BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES & ADDICTS - NOVEMBER 2012

Thur 15th
Good morning everyone and get well wishes for anyone still on the “sick list”.

Shirley – You're right about a lot of brom's being named after people, I know Neo. 'Bill Morris' was originally a variegated form of concentrica which was grown by Bill Morris and later named after him by (I think) Derek Butcher. I can't find out anything about Frankie as it isn't registered so it's probably a “pet name”. As for Neo 'Freddie', all I can find out about this one is that it was named in the Philippines and exported to Australia.

Your albino Ae Gamosepala is just like any other albino and will die if removed from the mother. It has no chlorophyll which is necessary to support plant life. If left on the plant it will feed from the mother but will probably die prematurely.

I agree with Ian, your NOID in the second pic is an Ae nudicaulis not a Bill. as you suspected; but which one? That's the million dollar question as there are dozens of different ones, some registered and some not.

Ian – I was interested to see the name of one of the plants you've just potted as “N wilsonia X mood indigo”. It rung a bell with me as soon as I saw it as I have a plant called Neo 'Indigo Mood'. Thinking there was a reverse naming of a plant from the same grex I looked up the BCR only to find that there is no plant called Indigo Mood registered, so my plant is either a NOID which someone has given a “pet name” to or it's Neo 'Mood Indigo' although I can't be sure of this as there's no pic shown on the BCR.

Re. plants in the garden, I have found exactly the same as you. The plants grow bigger and quicker when planted in the garden and my conclusion is, this is because they aren't confined to a pot, and if they don't like where they're planted their roots have the ability to be able to roam until they find an acceptable source of food.

Wendy – So sorry to hear about Max and I think it's just as sad when a pet has a terminal disease as it is when it's a human, but you can both rest assured that you've done all you can for him.

Wendy, the new face book group sounds great and something I could really get into, but I'm very reluctant to go near Face Book after all of the problems I've had with it in the past. However if you post a link on here, I might just have a look on my daughter's computer as she is on Face Book.

As for the Sphagnum verses Coco Peat debate, I have found that as long as the Sphagnum isn't alive, the seedlings do well in it. If however if it is alive, it will outgrow the little seedlings and choke them. I see that Bunnings now sell Sphagnum in a compressed brick just like the Coco Peat and I am at present trialling it with seed and seedlings, so I'll post the results after it's had a fair trial.

Sue – To answer your question about the Ae 'Lucky Stripes and Ae 'Mardi Gras', I have them both growing in the garden (at least I did last time I looked).

I like your pic's of the “big 'uns”, esecially the one in the second pic. The plant in pic three looks like one I have which is just called Neo Marmorta (large form).

I'm pleased to see the dogs didn't get the young crow, we have them nest in the big pine tree next door every year and they come in and eat a bit of the Lorikeet's food when they are rearing young and the thing I find surprising is that for such a big bird the adult birds are extremely timid, although as kids we often had them as pets which we had reared from young ones.

I'll finish with a few pic's, Pic 1 is a nice seedling of species Neo. Guinea x self , Pic 2 shows Neo 'Gee Whiz' in it's uncoloured state and Pic 3 show the colour just starting on the same plant. Pic.4 shows an unattractive uncoloured Neo 'Gee Whiz” (Rubra) and Pic five show the same plant fully coloured.

All the best, Nev.

Love Neo. Guinea x self Nev.
Does anyone have Amazing Grace for me to buy or swap.? I really want one. hehe!

Hi all, a fairly ordinary sort of day here today … housework mostly.

Then again, I did see a big black snake trying to get into the brom house today but it was blocked by the shadecloth which fortunately comes down to the ground on that side. It looked pretty agro and I was only a couple of steps away when I saw it. It took off along the back patio and I was worried that our Rebel would see it, he thinks snakes and lizards are fun things to play with. Luckily he was sound asleep on his bed.

Ian, thanks for the ID on the Aechmea (which I thought by its tall, skinny shape was a bill).

Wendy, thanks also for the ID on my NOID brom. If you do come across neo Solar Flare, please hold on to one for me. Nice pic of neo Medusa, mine is smaller and looks quite different with thinner, curly leaves, a bit like Shelldance, I’ll post an old pic. It still looks much the same, a bit more curly perhaps. Love your Hohenbergia leopoldo-horstii, which has now gone from my wish list to the ‘must have’ list.

Wendy, so sorry to hear the bad news about Max. It’s a very hard decision to euthanase but far better than having him suffer.

Sue, I think your NOID 3 could be neo Mamorata as Nev said. I will post a pic of mine. I like your neos Painted Lady, they should be good sellers.

Nev, your ID of my NOID makes three, thanks everyone. As Bree said, Neo Guinea x self is a stunner … is it one of yours. If it is and you happen to have an excess, I would love one when I have pups to swap … soon I hope.

Bree, sorry I don’t have neo Amazing Grace. Did you get your neo Hurricane Alley yet.

OK, I will try to find the pics I mentioned. Till tomorrow,

Shirley


Pic 1 is neo Medusa, 2 is Mamorata

Hi all, Just another day, still no rain here. Watered most of my plants and fixed shelving in seedling house. I see that my crypts need de pupping and a general bit of attention. Everything is thirsty here but what can I expect in summer. The seedlings are storming ahead and are looking good. Shame I have not as yet identified them but it will happen eventually.

Sue I like pic 2

Nev I like Neo Guinea

Shirley i like Medusa
Have a good one.
Ian
Pic 1 Neophytum Blaze flowering in July this year
Pic 2 N Blaze
Pic 3 Neophytum Firecracker
Pic 4 Neophytum vagans
Pic 5 Ortophytum snoflake

Hi to everyone on this nice wet Friday morning. We've had a nice shower over night and it's drizzling at present with more forecast for tomorrow, so that should freshen everything up and make all of the plants smile.

