bromeliads for novices and addicts, sep, 2012

good evening all.
Well, 14mm overnight last night, which left the yard all fresh and green this morning. It was also overcast, which was great for getting photos, although I posted them on facebook this time. Its been thundering, lightening and hosing down for about an hour now, but no hail as yet, and not too much wind.
The judges came an hour early this morning, but I had got up extra early and was all ready when I got the call that they were on the way. I went to the neighbours to water their plants while the judges were here, .......all of 15 minutes!I can't work out how thy got around and had a good look at everything in such a short time. Hubby says they must have taken one look and decided we were the winners! Guess we'll know in a couple of days. the prize giving is on friday night. Anyway, I am glad its all over and life can go back to the normal pottering, instead of labouring! This weekend is my plant sale, so not too much time to sit on my hands just yet.
Thanks for the well wishes all. Jen, that A. 'Blush' came from Sundown Creek Nursery/Neil Miskin, but I'm not sure where he got it. Yours looks great and you must have it in a bit more light than mine. I can't believe how big your Ursulaea is! I thought you had made a mistake when you said it was nearly a metre across. Mine are hardly any bigger than when I got them!
I love your N. 'Groves Red Tiger' meeee-oooow.
Shirley, thanks for the tips. I hadn't tried that, but I will once I have posted. I love your big dog, Rebel. I used to have a labrador called Rebel when I was a teen. Your Noid looks a little like N 'Red Gold'
Nev, that N. correia-araujoi (I say it core-ee-a arrow-joy) is one of Leisas, and I thought it was N. 'Cockabell' until I read the label. There is another with the same label, but not nearly as well coloured. I checked the label on the little red Neo seedling in one of my previous posts, and it has 2 x BB x 2 x DL, if that helps? Its one of yours.
Lovely pics you have there, so I'm off to have a better look at them and try out the new 'next photo' options.
Sue

Hi all
My dg has been freezing up all the time and did again last night hence I turned off and went to bed. I've been on every night but nights I haven't posted it's because of freezing and losing what I've typed not because I'm not here.
Shirley thanks for the info on next photo. I'd been thinking they needed a button to scroll through multiple pics without having to go back and forth but never noticed either of those links on top of the photo. well done to DG and thanks to you Shirley for the heads up.
We had a bit of rain last night and a bit more today but not enough to fill the tanks so I'm glad we bought water in.
I took some pics today of my Ursulaea today but it is only about 30cm across not a metre. it is really starting to grow now so maybe if I repot and feed up it may take off and try to catch up to Jen's hahahaha.
I was only thinking today I must get about 4 pups off our groves red tiger. they are getting big enough to come off now.
Johnny potted up a heap of seedlings today and rearranged the seedling area to give his vrisea seedlings prime position. a tray of the vriseas got a bit overheated in the early morning sun so another sheet of tinted alsonite went up to protect them. I talked him into leaving the shadecloth bit open at the top though and he actually listened to me.
I'm going to post this before it freezes.

now my pics.
1. is Nev's neo thunderbird x self. I noticed the bright red glow in the centre today as I walked past it Nev but the pic doesn't really capture the bright glow with deeper red around the outside.
2. is my biggest ursulaea mcv.... with a pink ruler to show size.
3. is the seedling area getting filled up quickly now that we are potting up from the seedling trays. note the change with the back wall now being tinted alsonite sheeting
4. is a tray of seedling trays to show the size of some of them. some have now been potted up some thinned out. Can't remember what these are but the back 2 on right are the blanchetiana and blanch 'ixora' trays back left is neo aussie dream seedlings (no var visible) and front right is ae heltonii and 2nd from front on left is neo hot gossip.

I just noticed that the last time I took pics of all the seedlings was back in January so a good half year since so I'll take more pics tomorrow and compare their growth (if computer doesn't freeze up but it is behaving tonight so fingers crossed all fixed now)

Wendy

This message was edited Sep 18, 2012 8:54 PM

Hi all, some strange happenings here with seedlings raising themselves out of the pot and falling to the floor below, I suspect that the Sunbirds at work. They nested above this site 2 years ago. 1 tray has shrunk in size, i suspect they may have been eaten, the others are alright. Something is helping me to cull already.
Jen your tigers are to die for, i have never seen them before but I will be looking out for them. I know that mine need more light as a Tiger cub in the mango tree is totally different form the one grown in the shade.
Wendy I just love that thunderbird and the seedling area, mine is still in the thought process.
Nev love the pics, shame I can't read the names of the plants.
Here is a question for those who more than I do. Will orchid scale transfer to broms. My wife Ros is getting interested in orchids and has some with scale on them. I need to treat them in any case but am looking at the possibilities.
I bought a spray bottle 8 litre and am using it with low pressure to water my seedlings, saves filling small containers. just a thought.
Have a good one
ian
pic 1 Bil afterglow
pic 2 Bil super duper grace
Pic 3 Bil Catherine Wilson
Pic 4 Bil Bill Harland
Pic 5 Bil rosea X tim plowman

Hi everyone,

Still a bit overcast here today with a bit of thunder around but as yet no rain unfortunately

Sue – This is the hardest part of any competition, waiting for the judges decision and I hope in your case they rule in your favour after all of the hard work you've put in. I've heard so many times following a judging of a show, when the judge rules in someone's favour they say oh! he/she is a very good judge; but when they rule in someone else's favour you hear, “oh that judge doesn't know what he/she's talking about”. The fact is you can't please everyone all of the time and in my opinion, just like a football referee, a judge is in a lose lose situation .

#044 is one of a group of 10 different crosses which I was experimenting with using different fertilisers to see which would give the best colour. It was a Painted Lady x ? I had meant to put them in a separate group so I could monitor them but they must have been put back with their other brothers and sisters instead (Another senior's moment!).

I always write the history of the plant on the back of the label and in this case the code 2 x BB / 2 x DL means the particular fertilisers I was trying on that particular plant at that time; which was 2gm of Blood Bone plus 2gm of Dynamic Lifter. Others codes were O+ which means Osmocote Plus, BR. R.F. was Brunnings Rose Food, Hort A.P. was Hortico All Purpose Fertiliser and so on.

Thanks also for the pronunciation of that name which even though you have explained it., I still have trouble getting my tongue around it.

Hopefully the next pic we see from you will be holding the prize winners trophy.

Wendy – Like you I also have trouble with my camera capturing the red colours accurately. That particular batch of Thunderbird x seedlings are mostly coming in various shades of red with the occasional spotted plant just to break the monotony.

