bromeliads for novices and addicts, sep, 2012

red river, Rosella, NOID?, break of day and wild gossip

This message was edited Sep 13, 2012 4:37 PM

tiger, predator, cheery day, aztec and manoa beauty?(look at the light stripe on it.)

Good morning. A sunny but brisk start to the day. I am off to Bunnings this morning to buy a stumpy screwdriver with the 4 points on it. Don't know what they are called, but I know what to look for. I need to get to a screw deep inside a wooden box and the handles on those I have are too long and won't fit.

Shirley, I do hope my noid turns out like your Kahala Dawn. That is lovely. Thank you for showing.

Bree, Those are a lovely lot of broms there. I've got Break of Day. Wild Gossip is gorgeous!

Wendy, I love that Galactic Warrior. It is a real show stopper!

Ian, I like that Neo. Lava, and that tillandsia Xerographica. Apparently the latter takes many years to grow to flowering but is well worth the wait. I actually don't have one yet but admire all the pics I see of them.

Sue, nice pics and I love the red borders you've done on those gardens. Ae Freckles is a beauty, isn't it. I had "lost" my uncle for many, many years, but he turned up at my mother's funeral some years ago, and I loved having him back in my life. He always seems so eternal, so full of life, even though he was sick back then too. Well, lets hope he can pull back from the edge this time too. I'd like to have him around a lot longer, but when you see them so sick you wonder if they want to stay. I wouldn't, not that sick. His wife, Trixie, is 93, and healthy as. Amazing lady, that one.

Well, off to get ready to go find that screw driver thingie. Have a great day.
Karen

Hi everyone, just here for a short time today.

Karen – They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, so for a better description of Ae Recurvata, have a look at the plant on the left of the second picture of my last post.

Sue – More great shots of your wonderful gardens to put us all to shame and the flowers on Quesnellia Farro and other similar ones never cease to amaze me.

Ian – Like you I’m a bit inclined to experiment with different fertilizers as well.
Ursulaea macvaughii is a great plant with an amazing flower; your plant is getting a bit of size but still has a bit of growing to do. I grew hundreds of these from seed but gave them all away as they didn’t like the cold down here in winter.

Wendy – That’s a nice Galactic Warrior, the leaves seem wider than the ones we grow down here but then maybe it’s just the angle it’s photographed from. From what you say about your green pup it seems like I may have had too much nitrogen to kick it along.

Shirley – It seems like my old eyes are the only part of me that’s working properly at present (imagine an “old fart” like me picking up flyspeck on a pic on a computer screen) I’m really proud of myself.

Breeindy – What a great lot of pic’s you’ve posted today. I don’t think your No.3 plant in your first post is ‘Spots and Dots’. There are two forms with one being the original variegated one and another NOVAR, but I don’t think yours is either. The stripe in your ‘Manoa Beauty’ is interesting as I have a plant I grew from one of my crosses with a similar stripe which comes out in it every year and just like yours it’s just a single stripe.
Now a few pic’s, 1st Neo [Charm x Cracker Jack ] x Self seedling to show Breeindy the similar stripe to her Manoa Beauty what a coincidence. The next four pic’s are not my plants but taken at the show.

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone,

I must apologise, as I was a bit too quick with my offer of Vr. Nova Seed because when I went to get it out of the fridge I remembered I had tossed all the surplus seed when I cleaned my seed container out.

To those people who had already asked for it, I apologise but I'll send some other seed instead as a substitute. I still have a couple of contacts where I might be able to get some and if I do you will be the first to get it.

All the best, Nev.

Hi all. Stripes are in season by the look of it, but there are other colour mixtures as well. Here are some Neos
pic 1 N spots and dots
pic 2 Lime fizz
Pic 3 High Voltage
Piccies not loading at the moment, will try again later.
Have a good one.
Ian

Pic1 N Midnight with a stripe on 2 leaves
Pic 2 N Midnight

Hi everyone.
I'm having an early one tonight. a few days off from the girls now. I don't remember little ones being such hard work bt I love every minute with them. It just means I have to run after 3 instead of just Johnny oh and Max (the dog) too of course. I never seem to get to sit down and enjoy a full cuppa any more. always have to jump up to get something for one of them. The girls just seem to be hungry all day long. I spend almost the whole day in the kitchen making sandwiches, drinks, biscuits etc. Anyway 3 days off now and lots of pupping to do. Emily potted a couple of plants today but refused to use my labels and insisted on writing her own. We now have 2 plants labelled EMilY instead of concentrica peaches. she even propped them up with skewers and sat them in a box with about half inch of water like I do. I soak them overnight before putting them down the back somewhere.

Neo spots n dots seems to be a bit unstable. I recently had to buy in a new one because all of mine had lost their variegation. I must have sold all the variegated ones and got left with only a mother producing novars. so a new one was needed to start again.

We had a busy day with 3 lots of people here buying plants and another 1 dropping off pots and trays. I'll have to get Jen to come over to collect all the pink pots he dropped off to us. Johnny won't have coloured pots in our yard so they all go to Jen.

I have a vrisea here that had 2 pups ... one completely green the other had uniform red stripes on every leaf. It is only a small sized vrisea. I've separated them now and the striped one has retained its stripes the whole time. unfortunately it doesn't havea name so I'll have to wait for it to grow up to see if it sends out striped pups. it will then be a sport. we had another larger guzmania that had a single stripe on one leaf but it didn't retain the stripe. It grew out.

I harvested seed from our billbergia fruit salad x sanderiana yesterday and washed and dried it overnight. This afternoon I planted them out. there was only 2 pods so just enough to do a light coating in a takeaway tray. I I

froze again and this time I lost my post. I'm going to bed now. I think I'll do a scan now though to see if I can speed up the computer.

Night all
Wendy

Hi all, lots of lovely pics tonight.

Bree, I love all your gorgeous neos, especially Red River and Rosella.

Karen, hope you found your stumpy screw driver thingie and got it to do what you needed it to do.

Sue, have you worn yourself out with all your hard work?

I will attach pics of my two Spots & Dots, one variegated and the other Novar.

