to remember it has pretty vicious spikes along the leaves which can leave you needing a “blood transfusion” if you get tangled up in them.

Don’t let the fact that you have a small collection keep you from writing in these posts, just remember we all started small until the “addiction” really got a hold and then there was no helping us, we were “hooked”.

Ian – That’s such a great idea with the 1” mesh, I wonder why someone hasn’t thought of it before. It would be especially good with the BCR or the FCBS Photo Index while although they are great sites and give interesting info, they very seldom mention anything about the actual plant size.

They are interesting pic’s you’ve posted in the No.1 and No.3 slots and the colour of the flowers is magnificent but the Neo really catches my eye. (You’ve probably learnt by now that I’m a “Neo Man”) Is it an unregistered local hybrid? I can’t see any mention of it on the BCR.

As for your pic No.3, yes there is such a thing as a miniature Ananas plant. I can’t help you much more except to say that Chester Skotak is currently working on miniature Ananas plants.

Shirley – Thanks for the good wishes for our show, I just hope the hot westerly winds stay away.

What you say about your new shade house is very true and something orchid growers found out years and years ago. When I first started growing orchids a wise old orchid grower told me that if and when I decided to build a shade house, firstly, I had to decide how big I thought I would need it and then double it; secondly, work out how many orchids I was going to get, and then get half as many and only then would I be somewhere near the size I need, albeit a little crowded.

Well I can now say from experience that exactly the same thing applies to growing brom’s except that brom growers have an unfortunate saying of “there’s always room for one more” which doesn’t help the overcrowding situation.

I’m very pleased you took that pic, because it won’t be that nice with plants neatly spaced out for long because as your addiction grows so does the number of plants you squeeze in there and then you’ll be just like the rest of us.

The polystyrene boxes are a good idea for benches as they cost little, don’t rot, don’t rust and what’s more they reflect valuable light and always look neat and tidy, Well Done!

Wendy – I have to agree with you about Neo Kautskyi, it’s one of my favourite Neo’s and a beautiful plant which again proves why we all should be growing a few of the better species.

I understand exactly what you say about the “littlies” we have three grandsons who come to visit each weekend and they range in age from two up to five. They only stay about four hours but after they have gone, one word can describe what they leave behind……… “Hiroshima”.

By the way, the courier lady delivered the pup and the seed yesterday so thanks a lot and they will be put to good use. After I get this show out of the way I'll get a parcel in the post to you and Johnny.

Well I’m finished now and it’s 6.56 am (I'm a very slow typist) and still no posts since Sue’s, so I’ll see what happens after I post this time.

All the best, Nev.

Thanks for the advice Nev. I already have Hannibal Lecter , which is really savage , so I know to watch those prickly ones.
Callichroma is certainly one to walk in a wide circle around. .

Sue , you know me and plants...
I started with a few iris and ended up with hundreds.
A huge collection of epiphyllums found me and then the brugmansia germ found its way into my place.
I did try to cut down on the broms but they refused to leave.

I notice there seem to be quite a number of hippeastrums along the wall. I am sure I didnt buy all those.
Ah , I remember . I tried growing from seed and wouldnt you know it, they all survived..

I am not game to look too closely at some of those groups of plants around the place. I think they are breeding.
Must be all the rain...lol

I will try to get new pics of my broms as they brighten up after winter.
I have plenty of pups to take away from their mothers as I am going to sell them at the Trash & Treasure next month.
Gives me pocket money to ..........you guessed it....buy more plants

Happy day
Jean

Hi all, another beautiful day here and just to make it better I can still look at the green side of the grass.
Shirley what an eyeful of broms in your shade house, they look spectacular. The gentle method that I use is to slowly remove the pups from the parent by teasing out the pup and leave a wedge in between the pup and parent, gradually increasing the distance and moving downwards to the joint until after a couple or few months I hear that familiar crack and know that the pup has broken and is usually potted up. I leave it slightly attached for a while and let it grow a bit more like hardening off juvenile plants. If necessary I support them as one would support a fresh pup until they grow roots and become stable.This might take another couple of months and the pup is strong and healthy growing mostly on it's own even though it still has no roots of it's own. Then I remove the pup and plant it in scoria until it gets a good root system and then into a more permanent pot. I have had to this stage 100% success.
Nev I have no idea as to the beginnings of Treasure hunt but hope to see the grower/supplier on Sunday and I could ask questions. Competetions can be fun, maybe that's the wrong word but they certainly require a lot of preparation. I am tossing up on a couple for Sunday group comp. I tried seeds from Tristus x fosperior and got white seedlingss, no chloryphyll means no survival. I guess it is 1 to take off my list of try agains. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Some of these pics are really old,6-12 months anyway and they are for Neo lovers.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 N Indigo mood
Pic 2 N Rosa morado
Pic3N Bills gift
Pic4N Black magic
Pic 5 n Red claw

Hi everyone, lovely warm day today, so out with the jumpers, jeans, joggers and the blankets and bedsox and in with the shorts, t-shirts, thongs, sunscreen and hats … yea, I feel better already.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments about the shadehouse. Sue, we are already talking about extending.

Wendy, you are welcome to call in anytime. I’ll D-mail you our address and phone number.

Nev, maybe you need to ‘refresh’ what you are working on to bring it up to date as when you have a program open for a while, it often doesn’t update unless you refresh the screen.

Ian, thanks for explaining your ‘gentle’ method, I will make a note for future reference.

I was planning an early night so that’s all from me, tonights pic is the shadehouse from a different angle.

Bye for now, Shirley

good morning all.
Nev, I assumed you had a DG issue again, when I saw you repeat (somewhat in more depth) some of what I had written. Like you say, it just helps to confirm we are on the right track.
Good luck with your bromeliad show and I am sure the public will appreciate the effort that has gone in to providing beautiful plants to look at! If you copped the wind, I am sure alot of the other local growers also have the same problem? Take lots of pics eh? I looked up Vriesea 'Pink Sensation' in my journal, and you know, I have no notes of where I got it from, but i do remember being told it was from the same grex as V. 'Gypsy moon' which has fosteriana as its seed parent and no pollen parent listed. i think the hybridisers are buchanan and R.harper. I noticed on garden web, that Richard has pics of Pink Sensation (back in 08-09) so maybe he can fill you in a bit more? The label I had was definitely platynema x Plantation pride, so I think mine was mislabelled for sure!
Hi Ian. You must have a great ammount of patience to do that slow removal process! I guess it could work on v. ospinae types and maybe Guzmania sanguinea? I would love to be ale to get the sanguinea pup off and see if it will grow another, but then again, having a plant that just replaces itself saves on room! Thanks for the Neo pics. Most I have never heard of, so good to see something different.
Shirley, we had a couple of scorchers too! I went from jeans, in the morning, to a sundress by 10am, then shorts when going back in the garden. Its getting very dry here and the wind was a pain, making a big mess everywhere again. It seems very still this morning, and cool again (7degrees) so I might head out and put some water on something.
Yesterday I went to the botanic gardens to see the orchid show, and then down to the hot house to see the broms. They have updated the collection and have a much better variety, making for a really good display! The Orchids were great too, and very fragrant. The sales table was a little exxy for me, and there was nothing unusual enough to draw my attention.
just a couple of pics of the hot house.
The last one is an Alcantarea vinicolour in the gardens.
Sue


This message was edited Sep 8, 2012 7:09 AM

Good morning all.

Sue, I hope my Al. Vinicolour will look like that one day. It is so lovely, as are your gardens.

There are some beauties here. Ian, I only have one ananas, supposedly a pink fruit, but it isn't doing terribly well. Maybe it will pick up in the warmer weather. It is still young, and no fruit as yet.