Your seedling growing area looks great, but unfortunately, like mine it will soon be full and the ruthless culling has to start.

Ian – You aren't by any chance using rice hulls in your mix are you? One of our local growers tried it once to open up his mix and provide better drainage but all it did was encourage mice and rats who were looking for the odd bit of grain. When it wasn't found they started digging down deeper and successfully "de-potted" several plants.

As for the names on the show plants, I'm still waiting on a list I requested from our exhibition co-ordinator. When I get this I can name the prize winners for you all.

To answer your question about the transfer of scale from orchids to brom's, yes it will transfer and it will transfer from brom's to orchids as well.

They are some nice pic's of Bill's you've posted but Bill. Afterglow would have to be my pick.

Your x Billnelia (Bill Rosea x Ques. Tim Ploughman) sounds an interesting bi-generic, I can't find it as having been registered, have you flowered it yet and if so what were the flowers like?

A big “GET WELL” to anyone who is still on the sick list and get better soon.

A few more pic's from the show to finish with, 1st a nice Neo which I would like to own but unfortunately don't, 2nd Bill Sanderiana which won the open Billbergia section and 3rd ,4th and 5th are of the main display which is very different to previous years.

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone. What a lot of beautiful pics. Does my heart good when I see all of them. Thank you. I'm still not 100% but slowly getting there. I'm going to Tai Chi to try to relax all my muscles which have been not letting my poor old bones be where they're supposed to be. I'm also doing a relaxation one as well. All I've got to say about that is my body would be quite easy to hypnotise I think. The lady said, let your left arm relax and feel it get heavy, well I thought that I was going to be lopsided and fall off the chair. I felt really good afterwards though. Might not be able to go next week as the boys are on holidays for the next two weeks and it wouldn't be relaxing to take them with me. lol A few flowers in the SH. a few pics for you to see. Colleen

Hi all, another fine day here, could do with some rain though. Had a look at past threads this afternoon and read Tash's report on rot and dehydration. I have just been giving my plants a deep watering where I plunge them into a bucket or tub and soak the rootball. I have found that 90% of the potting mix was dry and I mean really dry but the vase was filled with water. After watering I checked the mix and found everything loose so I pushed it down as one would plant a plant, nice and firmly around the edges, only to find half a pot of mix. This I have topped up with scoria. I wonder if the previous mix had broken down as it is organic .Every grower has their favourite mix and it works well for them.
Nev to answer your question, No rice husk just cocopeat and seed raising mix either 50/50 mix or cocopeat on its own. The Bilnea has not as yet flowered, it is approx 1 year old and was hybridised by one of our group members.
I found in a past thread a comment on N Cee Bee and I do not know who the breeder is but I know it is not listed in Margarret Pattersons book " Bromelad Hybrids. for my own satisfaction."
I collected seeds from N mini Tigrina today and planted some Ae Malva seeds also.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 N bevvie
Pic 2 Coolum sands
Pic 3 Dinkum
pic 4 pauciflora X ampullacea tigrina
Pic 5 Zoe

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick thread tonight as I brought some work home with me to do this evening, but I thought just to keep me sane in between a break here and there I would do a couple of things I enjoy doing which is either brom or pooch related by taking the girls for a walk with hubby.

Luved each and everyone's pics, how fantastic is the obsession we all share lol.

I have some exciting news to tell everyone, I am getting in the mail my first flask of vrieseas this week - yeah! I have prepped by doing a great deal of reading and have purchased what I need for potting them up and what to house them in, so wish me luck. Any words of advice would be appreciated. Hubby has also purchased Envy to use on his flask Orchids which will come in handy for these Broms.

I will see how these go and will possibly look at trying to grow some from seed. At least I can see for myself which way I would like to go.

A big thing for me is time as I only really have the weekend in the garden and mostly all our weekends are spent there (which is not a bad thing) but I have to be realistic and be able to manage what I already have right now which is well under control at the moment as I tend to pot during the week where I can leaving time to tend to all the brom’s out in the garden on weekends. The vrieseas in the entertainment area stay nice and clean so it is just a matter of checking they have enough water and remove the odd old leaf here and there.

Anyway I better hit the road and go for a walk.

Take Care Everyone and Happy Gardening!

Here are a few pics:

Pic 1 - Meyendorffi Orange
Pic 2 - Neo' Black Beauty
Pic 3 - Neo' Camelot
Pic 4 - Neo' NOID - Any idea's what this one is called? Maybe I should call it Beautiful Pink Trish lol
Pic 5 - Neo' Sweet Dreams

Hi everyone, I don’t know what happened to the ‘substantial’ rain we were supposed to get, we got only a couple of very light showers.

Jen, hope you have fully recovered from your bug. Love your Neo MacTiger with its’ nice big teeth.

Nev, with all the fertilizers you tried, was there one that proved to be superior.

Wendy, so many seedlings … you’ll soon need to have brom sales on a weekly basis.

Sue, lucky you to get some good rain. Hope your hubby was right about winning. Anyway, now you can stop stressing even if you don’t get to relax until after your sale … good luck with that too. Those are great looking alcantareas in your garden.

Colleen, good to see you back. Let me know if the tai chi helps with your muscles.

Great photos Trish and Ian.

My photos are 1 neo Pinstripes 2. neo First Prize 3. neo Rosy Morn

Bye for now, Shirley

ah have already frozen once and lost my text but not much typed yet. I tried to attach a pic of what I was talking about. I'll post words this time then add pics like last night.

Hi everyone. Ian I love your billbergia afterglow. nice colour. I have the other bills you showed but that bill x ques sounds interesting. I have ques lieboniana flowering atm ..... I might have to try crossing it onto a billbergia.
Nev I showed Johnny your thunderbird x self today and he said he hopes we can make some nice ones like that. I also took some follow up shots of your other seedlings you sent me but I haven' uploaded them yet. Don't even know where the camera is. Ill have to check now though in case it is down the yard somewhere. I remember taking pics down there but don't remember what I did after that.

I reduced the number of seedlings today. I received some seed from Miguel in NQ and in exchange sent him some seed and a handfull of ae haltonii seedlings. I have a tray of them potted up and still needed to thin out the tray of seedlings so offered him some and he accepted. there was about 12-15 in the bundle I sent him. so that's 2 trays of 6inch pots in the future right???? I am sad to say the seedling area is full now. Johnny potted up even more vrisea seedlings today and some neo hot gossip seedlings that were showng some nice shades of red. I couldn't find room to put something I potted in there today. I had to use the end of the vrisea shelf.