All for now,
Bye, Shirley

Hi everyone,

Well at last the long awaited rain has come last night and I was hopeful it would clear all the bugs out of the air but it wasn't to be, the rain fizzled out after an hour or so and once again the sky is clear this morning. Everyone you speak to down here has either had the bug or has it now and it's such a stubborn bug this time and seems to hang around for weeks. Just when you think you're over it, BANG! You cop it again. Not me this time but my wife, so I'll probably cop it next. I guess it's OK as long as the both of us aren't crook at the same time otherwise who's going to look after us and the brom's?

Ian – What you say about variegated plants is very true, they seem to be all the go at present and people are forgetting all of the nice other colour variations and spotted types that are still around. It looks like you could even have a 'Midnight' that is starting to revert to variegated and I imagine in another fifteen years we'll know if my prediction was right or not.

I also had problems loading pictures a few posts back and I think it may have been because they were too large. Since I reduced the size via a (round-a-bout sort of way I stumbled across) I've had no more problems.

Wendy – No doubt about it, the “littlies” wear us out. My little grandson is crook at the moment with this dreadful bug that's going around down here and so is his Mother, Father and my wife also. I'm the only one still standing and just as well as I got a phone call from Kayleen to say they are on their way back from Victoria and will visit tomorrow so I just have to hang on until after then.

Shirley – They are two nice looking pups you have there and look like they are from good sturdy plants. They clearly show the difference between “the real deal” and the NOVAR although you can still see a faint line in the leaf of the NOVAR so perhaps it could throw variegated pups once again.

That's it for me today so more pic's to finish with and this time I'll get away from the show pic's and take Ian's lead and show a few of the other colours Pic.1 is Neo 'Apricot Nectar', Pic 2 Neo 'Camelot', this plant can vary from season to season with its markings. Pic 3 Neo Crimson Glow 'Red Fleck'. It's an “oldie” but still a very popular and an interesting plant as well. The plant in the picture is not showing its full colour but some of the red flecks on the leaves are still visible, the main attraction with this plant is when it is in full colour and is suspended and can be viewed from below with the light behind it. It's then that the little red flecks in the leaves really “shine”and they appear almost iridescent and most unusual. Pic 4 is Neo 'Midnoght Moment' and is a different spotted type altogether that either you like or you hate, there's no half way and Pic 5 shows what can be done when old favourites are hybridised, in this case it's a hybrid using Neo 'Lambert's Pride' as the seed parent, unfortunately the pollen parent's name wasn't given.

All the best, Nev.

Yeah i didnt think mine was spots and dots, thats what it was tagged though. Is it a mini, looks small?
Wonder what mine is, i love it?

good morning.
Sorry I went awol. I had an early start followed by a busy day and just didn't get to the computer in the end.
We had a drop of rain last night, but to look outside, you wouldn't know it. It also blew a gale, so another task of picking up leaves and branches will be in order. I'm thinking about leaving that until monday now, as there still might be more windy days yet, and why keep doing the same job, over and over? I've only got the bananas to tidy up, and then up to Leisas garden to deleaf the broms (that is, get all the gum leaves out with the BBQ tongs)
ian, I use my african violet fertiliser on my seedlings, as the high nitrogen is good to promote leafy growth. I add a bit to the spray bottle when I mist them. I don't have the African violets anymore, so don't like to waste the fert.
I love your Tillandsia xerographica and the ursulaea and also your Androlepis. I have quite a fewof Nevs ursulaea seedlings in the HH, all doing well. I also like your Neo. 'Midnight'. It is one of my favourites and is such a good pupper!
Wendy, i look forward to seeing your pic of vriesea 'galaxy' in flower. I flowered V. glutinosa earlier this year, and it was quite a nice flower spike. I had taken heaps of grass pups off over the years, and must see if I have one left to grow on. I've no doubt I will get a V. 'Galaxy' eventually, as there seems to be no shortage of them.
I'm with Johnny, only black pots used here also. Belinda gets my coloured ones. Our local Waste station has closed down the recycle shop, and now i rely entirely on people to donate pots. Its nuisance, as i have trouble getting the standard 120-140mm pots! I have heaps of large ones, but the smaller ones seem in short supply.
I hope your Vriesea retains its red stripes.
Shirley, no worries about your senior moment. I think we all get them from time to time? It is starting to come together here now, and I am able to stand back and enjoy what I see, as well as breakfast in the yard, in the sunshine, serves to remind me how enjoyable it can be. I oiled all the outdoor furniture so will have to wait a few days before i can sit on it, but there's plenty of other seating here and there, through out the garden. Hubby and I are laying some turf this arvy, if the weather is good, and the turf arrives and he gets home early? There's alot of 'if's there. fingers crossed.
Bree, goodness me, what a lovely lot of pics you have posted. How was your family thing? Did you get to the orchid show?
Karen, I think by your description, you might be after a short handled Philips head screwdriver?
How did you go with that? It sounds like you really have a connection with your uncle, and great that he came back into your life. I guess the best thing to do is spend as much time with him as you can, when you can. It is lovely to hear of such mature people still getting the most out of life.
Nev, what an easy mistake to make. I noticed some packets of something in the freezer last night. I'm not sure if it is seed or pollen? I will have to take it out and see what the dates are on them, as I think all will require tossing. Sounds like you had a senior moment too!
Well, I might take the dogs for a stroll, as we seem to all be benefitting from it. Its pretty breezy out there though, but I don't think its cold. I hate the wind, except when its washing day.
Nev, the first pic is a Neo seedling from you, labelled #44
photo two is my Hannibal Lector seedlings
photo three shows the green stripes
Sue

Its a good brisk morning again with a bit of a wind blowing. I'm out of here again today to do a bit of bush walking and then have lunch with Barry.

I did get my screw driver thingie, but I found a pack of two, one with the Philips Head (thanks Sue) and the other with the flat blade end. Never know when I might need one of those too. Had a look at Bunning garden section while there. The daisy like flowers are just getting more and more beautiful. Wish I had a sunny garden to grow them.