Have been down the back looking through my broms and seeing some nice looking buds forming. Looking forward to photographing the flowers when they come out.

Such a beautiful time of year, though a bit unpredicable. Very sunny here, but with a chilly wind blowing. Supposed to warm up later though. It is great to see flowers out, and though OT, I am so pleased to see and smell my Wisteria in bloom.

Have a great day.
Karen

Loving this one: Neo. Hearts Music X Grace Darling
Baby Groucho. Can't wait for this one to mature.
Unstable colouring in Neo. Ostrich.
A NOID. I seem to be rather partial to this colouring.

evening everyone. I typed a lovely wordy response last night and then went to select some pics to attach. Alas the computer froze up. Couldn't move the arrow and wouldn't shut down. nothing worked except to open a new window but then that one froze too. so in frustration I simply pushed the button in till it shut right down then I went for a bath and bed. hate computers when they won't behave.

gee there's some activity in this forum all of a sudden. it's lovely to catch up on all the posts each night. so hard to remember all the things we wanted to respond to. love all the pics. Nev I hope your show went well today and all the best for tomorrow as well. Can't wait to see all those pics of your show.

I uploaded all my pics last night and had some lovely shots of seedlings for your Nev but alas it wasn't meant to be posted. now I'm on the laptop and the pics are on the big computer so pffft no pics again. I went through all the seedlings trays today to check if they needed watering and was thrilled to see lots of little green bits in the pitcairnias I got from Brom-L early August. some of the billbergias have also shot so looking forward to some lovely plants soon. still waiting for tillandsias to do something though. I'll share some data tomorrow night on sowing dates and and time to shoot etc. too tired tonight to care so I'll see you all tomorrow night.

Wendy

Hi all, I stuffed up with 1 of my Pics. I named a plant Treasure hunt when it is labled Treasure chest. I have a querie for you all, In the first pic I have Ae Clarise,Ae The Governors Plea,Ae Hanibal Lector, What is the 4th similar plant in this series. I have had a seedy day, either planting more or collecting and I even potted up some seedlings. If I am going to thin them i might as well pot them while I have the time.In a couple of months we are going to get busy at work, so I have to do what I can while I can. I have almost 700 Ae seedlings at the moment.
I know that I wil lose some of them. I found 6 out of their pots today and a tiny catepillar eating 1 in my seed starting tray. He has had his last feed.
I moved a few plants around giving me a bit more space between the plants in the bush house.I think the ones I moved will benefit from more light. I'll soon find out.
Have a good one.
Ian
Pic 1 trio
Pic 2 N Predatress
Pic 3 Quesnelia Arvensis dark form
Pic 4 Ques Arvensis
Pic 5 Ques Mamorata

Good morning, Ian, I'm not sure, but could you be looking for N. 'Norman Bates'? Its not really related to the silence of the lambs, but has hannibal lector as a parent. How did you seedling get knocked over?
Wendy, my seedlings of Aechmea malva are going great guns. Even at small plants, they are starting to show a little mauve. I know what you mean when the computer wont play nice. I've learned to turn it off and walk away also.
Karen, I agree there are nice things coming into bloom. If I recall, you have quite a few flowering broms? Thanks for the compliments on my gardens. The Alc. vinicolour was at the botanic gardens but I WISH it was in my garden! I like all your plants that you posted. I am attracted to variegated neos too!
Yesterday was a dash to the plant fair. We were in and out in under an hour! We know where all the brom sellers are, as they have the same site each fair, so we madly rushed around looking for something new. Alas the pickings were slim. I did manage to get a variegated Guzmania Wittmackii in flower, so was satisfied with that. I tossed up about a Guz. musaica which was only $12, but I already have one, so couldn't really justify it. It was a bargain, but left it for someone else looking for something special, and 20 minutes later, a man picked it up and cradled it lovingly, so I'm glad i didn't take that away from him!
right, I am trying to get back into an exercise routine, so oday is day one and I'm taking the dogs out for a walk.
happy gardening sunday
Sue
More photos from the botanic garden. no label on the hannibal lector looking one. But it had a flower! Mine have never flowered! Must like the humidity?

argh! stuffed up on the pics. was meant to be this one.

Hi All

Hope everyone's well!

Just had 4 days off in a row and can't help but want some more time off to spend in the garden. We were busy on my first day of replacing the shade cloth to the whole of the nursery so I was up on the roof (hubby was supervising from the ground - I wanted to hurl a couple of things at his head on a number of occasions and could have really done with a swear jar up there lol :) from about 7:30am to 11am, the finished job looks fantastic and we are very pleased with the end result and glad we got this job done prior to summer hitting us because I think we are going to be in for a real scourcher of a summer. Took me most of the remainder of the day to recover from the aerobic work-out I had on the roof and I had no choice but to take it easy the rest of the day so just pottering around the garden, pulling out the odd weed and hosing my brom's. Anyway hubbies Orchids, my Ferns and all my other plants will be well protected over summer so we are very pleased we got this big job out of the road.

Hi Shirley, Wow! beautiful pic's of your shadehouse, great job how you have it all set-up is amazing and I luv all the beautiful colours and types of brom's you have - so much wonderful colour in each and every brom and they all look so healthy.

Hi Sue, thanks for sharing beaufiful pic's of the brom' hothouse you went to see at the orchid show, it is always nice to see how they have everything staged and growing, nice to get idea's where you can that can possibly fit in somewhere around one's own garden. Nice pic of what looks to be Hannibal Lector, I have this one but can't confirm the flower as mine has not flowered yet?

Hi Karen, look forward so seeing pic's of your brom's flowering - always an exciting time when it arrives. I too have a pup of Groucho and it is doing really well and colouring up nicely, I will post a pic sometime soon (too many pic's attached hereto already).

Hi Wendy, yeah computers sometimes get the better of us and it's good to know when to walk away lol. I'm on them all day long, hence why I look forward to a bit of fresh air come clock-off time and the weekends. Look forward to seeing some pic's from you soon.

Hi Nev, hope the brom' show went smoothly and that you had some time to enjoy yourself. Look forward to hearing how it all went. Now hopefully you can rest some and catch you breath for a bit and reflect on how great I am sure everything went.

Hi Ian, thanks for the valuable advice about separating safely Splendrite pups off mother, I can't wait for mine to pup now so I can give your technique a go and report back to everyone how I went. I just purchased Neo' Govenors Plea which should arrive in the post this week. I agree with Shirley, could you be looking for Norman Bates? I not long purchased this one and can post a pic if you like?

Hi Jean, Welcome to this Forum, I am a relatively new kid on the block (couple of weeks I think I first joined) and really loving the wonderful people you get to chat with in this Forum, the helpful advice and beautiful pic's you get to see and share. Also looking forward to seeing some pics from you when you get a chance.

Hi Colleen, Tash, BreeIndy and Gabi65 - hope your are all well and that I have not missed saying hi to everyone, if I have I promise to do better next time.

Here's a couple of pic's taken today:
Pic 1 - Neo' Meyendorfii x Corinecea (shot was hard to take - color is more intense than pic). I love the way this one grows spiral like in different directions - looks nice and different amoungst my other brom' beauties.
Pic 2 - Neo' NOID (any idea's anyone?) this one I rescued off a friends friend as they were going to take to the dump.
Pic 3 - Neo' Paula (shot was hard to take - color is more intense than pic).
Pic 4 - Neo' NOID (any idea's anyone?) This one I rescued off a friends friend as they were going to take to the dump.
Pic 5 - Brom's growing happily - some of these I will have to move soon as everything is getting bigger, some even growing in dead tree stump.