Breeindy – What Neo 'Amazing Grace' were you after, the light form or the dark form? I'm pretty sure I have a spare light form but no dark form as mine reverted back to a light form as they often do

Shirley – The big black snake was probably trying to get into your shade house among the bromeliads to have a “frog dinner”. I occasionally saw them around the fish pond in my orchid house at our old address and I always knew when they were around as everything was deadly silent and not a frog or a skink to be seen anywhere,. Even though I wasn't all that fond of seeing them in among the plants I couldn't help admire the sheer, shiny beauty of them.

Neo Medusa is grown by a few growers down here and we've all found the same thing about it, it seems to attract that soft white scale and Mealy Bug that sometimes bothers some particular plants more than others, so just keep an eye on it.

Unfortunately the Neo Guinea x self isn't mine, nor is the pic, but I did repeat the selfing in the hope of getting something similar but none of mine turned out that light in colour. I still like the original species though and when grown in good light (like you get up north) it can get a lot of yellowish colouring and it is a particularly fast grower and a good basket specimen and well worth growing. I had a nice plant that a bloke took a liking to and wanted to buy it right or wrong so I sold it to him as I have plenty, it had been hanging right up beneath the shade cloth and was quite yellowish in colour. I'll have to hang one of the others up high now and try and colour that up also.

You mentioned Neo 'Hurricane Alley' to Bree, and I think I saw it on Ebay again a couple of days ago when I was just browsing to see what's around. Your Neo. Marmorata looks very similar to the one I have. I have one plant growing in an old tree fern stump and another in a pot in almost full sun which has turned the green to a washed out yellowish colour caused by a bit too much sun bleaching.

Ian – That's a nice collection of Neophytums you have there and I especially like the 'Vagans' with its beautiful contrasting colours and unusual growth habit.

I'll finish up today and Pic 1 which is the same plant I posted yesterday show the uniqueness of the flowers. These plants are of the helonicoides or “Watch Spring” group of Billbergias, so named because of the coiled petals which resemble a watch spring. These are easier seen in the close-up of the same flowers in Pic 2 . Pic 3 is a bit blurry (and I hadn't even had a drink) and is a pic of a first flowering of a seedling Canistropsis seidellii x Canistropsis 'Plum' and Pic's 4 is the “before” and Pic 5 is the “after” of a make over of a corner of one of my brom gardens.

All the best, Nev.

I just bought a small Amazing Grace finally and i missed the ending of the auction for Hurricane Alley on ebay again. bummer! Still looking for one. I love Medusa to and am buying one of them shortly.
Thanks for the offer on a Amazing Grace Nev, ill have to post a pic of the one i bought, think its light. Do you have a pic of the dark Nev that you can post?

This message was edited Nov 15, 2012 9:13 PM

hello all, I typed a lovely long post this morning and when adding photos, the computer froze, so I couldn't even copy and paste what I wrote. I am going to take a leaf out of Nevs book and write my posts in another programme, then copy and paste it over later.
I oohed and ahhed over everyones photos and generally had a good old chat with you all!
Now, I am pooped, as I have done something rather frightening, and taken over thousands of bromeliads from a bloke who has had enough. Gulp! My hubby and I have been moving them home all week, and am almost finished. there are bromeliads everywhere, and many pups to be potted, so I have plenty of work ahead of me.
I know, I know......'I thought you were supposed to be cutting back to go travelling'........well, I guess I'll have to employ someone to keep an eye on things if, and when that happens.
So, there will be a big sale next saturday, but tomorrow, hubby and I will be knocking up another igloo with the polypipe to protect some of the new stuff.
Lots and lots of 'Fireball'
Anyway, I'd better have some dinner as I want to get to bed and get an early start.
talk soon
Sue

wow Sue you really have inherited some nice plants. if you hadn't already said it I would have hahahahah. you know what I mean.

Gee Nev I would have asked for one of those neo guinea pups too if it was yours. stunning plant. I tried to cross our carcharadon tiger today with a couple of other neos flowering but I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. I think I need to upend them and tip some water out of the centre first.

we have a tray of those medusas colouring up at present and will put them on the sales tables next time. we were supposed to have a sale this weekend but Johnny didn't feel up to facing everyone after our news re Max. but it is ongoing as we had a call today from the uni vet. the biopsy results did not show cancer. they said they could do another biopsy to see if they just missed the tumour or not. I said no. I think he's been through enough and even if it is cancer we'll decide when he needs to go to peace. He still has a tumour, who cares if it is benign or not. eventually it will block his nose. So they have now put him on prednisone and antibiotics to see if they can slow the growth. Luckily we have lots of prednisone of Johnny's which is exactly what we would have got for Max. The antibiotics cost us $50+ so I'm glad we didn't have to pay that for the prednisone too. we are not putting him through anymore invasive tests. he is loathe to hop in the car now and he does love his car rides.

Sue we are going to see Ray at Salisbury tomorrow. I know that you have been to his place before. Anyway he is now terminal and PA hospital have told him there is nothing more they can do for him other than palliative care so he is going on one final train trip to Perth but unfortunately he is no longer able to get around to see all the parts of WA he wanted to see so when the train gets there he will get off and when the train has been readied for return trip Ray will get back on and come home. It is the train ride he enjoys. So tomorrow morning we will catch up with him for a good chat as he is quite breathless on the phone. who knows what 2 weeks will bring so better now than too late right. Nev I will look for one of those AFRN05 broms that you like. I know we have them here somewhere but I know Ray will have one up there.

