Bromeliads for novices & addicts, October 2012

whoops, pushed send instead of 'choose a file' Derrrrr
photo one is a pot of Billbergia 'Hallelujah' that was totally green when I bought it earlier this year. It is colouring and pupping up quite nicely now.
Photo two is an unnamed mini in Leisas memory garden. Any ideas?
Photo three is a Neo. pauciflora hybrid that i really love.
Photo four is N. 'Little Faith' which I also really love
Photo five is N. 'Furnace' a very small grower with vibrant colours.
I've used my hand as an indicator of size, and the groovy gloves are toe socks with the toe tips cut off, and they go right past my elbows, which prevents scratches, as long as I remember to wear them! Cheap, and come in a variety of colours! What a fashion statement!
come back nev
Sue

Sue i wonder if my NOID mini is the same as yours? pic 1. I love that little coloured one in your 1st pic. Good idea with the gloves.

Anyone have any pups of Hurricane Alley, i love it and really want to buy one. There is a guy on ebay selling it but his sold out.

Beautiful photos of Bromeliads. Loving it! ;-)

Here i am back again. Twice in one day! I have an early start tomorrow so won't have time till later. I spent the better part of the morning up in the bromeliad garden and the better part of the afternoon potting up Billbergias and a few more Neos.
Bree, I was watching that N. 'Hurricane Alley' as well. I've liked it for about 12 months! Unfortunately I haven't got one, and don't know who would have one, but if you find one, remember me:-) Your Mini and mine do look similar, but who can say?
Hello Adam, I am glad you are enjoying the bromeliads. Are you a collector? feel free to join in on any discussions, and add any pics.
Photo one is a Neo labelled as "Marble Throat' but I don't think so. any ideas?
Photo two is N. "pink Marble', I didn't know there was one here! Its a bit shabby, but I'll nurse it for awhile
Photo three is N. ampullacea variegated. The pups start off green and as they age, get a yellow edge
Photo four is N. 'Turn About' which I can't find in the registry.
Photo five is N. liliputiana

but wait, theres more!
Heres some photos of the revamped bits of garden
photo four is some of the plants I had to pot
Photo five is the flowers on my Phaleonopsis.
Thats it now, I'll leave you alone until tomorrow
Sue

Hi everyone, fairly overcast here again today and a bit cooler, no rain though.

Ian, I am assuming Miltons is the anti bacterial used for sterilizing babies’ bottles … what strength do you use it, please.

Bree, I think you’re right about my neo Nelson but that’s what I bought it as. I know it was seed grown so it could be a hybrid cross ... or something. What a shame about your Vr Gruberi … are you talking yet!! And I can see why you are chasing neo Hurricane Alley … nice!!

WOW Sue, love those minis in your pics, especially ‘Little Faith’ but the others are lovely too. Your neo Marble Throat could be neo Ice White River. Your neo Pink River looks quite different to mine, yours has nice wide leaves and better colour than mine and that last one, Liliputiana is sooo tiny.

Sue, those pics of your revamped garden are awesome … wish mine looked like that, just beautiful. You have done such a great job. In your first pic of the new garden … are they growing in full sun? In your fourth pic, the broms you had to pot, the middle one on the right hand edge, the variegated one … what is it please?

I am looking forward to receiving the variegated Nudicaulis, thank you so much, Sue.

Attaching just a few more pics of my yummy neo mums-to-be.

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick look in and only a couple of pics to share, then I better get dinner on the road as want to go for a walk with the dogs after dinner before it gets too late.

Luving everone's beautiful photos and nice to see so many broms in flower at the moment.

Shirley your broms in flower are georgeous you must be so proud, I seem to stare at the ones in flower now more than I do the others that are not because the colours in the ones flowering are amazing.

Sue laughed but luved your idea with the sock gloves, very trendy indeed, I will need to get myself a pair and trial them, you should market and sell your own brand, you never know it might take off. Sue luved your beaufiful garden shots and all that amazing colour everywhere, I luved especially the log with the native animal coming out of the opening, how beautiful you made it look, it looks so real.

Shame about the Lotto rollling over last night, definetly getting a ticket next week given it has jackpotted to 1M and it would be wounderful to get a piece of it even its just a small piece that would be nice, but it it is a big piece then I would look at retiring early and spend everyday in the garden with my bromeliads, my hubby Joe and our pooches lol.