Anyway nice chatting with everyone, better get out back in the garden while there is still daylight - need to spend a little more time with my brom's as I really miss them during the week and really hang out for clock off time lol, back to work tomorrow :(

Look forward to chatting with you all during the week.

Until then happy gardening!

Trish :)

Hi all, I went to market today and aquired more broms. I started off with N Moby Dick, N Blue Nude got to have a replacement,N Gold Heart, NWilsoniana An Ananas nanas and an Ae that I lost the name tag. Ae Mirlo was positively Identified, thanks for the suggestion.
Trish Pic 2 could be N Royal Robe, It looks very similar to the one that I have. Like all your pics.
Sue, thanks for the info on Norman Bates, I have my scouts looking for 1 now.
Have a good one
Ian.
Pic1 Crouching tiger
Pic 2 Pauciflora purpurea
Pic 3 Burle Marxi fantacy
Pic 4 Fireside Glow
Pic 5Ampullacea red all mini neos

hi again everyone. Ian you must have a lot of broms and growing daily. I thought we had a problem with seeds buy sounds like you might have more than we do. We just got rid of our spa to make a seedling area. Still a bit of room in it but by the time I pot up the bigger seedlings it will fill up quickly. I'm still like you and when thinning out the seeds I pot them up instead of chuck them out. I like to pluck out about a dozen or so and pot them up and feed them up heavily to make them grow quickly to get an idea of what they might become. However if the seed is from something you think might produce variegates you can't fertilise till they have time to show some variegation. we have a few neos which are supposed to give a lot of variegated seedlings eg cane fire, purple prince, bob's baby. I will collect seed from these next time I catch them flowering. until then I will keep pumping fertiliser into the seedlings.

Trish I used to be like you and sat in front of a computer all day at work. last thing I wanted to do when I got home was sit in front of the computer. now I'm downstairs in the broms all day and work harder now than when I was at work. but I love nothing better than getting downstairs by myself and just potter all day doing what I want. I love it when Johnny decides to go fishing then I enjoy a day of peace and quiet by myself. I love that first pic of yours - the cross with myendorfii. love the colour.

Nev I hope your weekend went well. how busy did you get? can't wait for the pics. hope you sold all your plants and won a few champion ribbons with your plants.

Karen and Sue I've loved all your brom pics. Sue your garden is spectacular I'm sure you'll do well. Is judging before or after your weekend with Jen???

Ian what aechmeas have you sown seed of. we have beeriana seedlings getting some good size now. Also have heltoniis that we are potting up as well as porteas, blanchetianas, orlandianas (rainbow & snowflake) and a couple of NOID aechmeas. We also have a lot of vrisea, neos, billbergias, alcantareas, pitcairnias, tillandsia, catopsis. I guess a bit of everything I can get my hands on. I'm not too good at making hybrids although I have tried crossing them. Not always successful but sometimes I do have success. Otherwise I just walk around and look for seed developing. latest is with billbergias. now that I've had success with crossing and collecting billbergia seed I am keen to collect more seed from them. I'm excited when I see a nice fat ripening seed pod. With neos I started off picking out nice plants with really good parentage like the Alan Freeman hybrids. He used choice parents so his hybrids should produce some very nice F2 seedlings. So I chose some of them and just started pulling pods out and collected the seeds and sowed them. We now have some nice seedlings growing. Nev also keeps me supplied with seed from crosses he has done. I love it when Nev sends me seed from mini neos because that is one thing I'd like to grow but still haven't worked out how to collect the seed from those little babies.

Pic 1 & 2 are of our seedlings of concentrica hybrids (parents unknown)
Pic 4 is one of our seedlings from takemura x grace darling.
Pic 3 is one of our painted delight F2 seedlings.
Wish I could post some better ones but alas this computer doesn't have them on here.

Off to bed now. night all
Wendy

good morning, even if it IS monday!
Trish, it sounds like you had a fun time doing your shade house. I know a few of us have been there and done that and I totally know where you're coming from when you say you wanted to throw things at hubbys head! Its great to get their help, but sometimes..............! Its good tht you can now relax knowing your plants are all set up for the summer.
I often cant tell the difference between some of the hannibal type hybrids, so I wouldn't buy one unless it was an improvement, such as larger. I grow mine in alot of sun and they look much yellower than the one I took the photo of at the Botanic gardens. I also put down seed a couple of years ago, and I have kept 5 that look different, to see what they do. One looks like Hannibal, one has quite a few dots, and another has these light green stripes on the top of the leaf, but not sure that these will stay with it as it grows. It might be a fertiliser thing? I will take pics later today, as my camera ran out of battery power yesterday.
I don't know what your NOIDS are, but I love the look of that second one. Its kind of like kautskyii, but with rounded leaf tips, I like it! The red one is very much like one I have in the garden, that no one has been able to give me a positive ID on, because there are so many similar, such as beef steak, charm e.t.c. I love it though, as its a fast pupper, and I have a border of it in one of the garden shots I posted in 9266051, although its taken from a distance. Your garden group looks very good too.
Ian, you've got he bug bad! heh heh. Sounds like you got a few nice plants at the markets. Also a nice bunch of Mini Neos there.
Hi Wendy, Judging is next tuesday, so before I catch up with Jen, thank goodness, as I wouldn't have any time to spend otherwise. Hubby helped move the last of the mulch on the weekend, and the cleared, mulched beds are just screaming out for broms! I've been raiding the brom house for mature plants to use, but I'm running out, as I mostly use the Neos because they are a bit tougher under the gum trees, and dont require the watering that guzzies or nids do, because, boy, its dry up there under the gums! I am contemplating using the sale plants, but need to keep them for a sale the following weekend, as I am using the garden comp as advertising. (sale on the same day as the garden is open for viewing)
Anyway, I'll leave you with a pick of the Guzmania whittmackii I bought on Saturday, and a few garden shots.
Sue

Hi everyone,

Well it’s now early Sunday morning the first day of the show is over, and what a busy day it was; I feel like I’ve done a week’s work even though I was just sitting behind my little display answering questions, and judging by the amount of interest shown, I have no doubt that we’ll have a good supply of future hybridists.

There’s just today to go which is usually much busier than the Saturday as it is the main day of the “Spring Festival” and then we pull it all down again until next year. I know it seems like a lot of work for just two days of showing, but the interesting people you meet and the children you get the opportunity to encourage are all well worth the effort.

Jean – It seems I’ve heard your story so often from so many different people, and it’s not unusual for people come into brom’s from another hobby, be it other plants or breeding birds or fish to collecting rocks and fossils, but when people ask me why I do it, it just tell them, “it keeps me off the street and out of the pub”.

Ian – I’m very interested when you say you plant your Vriesea pups in scoria to promote roots, is this because your climate dictates what you should grow your plants in or is it just something you use to promote roots and then once established grow them in a different mix?

I don’t know why your cross with Neo. Tristus x Fosperior would have produced albino pups, however you can be sure that one of the parents is the culprit and from what I understand it’s usually the seed parent. This is where good record keeping and experimentation comes in handy; for instance from past records we know that if you use a plant which is albo-marginated as the “seed parent”, it will almost always produce albino seedlings. If on the other hand you used the albo-marginated plant as the “pollen parent”, the seedlings are usually OK.

What I would now do is to cross each of the parents you used with a known good breeder e.g. concentrica, but use them as the seed parent. If you don’t get any albinos you will know they weren’t at fault as a single parent but it was probably a “one off” combination of the two.

The only plant I have of the ones you’ve posted is Neo. ‘Indigo Mood’ and I must say it grows into a beautiful plant, but just let me say I wish I could shop at the place you buy your brom’s as a price of $2 is unheard of down here, and I certainly paid a lot more for my pup of the same plant.