Shirley next time you come over I'll give you some seed to try if you like. also some seedlings if you want some. I think I have some to spare hahahaha. I think I still owe you $10 also. Can't remember fixing that last time you were here. We picked upsome more steel today to make more of those totem rings. We're going to try making up a free standing one to see if it will sell. Shirley you need some totems for your shadehouse for when the boxes get full and you need to go up to another layer.

Trish I was going to try a flask of seedlings but I was told they are touchy when you first expose them to the germy outside environment unless you have the right sterile environment for them, so I tried some of their potted seedlings instead. I bought 4 x 4inch pot sized till utriculata. I read all their info and it says to keep them nice and damp until they harden up. so they are in the seedling area. you can see them in the pic in the brown trough on the shelf. Let me know how your flask goes. if my utriculatas survive I might try some smaller ones next time.

I'm off to bed now before we freez up again.

night all
Wendy
This message was edited Sep 19, 2012 10:11 PM

This message was edited Sep 19, 2012 10:44 PM

I've lost my message twice already tonight so I am going to give up this time if it freezes again.
just noticed my last post is there. it must have posted it after it froze but I didn't hit send I don't think I did.

haha I've worked it out. post often and keep editing to add more. yehhhhhh. not just a blonde am I????

This message was edited Sep 19, 2012 10:09 PM

This message was edited Sep 19, 2012 10:45 PM

good afternoon,
sitting here, looking out over the tidy garden, thinking, 'what is there to do?' heh heh. Sit back, relax and enjoy it, thats what!
Geeze Wendy, sounds like you need to defrag, clean up, debug, or get a newer computer! what a pain it must be!The editing thing sounds like the go, but don't forget to delete the last 'this post was edited' as well. Lots of seedlings coming out your ears eh? Did i send you Till. utriculata seed? I sowed some awhile ago, and have little green plants happening, and the last adult plant has quite a few pods on it, but not ready to pop yet. If anyone would like to have a go with them (they don't pup so you have to grow from seed)I'm happy to send some your way when they are ready. I use a piece of styrofoam, with coconut fibre attached with fishing line, then wipe the seeds onto it, mist it daily in the morning (so it has dried by night fall) then hang it up in a shaded, airy spot. It seems to work well, and doesn't take up nearly as much room as trays.
Nev, thanks for explaining that label for me. i couldn't for the life of me think of any Neos with their names abbreviated to bb or dl. its only a fairly small plant so i wonder what it could have been crossed with?
As for the garden judging, I had some feedback this morning, all good, and news that there were some very beautiful entries this year, and I am not so conceited to think that i am the only one putting in the effort, so I am prepared to accept defeat if thats the case. The most important thing is that i finally got the work done, and in record time, and now don't need to do much except maintain it for now, and that I am sitting back and enjoying it more than I ever have.
We had another 20mm of rain on tuesday night, so it has gone a long way towards topping up the tanks, and the garden and lawns are showing their appreciation by looking lush.
Hi Colleen, nice to hear from you. the flowering broms look lovely, isn't it a nice time of year for the Aechmeas? Your thai Chi sounds like its doing the trick. i hope you get some relaxation while the boys are home on holidays. maybe you could get them involved in a massage course! heh heh.
Ian, N. 'Cee Bee' is from cheryl Basic (CB) who is down toward brisbane. I haven't had the pleasure of visiting their nursery (i think it was called 'Wildfire nursery'?) i am enjoying seeing all the weird and wonderful broms you have.
Hello trish, where did you get your vriesea flask from? Are they foliage or green leaved plants? i would say to keep them in high humidity for the first instance after deflasking, but they should come with instructions anyway. Then treat them as any other seedling. You will suffer some losses , no doubt, but that also happens when growing from seed, and often can't be helped. I had intentons of buying flasked orchids in bali, last year, but they only had large flasks with large numbers of the same variety available, and I was hoping for the smaller flasks, and to be able to get a wider range. i think the time of the year was wrong for me. i will have a better look at N. 'beautiful pink Trish' in a moment. It has great colour.
Shirley, i love your N 'Rosey Morn'. I was thinking that might be what Trish's NOID is, but need to have a better look. N. 'First prize' variegata has had a name change to N. 'Gold medal' and is also a favourite of mine as is N. 'Pinstripes'. I am very pleased with my Alcantareas, as i firt thought they would take up to ten years to get large and flower, but now i know, with good soil and fertiliser, it is much quicker. From a grass pup, in four years, you can get a pretty large landscape plant.
so, photo today is right here, right now.
Sue

Hi everyone,
I have a few spare minutes so thought I would try to write a reply on here :) Of course.... usually then those minutes I had spare vanish and I don't get to finish writing.... so I better get my fingers moving quick smart.
First of all, I love love loveeee everyones photos, and must agree with something Trish wrote "how fantastic is the obsession we all share lol." Yes it is an amazing obsession that gives us all so much enjoyment.
Nev, sorry to hear you are downsizing but I do 'hear' what you are saying, and agree with peoples comments about it's nicer to have a smaller collection you can manage, than a bigger one that is out of your control. So whatever you are comfortable with, is what you need to do. We have cleared out quite a few broms in the last few months, mainly NOID's and things that are not our "cup of tea" anymore. Our taste has obviously changed and evolved since we first started collecting, lol. I remember a little over 12 months ago never thinking I would ever get rid of a brom, I wanted everything, but as time has gone by I have worked out what I really like and what I don't like as much and with limited space.... it means I can't have everything, and that's ok.
Especially at this time of year (approaching Summer) it becomes problematic as up here, basically nothing handles full sun in Summer. A few things get left to cope with it, but they do suffer burn and bleach badly, so anything nice, really has to be under shade cloth. Last year we had a fair bit of burn, this year we are hoping to organise and arrange things better. We picked up a whole roll of Shade cloth today, only green, not beige, but it's for toppers in the gardens in amoung palms and other plants, so green will blend in better. We will also have to start watching the brom house for needing to put up the additional topper. I have recently moved a few Neo's that were against the cloth on the side that gets the morning sun as they have burnt tips and it does detract from the look of them, and that's through 70% beige cloth.
Wendy your seedlings are looking great, is lack of room such a pain in the behind?
Sue fingers crossed you have done well in the competition, your Facebook book album is just fantastic.
Ian, Collen, Jen and Bree, love all the photos you put up
Shirley, boy your collection is growing at a great rate of knots :)
Trish, good luck with the flask, check what your local humidity is like as we got a flask and so did someone else we know and there was no special needs in the deflasking as our humidity up here was around 80% at the time, so no need for a hot house or anyone that, or we would of cooked them. Just rinse thoroughly and pot up as per the instructions, and keep moist after that type thing. But do check what the instructions are and what your weather conditions are like when you do the deflasking :)
I am really sorry if I have missed anyone???
All the photos and post are fanstastic, I do pop in and read fairly regularly, but often I don't have my hands free to type a reply and one finger typing is not my thing, lol. For short replies on FB and places like that it's easy, but for a proper forum reply it's just too slow and too long.
ok what photos can I find???
ok a few things in flower or coming into flower at the moment..
1 Neo Predator
2 Neo MacPasco
3 Neo Mac Tiger
4 Till tricolor

wow i can't keep up with everyones posts and fantastic broms. Esp. love Mactiger, Neo Pink Tiger and First Prize!
Yes sue my dogs a great dane, Shirley what sort of dog is yours? looks big also
Gympies Delight