Does anyone have a spare pup of aech ensign? I have had a call from a lady who said her father has given her the names of 2 broms that he wants for Christmas. One was ensign but I wasn't sure what the other one was so she is going to drop in the pics he sent her of the ones he wants with names on pic. so before Christmas gets here I have to find these 2 broms for her to take with her to Sydney when she goes down to see her dad. We have 2 mother ensigns both with pups forming but none are yet big enough to take off. so if anyone has a spare one I can buy then on sell to this lady I would be grateful. otherwise I will contact Olive. I am just waiting for name of the other one first so I can ask for both at same time.

Pic 1 is Alan Freeman's unreg plant burgundy night which is 52cm from tip to tip.
Pic 2 is one I collected seed from today. it is neo takamura grande x concentrica. this pic was taken in August last year. pic 3 is same plant taken November last year. the one I collected seed from looked just like pic 3.
pic 4 is a NOID that I like the shape and colour of so collected some seed from it today. I'll see what it produces. Nev is it worth growing seed from these noids where we don't even know the parents???? I don't mind the plant so.......

ah well. bed will be calling soon. crap on TV so might have an ealry night.

Wendy

Nev that new fb group is at https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/planetbromseed/

Good morning, just a quick one while I gulp my cuppa and wait for the sun to come up.
Shirley sends her apologies as her Modem passed away yesterday (condolences Shirley) and when Telstra can find the time, they will supply her with a new one. So kind aren't they?
Wendy, thanks for adding me to the FB group, I'm having a quick squizz there this morning.
I can understand you wanting to leave Max alone. Hes an elderly dog too, isn't he, so why upset him more?
I only met Ray once, but was just amazed at his back yard. i have never seen anything like it, before, or since. Say ho to him, although I doubt he would remember me. We visited with him with Ross Little, after a BSQ show in 09. I bought an Aechmea 'Belizia' from him for $3! bargain!
Sorry, no 'Ensign' pups here. I am down to my last plant, which is too young to produce pups. I think I'll start to hang on to them now, since I am beginning to look like a nursery!Oh gawd,what have I done?
I was trawling through the Neoregelia photo index last night, trying to ID the dark neo, and I did searches with takemura and pitch black, nelson e.t.c, but can't find anything quite like it. I did notice that Bromagic had about 10 plants in a row, all named, but didn't look any different. It begs the question.....Why?
I'd better go, its getting lighter out there, although more rain predicted today. I got caught in a shower when loading the car yesterday evening and was soaked to the skin. I was quite refreshed afterwards!
Sue
photo is a couple of days ago, before I really got stuck in. Hoping to knock it over in another two days.

Good morning all, not much of a day today, it's been drizzling overnight and looks very overcast with a promise of more rain for the garden today.

Breeindy - I'm pleased you managed to get hold of an Amazing Grace and I'm posting a pic of the dark form I had before it reverted back to the light form. It's a pic of a “Mother Plant” and she's almost “past it” but it will give you an idea of the colour. I have found it to be a variable plant due to being unstable, and the colours can range from the light form right through to the dark form and other colours in between.

Sue – I always thought you were a fair dinkum “bromeliad addict”. Even when you said you were unloading all of your plants to go travelling I though to myself “we'll see”, well we can see, and my suspicions are proved correct, so congratulations on your haul and we look forward to hearing more about your new acquisitions accompanied with lots of pictures of course. I wish I was up your way so I could go to your sale but then where would I put them all?

As for your question about why “Bromagic” (owned by Keith Golinski at the time) registered so many of Allan Freeman's (look alike) hybrids with different names was the topic of a quite heated discussion on the Garden Web a few years back. This wasn't just with one particular cross but was with a number of different crosses and at that time Kieth Golinski was registering hundreds of plants in one go and really tied up the BCR so everyone else had to wait for ages. His argument was that if each plant was worthy of registering, (no matter how similar they looked to each other) then they should have a registered name.

Wendy – To answer your question about tipping the water out, my first answer would be a question to you; who tips the water out when these plants are growing in habitat? The thing is though, you need clear access to the flowers to pollinate them, and if the water is too high you need to empty it; but also keep in mind that if the cup is full, it will prevent ants from getting in among the flowers and doing their “own thing” as well, so make sure you tag the flowers so you know which ones you pollinated. One other thing I have found is that when crossing a very big plant with a much smaller one, often the pollen from the smaller one won't pollinate the larger plant flowers so it's wise to do the cross both ways.

As for your question about whether to grow seeds from NOIDS or not, that's entirely a personal choice. As we constantly see on this forum, there are some really beautiful NOIDS around and if the NOID you are using is something really nice and the pollen parent is likewise, then “go for it” but from that point on make sure you keep good records and tag everything. The down side is that being NOIDS, you can't look up the BCR to check what crosses they have been used in before, and what the results were. There have been some really beautiful hybrids produced from very “ordinary” looking plants and some very "ordinary" hybrids produced from some beautiful plants, it all gets down to the gene mix and what Mother Nature intends to do. Sorry I can't be of more help, but I think when using NOIDS it's a case of trial and error.

When you have a bit of spare time it would be worth reading this post from the Garden Web Bromeliad Forum as it might explain it all better than I did. http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bromeliad/msg070505358093.html

I'll finish now with a few pic's, Pic.1 is for Breeindy and is my Neo.'Amazing Grace' (Dark Form), Next are a few different Aechmea Orlandianas from my old file pic's, Pic 2 is my Ae Orlandiana 'Dark One'; in this pic it's only about half coloured and eventually all leaves will be the colour of the one at top left. It's so dark it looks almost entirely black when fully coloured and not what you would call an attractive plant, but I bought it because it was the the closest thing I have to a “black” Aechmea. Pic. 3 is my Ae Orlandiana 'Majestic', Pic 4 is Ae Orlandiana 'Stain Glass' and Pic 5 (and my favourite) is Ae Orlandiana 'Touch-a-Pink'

All the best, Nev.

wow sue you do have alot of broms. I'll have to get down to have a look.
Wendy sorry my Ensign hasnt got any pups yet.
Nev thats for the photo, do all Amazing grace's eventually go pink in the centre? i like them when there just all stripped. Does higher light make them pinker?
I love the shape/colour of this Concentrica x Albo Marginata.. a few palm seeds in it. Its the only brom ive had for ages and has never pupped. Its starting to look abit old and im still waiting for pups.