Shirley – I’m very interested in what you say about, ”Nev, maybe you need to ‘refresh’ what you are working on to bring it up to date”. Being a complete “computer illiterate”, I have no idea what you are talking about so could you please explain in “language for dummies”?

It seems it doesn’t matter what angle you photograph your shade house from, it still looks just as neat and tidy and something to be very proud of.

Sue – You are right about the DG issue again. It’s happened twice now but my previous post was OK so I’m hoping it’s just some little gremlin playing games and he’s gone home now, or perhaps it’s something I’m not doing as Shirley suggested as a possibility, who knows?

I started to take a lot of pic’s as you suggested yesterday and when I got to pic 5 a message came up saying “out of memory”….bugger. As I’ve said on many occasions I’m not very well versed in the technical department and I couldn’t find a five year old kid around to show me what I had to do. I knew I had a lot of pic’s on my camera as I’ve never deleted any since I got it a few years back, so in between talking to people I started deleting pic’s (one by one) to make a bit of room. It’s a very monotonous job doing it one at a time and I’m sure there must be a way where I can delete say about fifty at a time but I’ve yet to work out how. There is a manual for the camera (at home somewhere) which also is in “technical talk” much of which I don’t understand either, so I’ll just have to “bumble” along and try and make a bit of space for pic’s before you lot “drum me out of the service”.

Good luck with your exercise routine and I’m sure your dogs will love it. Before my chronic back trouble intervened, I walked 4km every morning and I think it’s probably the thing I miss the most. Early morning is the best part of the day, nice fresh air and always something new to see as you witness the sunrise and the start of a new day and it really surprised me at the number of people who are out and about enjoying it as well. I could never understand how people could go to a gym and pay good money to walk 4km on an exercise machine while looking at a blank wall when they could have been out in the fresh air enjoying nature and seeing something different all the time for free!

Karen – I like your Groucho, a most unusual colour combination. I saw a Vriesea at the show yesterday with a similar colour combination but unfortunately I can’t remember the name but I’m almost certain I took a pic and all I have to do is unload them all and sort them out. That NOID you posted has the most beautiful subtle pink flush which really appeals to me and I’m sure a lot of others, but I can’t help you with a name.

Well here it is Monday and the show is all over for another year and another day has to be spent putting all of the plants away and generally tidying the place up as it looks like a bomb hit it at present. As for the show; well it went off very well with a good response from the public although numbers I think were down a bit on last year as Sunday was such a beautiful day and I expect a lot of people were happy to spend their time outside in the sun rather than come into a hall to see a brom show. In the end all of the exhibits came up OK although when looked at very closely I could see minor wind damage on almost every plant, but the growers (as I expected) had done a good job cleaning up their plants and I’m sure the public didn’t look at the plants as critically as I did. I even got a couple of minor placings which as I said previously, I didn’t expect as my plants weren’t up to show standard, however one has to accept the judge’s decision as final so I guess I have to live with it.

Wendy – I couldn’t agree more with you about bloody computers; I finished reading and responding to Karen’s post yesterday and had to get away to the show so I intended to add five pic’s of Tillandsias for all of you that like these “littlies” and they just wouldn’t load for me. Fortunately all of the text I had typed was on MS Word like (I usually do) so I just saved it and shut the computer down with the idea of finishing it all today when hopefully I’ll be able to load them. I suspect they were all too big so I’ll have to reduce them all first. Does anyone know of a quick way to do this? Please tell me in “Simple Steps for Idiots” if you do.

As you know I’m always interested in looking at pic’s of new seedlings and yours are no exception. I especially like your ‘Painted Delight’ seedling and I think when it eventually throws pups if you grow them really hard with NO fertilizer, you will be rewarded with fantastic colour. The same applies to your ‘Takemura’ x ‘Grace Darling’ seedling; and although the form isn’t as “filled in” as the ‘Painted Delight’ seedling, the colour is certainly there and will also benefit from the hard growing as suggested.

Ian – Your Predatress looks very different to mine (I’ll post a pic tomorrow for comparison), but I suspect yours may have been grown in more light. I like the colour of you Ques. Dark Form although I’ve had to get rid of all my Quesnelias as they were drawing too much blood with their vicious spikes. I was disappointed to lose them as I did always marvel at the “crepe paper” like flowers and the attractive eye catching colour. I’m not familiar with Ques. Mamorata but judging by the way it’s growing away from the pot, I think it would be an ideal subject for mounting on trees, just like Ques. Liboniana.

I don’t know if you are aware of it or not, but there are at least four different forms of Neo pauciflora, there’s the spotted common green form as well as the deeper coloured ‘purpurea’ form you posted and both colours come in small and larger forms (minor and major).

Trish – Glad to hear you got the big shade cloth job completed; it’s always good when you get the hardest bit out of the way isn’t it? How about some pic’s of the “finished product”.

They’re great pic’s you have posted; I especially like plants one and three. I’m especially interested in the first one, it’s a beautiful plant and I’m familiar with one of the parents, (Neo meyendorffii) but don’t know the second one and can’t find the name anywhere on the cultivar register so apparently it isn’t registered. Do you know any more about it, is there also a possibility the name is misspelled e.g. could it have been Coriacea or even Concentrica? What can I say about the beautiful Neo. Paula except it is just another of many from that great “Master Hybridist”, Chester Skotak, a real eye catcher!

Sue – I personally don’t see what all the interest is in the ‘Hannibal Lector’ types. True I grow them as they are very popular, but personally I think they are just “prickly rubbish” and nothing special (there I’ve now just upset a lot of people). I think where they come into their own is in breeding, and Chester Skotak in particular has proved this by producing some magnificent colours using it as a parent. So even though I “rubbished” it as a plant because I personally don’t like it, it is a magnificent parent which produces wonderful “kids” and you can check them all out on: http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=&id=3291&search=hannibal%20Lector .

Sue you have proved once again what I said about there being some spectacular species in the brom world with your picture of a variegated Guz. Wittmackii, there are some truly amazing forms of this particular plant and well worth collecting if you have the conditions to grow them. Anyway that’s about it for now and good luck with the Garden Competition, you deserve to do well with all of the hard work you have put in.

Finally a few pic’s from the show unfortunately no names as I just didn’t have time to get them all…sorry.

All the best, Nev.

Just a few pics this morning of my broms in the greenhouse. Looking good after all the cold weather.
Lots of pups to come off the mums soon.
I had to laugh at your comment, Nev, re Hannibal.
I like him even if he does bite. Well named brom , that one.
As you see from my lot, I do like the striped & spotted ones. but seem to have accumulated a lot of green.
Of course some do change to lovely shades, but I am gradually weeding out the plain green ones.

Nev, you can see Hannibal in the front in pic 1.
I originally bought a small pup which grew very quickly to produce this pup which now has its own pup
I sold the original plant as it was getting very large and tended to bite the hand that fed it.
Much as I like him , he may have to go too, as he is a plant that does seem to grow very large quite quickly.
Can be dangerous getting around him in the confines of the greenhouse.

I am pleased with the color on my Hallelujahs in pic 4.
I had them all in the back shadehouse where they went greenish . Now back in lots of light they are lovely.
Most of the ones on the floor are new , so not very bright at the moment.

Jean.

Good morning. Wow, been a talkative lot since I last posted. What beauties you have all posted too.

Nev, if you type a post but don't send it, other people will have posted by the time you hit send which is why you see posts that weren't there when you last looked. Delaying too long may cause a time out effect on the forum for you too, but I don't know enough to be sure about that.