Hi everyone, isn’t it getting hot and still no rain here.

Wendy, yes please, I would love some seed to try and also some seedlings too. You remember those 3 little seedlings you were going to throw in the bin and I took home. I must take a photo of them, they are so very different. Two are small and purplish, the third is large and predominantly green at the moment but starting to get some pretty purple splotching. We have a very busy weekend coming up so I probably won’t get around to it till next week ... watch this space.

Sue, sounds like a plan … sit back, relax and enjoy, you deserve it. Thanks for the info on the name change for neo First Prize. I thought it would take much longer than 4 years for an alcantarea to grow from a grass pup to a large landscape plant … please tell me your secret. And that’s a pretty good looking lunch too.

Tash, I am still at that “I want everything” stage with the broms and yes, my collection is growing at a great rate of knots. We are already extending the new shadehouse. Hopefully, I will reach the point where I become a little more selective … but that could take a while. Of course, I do see quite a few that I would really love to buy but are way out of our price range … maybe one day!!

Bree, nice neo your Gympie Delight. Our dog is a Ridgeback cross … not sure what with but possibly a mastiff judging by his size, but he is the biggest sook.

Photos are 1 neo Macho 2 neo Red Macaw. These were taken a couple of days ago … check out the grass, not much green bits at the moment.

Anyway, as I said, busy weekend coming up so I might be MIA for a few days. Bye for now.

Shirley

Hi all,I think I am going to have a very busy week-end and will not be home. It is geting very dry here and I have to water seedlings daily, well some of them anyway. The ones that absconded to the floor looked like maybe i ought to plant them, so I did. Still refusing to cull. Collected some more seed and cleaned it ready for sewing. I find dry seed easier to scatter in the trays although I still sew too much. I am learning, forever learning. I have been looking at Red macaw and Correa-arrajoi side by side and they look very similar. I am trying a bir more light to get them to colour up then will post them side by side. They are of different ages. I have a heap of photos lost in my computer, maybe one day I will find them and save them into their correct locations.
Back to the littlies tonight.
Have a good one
ian
Pic 1 Ae noid still in seedling tray Just took lid off tonight
Pic 2 Ae noid potted in 1.5" pots
Pic 3 Portea seedlings
Pic 4 Alacantrea regina-alba seedlings
Pic 5 Acanthrostaccys strobilla seedlings in1.5"pots are chasing the light.It started with these.

I will try No 5 again

Caw blimey!!!!!! Ian. your first lot of seedlings are about the same size as mine, the only difference is I BL---- planted mine about a year ago and your's were planted a month ago. My seedlings are verrrrry slow but on the bright side they are still alive. One consolation is I dont have to repot yet. Hope everyone is well. Colleen

Hi everyone – Another fine day here today just like yesterday. I spent a good part of yesterday potting up pups I had swapped with another grower and then decided to clean up the garage which also acts as my potting shed. I can almost get the car in there now but not quite.

Once again a nice lot of pic's posted and it's good to see Colleen posting again also.

Something a little different today, and as a follow-up of my explanation to Sue about what the code letters on the name label meant, let me share my simple "tried and tested" system with you all.

How many times have you looked at a plant that was growing particularly well, and better than its neighbours and wondered what you had done to make its performance different to the other plants.......... or you have had a plant which had rotted and died and you were trying to remember where it came from so you could get another. The answer to these questions is simply with keeping accurate records; something which is a very important part of brom growing but something a lot of us never do.

When I first started into brom's I used to keep any important info in a note book; the trouble was the notebook was always in the house when I was out in the yard so consequently a lot of these entries were never written in the book. Finally it dawned on me it was much simpler to carry a marking pen at all times and write (in code) important info on the back of the name label if required. This system then expanded to where I would use the back of the label to record the plant's history, a move I've never regretted.

When I first pot up a plant and write a name label, I now always include some basic history about the plant in a simple code (purely to save space on the back of the label)

It starts with the size of the plant when potted, either P (pup) Pl (plant) M (mother). This is followed by the month and the year it is potted; for instance if I was potting now it would be 09/2012.

Next I record the type and quantity (if any) of fertiliser I use. First I write a number, (which stands for the amount in grams) then a code for the type of fertiliser, e.g. 5 x O+ stands for 5 gm of “Osmocote Plus” or maybe 5 x BB (5gm of Blood and Bone) and so on.

This is followed by the initials of the person or company from which the plant was obtained e.g. Sue (Our Sue) or P.N. (Pinegrove Nursery). Finally I write what I consider to be relevant info; for example CD (Cold Damage) or if it is a mother plant, 3PT (3 Pups Taken) or any other info you deem necessary. This saves me the trouble of searching for the elusive “notebook” (which is always somewhere else) but more importantly, I can pull out a name tag and in an instant, look at any important info.in relation to that plant's history. The next time I pot that plant, I just write new info on a line below the original entry and that way I have an on-going record of the plant.

It probably sounds complicated but once you get used to it it's very simple and the type of code can be anything as long as you can personally understand it. Finally to give an example of a completed name label;

On the front you have the plant name Neoregelia 'Burning Embers' while on the rear you have the coded history...... P / 09 / 2012 / 5xBR R.F. / N.N. / S.B.

At a glance I can see that this was a Pup potted in Sept. 2012. It was fertilised with 5gm of Brunnings Rose Food and was purchased from “Nancy's Nursery” and had some Sun Burn. The beauty of this system is that this info. stays with the plant at all times and is immediately accessible.

I have been using this system for some years now and find it invaluable and I would strongly recommend you all give it a try, you won't be sorry.