Also got a book for Uncle Merv. Don't know what he usually reads but I got a James Patterson book. He seems to be very popular and not hard to read either. Will get Trixie some crochet cotton, as she likes to do those teatowels folded and made into kitchen hand towels. Merv is too weak to go on outings so there's not much else for him to do but read or do crosswords. He's hooked up to oxygen all the time but can still move around when he's strong enough.

Some wonderful broms posted again today. That Spots and Dots is a nice one. I love that Neo Midnight Moment, Nev. Bree, I have quite a few that are similar to that last one you posted. All are small, all slightly different from each other, and most are NOIDs. I don't think any are marked as strongly as the one in your pic though. Shirley, that difference between those 2 plants is amazing. I love the var. one, but then I have a weakness for vars. Ian, I like that Lime Fizz too. Wendy, enjoy your days off. I found young grandchildren were great to have around, but always nice to be able to hand them back at the end of the day. I still wonder where they get all that energy though. Would love to bottle it. Mine are all grown up now and turning into couch potatoes.

Hello to everyone, hope you all have a great day.
Karen

Have this noid growing in my frangipanni tree. No idea what it is, and at first glance it is rather plain, but it has coloured up a lot and is now in flower. It is a bit larger than Fireball. It is directly under a wattle tree and the dead flowers keep filling the cups.






This message was edited Sep 13, 2012 3:31 PM

Hi just some quick piccies tonite
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Ae Apocalyptica
pic 2 Ae Chantani
Pic 3 Ae Fosters favourite favourite and fosters favourite
Pic 4 Ae Pectinata
Pic 5 Ae Naudicaulis red form

Sue- i did go to Woolgoolga but didnt get to go to the orchid show or plant fair
1 is a NOID mini
2. do you think this could be a spots and dots? i think its tagged MS hybid?
3. its the only Neo. i have with white flowers.

good morning all.
Nice and early today, although I will probably go back to sleep after.
Karen, I am glad you found your useful tools. I am in Bunnings at least once a week (three times this week) and mostly in the garden/nursery section. I wish I had a home for all the lovely plants I see there. I do, on occasion, buy those blue ten packs of annuals, and make up a pot of colour. They are very good value, at less than a dollar a plant, and are usually well advanced.
The book sounds like a very nice gesture. I am not familiar with the Writer, but have heard of him, so no doubt a winner. I am sure your Uncle will appreciate the thought that went into it. I love those crocheted hand towels! An elderly lady I gardened for used to make me several every xmas. I still have a few left, but as she passed away earlier this year, i will have to purchase them from now on.
Your NOID Neo looks very similar to one I have. It is strappy and green if grown in the shade, and flushes red at flowering, but in the sun is quite dark red, with spots, and is a bit bigger than fireball and thicker leaved. It also has long stolons like fireball. I posted this picture a few back, but here, I've used it as a border. I wonder if they are the same?
How was your lunch with Barry? Did you go anywhere nice?
Ian, some nice plants there again. Could number two be A. chantinii?
Bree, sorry you didn't get to the orchid show. How is your orchid collection going? You must have a few flowering now?
The one you think might be spots and dots, does look similar. I couldn't really be sure. Also your first NOID looks very close to a Mini Neo I have. I will check to see if mine is labelled later this morning.
Well, the turf was laid yesterday, so a bit of watering to do today and some work in the brom gardens. hubby may pick up some mulch hay for me today, to put around the bananas, and other than mowing, I am quite on top of it all. Whew! Its been an effort. I really don't expect to win, as the judges are apparently, very fussy. We have a couple of areas where hubby likes to stack and store stuff. I turn a blind eye, but they might not? Too bad. The best part for me, is the chance that I might get some visitors through for a look, and thats always a nice thing.
Anyway, heres that pic again Karen, with the NOID border. (i think it might be a fireball x olens)
The second pic is a tibouchina tree with a few minis tied to it, and behind is the Eupatorium bushes.
Third pic is a wheelbarrow of succulents
fourth pic is Aechmea pineliana in flower
Happy gardening weekend everyone.
Sue

Good morning everyone. I think it is even colder this morning, brrrr........

Sue, below is a pic of the same brom in my frangipanni tree. It could be the same, just yours probably has better growing conditions. I do love that Eupatorium bush, and wheelbarrows are my favourite garden ornament. One day when I'm stronger, we are going to have to plan a visit down to see your garden. I have a sister in law living down your way and she is long overdue for a visit too.

Ian, do your plants have much trouble with the high humidity there? Are there any special tips you have for safeguarding against rot or mould? You have quite a collection, so you must have some good tips.

Bree, those are lovely broms there. I particularly like that first one, the mini noid. I have 2 that look similar, one is Betty Head, the other is Vulcan, though the latter has longer, slimmer leaves.

Karen

1 is noid in frangipanni tree'
2 is an unnamed vriesea from Rick Cairns
3 is another I don't know but I like it. Also from Rick Cairns.

Hi everyone,

Well I made a big decision yesterday while walking around my collection; at least half of it has to go. A lot of the plants I had hanging beneath shade cloth on the northern side of the yard have been terribly wind damaged from the recent gale force winds we experienced. The damage wasn't so much from the wind but from pots being blown together and plants hitting each other and breaking leaves. So I'll go through them and anything that isn't in good condition is going in the green bin. Healthy pups will be taken off of course as they can later be sold at the society plant sales. It's pretty disheartening to look at it all now and it's got to the stage where I'm really ashamed to let anyone see it in it's present condition.

Breeindy – Don't think you are the only person to be caught out buying a plant which is wrongly named either by accident or intent. I learnt a long time ago never to trust the name on a label and I'm sure a lot of people who have been growing for a while now have come to the same conclusion. No matter what the name is, when it's all said and done isn't it really a case of “beauty being in the eye of the beholder”? I think the plant in your first pic is a “little ripper”, a real eye catcher. As for the second one, no I don't think it's 'Spots and Dots', although it looks a bit like one I have called Neo 'Syncopate' , which is a hybrid of Allan Ladd's from Northern N.S.W. hybrid. Is your plant a small or large plant?

As for the definition of a mini; going on Australian judging standards it's any plant when fully mature will fit inside an 8” circle; in fact I know of a judge who carries a piece of cardboard with an 8” circle cut out of it in his bag just so he can check borderline cases.