Took some more pics this morning but they are still in the camera. Maybe tomorrow. Meanwhile we are off to Hope Island today to visit my elderly uncle and his wife (both in their 90's). They have just moved into a care centre so still going through the adjustment period. Old age really is cruel, but thank goodness they are still together.

Have a lovely day.
Karen

Hi all, and what a cloudy day we are enjoying at the moment, I hope it rains here soon. It is dry.I had a busy weekend, potting, buying and had a group meeting.
Wendy, what Ar have I planted seed from, good question, I know where the parent is but do not know it's name as yet. I tried fendleri but am still dissapointed with the results. Another fendleri is jest coming into flower so I will try again when the seeds are ready. I currently have10 different Neo seeds planted and have 8 more to collect and 3 or 4 coming into flower and 1 mini with seeds. I might just have to look around and see if there are any more. I also have tried Al regina alba syn verisia regina alba( ok what does this mean could it be a cross with Alacantrea and Verisia or just a name change). I also have Al PeterTtristam sewn but not yet germinated. Ae Peek-a-boo is just waiting for me to experiment with seed collection as is Ae Sphaeroglossa and Ae Orlindiana Picinniny. As I said before I am an experimenter, I need to know what I can do, what I can grow and what I can't and if I don't have a go, I'll never know. A lot of people here are frightened with the prospect of growing from seed. That's their problem, they will buy some of my plants one day.

Wendy, Yes I have a lot of broms and they are growing daily in size as well, I hope. I am starting to be more selective in what plants I buy. When I potted up the seedlings, they're still too small but I have the time to work with them now and doubt that I will in a few months when I normally get busy at work. 1 plant in a 1.5" pot 12 in a tray and I have too many .The only fertiliser I am using at the moment isPotassium to help with their roots.

Sue, yes the bug done gone and bit me and I am told there is no cure.I love your Gardens.Just had a thought that maybe you could have your sales plants under the gum trees and sell them from there, it may not work for you.

Nev, I use scoria partly because i tend to overwater, partly due to climate and partly scoria.75" will hold the plant stable to assist rooting. Once it has good roots then I will check on out weather and possibly change to another potting mixture
Tristus X Fosperior. I planted seed and got white seedlings, did I say pups. The mother has a pup of good colour at the moment. I have no idea of the parentage of tristus x fosperior, i could possibly find out where i bought it from and who their supplier is and go from there. I have tried another batch of seeds just to prove that I didn't do something to stuff up. Love your till pics I started the talk of hannibal asking what 4 plants are the members of "silence of the lambs". it is a collection of Hannibal and 3 look alikes. The $2.oo plant I bought at a market in May last year, I am hoping to find the people who ran that stall.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1N Moby Dick
Pic 2N Gold heart
Pic 3 Ae Noid
Pic 4 N wilsoniana
Pic 5 Ae Tornado

Hi all, hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.

Karen, love your neos groucho, ostrich and the NOID, I am very partial to neos of that same colouring and variegation as well.

Wendy, where are you going to put all those broms when all those little seedlings you are growing mature. Guess I can take some off your hands :o) just to save room at your place mind you.

Trish, I can’t imagine anyone taking such nice broms as those two in your pics to the dump. I must admit I have rescued plants from the dump, even a couple of broms but nothing as attractive as those, I especially like the red spotty one.

Ian, I have to agree with Nev that you have been buying broms at very good prices. I got quite a mixture at the market on Saturday. A nice vriesea (kiwi cream), a nidularium (innocentii), a neo (roys special) and a billbergia (NOID). I will attach pics of all four.

Sue, good luck for the garden comp judging tomorrow, your garden looks great … you’ve got my vote.

Nev, good to hear your show went well. As to your question regarding the ‘refresh’ button, it depends on which program you are using. On most keyboards the ‘refresh’ button is F5 but some are different. On Windows XP it appears on the toolbar and with Windows 7, it’s a right click on the mouse and move down on the pop up menu and click on ‘refresh’. Hope I haven’t confused you, I would suggest trying F5 to see if it updates DG, I think it will. If not, perhaps someone with a bit more computer savvy can explain it or you could go to google (or whatever search engine you use) and ask ‘how to refresh Windows XP, Vista, 7' (which ever version you are using) and it should tell you.

Jean, I really like the toothy broms and the bigger the better!!! As for neo Hannibal, I bought a pup a fair while back and it seems to be taking forever to grow … I wish mine would grow very large quickly.

Anyway, great to see so many posts and so many lovely pics … hard to keep up with at the moment.

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi everyone.
Sue I love your swinging bench seat. What a wonderful place to sit and swing and contemplate how the garden is growing. that's new since we were down there. good luck for judging tomorrow. I'm sure your garden looks great. couldn't you borrow some big plants from Belinda just to fill a few spaces temporarily? if we were closer you could have your pic of some of ours and couldn probably even keep most of them. LOL

Shirley that innocentii is a great plant. very good striations there.

Ian I am very much like you and as I walk around I am always on the lookout for seed to try. My 4yo grandaughter is just as bad and after she leaves we often find a sieve full of seed pods she is drying out. Luckily she usually pics the pods from the ae tillandsiodes. she has a few yoghurt containers of seed growing now. I've found that these can grow like weeds but also can just shrivel and die. I've decided it is air circulation that is the difference. The first lot I had growing so well got attacked by a snail. bit every little green shoot right off at the ground. went from a tray of green to a tray of dirt in one night. I've started taking the lid of the trays each morning and replacing them each evening and the seedlings seem to be doing well. oh and we've covered the legs of the shelving with vaseline to stop grubs climbing up to the seedlings this time. nothing is touching walls or anything for grubs to come across. everything is free standing and greased.

Nev so glad your weekend went well. does your camera have a removable storage disk? if so you could carry several of the storage disks. then you wouldn't run out of storage space. LOL

Pic 1 is ae recurvata sharp form showing brilliant flush of red and an infloresence coming on.
Pic 2 is an infloresence on ae Bert showing all the ripe seed pods. this is in that garden full of ae all loaded with seed.
Pic 3 is one of our ae beeriana seedlings with a blue ruler behind howing size. these are really taking off and growing so quickly.
Pic 4 is a tub of seed sown 23 days ago. it is bill charlie webb x ? possibly amoena rubra (iceblock stick label faded between pollination and collection - won't do that again)
Pic 5 is portea NOID orange infloresence sown Marc this year and no potted up. these are also taking off in their new seedling area.

I'll post some more tomorrow night. off to bed now as babysitting again tomorrow and have a couple of groups coming through yard also. so I need my sleep now.