Hi all, another busy day this time breaking and potting up some of my crypts. Looks loke I lost my seedling area already. I also did some preparation for expanding my bush house, now to find some money for materials. I got my pool pump running again today so another job to do Clean it out ready for service. Poor broms will have to wait a bit but they will not come second. Time for another dunking for all of them again and wait for some rain. Now to see if I can find some piccies.
Have a good one.
Ian
Pic 1 Crypt Marion Oppenheimer.
Pic 2 Crypt Macintosh.
Pic 3 Crypt Racinae.
pic 4 Crypt Ebb tide.
Pic 5 Crypt Snow goose

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all well, by the looks of all the threads I have missed during last week everyone looks to be keeping very busy in the garden indeed. Great Brom pics’ everyone, so many beautiful ones that I don’t’ have that I really want as usual. It is so great to see what everyone else is growing, how big they grown and how they colour up.

I took Friday off which was lovely and we just came back from a BIG Brom Buying Spree and I feel fantastic – so alive lol; I got such a HUGE buzz out of seeing all the beautiful colourful broms that we got to see/touch and carry and I came away feeling great because it was nice not to be in such a mad rush like usual and to be able to take our time looking, picking and choosing exactly what we wanted to take home. I doubled up on purpose on a few of my favourites which was great also. We ended up coming home with a trailer load of wonderful healthy broms and got them all at great prices. Joe even was picking out his own broms’ and putting them aside so we ended up spending twice as much and came home with so many more than I had expected. Joe kept laughing at me and said the expression on my face was like a kid in a candy store when I first walked in and saw all that was for sale. Anyway as soon as we got home I unloaded the trailer, brought them in under some cover and rehydrated them all. Now I have to spend the next couple of weekends trimming old leaves, separating large pups off still healthy looking mums, re-potting them all and spraying them for pests and checking for any signs of disease and leave them in quarantine for a good while and see how they travel. I am thrilled to bits on how much more colour these will inject into the garden. Anyway we had a great day and spent most of Saturday doing house chores , Joe mowed the lawns and I played with my broms giving them another good water, wrote all their names down in my book on how many I had of each, wrote all new labels including additional labels for each large pup that I would separate off each mum and looked to see which of the old mums I could put in my brom retirement village.

Sunday will be spent pruning and cleaning around our pool area so it looks nice and neat for Christmas as we will have a houseful of visitors and the pool area is going to get a bit of a workout especially with our friends kids who will want to live there as they don’t have a pool at home.

Sue OH MY GOSH you too have been very busy with a trailer full of broms + some lol, sounds like you did a couple of trips. That’s fantastic, you sound thrilled but terrified at the same time, just think how the garden will look by the time you are ready to enter into next years’ garden competition, even more amazing than before and you will be able to continue your theme of growing the same coloured broms in lovely rows, my friend does the same in her garden with other plants and she only has a small yard area and her garden looks beautiful.

Hi Nev thanks if you can spare a Neo Prince of Darkness that would be great. Let me know if you change your mind about the NOID I thought was Stormy Weather as the pups are growing and should be ready to detach off mum in a couple of months, and one of them I will be posting off to Bree. Nev it will be great to hear feedback on sphagnum verses other mediums for growing seedlings.

Wendy I am disappointed I do not have a spare Ensign to spare, the one I have is undergoing some tender loving care as I brought it during my brom spree cheap but it needs an overhaul so to speak and has no pups unfortunately. If I come across any on Sunday at the market I will let you know?

Wendy glad Max is back home with you both and that you get to spend some quality time together where he is most comfortable and surrounded by everything and everyone he luvs the most that matters to him.

Hi to everyone I have missed tonight, apologies but my brom spree has finally caught up with me and my eyelids are starting to get heavy lol. Think it’s time to put the kettle on as too early to go to bed just yet.

Have a great week everyone and Happy Gardening!

We took some of these pictures tonight of some of the beauties just recently purchased (Joe wanted to see how they would look taken at night) plus it’s so much nicer outside than inside at the moment with the AC turned off, we normally only put it on when we can’t stand the heat anymore, but a swim before bed and a shower straight after normally does the trick to cool down and have a better sleep.

Trish

Pic 1 Neo Kautskii
Pic 2 Neo NOID Any idea’s anyone thanks????
Pic 3 Neo Carcharodon Tiger
Pic 4 Neo? NOID Any idea’s anyone thanks???
Pic 5 Neo Mirlo

Pic 1 is of Neo Cliff Siverd really coloured up way more than last month when I uploaded pic.
Pic 2 Neo NOID Any ideas anyone thanks????
Pic 3 Neo Purple Bray No. 1
Pic 4 Neo Nikiko
Pic 5 Red Earth

Good Night All!