Sue - Pleased to hear your Ursulaea seedlings are doing well? I gave some to Jen as well and she says she has one that's 3' across, I didn't know they grew so big so perhaps it's the warm climate and the TLC she's giving them,. All I know is they wouldn't do any good down here in the cool winter weather. As for “Senior's Moments” I'm always having them and either misplacing things or throwing them out when they should be kept. (But I'm allowed to do that Sue, you're not, because you're not a "senior"). My wife on the other hand reckons I keep things that should be thrown out,so what's a man to do?

I like the idea of growing plants on the Tibouchina tree as I have one, (I think you saw it when you were here). I'm regularly threatening to cut down as it drops the flowers and leaves all over the shade cloth below it. Maybe I can find a use for it after all.

That's not a bad looking little seedling Sue, was there anything else on the label except that number? Bottom right has my vote for your Hannibal Lector seedlings although the one you're holding with the faint striping could turn out to be interesting. (Nice thongs!)

Karen – The pic of your plant is similar to one I have called Neo 'Red Bird' which is in flower now. Size wise, it's about halfway between a mini and a medium sized Neo. It is stoloniferous and the under side of the leaves are darker than the top. It's a good grower and does extremely well if mounted on trees. The second pic in your last post has foliage markings very similar to either Vr 'Erotica' or Vr. 'Tachete Gold'. If it has dark markings on the tips of the leaves it could be 'Tachete Gold'. You can check them both out at: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.phpgenus=VRIESEA&id=10477#10477

Ian – That's a good selection of pic's you've posted once more, this time Aechmeas. I'd just like to say one thing though, don't let your Ae Pectinata out of the pot because if it gets into the ground it will grow into a massive plant, I have one and I foolishly sank the pot into the ground to stop it tipping over and now it's about 3 feet across (See pic 1).

Finally, a good day to everyone one on the sick list, and I hope you are soon on the way to recovery.

Well that's about it for today from me. I started this at 6.00am this morning and what with interruptions all day, I've just now finished it now at 5.20pm. Finally a few pic's; firstly Ae. Pectinata just to show Ian how easy this plant can take over once it escapes from its pot, Pic. 2 is Ae. Formosa 'Festiva', Pic 3 is Ae Recurvata 'Blushing Pineapple', Pic 4 and 5 are two Ae Recurvatas from our recent show just to show the typical colour range obtainable.

All the best, Nev.

its a pretty large plant Nev.

Hi all, It has been a busy day inspecting, cleaning and watering my back bush house. I have also looked at old piccies of my plants to compare them with now. Some have coloured up, some down and some with little change except for size. I even found some scale that ought not be there, they are aside now awaiting treatment tomorrow.
Karen, rot has been a problem for me here, I have probibly lost 8 or 10 plants, some have pupped though. I now check my plants a bit more often and if I suspect there is too much water being held, I split the bottom 2 or 3 rows of leaves to let the water out. I also have to watch out for debris as I am still growing some of my plants under trees, the palm flowers are the worst culprits. Mould not a problem, except on seedlings until I get some ventilation into the trays. To treat the mould I spray with Miltons anti bacterial tablets mixed with water, 1 tab in 2 l water, Kills it almost instantly. I used vinegar painted on with an artists brush but found it too time consuming.
Sue, you could be right, looks like I had 2 choices and chose the wrong 1.
Nev, part of my landscape plan is from desert to rainforest, with the desert out front and rainforest out back. Big prickly plants could suit some of this plan, could be part of the reason i am collecting hard leaved Aechmeas. It could also deterr people I don't want in the front yard. The young pandannas palm is even more visious than any prickly brom that I have got so far.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 N Bills gift
Pic 2 N Vulcan x spot on
pic 3N Noble decent
Pic 4 N Annick
Pic 5 N Royal robe

Hi everyone, still very dry here though we are supposed to get rain (substantial rain) next week, so they say. We haven’t had a drop in more than 8 weeks now.

Nev, hope your wife is feeling better now and your grandson and his parents too. That hybrid of neo Lamberts Pride is beautiful, I love the colours. Also love the look of Ae Pectinata, gotta get me one of those and your Ae Formosa Festiva is a handsome beast as well. So sorry to hear that you plan to get rid of half of your lovely brom collection because of damage caused by recent strong winds.

Sue, you certainly were up and about early this morning, hope you got the chance to go back to sleep later. Not long now before you face the judges and I wish you the very best of luck for Tuesday.

Ian, nice lot of neos in your pics, especially Annick, I am very partial to the variegated neos, large and small, love em all.

We went off to the market this morning and I didn’t buy a plant. We then went over to Bunnings and again, I didn’t buy a plant though I did get a few pots. Don’t know what’s wrong with me !!!

I only just noticed the thingy on the photos this morning. Don’t know how long it has been there but it certainly makes checking out all the photos in a post a lot quicker, especially if there are 4 or 5. No longer having to click on the photo and wait for it to appear and then arrow back again and wait and click on the next one … again and again … so much quicker now.

Well, enough from me for now, enjoy the rest of the weekend. Pic is neo Lemon Pepper.

Shirley

Hi Everyone!

Thought I better play catchup bigtime - WOW so many threads, I started reading them at 10.30pm and it's now 11.30pm - I have eyeball cramps lol.

Anyway better start typing or it will be 1am before I know it and I will be snooring behind my laptop.

A special hello to everyone on the sick list, I hope you all feel better real soon.

Sue, all the very best wishs to you for Tuesday, how exciting! I have really enjoyed seeing what wonderful garden projects you have been up to, awesome work - well done and thanks for sharing.

Great pic's Everyone, luved all that I saw and I made sure I opened everyone of them as I enjoy taking a closer look - what fantastic colours. How dull would life be without colour. That's the one thing I have always tried to achieve in all the gardens we have had and that is to be surrounded by as much colour as possible. When we lived in VIC we had an English garden and I do miss some of the plants I had in that garden, but I am so pleased that I can grow many more types of brom's now given they are my utmost absolute favourite.