Ian – To follow up on your comment about Neo Cee Bee, it is not a registered hybrid so that info. which is often recorded on the Cultivar Register isn't available so I don't know where else you could go to find out.

Shirley – To answer your question about fertilisers, the most important thing I found to improve coloured leaf plants and the promotion of flowers was that the fertiliser used needs to be higher in Potassium than it is in Nitrogen.

If you read the NPK Ratio on the container this info is available and give the ratio of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K). The one I've found with the highest Potassium is “Osmocote High K” which (down here at least) is unfortunately only available in 20kg bags. I have found it to be a good product but you would need to share a bag with a few friends to make it affordable. I have in the past also had good results from Brunnings Rose Food although the Potassium (10) is only slightly higher than the Nitrogen (8) but is is much more economical to use and also gives reasonable results.

Tash – Nice to hear from you again (it's time you got off that bl..dy Face Book and came back here) and you really should visit more often even if just to say hello. That's really great colour you're getting in your plants up there in the tropics, really “eye-catching”.

Well I've run out of time and taken up more space on this forum than I'm entitled to so I'll finish up now and just wish you all the best,

Nev.

Hello all. I have had a buy day again, keeping up appearances in case i win the comp and the garden is open to the public tomorrow. Also, i have been preparing for a plant sale, with an early shopper kick starting the sales this afternoon. noice!
hey Tash, thanks for the well wishes. i can't believe you guys are getting the really hot temps already! Its fairly warm here, for the time of year, but still OK for one layer of cloth. I will put it on in the next few weeks though, as i don't want to leave it and then cop the one hot, dry day we might get! It was overcast most of the day, which was good, as i did a preventative spray using Yates Rose shield yesterday, so I have been able to leave it on for 24 hours, and can wash the cups out tomorrow. I wouldn't normally leave it on if it is sunny. Your photos of the toothy neos are lovely. I am lucky that with the amount of space i have, when my tastes change in broms, i can relegate them into the garden.
Shirley, my lunches lately have been yummo! Ham and salad sandwiches or rolls. i even pick fresh lettuce, rocket, and snow peas from various gardens, including mine.
The Alcants respond very well to liquid fertiliser, like thrive e.t.c, and if you apply it regularly (every fortnight) you will get great results. I stop fertilising around April, then begin again in September.
bree, your gympie delight is cute. i don't think I have one anymore,but i sold a couple of pups on Ebay some time back, and the fetched around$35 each! I felt so guilty, but I had them advertised as small growers, so included a couple of mini fireballs and punctate types as extras. I originally bought mine on Ebay for $12, and it was labelled 'Blushing tiger' but it wasn't. I was happy to have Gympie Delight instead. I've since seen them here and there for $5, and they pup well, so plenty around.
hello colleen, nice plants you have there. i guess the difference in your seed growth, to ians, is the temperature? Have you tried a little bit of fertiliser in the misting bottle, when you water them? It helps to kick them along. Just keep it a weak solution.
Nev, your code system makes alot of sense. i usually have the name and date on the front of the label, and the seller and price i paid on the back. The only other time i wrote on labels was when i potted up Alcantareas, so i could see how fast they grow, but I was repotting them so often, the labels soon filled up. I'm not much of a record keeper. If there was something i really wanted to keep track of, I'd note it, but theres so much to do around here I am always sacrificing something else, and record keeping is easily sacrificed in my book!
Anyway, off to check the mail box, then make an early dinner, then off to the prize giving night. I will catch up again over the weekend no doubt.
Todays visitor to the garden
Sue

Hi everyone. Nothing of note happening here so I haven't had much to contribute.

Sue, I do love your visitor. The only ones I see these days are road kill.

Bree, how do you tell the difference between Gympie Delight and Blushing Tiger?

There are too many incredibly lovely pics to comment on all, but it is so nice to drool over them.

Karen

Hi all, it is going to be a hectic weekend, going to Huhenden to move my son back to mackay. it is about 800 k each way so a lot of travelling and not much time for Ian. Less even for myy broms but they should be alright as it is only for 2 days. I will be back at work monday.
Nev I wonder if one could go direct to a plant breeder and ask about parentage and maybe some other relevant information, just a thought.
Colleen, Ian gone potty, weally buddy potty,but having fun
Nev, about fertilisers, the group or 1 of it's members buys it in bulk and sells it off to other members, just covering costs. I think any group of locals in an area could do that. How do I know what fertiliser has been used on that plant I bought from a local nursery that got it from a southern supplier and how long ago was it fertilised. Often I don't fertilise for 3 months and then presume the fertiliser has been used up by the plant. I like your tagging system, but how do we stop birds from taking tags. Ought we keep another record somewhere in case of this.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Orthophytum Vagans.
Pic 2 Ae spaeroglossa. It gave me the... so I potted it.
Pic 3 Alacantrea regina alba, yes that is a 25 litre orchid mix bag in front of it.
Pic 4 N noid ? tiger
Pic 5 Ae Fendleri in early stages of flower.

Hi everyone – I guess we are all awaiting the results of Sue's garden in the garden competition with our collective fingers all crossed; good luck Sue.

I know it's not about brom's, but to follow on from the recent Rugby League post when the Qld. Cowboys were cheated out of a win by NSW Manly; anyone who didn't watch Manly play Melbourne last night, you missed a beaut game; Manly got well and truly flogged and one of Melbourne's early tries clearly wasn't a try but was awarded anyway, so I think that's a great “get even” for what happened against Nth Qld.

Sorry about that little outburst and now back to brom's. Colleen, what's the name of the plant in the second picture, it's a “beaut”.

Sue – I like your visitor, we have a couple who regularly visit the Light Railway Museum where I am a member. Our area is bush on two sides and this is where they hang out, but occasionally they will just wander into the machine shop, have a look around and then wander back out again, and they don't seem to be frightened about the fact that people are working in there at the time.

Karen – Although the size and the markings on Blushing tiger and Gympie Delight are very similar, as I see it the main difference lies in the cup colour. Neither of the first two pic's are my plants but I use them to show the difference. Even though Pic 1 is a still a pup and Pic 2 is an adult plant, you can still see the differences in the colour tone in the cup. (That's how I tell them apart anyway).

Ian – Most plant breeders are happy to discus their hybrids with other growers unless it's something "pretty special" and the other grower is a hybridist who is a business rival.