Bree nice pics and it was interesting to see your pic of seedlings growing in different medium to see what happens and what looks like the better option, I have mine growing in 50% Peat and 50% Perlite and they seem to be germinating ok so far but not as quickly as I would have liked.

Anyway I better head off and get dinner on the go.

Look forward to speak with you all soon!

Happy Gardening.

Hope my pics stay in order but at least its only a couple so wont be that hard to work out the difference lol.

Pic 1 - Neo Marble Mauve
Pic 2 - Neo Grace Darling x Morris Henry Hobbs

Hi all. We had a bit of rain yesterday but not enough to do any real good. Washed a bit of dust off and dampened the top of soil. We would really like some more. I seem to be in the middle of cleaning up my yard and pruning leaving little time for my broms. I found some time today to pot up some Acanthrostaccys strobilla seedlings. I also potted up some Porteas, I am not sure which one but they had purple berries like small grapes.

Shirley to answer your question about Miltons. Yes it is Milton anti-bacterial tablets,disinfectant hospital grade, bought from Woolies at the strength of 1 tablet in 2 litres of water. I sprayed my seedlings with this mix today , the ones that I potted up.
There are a lot of nice plants being shown by all and my wish list is growning. I had no luck in lastnights Ozlotto either Trish, a small share would be nice.
Pic 2 shows a tree that I wish would just come home with me from work. It could be a spectacular Brom display tree.
Pic 1 is a til in flower but I do not know it;s name.
Have a good one
Ian

Hi all, gee it’s gone really quiet again.

Trish, love your two little neos, both are very pretty.

Ian, love your til in flower. I think the tree you want to take home with you might be a poinciana, really lovely when in flower but, like jacarandas, a bit messy.

We had a storm this afternoon which brought a little bit of rain. At the moment, every little bit counts.

Just the one pic tonight, neo Flirtation.

Hope to see everyone back soon.

Shirley

Hi everyone. welcome to Adam. I hope you pop in again some time and let us know if you are a collector, a grower or just stumbled on the page unintentionally.

Ian you flowering till is funkiana one of my favourites.

Shirley I love all your photos with the names across the picture. I used to do that with my pics but in one of the upgrades to a new computer and new versions etc the software program which I used is no longer compatible. I hate that when it happens and you have to buy a new program. so much for having a licence to use it but it's useless if it won't work on the version you have. haven't stumbled accross another software program that does it. I'm lucky enough to have a camera that allows me to speak the name of the plant so I only have to replay on the camera after downloading the pics and voila there's the name to tag the pic. isn't technology wonderful when it works? this is the 2nd camera I have that has this voice memo facility.

Sue I love you Liesa's garden. funny how she has been popping up again in several places lately. is it the anniversary or something? I can't remember the date now although I'd imagine if I went to her fb page I'd see that last message. Love that little fella peeping out of his hollow lot. there's lots of room for some plants to share his home for camouflage though. I love the minis. little faith is one of my favourites. have a couple of pots of it now so and also a couple pots of lilliputiana so next time you are over Shirley you might be able to grab one of each. We've been potting up a lot of minis lately after seeing how Jen's were snapped up at our last couple sales.

Ian thanks for the info on Miltons. I'll definately get some of that and try it. I potted up some vriseas seedlings the other day too. I must pot up some billbergia seedlings too one day when I find some time.

Shirley I have your seeds ready to send. I actually went to the post office the other day but had left the envelope on the bench downstairs. I added a couple more packets today though so just as well I forgot it. I will send it soon I promise.

Girls I've actually seen that Maroochy smooch in the flesh at Niel's place. We've been watching it colouring up since it was a little seedling thrown in as a freeby when Niel bought some other pups from Alan Pythian. We have a couple of Alan's vrisea hybrids here and Jen was only saying this afternoon that one of them is colouring up to look very similar if not the same as maroochy smooch. Since the sun has moved around the shelf of Alan Pythian hybrids are now getting a patch of morning sunlight then shade under the palms for the middle of the day then another pach of sunlight again in the afternoon. boy the colour is coming out sensational in them. there's a very nice white one similar to maroochy pearl. I'll find the pics or take some new ones tomorrow and share them with you.

Jen bought around her milky way and a milky way x today so Johnny could encourage some romantic activity with them and some of our vriseas flowering at present. we also have milky way in flower at present along with about 30 others so lots to choose from. We had a bit of a storm just after lunch with some heavy rain but it didn't last long enough to give everything a good watering and top up the tanks. hopefully we'll get a bit more over next couple days. we have ants up the walls of the house everywhere. as fast as we spray their trails they find a new one so maybe they know there is rain coming. probably more reliable than the weather bureau. perhaps if they kept their radar dishes working and assembled they might be able to get it right now and then.