So glad it's the weekend, was hanging out bigtime for some chillout time in the garden. Got the grocery shopping out of the road on Friday but before then went to Bunnings to pick up some more supplies for the garden. Before you no it $200 dollars later and we only went in there for a couple of things lol. God I luv that shop!

Started the day off early this morning 5am for a walk on the beach with hubby and our two girls (our dogs), will have to send pic of our other girl next time around.

Then as soon as we got home we shot straight out into the garden, hubby spent some quality time with his orchids, preening and feeding, then he helped me shade our entertainment area (half way up) where all my vriesea's live. It looks great and has really cooled down the area and the air flow is perfect. , I will have to upload a pic once I have all my babies back in place. I was concerned because I discovered a slight burn mark on one of my vriesea leaves and automatically went into damage contol mode lol and I am so relieved - one thing less on my list of things I thought I might end up having to do. Normal people just have To Do Lists but I have that plus Things I Might Have To Do Lists, ah well it keeps me out of mischief :)

The remainder of our day was spent picking fresh veggies from the garden, tending to all my broms (removing gum leaves mainly), with a little bit of house work thrown in at the end so I would not feel too guilty.

Sunday will be spent potting up some new broms, taking pic's of them and then I will go spend some time in the nursery getting rid of a few anoying weeds that have raised their ugly heads in some of my hanging pots - gurr.

It's now 12:12pm and hubby is snooring like a trooper as well as My Little Helper - Lucy, has anyone good some earplugs I could borrow - seriously really lol.

We normally tucker Lucy out with the big walk in the morning plus big days spent in the garden. Our other girl prefers to stay inside mostly and comes and visits us in the garden when she feels like it or it's time to be fed, she (Lexi) is a Dashy X, we call her the Stream Line Model, she is beautiful and is 6yrs old. Both our girls have been adoped from RSPCA when they were 3yrs old.

Anyway, time for me to clock off or I will suffer when body clock gets me out of bed early tomorrow.

Hear are a few pic's to enjoy:

Take care everyone, hopefully I well get to chat with you all during the week, even if it's just for a brief moment here and there.

Pic 1 - Neo' Sheer Joy
Pic 1 - Neo's Painted Delight
Pic 3 - Neo' Pimento
Pic 4 - Vr. Gigantea Siedeliana (I luv this one - so pretty and line defined for a small vr.
Pic 5 - My Little Helper (Lucy - 8yrs old) luv's helping me in the garden and is especially interested in checking out what I get up to with my Brom's (she luvs watching me pot them lol) and is ever so careful when she walks next to them because mummy has taught her many years ago by saying "Be careful, be careful" lol.

See, it's now 12:43pm - decided to check my paragraphs were in place because sometimes they get thrown all out of wack because of how much text is going on here.

Ps - Snooring situation not improving any time soon by the sounds of things - come on really ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Good night - frown face :(

Happy gardening everyone!

Sorry, could not help myself given the industrial noise situation going on around here - it's now 1:01am dame it so I could not resist attaching pic of our girl Lexi, I felt guilty leaving her out of last thread, anyway here she is, isn't she beautiful:

Hi everyone,

Well it looks like a nice sunny day here so the “post show” clean-up begins!

Breeindy – Yes Bree it is a pretty large plant and what's more it's growing in an area where I was told it would never do any good let alone flower. You see I had two pups and was told they had to be grown in good bright light (albeit not full sun) as that's where the mother plant had been growing. I originally potted them up and located them as advised and there they sat and just “sulked” and made no progress. Never being one to put all his eggs in one basket, I took one and planted it (pot and all) in its present location on the shady side of the yard beneath 75% green shade cloth in an area originally built for Guzmanias. Within a few weeks it just “took off” and grew and grew to what you see in the pic which was taken two years ago. The other pup in the pot just seemed to go backwards so I did the same with that but in the end it rotted and I lost it altogether. The moral of the story is; don't believe everything you're told and try out other things for your self.

Ian – I think everyone who has a reasonably large collection and doesn't spray as a regular thing will find a bit of scale from time to time. I personally prefer not to “blanket spray” as I have frogs, lizards and birds constantly in the yard. My preference is one of observation and when I spot a plant with a problem, it is taken to a separate are and treated individually.

As for rot, I have found over the years that rot will also often start at the site of a “trauma”, the most common being is when something falls onto the plant or down into the leaf axils with enough force to cause the leaf to break or be ruptured in some way. It is at this weak point that often the rot can be traced back to. I have a lot of suspended plants and occasionally during watering, a lump of back will fall out of an overhead plant and land on a plant below; even this is sometimes sufficient to cause damage and if conditions are right, be sufficient to start rot.

That's a great lot of pic's you've posted and out of all of them the only one I have is Nobel Descent which I find is a beaut plant to grow in almost full sun. It is tough as nails and will colour up to almost yellow and makes a great contrast plant in the garden. It also has good spikes to deter the vandals as well.

Shirley – Yes it wasn't just the wind damage that caused me to decide to cut down on my collection it was a combination of that and health problems. I reasoned it would be better to reduce the size of the collection to one I could manage comfortably rather than have a large collection that wasn't looked after properly.

Your little Neo looks great and with its fine spotting is very appropriately named.

Trish – Having a “Things to Do List” is great as long as you follow it and the jobs to be done are prioritised. However if you are like me and regularly have “Senior's Moments” (as we discussed in a recent post), when you go to get the list you forget where you put it.

They are really beautiful well grown plants you have posted and being a Neo man I can't help but admire your beautiful Neo. 'Sheer Joy'; one I haven't seen before. I love your little dogs also and they look like they are being looked after just as well as your plants.. Personally I've always thought there's something wrong with people who don't like dogs. I've had dogs all of my life right up until recently when I lost my last little mate of 17 years to a stroke. At this stage I'm still not ready for another as his loss is still too raw and upsetting, but I'll get another one in the future. What they say is very true; a dog is very non-judgemental and a man's (and woman's) best friend.

A big “cherrio” to anyone on the sick list and I hope you are all back posting again soon.

A few show pic's, to finish; the first four are of random plants and Pic 5 was taken by one of the cheeky younger female embers who labelled it “The Three Wise Monkeys”

All the best, Nev.