Night all
Wendy

Morning!
Nev, you had me worried with the beginning of your post saying its now Sunday! I knew I posted yesterday and thought you had a gremlin again. I am glad Saturday was a success and sorry you did not get any major awards. i would have voted for your plants! heh heh.
The dogs enjoy the walking, and we have started the 3km circuit again. The fresh air is enjoyable, but this morning looks very smokey out there. Must be a bush fire somewhere. The trick here is to get out and about at a time when the road is not too busy with workers and school traffic, and yesterday I timed it perfectly, enough that I was able to walk the dogs at heel without the lead for more than half the distance! Its good training for them.
Thank you for saying nice thing about my garden, and that goes for all of you I wish you were the judges! Heh hehe. Hubby is getting into it now too, and is spurring me on to get areas finished, that I wasn't even going to bother with. I am stuffed by about 4pm now, but I can see light at the end of the tunnel.7 days to go!
Jean, your Hannibal is large because of the shade. I have mine in lots of sun and it is only a medium neo, and nice and tubby! Your shadehouse is looking very full!
Karen, Its funny how a few weeks ago, it was sooooo quiet on this thread! Now look at it, hard to get a word in! Hope Island is a nice area. It doesn't sound like such a bad place to spend your retirement in. I hope you enjoyed your visit, and how very lucky they are to have each other at that age.
Ian, I'm pretty sure your Alcantarea regina alba (Syn Vriesea regina alba) was reclassified as an Alc, but they leave the Vriesea name on for research purposes I guess, You might look it up in an old Werner Rauh book, and it would probably be under Vriesea.
I have a sales area set up in the new bunker. Its too dangerous to have sales under the gums, especially if the day is a windy one. I don't seem to have much to sell, being the beginning of spring, and also I keep stealing plants off the sales table to go in the gardens! heh heh
I love your Neo. 'Gold Heart'. It has some amazing colour in the centre.
Shirley, you got some nice bargains at the markets. Thanks for the well wishes, even though you are a week early! You'll have to keep your fingers crossed for another week now. You'll have cramp by next Tuesday.I have my fingers crossed for a couple of overnight showers between now and then. We could use some rain.
Wendy, what a lovely offer! I am hitching up the trailer right now, see you in four hours! heh heh. I'll make plenty of room for your seedlings! Yes, Belinda does have some lovely plant, but i wouldn't take the risk of borrowing them and having them damaged by the gum trees or high winds, or any other number of possible disasters that might occur. I still have a few things in the shade house that could be of use, just a matter of moving them around.
Anyway, I'm getting up and going for a walk! The sun is shining again!
Till tomorrow
Sue

Hi everyone,

I’m still sorting out things after the show and I didn’t realize what a mess I’d left things in in my rush to get everything ready. Oh well, if I’m not sorting this out I’d have something else I needed to do as there’s always some sort of work to be done around the place.

Jean – The colour in your Hallelujah is great. In my opinion, it’s still one of the all-time great Billbergia hybrids which is being used a lot in breeding now as it passes on its colour as well as its vigour to most of its progeny. I have seen a lot of seedlings where it is a parent and they look almost as good, but I have yet to see one better. (Maybe there is one, but I haven’t seen it).

I just thought I’d mention that it’s not just the shade that will turn them green; using a fertilizer that’s high in Nitrogen will give the same result, so remember just a little fertilizer with a higher Potassium content than Nitrogen if you want to maintain vigour and colour.

Karen – Thanks for the explanation about what’s been happening with my posts. You are right on the mark as I often start typing early in the morning and then go and have some breakfast before returning and finishing it off.

Ian – Seems like you’re really getting into the seed sowing. Just a little tip if you don’t already know it; most people who are starting out in this area always sow too much seed (we’ve probably all done it) which results in very overcrowded seedlings. This slows down growth and makes it difficult when “thinning out” time comes. So when sowing, try and spread them around to avoid clumping.

I can’t help you much with your complicated Alcantarea name; I do know that Alcantarea ‘Regina’ is a species from Brazil but as for the rest of it I have no idea except to say that alba means white (which you probably already knew anyway). If you go to the FCBS site at http://fcbs.org/ and then open “Bromeliad Information” which is listed in the index on the left of the home page. When it opens, select and open the first heading “Glossary”. If you have hours of spare time and good eyes, this will tell you the meaning of every bromeliad term. It also helps if you have a Latin dictionary as well and that the words you are looking for are correctly spelled. As we all know, over time, names on name tags often become corrupted due to ink fading or broken labels and what is written on them is often very far from what was written originally.

You say you are using Potassium on your young seedlings “to help with their roots”, in what form are you using it liquid or solid? As for the parentage of Tristus X Fosperior; Tristis is a Brazilian species and Fosperior is a hybrid supposedly from two species, Fosteriana crossed with Spectabilis. Your Aechmea NOID in pic 3 could be Ae. Burgundy, but I can’t be sure until I see a flower.

Shirley – Thanks for the explanation about the computer query, and you’re dead right; it was the F5 key that did the trick, so thanks a lot.

You did well at the markets, all nice plants, but I would advise you to have a very close look at the Billbergia as I think I can see a bit of Flyspeck scale on it. I can’t be certain as I’m only looking at a pic. but if you aren’t familiar with what it looks like, it’s best described as looking like shiny black poppy seed only slightly smaller. It’s not the major drama that a lot of people make it out to be, but it can spread quickly in the warmer climates if not controlled. The best control is to separate it from your other plants and treat it with Confidor; preferably by dipping the whole plant in a bucket. Keep it quarantined from your other plants for a month and then scrape off the dead scale and look for any new ones. Billbergias seem to be more prone to this pest as it gets down inside the tube and is hard to see until it has spread to the outer leaves. There is an article about this pest in one of our past society newsletters, see http://www.bromeliad.org.au/news/Ill0408.htm.

Wendy – Yes my camera does have a removable storage disc but it was just because of a combination of laziness and ignorance that I let the pic’s accumulate. I had already downloaded them to my computer but it never occurred to me to delete them once I had done so. Everything on the computer is also backed up on an external hard drive as well so there was really no point in leaving them in the camera, anyway it’s all sorted now as I deleted them yesterday and now I can start to fill it up all over again.

Sue – Sorry I didn’t mean to confuse things by combining two days in the one post but as you say it’s so busy here lately that it takes forever to read everything and isn’t that great! A friend of mine called Bruce who says he knows you from his Facebook site lives up your way and intends to visit you when he can arrange it. I think it would be good to also get him onto this site as I’ve known him for a long time and can vouch for him but don’t know what’s required for him to join us so could you please sort him out. As for the show, well as I said I didn’t enter with the object of getting awards, just putting in plants to help fill the tables. As it turned out I needn’t have bothered as all the other members “went the extra yard” and brought in plants as well and in the end we had more plants than we had space for. Even my mate Bruce (who has been a member for some time) brought down a trailer load from where he lives (I think up near Coffs Harbour somewhere).

Be a bit careful about “hubby” getting interested in the gardens too, he may just have an ulterior motive like building a trail bike track through them! I’m pleased you were able to sort out Ian’s naming problem. I’m afraid it’s all getting a bit over my head as I was never really into that side of brom growing.

I have to go now as I think I’m getting RSI of the wrist from too much typing Ha! Ha!

I’ll finish with a few pic’s. - The first is Neo Pretatress as I promised Ian yesterday(unfortunately just a pup) but it does show the colours we get down here with lower light intensities. The next two are a couple of random Vrieseas fom the show and the last two are my modest little "Table Top Display" at our show about the "Life Cycle of a Neoregelia"

All the best, Nev.

Thanks for the tips about the broms. Hannibal has always been sitting right in the full sun in the greenhouse and has just been moved to where he is now.
I will move him back to the sunny part again.
I may even put him outside for the summer.
Nev, I dont fertlise any of the broms. I have always been afraid to ruin them if I did.
They just grow as they like.
I may give a light foliar spray of thrive or something once a year when I do the ferns in there, but thats all.

I will have to be more diligent in their care, but they all seem to be doing well.

Jean.

Good morning all. Oops, oh, yes, its still morning. OK.

Visited my uncle and his wife yesterday. He is dreadfully ill, and I fear we may not have him much longer. Then we went to see what was new at Sanctuary Cove afterwards. So much money crammed into one small space. Its so overbuilt it isn't even pretty. Lots of broms in the gardens in the shopping centre, but on the dry side so not showing their best at all. But we enjoyed walking around, looking at the shops and the boats at the marina.

Karen

The first pic is a pup I got from Rick Cairns, starting to show some colour. Can't wait to see it mature as it looks nice. No name though.
2 is good old neo. Fireball. It really seems to like its position and holds its colour well.
Forgot the name of this ae. but nice to see it in flower again. I didn't feel like wresting with the prickly leaves to try to find its name.
4 is a colourful stand of small broms and minis.
5 is a small vriesea growing happily in the 'wild' garden out front.