Pic 1 is the pink vr hybrid from Alan Pythian that looks similar to maroochy smooch
Pic 2 is the white vr hybrid from Alan that looks like maroochy pearl
Pic 3 is a nice NOID vrisea we picked up from a grower in Cooran so we've called it Cooran for now. It's flowering so Jen might get a x with that one to give her milky way some pink.
Pic 4 is a Cheryl Basic hybrid labelled hawaiian series #30 that coloured up really nice but I can't convince CB that it came from her. she said she doesn't sell them but I bought that one and #35 Pic 5 is hawaiian series #35

anyway time for bed again. I had an early start this morning as Johnny went out with his new crab pots before 6am and i couldn't go back to sleep so was up with washing in by 7am and potting plants. yes we had about 14 sand crabs for tea .... yummy fresh crab salad mmmmmm mmmmm.

Night all
Wendy (PS we miss you Nev. hurry back)

hello all, sorry I have been AWOL, but have been a little busy with a couple of gardening jobs and running errands in town. But I am here now.
I have heard from Nev and he is having trouble posting on DG, but can read our posts, so everyone give him a big wave!
Shirley, thank you for the compliments on the garden.
I am assuming the pink marbley Neo could be misnamed or just hard grown? I am going to nurse one and see what happens. The one you asked about in pic four is an old Mum of Neo. 'Amazing Grace' that I bought down to the shade house for a bit of TLC. There are a couple up in the garden doing well, but as they are so popular, i thought I might try to encourage old Mum to produce a few for the sales table next year. In the first pic, that garden is on a slope facing south west, so it gets some morning sun in winter, and then as the sun moves position, it gets the late afternoon sun. I think the good colours come from growing hard, with no fert and not much water. The overhead shade is provided by a stand of tall gums, so the sun can come in underneath when its low. Your pictured broms are lovely, and like Wendy, i went searching to see how i can add writing to mine, but haven't found it yet. i know there will be a way, i might just have to google for some info on the apps i have,
hi Trish. You and your hubby sound alot like us, as we like to hang in the garden with our pooches too. yes, the gloves work a treat, but after about 4 years, the elastic starts to go, and the fingers start to fray, but still, quite cheap and cheerful. The bandicoot model, is resin, and was bought for me by my Dad back in 03. He has passed now, so an ideal spot for it in the memory garden. I have a few plants from different people who have passed on now, and I have some great memories when things begin to flower.
Seeing another marble hybrid makes me think there must be quite a few around? I might have a look on the brom registry just out of interest.
Ian, your Tillandsia funkiana (be careful how you say that one) is too cute! It is also one of my favourites, and wait till it clumps up for you (takes a little while) I have actually picked this one up at bunnings for about $6 on occasion, and just keep adding it to the ones I already have. I'm not sure that the poinciana would have enough foliage to protect broms from the midday summer sun, although, if you used the sun hardy specimens, that wouldn't matter. Like Shirley, i think they are a bit messy and personally, I'd hate all those seed pods when it comes to mowing, but i love the sight of those trees when in full flower!
Wendy, It will be two years since leisaD passed on dec 11th this year. which means almost two years since i inherited her collection. I'd like to think she is happy with the care they have received, but i can't get used to taking them down to the brom house, and into my own collection. i feel like I am stealing!
I like the colour in your first VriEsea, but think its no where near as nice in the marking, as maroochy Smooch. That was like a pink heiroglyphica, but you can live in hope. At least it will be nice breeding material with the pinks.
Its gotten a bit stormy looking outside and the wind has picked up. It would be nice to get a bit of rain from it, but not likely to be much, if any.
lets see, what have i got any photos of? Nothing!
Till tomorrow
Sue

Hi Everyone!

Yeah, nearly the end ot another week and like always looking forward to the weekend. Got the dreaded grocery shopping out the road so as not to interrupt our weekend as our weekends are so precious to us.

Hi Nev, we really miss hearing from you and seeing all your beautiful pics' and hope you are back on line soon.

Hi Shirley, your Neo Flirtation is very cute, one that I am yet to have in my collection. Is it a medium or small grower?

Hi Wendy, really like your first pic of Vr. Pink Hybrid, arent' they breathtaking when they have that much beautiful colour all over them, they really stand out when they are in a group of green tone one's.