Nev you asked if my brom i thought was spots and dots was large or small, its large(see pic).
While were showing our dogs....

Hi all, another busy day just cleaning and watering my broms, I have been doing this for a week now and it is making a big difference. I have moved a few into the pool area for tempory storage, possibly it has better light than the bush house. I need to expand the old one and want to go from the back verandah to the current bush house. This will cover the clothes line and shade it a bit, less bleaching of clothes. It will also cover 90% of the back yard and do something to the back lawn, It is a big project and will need a budget to suit. I will have to stop buying plants to build. Then I will have a bush house. Soon i will have an area just for my NOIDs and then try to identify them 1 x 1.
Nev I can relate to senior moments and the hereafter as I go into a room and wonder what I am here after.
Got a few more today 1 labelled Pitch Black. I hope it is right. The bonus for the week is that Bil tigrinus horridus is flowering now. Green flowers, there seem to be a few bils with green flowers.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Bil Tigrinus horridus flowers
Pic 2 N pitch Black
Pic 3 N mini NOID
Pic 4 Temporary storage
Pic 5 N Noid w3as orange centre but is becoming redder as the light is getting to it. Was in Bunnings lighting

Hi Everyone

Just lost a huge thread I had been typing for 30mins - bugger - I totally understand everyone's pain :( double bugger...

Anyway too late to start all over again, but here are some pics of the just shaded L shaped entertainment area that houses all my vrieseas and one lonely neo called sam smith that you guys have already met lol. The area also houses our outdoor dining setting, bbq, gym and treadmill:

Take care everyone, speak soon and happy gardening!

Trish

Oh, one other pic I wanted to attached (not at all brom related) is of my asparagus that I have been picking everyday up to 3 to 5 per day, it grows very quick and tastes so much nicer than shop brought.

Also, check out this huge hibiscus flower, sorry could not resist:

Trish :)

Hi everyone.
I have been reading each night but the last couple nights when I try to post the computer freezes up and I lose the post. I then shut down and go to bed in frustration. sorry. I'll post tonight with no picks first and if it works I'll try to attach pics separately.

Trish we enclosed our patio but we had pull down shadecloth blinds made. that way we can sit in the sun in winter and be shaded in summer. we can also lower the blind to block the wind. Love your patio with the nice neat row of vriseas along the edge. they'll love that filtered sunlight through that shadecloth.

Sue your garden looks great. you'll do well on Tuesday I'm sure...... unless the refs/judges have been paid like the NRL refs last night (poor Cowboys) but we won't go there will we seeing that half of you are from down south hahahaha. But we Qlders all know there was money involved.

Nev sorry your broms suffered in the wind. I know what you mean about reducing the collection so what you have can be kept maintained. Better to be a smaller well kept collection that too many that you can't keep up. Johnny keeps saying we have too many and I must admit we now have so many broms with pups still attached where we didn't ever have that before. We just don't have enough time to do them while babysitting. Have to keep up with Rylee if she is downstairs so can't get to pups until she's down for her nap. We had visitors to buy plants the other day while Rylee was sleeping and while we were busy Emily potted 3 pups but she refused to use my labels and instead wrote her own. We now have 3 different plants all named Emily (I wrote correct names on back of her labels though and put the previously written label in the pot as well). she did a good job by herself even if she had a few skewers in the pot to hold them uprite. We had another lot come this morning and it turned out we knew them at school so we spent hours chatting about different people we all knew forever. then we were so late (way past 11.30am) getting to the markets no plants left to buy but we got some fruit and veges at great prices. We then went to Masters, Bunnings, local pot place looking for rectangular tray pots and saucers to put multiple pots in. We finally got some at Kmart for ..... wait for it ...... $2 each. that price included the saucers. wow. They weren't as big as we wanted but 3 pots instead of 4 is better than one. Masters wanted more than that just for the saucers.

so many posts I can never remember which ones I wanted to respond to. love all the picks. we also love the variegated neos ..... I think it was Shirley who said that??? We have annik, and a similar one called meyendorfii x sheer delight as well as bevie bee, fireball variegata. I'll attach some of the pics but I'll post this first so I don't lose it. LOL then I'm off to bed as we have the girls again tomorrow.

Wendy

Pic 1 is bevie bee
Pic 2 is ladd's choice. the main one is so coloured you can hardly see the variegation but the pup on the left just peeping in shows the uncoloured version.
Pic 3 is a mini called melissa (it wasn't doing well at all till I put it in a pot with another mini that wasn't doing good either. now they are both clumping nicely.
pic 4 in variegated rosy fireball
Pic 5 is a NOID variegated one

Good morning. Its monday and the last day before judging. The lawns are mowed, the gardens are mulched and all is well with the world.........oh my aching back! heh heh. I am never gardening again! It can all turn into a jungle now!
Karen, you are more than welcome to drop in if you manage to get down and visit your sister. I love having visitors. Your NOID Neo looks alot like mine, and i wouldn't be surprised if they are the same. Mine just get alot of sunlight.
Nev, although your decision might seem heart breaking to some, it is a wise thing you do. I have seen way too many collections that have grown too big, and require so much work that the collector becomes depressed and the plants neglected. Much better to have a happy collector and healthy plants! Its a bit like cleaning out cupboards, and once you have got rid of the unwanted items, imagine how much room there will be?
As for the Ursulaea, mine are still about 3'' or less, across. How on earth did Jen get hers to 3'? I have one I bought about 3 years ago, and it is around the three foot size, but it was big when I got it. I will pot the little seedlings into individual pots this spring and se how they grow.
I also got an Aechmea pectinata some time ago, and I had it in quite bright light, but saw one grown in shade and moved mine to semi shade. It has been sulking for nearly two years, despite being in the ground. I wish it WOULD get as large as yours, Nev. I seem to be showing photos to alot of my broms lately, so they can see what they are supposed to do.
I love all the recurvata photos, and the wise monkeys are too cute!
Ian, your landscape plan sounds good! I like that idea. It sounds as though you have alot to keep you occupied with the cataloguing and moving the plants about. I am forever moving things and start to lose track at times. you know you have one, but just can't remember where you put it! I also have that 'hereafter' problem.
Shirley, are you ok? No plants? Quick, someone take her temperature. We could do with some rain too. but not too much at once, eh? I noticed the 'next photo' option the other day, and it is good, but then its a bit time consuming going back three to five times to get back to the original post. Is anyone in DG listening? Can you fix that?
Trish, it sounds as though you must spend all week working, and obviously are pining for a weekend in the garden. I am glad you finally got the time. Your shaded patio looks just the thing for the vrieseas.
i like your puppins. We have two also, mother and son, 8 and 6, staffies. Lots of fun and very good in the garden. Shade house has always been out of bounds, and they usually respect that.
I'm picking asparagus this year too! I grew it from seed about 4 years ago. It never makes it to the table, as i eat it straight out of the garden. Yummmm! Much tenderer and sweeter than supermarket asparagus.
Your small Vriesea gigantea, will not stay small! Its a slow one, but should get quite large. Even more impressive then.
Bree, your dog looks like a giant! Great Dane? It looks very regal in that pose.
Wendy, your pots sound like a bargain. I might have to do a drive to kmart and see if we have anything here? I imagine they are the trough type? is that what you have, or is it three pots in one saucer?
well, time to get up and go water the bunker and bits of new lawn. Think i'll take coffee with me and enjoy the morning sun.
Toodle-oo
Sue