Hi everyone,
Just trying something with photobucket

[IMG]http://i512.photobucket.com/albums/t329/splinter1804/2012BROMELIADSHOW022-1.jpg[/IMG]

Oh well, back to the old drawing board.

All the best, Nev.

Hi all, Just lost everything i had written again. Bloomin computers
Sue thanks for the explanation on the name change. I think I remember reading something about it in an article by Derek Butcher in May last year. But I needed reminding. Nice piccies you are showing.
Nev, thanks for a more detailed site on the name change. With the partial id on Ae burgundy I have labelled it with? Ae Burgundy. When it flowers I will try to photograph it and try again.
KmnO4, condys chrystalls or potassium permangamate mixed with water tea to light pink and water my plants with it occasionally maybe monthly during the growing season. The Predatress that i posted was growing in full sun in Rockhampton until 2 weeks ago, then it found it's way home with me and still gets a lot of sun,It is under 70% shadecloth but it is still bright.I have already planted out too many seeds, particularly since there are about 12 trays of an unknown Ae. I have potted a lot and will observe what happens. It looks like I got a good strike rate with the portea's also. Fortunately they have less seeds per pod so I might only get 50 and that will be plenty. They are spread out in 2 take away containers.
The prices that are on some of my plants are from May last year bare rooted, now they have at least doubled for commons and go to about 1/2 Bnnings prices. Rarely can I afford nursery prices. I often deal direct with growers
Getting back to fertilisers, I usually use a liquid fertiliser, Orchid Bloom Booster because it is low in Nitrogen, and high in Potassiun and Phosphorus. At the beginning of the hot season, Now, I fully submerge the pots and give rootball a good soaking. Some of my pots dry out so much that they repel water, so I soak them until there are no bubbles rising to the surface. Pinebark and perlite float to the surface. If I fully submerge a plant I drain all mix out of leaves and rinse them off as fertilised in the crown can cause crown rot. A partial reason that my pots become water repellant could be because of Malleluca trees in the neighbour's yard dropping their leaves on my broms.
Your Vr pic2 is georgeous, i have seen something similar . Could I please use the life cycle of a brom at one of our local meetings. I may use another type of brom, depending on what is available at the time.
Have a good one.
ian

pic1Vr Splendens
Pic 2 Vr Heiroglyphica
Pic3 Al regina alba in flower
All photos tonight from May 2011

argghhhh. had done a huge long post, just added pics and the tablet shut down, so i lost the lot. looks like your gremlin has jumped ship, Nev! I don't have enough time to do it all over again, so will try again later. Sorry all.
Sue

good morning.
Hi Nev, I didn't realise Bruce lives up this way. He commented that he was going to the Illawarra show, and I made the assumption he lived down there. I haven't known him for very long, or obviously very well! heh heh. I will get in touch with him and invite him here to our thread.
Your 'life Cycle Of A Neoregelia' set up looks great! I especially like the magnifying glass, and I bet you had alot of people peeking through it?
You are right about keeping a close eye on my hubby and his motives. That new bridge is probably the start of a circuit around the yard for the trials bike! Now that I think about it, theres quite a few spots that look rather as though they were made for motorcycles! Hmmmmm!
I love the pic of Vriesea'Galaxy' (pic three) I'm assuming thats what it is? always a popular plant. I will have myself one of those ONE DAY! heh heh.
I'm glad you have plenty there to do, as it keeps you off the streets.

I found some of it, don't know how? Just the reply to you Nev, but at least its something. Will add some more later
Sue

Hi everyone,

It looks like another nice day down here today, so back out in the yard and more tidying up. It looks like everyone’s gone again; what’s happened are you all exhausted after all of the posting? Come on, keep posting while we are all on a “roll” and keep this little forum interesting.

Jean - I just mentioned fertilizer because a lot of people often over fertilize and fall into the trap of thinking if a small amount will aid a plant, then three times as much must be three times as beneficial. Wrong! If the extra fertilizer doesn’t kill the brom, it will certainly rob all of the colour from the coloured leaf types such as Neo’s and Bill’s. and cause the leaves to grow long and strappy just the same as they do when grown in excess shade.
Judging by your Hallelujah, you’re doing everything right and getting great colour so don’t change anything.

Karen – Sorry to hear about your uncle, unfortunately this is all part of the cycle of life. Any time I look at pic’s of Sanctuary Cove and places like it and think of all the money that’s been spent in these places, I can’t help thinking of the millions of people dying all around the world from poverty in places where just a few dollars means the difference between life and death. Surely a worldwide better distribution of wealth would be more acceptable; but if you mention this sort of thing you are accused of being a communist. I don’t begrudge anyone a good standard of living, but I think these millionaires do really go over the top. As an example, I saw a show on TV the other night where a lady had a little dog with a diamond studded collar, obviously the dog didn’t care, all it wanted was the companionship of its owner but what good could the cost of the collar have done for the poor and needy?

Sorry; for those of you who don’t know me too well, I do tend to break out and jump on my soap box and beat my drum occasionally. I’ll get down now and get back to brom’s.
Karen you say your first pup is from Rick Cairns; He’s a good bloke who I have swapped a bit with and he also breeds some nice Billbergias (I’ll post a pic of one as an example). As for Fireball, I think it’s grown by almost every Neo. grower and there has been more written about it than most Neo’s and the experts still can’t work out whether it’s a species or a hybrid.

Your pic three looks like the flowers of an Ae. Recurvata to me, although down here the leaves colour up at flowering time, so if you can give it more light it will improve the leaf colour. You have a nice looking batch of plants on your stand and the Vriesea in the garden obviously loves where it’s growing so don’t be tempted to move it anywhere.

Ian – I (and a few others) have had the same trouble as you’ve just described. What I now do is type everything first onto Microsoft Word and when it’s finished, I just cut and paste it to Dave’s Garden. If D.G. swallows it you still have it on M.S. Word and you can easily do it again.

I think you are going to finish up like me with seedlings “coming out of your ears”. True, Porteas have less seeds in the pods but they do take up a lot more space as they grow so I guess everything’s relevant.

What brand of “Bloom Booster” do you use Ian? There are a couple about and I have used the “Manutec” brand with good results previously, also I found the Phostrogen was good for brom’s also as it has much higher Potassium than Nitrogen ratio.
The Vriesea in pic two is Vr. Nova and belongs to a good friend of mine. (I have some Nova seed if anyone would like some) just send me a stamp addressed envelope and it’s yours.

I should have explained a little about the table top display – As you look at the first pic, the journey starts at top left with examples of Neo seed capsules and then (next) a sample of dried seed after being squeezed from a capsule. From there it’s just a matter of following the arrows (although some at the bottom aren’t clear due to reflection).
The first container has seed just starting to germinate with a tiny amount of green just visible through the magnifying glass beside it. From here the arrows just follow the different stages; next to a container of seedlings before they have been “thinned out” . Continuing along the front of the table from left to right, the next container shows how there can be many different colour combinations from the same capsule. Next is a random sample of seedlings in 3” pots and onto a group of four plants from the same cross (Neo. ‘Bea Hanson’ x ‘Rosea Striata’) showing although they all have the radial red markings, the base colour is different in all (even the green one has very fine radial red markings). Finally from here we go to the plant on the top right which has just finished flowering and is making seed capsules (not my doing). I take a seed capsule from “step one” and poke it down in the vase beside to forming capsules and explain to people where it all started. The other plants are just embellishments to show the different colours possible from hybrids. Of all the people who visited my little display over the last three years it is children which I’m please to say have shown the most interest. Ian I have no patent” on the idea, and if you want to do a similar type of educational display just “go for it” but we all want to see the pic’s.