Regarding the fertiliser type on the plant you bought from a nursery; it would be pretty difficult to find out what was used as most of these plants are bought in from somewhere else before on-selling. Sometimes you can see the “prills” in the mix when you are re-potting the plants but not always. My advice would be to take a guess based on the fact that most professional growers and nurserymen/women now use “prill” type fertilisers which last for 3 or 6 months (although there are some which last 12 months). I would wait for 6 months before I feed again, this way you can almost be sure that the initial fertiliser has worn off (just my opinion).

Stopping birds from stealing name tags - I found this to be a big problem which first started when the Bower Birds would come into the yard and steal the blue clothes pegs from the clothes line. My wife decided to change the colour of the pegs and the stealing stopped.

Unfortunately they then decided that the next best thing was the plastic name tags from my brom's. The worst attack I had was when they stole every tag out of all of my Aechmea Orlandianas. As you all know, orlandianas all look the same when not coloured up and so I had to wait almost another year until they coloured up before I could sort out the name mess.

After trying different things, I finally found out that our Bower Birds only like plastic name tags, so now I cut my name tags from old aluminium Venetian blind slats and haven't had a problem since. A word of warning though, some fertilisers and manures will re-act with aluminium and corrode it, so place you tag in the pot where it won't come in contact with these fertilisers. As a “back up” system you could also write out a secondary plastic name tag and push it well down into the pot below the mix where the birds can't get it.

I really like the unorthodox container in your second pic, it really is "making a statement"!

Finally a few pic's to finish with, Pic 1 is Neo. 'Blushing Tiger' (pup), Pic 2 is Neo. 'Gympie Delight', Pic 3 is Neo. 'Blast', Pic 4 is a "scruffy" looking Neo. 'Birdrock' and Pic 5 an "oldie" but a "goodie" Neo. 'Gold Fever'.

All the best, Nev.

Karen- The register says Blushing tiger is larger up to 30cm and is perfecta x Marnier Lapostolle, i dont think mines that big though, i think its redder than Gympies Delight which is pinker.
Gympies delight is smaller being 15-20cm and is Satsuma x Little dazzler. If included pics from the brom register also...

This message was edited Sep 24, 2012 4:11 AM

Hi everyone, well Breeindy anyway; where's everyone gone?

Breeindy - It looks like you solved the problem by giving the size of the plants in your previous post; It was something I could have done if I hadn't been too lazy to walk down the yard with a tape and do some measuring, or looked at the BCR which in this case does give plant sizes which makes it all much easier. Anyway, thanks for sorting that out for us all.

Seeing there's no one to talk to today I'll just post some pic's and go and have breakfast.
These are pic's of a few of my Ae. Orlandianas and I'll ask you to excuse the cobwebs on the plants as I don't spray and prefer to let the spiders eat the bugs rather than contaminate my yard with poisons.

Pic 1 is Orlandiana 'Dark Knight', Pic 2 is Orlandiana 'Stain Glass', Pic 3 is Orlandiana 'Majestic', Pic 4 is Orlandiana 'Touch-a-Pink' and Pic 5 is Orlandiana 'Dark One'.

All the best, Nev.

Good morning everyone. Beautiful day here today but we need some rain. Nev, I love your orlandianas. Yours look much better than mine. Mine get lots of brown spots on the white and brown tips. Thanks for the email about the water bed. Best laugh I've had in ages.
Bree and Nev, that was interesting about Gympie Delight and Blushing Tiger. They are very similar. I just find Gympie Delight a bit pinker.
Sue, where are you? We need to hear all the details about the competition. Hope your sale is going well. Only 6 sleeps and I'll see you at Ross's. Can't wait to see your garden. Hope your little visitor is about next weekend.
Ian, I love your photos. You have such a good variety of genera. Just on Neo Cee Bee, Cheryl Basics told us that Margaret Paterson bred it and named it after her. Your seedlings are doing very well. They're a bit addictive. I blame Nev for all this seedling stuff. Long live the hybridizer! I see he's even got you hooked Colleen. Mine are growing at about the same speed as yours.
Speaking of seed growing, yesterday Wendy and I went to the Gold Coast brom meeting where Alan Ladd gave a talk. He's been hybridising for about 40 years and the talk was fantastic but I have to admit his outfit was a bit disconcerting. He wore a pink floral dress with pearls and a pink bag to match. Also a whirligig cap and giant rubber feet. Blue nail polish completed the outfit. I felt very underdressed in jeans and a shirt. There are photos on Facebook.
Shirley, your Neos Red Macaw and Macho look so big and healthy. Tash, I love your plants on Ebay. A friend commented the other day about a gorgeous photo of Skotak's Tiger that she'd seen. It was yours. Well done.
I'm off outside to play with my broms for a while before it gets too hot. The photos are 1. Neo Cee Bee for Ian
2. Micro Guzmania Teresa which is 7 cm across 3. Guz. Luna varieg. 4. Guz. Kay 5. Guz icecream. Happy gardening, Jen.

Bree and Nev. Thank you for describing and showing the differences btwn Gympie Delight and Blushing Tiger. The markings are so much alike I was getting confused. I don't have Gympie Delight but I do have a few Blushing Tigers.

Jen, What a beautiful show of broms you have there. Cee Bee is gorgeous!

Nev, good to see all the Orlandianas. I only have one and won't get anymore as they are too eager to bite the hand that feeds them. Glad you solved the problem the Bower Birds were creating. Amazing birds, those.

Ian, I really like that Orthophytum Vagans, its different. I can't judge from the photo, but is the noid tiger a mini plant? Hope the move goes smoothly for your son (and you too).

Karen

My unnamed tillandsia in flower.

Hi all I am back from my trip. I am going to take it easy tonight.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 My helper oodie puddy
Pic 2 Oversized Rosella look alike 2 feet across
Pic 3 Red bird
Pic 4 Redbird centre
Pic 5 Red bird base

good evening all. I got a little bit busy, but here I am.
Well, I got first place in the 'special feature' section, for the laundry tub. i was quite surprised, as i believe there were some elaborate features entered. Also, at the end of the prize giving, I was awarded the Judges choice, which was their favourite thing out of all the gardens. They loved the boat pond and the pelican. So I did very well! I got a trophy and a water painting of Iris to hang onto for three months, and a voucher for the local landscaper and the local nursery. It was quite a surprise, and had alot of fun all around.
So, I had my plant sale on saturday, and had the garden open. I had quite a few people through, and all were up for a chat about broms, shade houses and gardens, so it was a really nice day.
Today we went for a motorcycle ride, and it was a gorgeous day also. I've definitley had my fill of sunshine and fresh air.
Anyway, i'll catch up properly later, as i am tired right now.
It must be the excitement of the weekend.
Sue

Sue congratulations on your wins. You've put so much work into the gardens there and you well and truly deserve the acclaim. Well done.