Hi Sue. yes you were right they are the trough type pots but for $2 with a saucer it was a real bargain. as I said masters wanted more than that for the same saucer on it's own. the trough was $7. yes the exact same one.

your garden looks lovely Sue. I'm sure you'll do well tomorrow. hope you get just a brief shower to wash the dust off tonight but not too much rain to make it all wet and squishy for the judges to walk round tomorrow. good luck and we'll be waiting for an update tomorrow after they've been.

a bit of cloud building out to the west so hopefully we might get a shower today. the tanks are already down just over 1 rung so we did splash a bit of water around already. between the extended dry and the strong winds we've had everything was so dried out. I had to even put the lids back on the seedlings as they were drying out too much. I was watering them every day but they love the fresh air and morning sunshine. I'll take some pics again today to show Nev the seedlings he's sent me so he can see their progress.

I'm off now to get some potting done while Rylee is having a sleep. I can hear her having a bit of a sing song in there but not sleeping yet.

Talk later tonight.
Wendy

Hi everyone,

I have a pretty busy day ahead of me today with appointments everywhere so not much time here this morning.

Bree – Although you say the plant in the pic is large, what is the actual width across the overall plant?

Neo's classed as large area can go any where up to 3 feet across, and this is an area where I think the BCR and FCBS Photo Index both fall down, they show the pic's but don't give any sizes. I think Ian's idea of the 1” wire mesh behind the plant to give an idea of size is a great idea but it does detract from the pic of the actual plant. I think it's easy enough to say the plant has a diameter of “such and such” and a height of “so and so” and that way when viewing the FCBS and BCR sites everyone would know exactly what they are looking at; at present the picture alone just tells half of the story.

I love the pic of your “not so little” dog, and looking at the nice shiny coat he/she looks to be in great condition.

Ian – More great pic's, I really like the little NOID in pic 3, it could be one called Neo 'Red Tips' although it's hard to say as it's extremely variable grown in differing degrees of light.

Trish – More pic's of well grown plants, however the asparagus is what really catches my eye as it's my favourite veg. The hibiscus is nice also.

Wendy – I have to agree with you about the footy on Tuesday night, the Cowboys “got robbed” but then Manly (the NSW Manly) always seem to be able to intimidate the ref's in every game they play. They say down here that everyone has two teams they barrack for, their own team and which ever team is playing against Manly.

Anyway, back to brom's; Nice pic's of your minis, I have 1,2 and 4 although we can't get the colour in them down here as you can up north. Melissa could be worth trying as a parent for breeding variegated minis as the fine variegations are often a sign of a plant that transmits the variegations to its offspring............................Time's caught up with me so I'll have to finish this when I get home later.

Well I'm back home again after all the appointments and can finally finish off this post. I've got my fingers crossed as I can hear a bit of thunder and they have foecast rain so maybe they have got it right at last, I hope so.

Sue – First of all let me wish you good luck for tomorrow and let me also say that with all of the work you've put in you certainly deserve a prize.

That's fantastic colour in your last pic, but then I'm a through and through Neo fancier so what would you expect?

I'll finish with a four pic's of a seedling I made by crossing Ae Caudata onto Ae Recurvata. The Ae Recurvata influence is very strong and until it flowered it just looked like any other recurvata and was destined for the green bin as I have a yard full already.

It wasn't until it flowered and I looked more closely at it yesterday, that I notice the difference in the flower colour which is pale apricot and quite different to the normal recurvata flowers so it looks like it will get a reprieve after all. In the close-up in pic 4 you can see one of my spider friends just below the bottom two flowers. They are non-venomous to humans so consequently I never spray them, preferring to let them eat the bugs in preference to me spraying toxic poisons all over the place. Finally for all you dog lovers, a pic of my little mate of seventeen years, “Clyde”. He's seen here sleeping on his old chair beside me when I was on the computer. Sadly we lost him to a stroke just recently.

All the best, Nev.

good evening. Just dropping in now, because I might get busy in the morning doing a last stick and dog doo pick-up.
We have had rain since about 4.30 this afternoon. nice steady drops, not too light, not too hard! lets hope it stays that way. i just heard the news and they are talking big thunder storms, hail and flash flooding. Gawd i hope they are wrong!
The judges should be around after 9.30 tomorrow, all going well, and the steward will give me a ring when they are ten minutes away so I can go walk the dogs while they do their thing. if they want to talk to me, they will ring me on my mobile and I'll come back, so I don't intend on doing the three km walk, or they might have to wait awhile! heh heh
Wendy, I will definitely go see if i can get some of those troughs. they are great for minis and fireballs.
Nev, I like your recurvata cross. I have one called covata too, which i think is also reurvata x caudata? I will have to look that up. I might be mixed up with Comata? oh, maybe i should go check my facts first.
Anyway, i will let you all know how things go. I'm not sure when the results will be known. So, enjoy your day tomorrow and keep on posting nice pics!
Sue
photo one is N. correia-araujoi
photo two is N. 'Furnace'
I will have to look again at the label on photo three, 'cause I forgot the name
Photo four is Alcantarea brasiliana (AKA imperialis green) just coming into flower. (yay)