Trish

good morning
Trish, I think your noid in the first batch, number 4, is N. 'Grey Nurse'?
And the noid in the second batch, number 2 s N. 'De Rolph'? Is it a large plant?
Wow, so you have a trailer load too! I know exactly what you're in for. The photos you have posted are gorgeous. I love that Neo. 'Mirlo' any chance of a swap? Where did you go to make your purchases?
My hubby and I also use the pool to cool off, as no A/C here, but we don't get the temps you get, at least not for too long at a time.
Funny you should mention about the broms going into the garden. There is about 50 of the noid red Neo that I already have borders of, so if I can't sell the 15 or so that are flowering now, I will just make another row somewhere and harvest the pups next year. Also N. 'Painted Lady' must have been a favourite of the grower! There are stacks of them! At this point, most of the broms have been weeded, sorted into trays, and placed in groups around the garden in protected spots. We attempted to erect a shade house yesterday, but didn't have the materials to finish it and then it rained, so it will have to wait until monday afternoon now.
We picked up some broms from the growers yard, which I thought might have been his special stuff, and looked after, but it turns out we have two ute loads to repot!. Hubby and i went through them last night, one by one, trimming dead leaves and old mothers off, and today will be a big repot, as most have been living lying on their sides!
There were a couple of nice surprises amongst the bunch, and i will take pictures as I find them again.
Ian, are you saying you lost your seedling area to Crypts? What the? I wish I could send you our rain. It bucketed down all night! Today I will have to be on the lookout for those pesky leeches!
Bree, you are welcome to call in if you're ever down this way. If you give your N. concentrica x albomarginata a bit of slow release fertiliser, you might find it throws a pup. I would try dropping one or two of the fertiliser pellets (or prills as they are sometimes called) into a leaf near the base, as this sometimes encourages pups.
Nev, I think thats a lousy excuse for registering all those plants. I like the idea of giving the whole grex a registered name, and only the outstanding ones get a special name, and then mulch the rest. Look how hard it is trying to ID a plant that seems to have something special, let alone a wishy washy, nothing looking plant.
Yes, you are right! I am an addict, but had got to a point where I couldn't justify buying expensive plants for the collection, but now........I have enough to make a go of it, I think, and in time, if I can make a profit, I will be able to buy nice stuff to propagate more of, as well as enjoy the ones I have around me. I am worried that might go the way of other growers I have met, and the plants might become neglected, but at this time, I feel I can manage for the moment.
I had better get my potting gear on and get started.

photo one and two shows how we managed to do a double load, and get shelving home at the same time. I pulled the shade cloth over and it was the perfect length to drape down the sides and secure. I packed any spaces with trays to make sure nothing would move. All good
So far, we have done three loads of A. blanchettianas, at 18 in a load. Things must be planted in rock, they are so heavy! Most are cold damaged or wind damaged, but the pups will be ok.
Sue

Thanks for the advise Sue. I also think Trish has a Johannis De Rolf next to her Cliff Siverd photo, heres mine....

Sun 18th

Hi everyone – Looks like a nice fine day today so back out in the yard again to sort out a few more plants. I just noticed late yesterday (just on dark) that my Ae Nudicaulis 'Giant' is flowering so I'll try and get some new pic's of it and some other plants today so I can post them tomorrow.

Bree – Like many other brom's, all of my Amazing Graces colour up in the centre when they are getting ready to flower. I don't think this detracts from them in any way and is just one of the may steps of the life cycle.

That's a lovely Neo concentrica albo-marginata in your pic and like Sue says, you can sometimes encourage pupping with a little extra fertilizer as well as a prill in the lower leaf axils, but don't “over do it” as more isn't necessarily better. Make sure that the prills you use a the “coated type” like Osmocote or Nutricote as there are others on the market that aren't coated and they could burn the leaves.

Ian – More nice Cryptanthus. Have you got any tips for us yet as you seem to have the right cultural methods for them and we'd like you to share your secrets with us so we can all grow them as well as you. From what you say it seems like you need to have a forty eight hour day to fit in all your work, however, what doesn't get done today will still be there tomorrow.

Trish – What are you doing? Trying to make it a contest between you and Sue to see who can buy the most plants? Anyway whatever you are doing it will be good for us all in a year or two as you will have heaps of pups to sell and swap.

They are beautiful plants in your pic's and I don't know what it is with you growers up north, but you all seem to be able to get onto some “crackerjack” NOIDS and it make one wonder why they were never named as some are certainly better than some being registered at present. I agree with Sue that Pic 4 in the first batch does look like Neo 'Grey Nurse', but I'm not sure about the other one Sue thinks could be De Rolf, it doesn't seem to have as much colour as mine, but then I suppose it depends on where it was grown. Ther's more pic's for comparison at http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=3915#3915

Like Sue I too like you Neo. Mirlo, I hadn't seen that one before and can't find it on the BCR but it's a great colour with just a hint of marbling in the leaves and when you get a spare pup I'd be interested in a swap also (after Sue of course as she was in first). I also fancy Neo 'Red Earth' with its nice colour and filled in shape.

By the way Trish, if you D-Mail me your postal details I'll get that 'Prince of Darkness' in the mail for you.

Sue – You sure know how to load a ute to get the most plants on board. I could have done with you down here when I was taking plants to the show this year. You do seem to have a surplus of Neo. Painted Lady in your haul and like you say it may have been a favourite of the grower or maybe it was just one that sold well.

Sue, I couldn't agree more with you about how we should still be naming the whole grex and then just naming the special ones as was done previously. It's a tried and tested system that is still used by the orchid growing community and works well.

Well it looks like you now have sufficient stock on which to build a business, you have the “know how” and are still young enough to make it work and all I can say is I eagerly await your first price list.

That's it from me today and just a couple of pic's of De Rolf for comparison with Trish's plant. Pic 1 is a pup and Pic 2. is an adult plant with a twig that fell into the cup and started to sprout new leaves and roots brought on no doubt from standing in the "magic" cup water.

All the best, Nev.

Hi Everyone

Slight typo with Neo Mirlo which is in fact Neo Kismet.

I wll take a photo of Ae Mirlo today and send.

Speak to you all later.

Trish

1. Look at the pattern on this one, its tagged Royal Burgundy 'Supreme' which its clearly not 2. one looks more like Merry Monach then no. 2 which is ment to be Merry Monarch, i love the colour though.
3. Sunset is flowering and has the biggest centre than any of my Broms.
4. My NOID one i love the colour. 5. A pup from Royal Flush.