Johnny did well with the sand crabs, they are beautiful eating and the meat so sweet and mouth watering.

Hi Sue yeah my husband Joe and I spend a great deal of time in the garden together, we used to spend a lot of time fishing together as we both are mad keen about fishing but over the years we have gotten more and more into our addiction for collecting bromeliads and orchids given they go hand in hand so very well together and we get to enjoy and watch each other really enjoying having our own interests and often call out to each other to come over and see something we have discovered or thought about and it's really nice to bounce ideas off each other. And yes the pooches luv hanging out in the garden and nursery with us and we treat them like they are our babies lol.

Sue what a beautiful place you have created with your memory garden, it sounds like a beautiful place that you and your family can spend time in that you will be able to cherrish forever, filled with beautuful color and wonderul memories.

Hi Ian luved your pic 1, how beautiful is that little flower. Yes pic 2 would make a perfect brom display tree for hanging in but not under as they are so messy, but so beautiful when they are in full flower..

Regarding the lotto I noticed I typed a typo and said 1M instead of 100M, maybe I was trying to not be greedy lol.

Sorry, no pics tonight I will post some on the weekend, time to head off for our walk.

Hopefully I have not missed anyone as you may have posted your thread whilst I am sending mine.

Hi trish
I got 4 straight numbers in the lotto. haven't worked out yet what that will be worth but hopefully it will put an entry in for next week. wouldn't it be nice to get 6 straight numbers???? we got 5 one time but there were so many winners we only got $900. The week before and week after it paid several thousand each time. ah well. one day............

Pic 1 is nidularium leprosa which are all flowering at present. I think we have about 6 or 8 flowering.
Pic 2 is nid. raru also flowering at present. this one is a large grower too so impressive to see.
Pic 3 is nid fulgens another one flowering at present.
pic 4 is 3 colours of fulgens. not sure if there is 3 different colours or if they just look different colours at different stages of the flowering. they are labelled different colours though eg cerise.

having an early night tonight so I'll say goodnight now.
Wendy

Hello all, quite a hot day here today with a rather warm breeze blowing.

Wendy, I like the idea of speaking the plant name to the camera, I have never heard of that before. And, yes it’s very annoying when a software program you like to use isn’t compatible with new hardware.

Love the vrieseas Wendy, all very nice. My favourite is Pic 4 but I would be only too happy to take any one of them off your hands :o) and I will certainly check out whatever mini neos you have available next time we are over.

Sue, sorry to hear that Nev is still having trouble with his computer. I am sure that your pink marbley neo and Amazing Grace will reward your TLC with some nice pups.

Nev, good to hear from Sue that you are able to read our posts on DG. I’ll bet it is sooo frustrating for you not to be able to comment. Looking forward to having you back on board and reading your posts … we all miss you.

Trish, neo Flirtation is a small grower, compact but with lots of leaves and nice colour too. The weekend you look forward to is almost here … one more day at work. I am so glad we don’t have to front up to work 5 days a week any more. I don’t know how we managed to get things done at home when we both worked full time, but life was pretty hectic then.

I would like to see a number of people share in Tuesday night’s big lotto, of course, wouldn’t mind being one of them either ... wouldn’t it be nice.

Bree, pics 1 and 2 are two of the pups you sent me in July … pic 1 is neo Lila, already in flower and pic 2 is neo Ring Leader … looking good.

Pic 3 is neo Royal Cordovan, pic 4 is neo Shelldance, pic 5 is neo Teds Rose

Catch up again tomorrow, bye for now

Shirley


PS Wendy, DG is very slow for me tonight, it took me ages to upload the photos. By the time I did I got the message that someone else had posted and I had to check it out before posting mine. Love the pics of your nids though none of mine are flowering. They are in heavy shade so maybe they’re not getting enough sunlight.

A message from Nev.

Hi everyone – Wow so much reading to catch up on. Just to tell you the story briefly, I took the computer to the computer doctors last Friday and got it back on Monday , or was it Tuesday? I forget now; anyway he said he turned it on and everything worked normally – he did it a few more times and still no problems so no cost for Nev. Got home and everything's working again except I can't post on Dave's Garden (just like before when a similar thing happened – I can read the posts but can't send anything myself, so Sue has kindly offered to act as a relay and I'll email her and she'll (fingers crossed) post for me and we'll see how that works. As usual lots of great pic's of plants from you all, (and even boogie boarding dogs) and so much news to take in in just a few days.