Hi all, a bit late tonight, had a day at work then into more work catching up with my plants. A couple are in the green waste bin, not worth working on with too much flyspeck and the plants are very common here. There will be more to follow for the same reason. 1 i am trying cutting off the top and replant the root system, just to see what happens.This is a bil noid, another experiment.I can see tiny pups on the root system , have planted it and am keeping it in semi shade.
Have a good one
ian
pic 1 N mini Tiger cub grown in shade
pic 2 Tigerina
pic 3 crouching tiger
pic 4 tiger too
pic 5 blushing tiger

All the best for tomorrow Sue. Your garden looks great and I'm sure the judges will love it. Hope the storms can hold off for another day. Can't wait to read about how it went. The colours in your Neos are lovely and I'm looking forward to seeing your Alcant brasiliana in real life.
Nev, hope all your appointments went well. I love your Aechmea. The baby recurvatas that I got from you are just starting to flower and it's exciting watching the colours develop. Ray's favourite is Ae. Blush that came from Sue but is it one of yours originally? Reducing your collection to a manageable size is painful but realistic. I've been busy doing exactly the same thing. Anything that is just sitting around looking straggly is going. My aim is to to have less but grow everything as well as I can. Someone said it's easy to grow broms but growing them well is much harder. Aint that the truth.
Hope you're not too exhausted from all the babysitting Wendy. It must have taken ages to water all your broms. I almost got excited tonight when there was a bit of thunder but no rain again! The photos of all your variegated Neos look great.
Ian, you've been posting some top photos. Looks like you have a very extensive collection with a wide variety. Your Billbergia tigrina horrida is very interesting. Love the flowers. Billbergias are my main addiction at the moment.
Trish, you have some very nice Vrieseas. Bet they love that area. The asparagus is amazing. And I love your little dogs.
Bree, Jean and Colleen your collections are certainly expanding. You have some lovely broms. Hope I haven't missed anyone. Wow, there are so many people in here now it feels a bit like writing the next chapter of War and Peace. It will be interesting to see how the photos go. 3. is my Ursulaea macvaughii seedling from Nev for Nev and Sue with my big fat feet for size comparison. 1. is Ae. recurvata Blush from Sue. 4. is my favourite atm, Vriesea Snows of MK x Red Chestnut from Alan Pythian. 2. is Aechmea ramosa festiva flowering now. 5 is Snows of MK F2. Night all. Jen

Hi all, no rain here as yet. It looked promising this arvo but didn’t happen. Everything is very dry in the garden and the grass crunches underfoot.

Wow Trish, you have some lovely vrieseas there. Love your neo Sheer Joy, your Little Helper Lucy and your girl Lexi. I’ll have to find a pic of our boy, Rebel.

Bree, I love big dogs and yours is BIG.

Ian, that noid mini in your third pic is a beauty and so is neo Pitch Black. The one with the orange centre could be neo Tangerine.

Wendy, those are very pretty minis in your pics.

Sue, to save going back 4 or 5 times to get back to the post ... when you get to the last photo, go ‘next photo’ once more and it takes you back to the first one which says on the left ‘back to post’ … works4me anyway. Best of luck for tomorrow.

Bye for now, Shirley

Pic 1 is a large neo NOID Pic 2 is our baby boy, Rebel (he is 7 years old)

Oops sorry Shirley, knew I'd miss someone. I loved the photo of your shadehouse. Everything looks so neat, healthy and organised with the same colour pots. Very impressive. Seeing as everyone is posting dog photos, here's one of our dog Bucky who's about 11 now. 2. is a recent acquisition, Tillandsia deppeana. 3. is my favourite tiger for Ian, Groves Red Tiger. 4. is Neo Pink Tiger. 5. is Neo Mactiger, Macho x Tiger. Fingers and eyes crossed, Sue. Have a good day everyone. Jen

Hi everyone,

I didn't make it here this morning as I had a few other things to do in preparation for the de-brief of our recent show. Wow! what a day; started at 9.00 and didn't finish until 3.45, but very worthwhile and a lot of good suggestions about how we can improve for next year came out of it.

Sue – You're very lucky to be getting a bit of rain, I wish we could get some instead of the thundery noise followed by nothing but promises. Did you get any hail today and did it interfere with your Garden Competition? That's a particularly nice clone of Neo correia-araujoi you have there; I have a nice plant also but it doesn't have anywhere near the colour of yours, now maybe it's a clonal thing or maybe a climate thing, all I know is I wish mine was as.nice as yours. One more thing while I'm discussing that plant, can anyone explain the correct pronunciation of that bl..dy name?

Ian – That's a good variety of “Tigers” you have there, I have found that down here they need very good light to bring out maximum colour.

Jen – Nice to see you back posting once again I hope you've completely got over that nasty bug you had. It's gone the rounds down here as well and now my wife's off the air with it.

As for your Ae Blush, no it's not one of mine, I just have one called Recurvata 'Blushing Pineapple' (unregistered). There was one called Ae. Blush (Unregistered) which I think came from Allan Ladd or Ross Little at Pine Grove Nursery. However there is only one registered and all the details can be found at:
http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=AECHMEA&id=10433#10433

Your Ramosa Festiva is different clone to the one I have as mine is much shorter and squatter (see Pic Sept 15 which I wrongly named as 'Formosa Festiva') The inflorescence on yours is a beautiful colour. And your Ursulaea is a “giant”; come on tell us the secret feeding formula.

Bucky is another dog who looks like he's also “in a good paddock”. It seems like all of our brom growers know how to care for their animals.

Shirley – Your NOID could be one of the many forms of Neo. Cruenta, I like the great colour on the leaf tips. What can I say about Rebel, he looks like he hasn't a care in the world and judging by his nice coat, is getting very well looked after.

Best wishes to anyone who's still on the sick list, and get well soon.

Today's pic's are more from the show.

All the best, Nev