Hi all, just another windy day, started overcast but the wind blew away the cloud cover.Also it is blowing a few of my plants around. I have had a tidy up in my seedling area, still have my crypts there but this is tempory storage while I find where they like best. I am guessing that like other genus some will have different likes and dislikes. I think I am using my seedling area as a hospital at the moment but soon i won't be able to do that. I still am using the upstairs for starting thing off.
With growing crypts I am using higher moisture holding mix than I use for neos and I hope this gives me better results. Some are doing better than others and they all need more fertiliser than most other broms or so I have been told. I am still experimenting with them and the sun here is burning a lot of plants if they get too much. I have also noticed that more light can change white into red, especially with Crypt It and Ti.
A question about quilling and what to do about it. The plant I am referring to is Ae fasciata primera in pic 5. Is this quilling or some other form of mutation. The parent plant has none of this deformity but about half of it's pups have. Any suggestions.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 N tricolour perfertor
Pic 2 Seedling area/ hospital
Pic 3 Alacantarea vinicolour Hawaiin red flower
Pic 4 Al vinicolour Hawaiin red flower spike
Pic 5 Ae fasciata primera with distorted leaves.

Hi everyone. missed you all last night but we had a storm so I had the computer and tv off and unplugged from the wall. of course the way Max loves a good storm and especially the thunder it has been impossible to make his sit down and stay calm and quiet. same again today. for once the weather bureau was right when they predicted a super cell forming. we've had several storms each day all weekend.

Sue we went to Ray's place yesterday but you wouldn't recognise his plants now. I remember what it looked like first time we went there. it was the colour that amazed us too. the last time we were there before yesterday was first time Ray had finished a bout of chemo and radiation and the plants had suffered a bit but he'd had a few friends there and they had started cleaning up for him. he had even started buying foliage vriseas on ebay. the sad part is the same plants looked terrible yesterday. we only went there to have a chat and check up on him and Johnny's sister was getting some plants to start off her collection. we must have spent too long chatting and had just gone downstairs with Ray to help Trish pick out some plants. We couldn't go too far from the house as there were so many spider webs crossing all the paths and weeds that were chest high to wade through. all the broms we could see were so full of dead leaves. we couldnt' help ourselves and did pluck off as many leaves as we could but Ray was tiring and becoming breathless so Trish grabbed what she wanted. We also had to pick up his tillandsai collection that we had commited to buy off him before this latest bout of chemo and radiation. he remembered that we wanted them so we had the cash to pay for them but nothing else. it was while I was plucking leaves that I saw a patch of colour right down the back corner on the ground and had to investigate. It took a lot of swiping away spider webs and pushing through weeds to discover the plant in pic 1 neo bob & grace (sport). dead mum in the middle had so much dead stuff surrounding them that it took a while to identify something special and I made sure there was another pot of them left for Ray. I thought the worst he could say was I couldn't have it but luckily he was generous and let me buy it for a ridiculous price. It was while I was rescuing bob & grace that the heavens opened up and Johnny said it was a very very bad storm approaching so we had to make a very quick dash home. It was still only 10 or 10.15ish so we hadn't had a very long visit. anyway I am still trying to clean up, separate and pot up all the potted tillandsias. a lot of lindenii pink, tricolour, cyanea, complanata, lieboniana, faciculata and a single flabellata.
Pic 2 is the FCBS version of bob & grace so mine seems to be the reverse of the patterning.
Bree I think your NOID in pic 4 could be tricolour perfecta as Ian posted or possibly piccolo. pic 3 is tricolor perfecta. pic 4 and 5 is picollo

Shirley sorry to hear about your modem problem. hope you are back on line asap.

Ian love you seedling area. I was glad to see that you have trays under your seedling trays. we've noticed that our seedlings have grown so much quicker since we started putting water into the trays they sit in so they can have as much as they want to take up through their mix. the aechmeas, alcants and billbergias in particular are really doubling in size. I been loathe to put the vriseas and neos into dishes with too much water.

well I can hear thunder again I think so might have to turn off again soon. might have an early night I think.
Night everyone.
Wendy

Mon 19th

Hi everyone – Today's intentions were good and I starred watering early this morning at about 5.30 but after about two hours it started to “pelt down” so that put paid to that. It's now still fine drizzle but not enough to water the remainder of the plants but just enough for me to get soaked, so they'll just have to wait.

Trish don't worry about the “typo”, whether it's Neo 'Mirlo' or Neo 'Kismet' doesn't matter; I still would like a pup when you get one spare.

Breeindy – Your plant in the first Pic. isn't Royal Burgundy 'Supreme' as that is an albo-marginated plant (which can also be a bit unstable). I know this because I bought one and all it's ever thrown me is plain pups, not one which is albo-marginated, and it looks like it only has possibly one more pup left in it so fingers crossed that this pup may be the one I want and not another to join the heap of NOVARS.

The first plant in your pic's is more likely to be Neo 'Merry Monarch' as it can have sometimes more or less white marking than yours, but it usually always has the white banding. I have no idea what the plant in your second pic is.

Ian – Congratulations on your beautiful plant of Tricolour Perfecta. I bought one years ago called Neo. Carolinae Tricolor 'Perfecta' and it wasn't until recently when looking through the BCR that I found there had been some name changes and the person I bought it from hadn't kept up to date with the changes. So rather than me trying to explain it to you it's best you look up the BCR at http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=7583#7583

Part of what they say is, ”.......... described and named Neoregelia carolinae var. tricolor which became N. carolinae forma tricolor in Phytologia 1967 and was completely ignored in 'An Alphabetical List of Bromeliad Binomials ', Eighth Edition 2002 but has been resurrected now as Neoregelia 'Tricolor' .

On further investigation at http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=6275#6275 part of the text explains: “.............the plant is commonly called "Tricolor Perfecta" but patent and registration documents show the proper name as 'Perfecta Tricolor' …......” so it would appear from this that the correct name of your plant is Neoregelia PerfectaTricolour.