Colleen – Your Ae Burgundy is looking great and I'm sure you'll like the flowers which are a bit similar to Ae Mirlo. It's interesting as it's from a crossing of species (Ae distichantha v schlumbergeri) x (Weilbachii f. leodiensis), but still a “striking” plant.

I'd just like to pick up on Sue's comment to Shirley about Neo. Lambert's Pride, it is a nice brom and a good grower and producer of pups as well but it's also proving to be quite a good breeder and I'm attaching a pic to this email in the hope that Sue can relay it on to you all.

As for Trish's seedlings and when she should take off the lid, I can only speak about what I do under my conditions. My containers are on a shelf in a closed in north facing back porch which gets good light but no direct sun. The lids stay on until I'm going to a aclimatise them prior to planting them out. Depending on what they are (but in my case mostly Neo's) I don't plant them out or thin them out until they have five leaves. This is what I was originally taught and it has always worked OK. I find that taking them earlier increases the risk of losses in my climate, but you could probably get away with it the further north you live where it is warmer. With some of the faster growing ones such as the larger Aechmeas, Porteas and some Bill's, they will reach to top of the container long before they have the five leaves and in this case I remove the top and put them in another area where I keep the ones that have already been planted out and I just water them when they need it. I must emphasise though that what works for me won't necessarily work for others.

Ian – You're not the only one with birds in the shade house, last year and again this year I've had Spotted Honey Eaters nest and raise young in my Vriesea shade house and the little New Holland Honey Eaters have done the same in an area further down the yard near the frog pond. We have all sorts of birds coming into the yard now and I think it's great. Yours looks like a Little Butcher Bird and these become very tame very quickly and will soon take food out of your hand.

Who owned the Vriesea that sold for $925 on Ebay, was it one of Jack's or Pedro's? Prices like that are another good reason to start growing your own from seed; you save money and always have the remote chance of getting a “cracker” like that which you can sell for that sort of money.

Sue – Your plant could still be Neo. 'Marble Throat', I've had them show some different markings like that from time to time (usually after a “hot spell”). Best wait until it pups and see if the pups are the same, and if they are you have a different one yet again. I don't think it's Ice White River as Shirley suggested but somewhere in between Marble Throat and Ice White River colourwise. It's the marble throated type in the next pic that really catches my eye and whenever you get a spare pup you want to swap, please keep me in mind. The same applies to Trish and her Neo 'Marble Mauve', when ever you get a spare pup of that one Trish, please let me know too.

Ian – Although I don't grow them myself, I love you little Tillandsia, I think its a “beaut”. And pic of the Poinsiana tree brings back some happy memories from a wonderful holiday we had in Cairns many years ago. I managed to bring back some seed and grow it and my son has since turned them into nice Bonsai specimens.

That's all for now and I'll finish with a pic of some Lambert's Pride seedlings.

All the best, Nev.

Got some new Broms. 1. wanted this Vriesea Intermedia for the red flower spikes they have, a huge plant for $7.00.
2. Norman Bates, also a pretty big plant. 3. a massive Aechmea Blanchetiana 'Rubra'. 4. Big Mac.

1. Gympie Fair. 2. Gympie Lavender Lace. 3. Aechmea 'Pie in the sky' and 4. Neo Pink Tips.
Is there a November thread yet?

Bree, I tried ... and failed. Had a problem with the address. I will try again later ... after dinner.

Shirley

hello all. I didn't get enough time to drop in this morning.
Lots of nice plants there, bree. Where ever did you get them all?
How forget full of me to not begin, or ask someone to begin the new thread! If you have too much trouble, let me know and I can walk you through it, or start it myself ......tomorrow.
I had trouble copying and pasting Nevs post this morning, but have googled the programme I use, and am now proficient at it.
I didn't get a chance to do much in the garden today, as it was blowing a gale, and way to dangerous to be under the gum trees. I did water the brom house though, and noticed the Billbergia rosea that I got from Nev, via Jen, has a flower spike forming. It looks like it is going to be a monster!
Thats it for me tonight, I am a little bit tired, so I'll leave you with a photo of the Billbergias
maybe one of the mini Neos too
Sue

Hi again, trying to begin a new thread for November ....



http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1286523/#9322513







This message was edited Nov 2, 2012 7:55 PM

This message was edited Nov 2, 2012 8:03 PM

How clever am I ... new thread for November started ... see previous post

Shirley

Well done, Shirley. I am following you now!