Ian, good to see you back safely. Love your little helper there.

Shopping today. Ugh. Can think of heaps I'd rather spend money on than groceries.

Karen

hello everyone, where are you all? Big weekend?
Hi Karen, I'm with you. I hate grocery shopping, but it has to be done eh? Thank you for the sentiments. Its nice to be able to sit back and enjoy it instead of working away at it so hard. I'll try and keep it tidy though, as I don't want to do the same work over and over. I love your Tillandsia. Did you get it ID'd?
Wow, Jen. Nice colour in your broms! It sounds as though Alan was just as bright and eye catching. I've never met the man, but have seen photos of him at various shows. He must be quite a character! I am looking forward to catching up, and am sure we will give Ross a run for his money in the chatter department! We have a contact for another seller about 20 minutes from Ross,so if you have time, you're welcome to come with us after lunch. It all depends on how long we spend there. Also the footy is on (so I was told) and the nursery owner wants to watch it, so we can't hold the guy up!
Nev, your orlandianas are beautiful. I have a black beauty, a snowflake and Ensign, aswell as a standard orlandiana. I grow them alongside A. fosteriana and bert, because they all look similar.
Ian, what a big weekend you had. I hope it wasn't too hard on you, all that driving. Your son is lucky to have you there to help.
I'm hoping to get a bulk load of brom mix this week. i am going to ask my local landscape supplier to mix it for me, if they will, and then I can put it in the mower trailer (should hold half a cubic metre) and throw a tarp over it before pushing it under the house to stay dry. I'd like to upsize quite a few of the bigger broms, and it gets a bit expensive when using the pre-packaged soils.
I'm off to try Bowen therapy soon, to see if its effective on my aches and pains. I've heard good things about it, so will let you know how it goes.
Anyway, no pics from me, but I might get out and about tomorrow. I know there are a few things beginning to flower, I just have to remember where I saw them!
Sue

Hi Everyone!

Apologies it has been a while, had a fair bit on over the weekend. Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday we had things on, come Sunday evening we were pretty much exhausted and I was too tired to hop on the computer. Did manage to temp shade the veggie patch as it is really starting to heat up out there. Also managed to plant out my flask of vriesea seedlings which arrived last Friday, they appear to be doing well so far, cross my fingers they stay that way.

Hi Sue / Tash / Wendy, thanks very much for the advice about the vriesea flask. Sue in response to your question where did I get my flask from, it was from Plant Biotech, I thought I would try tissue culture to see how it goes but also from another supplier I purchased vriesea seeds that should arrive in the mail this week. At least I can say I have given both a try. The tissue culture vrieseas appear to be doing well even though they are only approx. 5cm’s. Sue, you also asked me whether they are foliage or green leaved plants, apologies for sounding dumb but I am not too sure what the difference is, could you please explain? The little seedlings look like little blades of tough grass and very green if that helps lol.

As always I enjoyed looking at each and everyone’s beautiful pictures posted over the last week – amazing. I especially salivated over Jen’s Neo’ Cee Bee (Hi Jen) and I have put this one on my “Really Want List”. Hi Nev, I liked all your pics of the Orlandiana’s, I know they bite but I can’t help but still want them in my garden because they look nice when kept neat and color up real well when exposed to the elements. I have two or three so far in my collection.

Hi Karen, your Till in flower is gorgeous with that beautiful purple flower - my favorite colour.

Hi Ian, luved your pic of your helper Oodie Puddy, what beautiful eyes that look right through you, looks like someone needed a rest while dad slaved away with the broms lol. Ian, also was great to see how all your seedlings are doing, gives me hope with mine.

Hi Sue, HUGE CONGRATULATIONS on the wins, how fantastic and pleased you must be!

Hi Shirley, luved your Neo Red Macaw, mine is small compared to yours so looking forward to see hopefully how much more mine should be expected to grow.

Hi Breeindy, luved you’re Neo Gympie Delight, another one for my “Really Want List”. I have been trying to get this one for a while but keep missing out on EBay as I forget I have on my watch list.

Anyway, better leave you all hear, apologies if I have missed threading anyone, it’s so easy to go a bit cross eyed after a while especially when you have major catching up to do with the forum.

I will try to pop in again over the week as we have visitors this Friday, Saturday and Sunday coming over for my b’day and I may not be in any condition by the end of it all to operate a computer let alone anything else lol.

Anyway, speak soon and happy gardening to all!

Trish :-)

Pic No. 1 - Neo' Blast Off
Pic No. 2 - Neo' Royal Cordovon
Pic No. 3 - Neo' Jolly Roger
Pic No. 4 - Neo' Twotone
Pic No. 5 - Ae' Nudicaulis Zebra

Hi all, still recovering from the trip but it was worth it. I saw scenes that are new to me. Different types of trees and even some wildlife not commonly seen, like camels and emus in the wild. Pandannas palms grow in the wild way out there and I thought they were coastal only, I guess I can still learn a bit more.
Karen the tiger is approx 2 feet across. I have only had it a few months and maybe it could have used some more light. Vagans is an unusual ortho in that it does not pup except from the base, but I have taken cuttings successfully. It was another i bought from Bunnings.
Jen, I thank Nev for guiding us through this seedling explosion.I have a wish list much larger than my budget, but in time all things are possible.
Nev Beautiful Orliandas. I have been using corflute for my tags since I had trouble with finding an appropriate marker that didn't fade quickly onaluminium narrow venetian blind tags. I used the horticultural pens and pencils, i have since been told that a 3b drawing pencil works well On the corflute I use a felt tipped permanent marker and this works until something knocks the plants over. I now also have photo records but I need to stage these as plants mature. Quite often a juvenile plant barely resembles the adult. This also makes ID difficult..
Sue congrats on your wins, we reap what we sew.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 N Concentrica alba X Maurice Featherstone
Pic 2 N Gespachio
Pic 3 N Ultima
Pic 4 N great oz
Pic 5 N Princeps juvenile

Hi all, we have been away for a few days. We left Friday morning to visit my sister at Allora as it was her birthday yesterday. We had a lovely weekend and arrived home this arvo. It is so very dry out that way, much worse than here.

Lots of posts and pics to catch up with tonight.

Nev, those are very nice orlandianas in your pics, especially ‘dark knight’

Sue, congratulations, so good to hear of your very deserving wins in the garden comp.