Sue - It seems the “gremlins” have visited Ian as well from what he says. Regarding Bruce; he previously lived at Camden and came down for our meetings. Camden gets stinking hot in summer and freezing cold in winter with vicious frosts, so it’s no wonder he retired and moved north. Incidentally that plant of Vr. Galaxy belongs to him also, he brought a great trailer load of plants all the way down to our show just to help out as he knew we were going to be short of plants and I’m very pleased to say he got a few prizes for all of his trouble.

I’ll finish with a few more pic’s. First one is for Karen and is one of Rick’s Billbergia seedlings, Bill. ‘Fred Red’ x ‘Hallelujah’ (second from left), only a baby yet but showing great colour. 2nd is part of the Aechmea section, 3rd is some of the Billbergia section, 4th is a few of the smaller Neoregelias and 5th is a magnificent specimen of xNeophytum Galacic Warrior.

All the best, Nev.

Hi again - Sorry, Dave's Garden swallowed Pic 3 so here it is (I hope)

All the best, Nev.

Just popping in to say hello and read the mail. Trying not to get too far behind. Not much happening here yet but buds are forming and I hope to see some flowers for the first time in the not too distant future.

Nev, you could be right about that ae. recurvata. The plant has a sort of pineapple shape to it. Its rather plain otherwise, though I like the pink flowers. I would have preferred the Aztec Gold really. I did buy it as Aztec Gold, but it obviously is not.

Hope y'all have a lovely day. It is so beautiful here this morning. I'm going for a walk.
Karen

I'm back!
I don't know what happened this morning, but I'll give it another shot!
Firstly, Nev, great shots of the show tables. How good is it to see some of the Billbergias in flower? The xNeophytum 'Galactic warrior' is superb. I overwintered the one you gave me, in the hot house this year. It has grown significantly and i will take it out of the HH when the night time temps are above 12. (still getting early morning temps around 7 and 8 on occasion)
I was going to say the same thing to Jean. Don't change what you are doing! Your collection looks healthy and happy, and i know you have other collections to care for as well as a large garden, so Jean, just do what you do! I have posted a pic of my Hannibal in the sun, so you can see what yours will do with a bit more light.
Karen, I am also sorry about your uncle. I'm not sure that I can say anything that will make it easier so I'll just leave it at that.
I went to sanctuary cove last November and was amazed at the brom gardens there. All grouped and planted alongside Zoyza grass and kangaroo paws. i will have to find some pics, as I know I took some. Obviously the summer heat has cooked them since then, and I'm sure, being in a commercial zone, they would have had the odd bar fly falling in them (ouch) and small children running over the top. I actually enjoyed walking around, spotting and naming broms, and had a wonderful lunch at Georges paragon seafood restaurant. Yummmmm!
Your colourful Neos look great on the shelves, and the plant from Rick looks like its going to be a goody! He kindly sent me a pup of a plant we had discussed, quite some time ago, and didn't want anything in return, but if he ever asks, i will certainly return the favour.
Enjoy your walk, Karen.
Ian, i too use Orchid fert on my broms. I only use the bloom booster (manutec) on guzzies and vrieseas that I think are the right size to flower, and use the other manutec orchid one for immature plants and seedlings. the Tillandsia seedlings like it! I've just started using a little of the Chondys chrystals in a watering can (a teeny-tiny pinch) just to turn the water pale pink, and am using this as an all around fertiliser, so will be interested to see if it greens up the colourful plants at all. I hope not.
ok, back to the pics.
Photo one is hannibal lector for jean.
Photo two is the border made with the red NOID for Trish
Photo three is Aechmea 'Freckles' in the sun.
Photo four is Quesnelia 'farro' (first time flowering)
Photo five is another border, using another Neo Noid. This time a smaller one that seems a bit olen-sy
Sue

Hi all, another fine day and still no rain. Probibly keep the cane farmers happy though.
Nev I am using Manutec Bloom booster. Others here are using granular fertiliser mix, i guess to each their own..
That is a beautiful Neophytum Galactic warrior.
Sue this time i am fertilising everything with Condys chrystals, dunk the entire pot and if the leaves get wet then I will just drain them and rinse them off. Sometimes fertiliser in the crown can cause rot. This may only be with Nitrogen fertiliser, so I have been told. The next fertilising will be with the orchid Manutec Bloom booster. I am an experimenter but I investigate things a bit before I try them. Just before winter I might use up my African Violet fertiliser, it is a bit, big bit heavy on the nitrogen. This could beef them up for winter, but maybe not. There will be someone out there who has tried and may share their results with us. I like to use different brands as there is often different trace elements in each of them. Epsom salts is magnesium very helpful in citrus and my crypts are growing under the citrus trees. They are bound to get some from the soil. My crtpts are still in their pots dug into the soil to assist in maintaining moisture.
Have a good one
Ian.
Pic 1 Til xerographica
pic 2 Ursulae Mcveighii
Pic 3 Ae Primera a( fasciata)
Pic 4 N Lava
Pic 5 Androlepsis skinneri on 8" pavers

Hi again to you all. Like a lot of us I lost my post last night so gave up and went to bed. seems to go in cycles and it happens often for a while then suddenly eveything works well again for a while. Wonder if it is my computer or DG related problem???

wow with so much happening in here you read something and think I'll respond to that but by the time you get to the bottom you can't remember what you wanted to say. UMMMM I'll try to remember some.

Sue we have a lovely vr galaxy just starting to raise up a flower spike atm. Did it come from Jen originally or from Margaret Patterson??? I can't remember but Jen does have a beauty that throws a lot of variegated grass pups. I don't know if we got any grass pups from ours??? m aybe it will start now.

Galactic Warrior : one of our favourites and one of our early expensive purchases. since then we've learned not to dump a pup that is all green. we nearly did a while back but decided it might turn into a nice plant even without variegation so were delighted to see some white appear after a while and then even more till it eventually turned out as nice as all the others showing variegation from a small pup. so don't give up on them too soon.

thought I lost my last post as computer froze but I see it is there. my next pic was going to be the galaxy but it froze uploading it. here it is now. I'll have to get a pic of it now with the infloresence rising from the centre.

I'm off to bed now. will try to post again tomorrow night although I will have little Rylee sleeping over so we'll see if I have access to the compuer.

Night all
Wendy

Hi everyone, getting warmer by the day … and dryer too, though I heard we should get rain next week and quite a bit by the sounds of it … hope they’re right this time.

Nev, glad the F5 key worked for you. And you’re right about scale on the bill, I noticed it after I paid for it and treated it (and the others I bought) with confidor when I got home. I would love some of your Vr Nova seed if you have some to spare. It will be my first attempt at growing from seed so I can’t guarantee good results. Very nice Neophytum Galactic Warrior in your pic.

Karen, the unnamed neo in your first pic looks like my neo Kahala Dawn … I’ll attach a pic, see what you think.

Sue, sorry I had the date wrong, another senior’s moment … I seem to have a lot of them lately. Good luck for the judging next Tuesday, I’m sure you’ll do very well. Just think, by this time next week you will be able to sit back, relax and enjoy your garden.

Ian, I am not that into Tills but that Xerographica could sway me, I love it.

Wendy, that Galactic Warrior in your pic is really stunning and your Vr Galaxy too, can't wait for mine to grow bigger.

OK, it’s getting late, time for me to head off to bed too. Pic is neo Kahala Dawn for Karen.

G’Night, Shirley