If you want to complicate things even further you can also read what's written at http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=7584#7584 …. and then you'll have the whole interesting story. Anyway, no matter what the name is you have grown it exceptionally well and it's a credit to you.

As for your question about quilling; that's not what your Ae. Fasciata in Pic 5 has. Quilling is where the leaves stick together and have to be manually separated. The cause hasn't been proven for sure, but is thought to possibly be linked to “under watering” and can sometimes be rectified by watering the leaves with a watering can containing 5ml of washing up detergent (NOT DISHWASHER DETERGENT) mixed mixed with 9L of water and flushing off after a couple of hours..

The ridges on the leaves of your Ae Fasciata seem to me to be some sort of deformity. I have seen this quite often in tissue cultured plants sold in the large stores such as Bunnings, K-Mart etc. and I suspect it is a by-product of tissue culture production as this can sometimes produces deformities. Another example of tissue culture deformities can sometimes be seen in plants of Vriesea Splendriet and these plants sometimes exhibit deformed flowers. It's also a by-product of man trying to manipulate nature, and as I've often said in the past, if you "stuff around" with “Mother Nature” she'll bite you on the bum!

Wendy – It's sad to see friends who once had magnificent bromeliad collections have now reached a stage where they can no longer adequately look after them. It's all very well when you hear us say how brom's can look after themselves, but this is only for a certain length of time and once this time is up, the weeds and everything else take over and it's all down hill from there.

I have two very good friends both well up in their eighties now who have the best mixed collection (especially species) that I have ever seen. They live in a brick and concrete home they both built when they were young and it has a wonderful view overlooking the water, but unfortunately it's on an extremely steep block which had to be terraced before any planting could even commence.

There are over one hundred steps from the house down to the edge of the water with brom's covering the whole area on each side of the steps and a very large shade house full of Nidulariums at the bottom. At the front entrance to the house on the level of the road in, there are Neo's and Aechmeas on each side and you walk through a type of conservatory (again full of brom's) into the main house.

Up on the first level there is an exit out the back which is also a very steep area that was once cleared of scrub and is now planted with numerous brom species, many of which are exceptionally rare. On top of the flat concrete roof is the main potted collection beneath different degrees and colours of shade cloth and in the middle is a heated “tunnel house” for the very rare tropical species requiring heat. It's really a “magic place” for brom lovers but unfortunately, last time I was there, the little “tell tale signs” of a collection that's getting too much to manage are now becoming obvious and one can only wonder how much longer this wonderful old couple can adequately care for their beloved brom. collection which has taken a large part of their lives to build up.

I really like that particular form of “Bob and Grace” if that's what it is. Am I right in guessing that the plant on the right is a pup and the one on the left is the mature plant? It looks quite something with the white centre.

Sorry to hear the thunder upsets Max; we had a dog once that always tried to hide behind the lounge during a thunder storm. He could somehow sense the storm was coming as he would go behind the lounge before the thunder and lightening even started, and there he would stay until it had all been over for about a half an hour when he would come out like nothing had happened.

Anyway that's it from me today, sorry I haven't been able to take any new pic's yet, but maybe tomorrow if the rain stops.

All the best, Nev.

Hello you lot.
I haven't had much time to spare for the computer so bear with me. A quick question on Neo. 'Merry Monarch', Is it a smaller growing brom?
Been busy with broms, potting, cleaning and finding possies for them. Today I also had a small red bellied black snake to keep an eye on, as it was doing the rounds, probably eating frogs. I made sure it didn't come home with me.
Hubby and I finally got the shadehouse structure finished, and if I can, I will tie the cloth on tomorrow, and put down the weed mat so I can load some plants in there.
I'll leave you with some pics of the various plants around the yard, and I will catch up again when I can.
oh, seems hubby removed the SD card for some strange reason, so all the pics I took are stuck on the camera (no cord to transfer the images) I will take some more tomorrow.
Sue

Hi everyone.
Firstly Nev I have to correct you, Max loves a good thunderstorm. we've always turned TV off, made a cuppa and sat in the dark on the verandah to watch the lightning so Max has always been out there enjoying the light show with us. He has his toys that he bites down on instead of barking and he prances up and down the verandah with each clap of thunder. he loves it, but we are supposed to keep him calm so he doesn't bring on a nose bleed which could kill him. That's impossible to do. However he has had a very bad cought and wheeze today which is probably from being outside last night having a family BBQ and we couldn't keep Max from going out under the clothesline to watch the lighting and thunder. We also had to keep Rylee from being out there with him.

Nev I've already changed the name on my photo of neo perfecta tricolour. After finding the photo of neo bob & grace in my wish list last night I realised that the label in our plant actually said neo bob & grace sport. It was then that I realised that the FCBS bob&Grace had white bands while ours had the full white centre. I think the pot actually had a dead mother in the middle and our 2 plants are both pups of that plant. I will save the first pup for you Nev if you like. I actually think this white centred one looks better than the true B&G don't you???

Ian all of our ae primera plants have that dimpling. I think that is a feature of the true primera. It sets them apart from the normal fasciata..... dimpling and the much larger infloresence.

Gotta go now to watch the rest of xfactor final. some very good songs on so far. Pic 1 is our ae caudata variegated coming into flower. must get those 2 pups off though. ic 2is our ae primera showing the dimpling in the leaves and the distinct centre of the infloresence which has that flat centre bit. we were told this was the true primera but there were imitations around. we also have a lot of the imitations which have the dimples but are much smaller plants and don't have that flat groove in the centre of infl.
Night
Wendy

Sue you posted while I was sitting idle watching xfactor with half typed entry. I also have been cleaning, cleaning, labelling, potting and finding spaces for all these tillandsias. I actually found a pot of t. umbullata which I didn't have so now I have a pot with 3 very healthy plants.