Trish, love your neo Two Tone, that is one to go on the top of my rather lengthy ‘must have’ list along with Jen’s neo Cee Bee, very nice Jen.

Lots of great pics from Bree, Colleen, Ian and Karen too.

Anyway, in need of an early night so I’ll catch up tomorrow. Pic is neo Jaws Too

Shirley

Hi everyone. I'll try this tonight and hopefully it will work. I haven't checked in for a few days so lots of reading tonight to catch up.
Sue congratulations on your wins in the comp. wish I was coming with Jen this weekend but alas I can't make it this time.
Nev I love those orlandianas. did you say you grew them from seed? if you ever get any spare pups of those I'd love one of each. I'll send you down a packet of stamps to help with postage as you always seem to be sending me seed or seedlings.
Jen failed to tell me on Saturday that it was her birthday. I didn't see it on fb either so I was a slack friend not wishing her a happy birthday. As Jen said the talk from Alan Ladd was very informative. One thing he said was that variegation is genetic and fertilizer will not affect that. Previously we were told that fertiliser can make variegation disappear. He says hogwash if it's in the gene it is there no matter what you do so now I will fertilise all my seedlings. He also said that plants with irregular variegation is more likely to give you a good % of variegated seedlings. by this he means plants with lots of stripes especially different widths. they can also have albo as long as they have the variegation too. So I will be looking at all striped plants differently now looking for potential seed & pollen parents.
Shirley if you get over this way again we have Gympie delight and I'm sure I can spare a pup. I'll check how many I have tomorrow but there must be pups on them by now. I should have cee bee here somewhere too but finding it might be a feat. I had a visitor here on Saturday and he wanted particular plants by name. I found a couple of them but I know the others were here somewhere but I just couldn't find them on demand.
Nev we record info on our labels but now as much as you. we do write the plant name on both sides but at different ends of the label ie one on the tip so it is way down under the soild and doesn't fade. we have had too many plants with blank labels. for the foliage vriseas we also write a couple of labels and push one write down inside the pot. you can't trust visitors to put the labels back in the correct pot so we have a backup label. when we bought our dymo labeller we also did lables and stuck them on the outside of the pots so they can read the name at a glance.

too late for pics tonight so I'll pop in again tomorrow night and post some updates pics I've taken of the seedlings Nev sent me.
Night all
wendy

This message was edited Sep 24, 2012 11:45 PM

Trish- i could send you a Gympies Delight if you like.

Hi everyone – Well I suppose we'll all have to get in a very long queue to even talk to you now Sue after your successful venture into the world of competition. However all jokes aside, I always suspected you would win some of the prizes as your garden featured some very interesting elements and like I said way back at the start, I loved your concrete laundry tub and the old hand pump. Anyway, a big congratulations from me; you really deserve it with all of the work you put in. Besides, now that it's over, you can help Bill design the dirt bike track through it all with the bridge as a jump!

Ian – I have never had a problem with the writing fading on aluminium tags. I use a fine over head projection slide marking pen. It is a brand called SNOWMAN (see pic's) which my son gets in Bali and brings me a few when he comes on his annual visit. I haven't seen them here anywhere (but then I havent really looked for them either) but I expect ARTLINE or one of the other brands available here would have something similar. A word of warning though, they will fade if used on plastic name tags; don't ask me why because I don't know. As I said before I only use aluminium tags and they work well on them.

Wendy – No I never said I grew the Ae. Orlandianas from seed. They are just some of the plants I have accumulated over the years and are the ones which the Bower Birds stole the labels from.

You mention that you and Jen heard Allan Ladd speak at a meeting; I have bought plants and seed from Allan on a few occasions mainly because he does crosses which are sometimes quite different from the “norm”. His prices are very reasonable and his plants are good quality, but be warned, he is a bit of a character and as he has previously said, he gets his “kicks” from shocking people. (See pic). He has a very interesting web site which is well worth a look.
It can be found at: http://www.gcsbs.org.au/suppliers/al/index.html

Wendy, I'm always interested in seeing pic's of seedlings and I look forward to you posting them.

That's it for now, I'll finish with some pic's, which although they are not brom's, they are brom associated. First the pens I use for marking my aluminium labels and finally Allan Ladd in his security roll at one of the brom society functions. (note the feet)

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone.
Nev Alan wore those same feet at the meeting last weekend. The pic looks like it might have been taken at the Gold Coast meeting. the hall looks the same. I can't find the pics of Alan doing the talk last weekend. sorry. they were posted on fb but I didn't save a pic.
Nev I don't know why I thought you had grown those orlandianas. maybe because I had never heard of lots of them and you seem to have a good selection. I have some seeds growing atm from rainbow and snowflake so we'll see what we get out of those.

I use aluminium blind strips for labelling seedlings but not other plants. We discovered a bundle of those blinds at the dump shop one day and grabbed them immediately. we are working through them though. I have discovered that even the most obvious seedlings need a nametag as after a couple weeks I can't remember what those seedlings are. I have a tray of them downstairs now and I can't remember what they are. they are not that obvious to me now LOL. so these days I label each and every plant. they may start out a whole tray of the same thing but when a couple die and you remove the pots eventually you can add other pots to fill the tray and next thing you can't remember which is which.

I'll download the pics after tea and post them for you Nev.

Wendy

Hi Everyone!

Quick thread tonight as have a bit to do prior to visitors arriving.

Hi Shirley, nice pic of Neo Jaws Too, I hear these ones grow nice and large. I take it there is a Neo Jaws also? Shirley, glad to hear you like Neo Two Tone, if you like I will keep my eye out for when they pup and send you one if you like, I am not too sure when this will be, more than likely next year but if you can hold out that long let me know and I would be more than happy to put one aside for you?

Hi Breeindy, so very kind of you to offer sending me a Gympie Delight, yes please I would absolutley luv and cherrish one from you. Breeindy, is there anything you have on your Want List? Mostly at the moment I am waiting with baited breath for all my brom's to pup but would be more than happy to reserve one for you. I do have Vriesea seeds coming in the mail this week if you would like some of them I would be more than happy to post to you.

Anyway I have to run, hi to everyone else - look forward to chating with you all soon.

No pics tonight as hubby has my portable harddrive that he has plugged into another laptop.

Happy Gardening!

Trish

Nev love your Orlandiana's. I have 3, this is my favourite one..
3rds Treasure Chest, 4ths Luna? 5th Alcantarea.
Trish D-Mail me your address and ill send you a Gympies Delight pup




This message was edited Sep 25, 2012 7:43 AM