Ray seeme to have a batch of lindenii hybrids as they all look like lindenii plants with that distinch striations on the leaves but he has a series of numbers on them and from the old infloresences there are long thin ones like lindenii and short fatter ones like cyanea but then all sized and shapes in between. so I have trays with stickers of differnt numbers on the end and as I clean a pot I am placing the plants into the tray of those plants till I get to potting them. I currently have trays and trays of potted tillandsais on shelves everywhere down the back. had to hang some pots up to free up shelves. where can I put the rest when potted I wonder????????

Night
Wnedy

Evening All

Wow it's sticky muggy here, we need some rain to cool things off for a bit but as soon as the sun comes out so does sticky muggy moreso.

Thought I better post correct Pic of Ae Mirlo (not Neo Mirlo) as it did not get around to doing this yesterday as we ended up having unexpected visitors that turned up.

Thanks everyone for helping with identifying some of the NOIDS I recently purchased, the seller did yell out the names of some of the broms that did not have labels and I thought I would remember them because they sounded easy enough to remember but by the time we got home I was buggered and my brain had gone to sleep lol. but as soon as you guys identified some of the names they rang a bell straight away and I went ah yes that’s what she had called them at the time. So anyway they now have a label which is great, so many thanks.

Yeah Sue Neo De Rolph is a large plant with a lot more colouring up to do. Sue we purchased all the broms from a lady in F/N Qld who was selling up because she is moving, we stumbled across her place many months ago when we went on a bit of a road trip and she had a small inconspicuous brom sign out the front of her place and told us on that visit that she would be moving and at some stage would be selling up so I gave her our contact info and she contacted us out of the blue which was great and we managed to get in early before everyone one else because we got there on Friday and her sale was not until Sat/Sun. Anyway I am really going to miss buying from her because she is a really kind and genuine person and was so passionate about her bromeliads and sad that she had to get rid of most of them. She has kept a small collection of her favourites to take with her which I was pleased to see as I could think of nothing worse than getting rid of them – all those beautiful broms. Anyway I said to her that if she was ever up this way to come and visit us and some of her brom babies that I have adopted as I said to her you never know circumstances may change and she may get back into collecting them heavily again and hopefully I would have pups to share with her to get her collection happening again. Joe said it was lucky for him that we did not live next door to her as I would constantly be over her place buying broms lol.

Sue and Nev, I discovered yesterday one teeny tiny little pup (about ½ cm) just coming out of Neo Kismet (not Mirlo lol) so Sue because you got in early I will keep this pup aside for you and let you know when it has grown up enough to be separated and sent to you - yeah. Nev by all means you will be next in line for any others that stick their pretty head up and I will try to hurry them along for you somehow, maybe if I keep talking to them nicely – you never know. I have written you both in my book so I don’t forget.

Nev in regards to sending me a Neo Prince of Darkness, I will D-Mail you with my postal address this week – thanks so very much.

I laughed out loud Nev when you said I am going into competition with Sue getting lots of broms, Sue wins hands down looking at the trailer/car loads she brought back, I don’t think our yard could handle that amount of broms and I seriously would not have the time to be able to look after them all properly and if I can’t look after something properly I get very annoyed and frustrated with myself, at the moment everything is easy to manage with the current amount of broms I have and the garden absorbs them well and the weeds are under control which is great so I am happy and get to enjoy the reward sitting back and admiring them all.

Bree really liked your NOID Pic 4, I wonder what it is? Bree my Neo Amazing Grace is in flower at the moment which is hot pink in the centre, really nice indeed.

Ian that Neo Tricolour Perfector is gorgeous – what a huge health plant it is. You have a beautiful collection their taking over you swimming pool area, how nice it must look when you go for a swim seeing all that colour around you.

Wendy really liked your pic of Neo Bob & Grace (sport); I have a pup that still has a lot of growing up to do so I will be thrilled to see if it turns out as beautiful as the pic you posted; only time will tell.

Shirley hope you get your modem back up and running soon we miss you and seeing your beautiful pics.

Only one pic tonight of Ae Mirlo.

Anyway time to put the kettle on.

Take care everyone, speak soon and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 Ae Mirlo

Hi everyone – Once again just a short note mainly to let you all know that I've heard from Colleen. The reason we haven't seen her on here for a while is that her and the boys have all been in hospital with pneumonia. She says she's home now and because kids are very resilient, the boys recovered quickly but it really knocked her for a six and although she's home, she's still slowly recovering. She asked me to tell you all she hasn't forgotten you and will be posting again as soon as she feels up to it.

Sue – You must be pretty busy, trying to sort out brom's while watching you don't tread on a black snake; you're probably right when you say he/she is probably looking for a feed of frogs, maybe he/she is a French snake and has a taste for “frog's legs”.

You'd better tell hubby to return the SD card as we all love seeing your pic's and can't wait to see what you got in your new haul.

Wendy – I'm pleased to see Max isn't afraid of the lightening and thunder as it's very hard when whatever you do you still can't calm down a dog that's terrified of it.

I have to agree with you as I also think the Bob and Grace sport looks better than the ”real deal” and I would love to get one and will take you up on your kind offer.

I also have a variegated Ae. Caudata as well as an Ae. Caudata albo-marginata and although I've had them for a few of years now, they only just pup and have never flowered, although I'm not complaining as I only grow them for the foliage and not the flowers anyway. In fact I don't think I've ever seen the flower of a variegated Caudata so you'll have to post a pic when yours is in flower.

Trish – The weather isn't sticky or muggy down here, in fact it's gotten quite cool since the rain started. It let up for while last night but then started again, however it's not raining at present but is as “black as your boot” and looks like the heavens are going to open again shortly, so it looks like more re-potting of little seedlings in the garage again today.

Was the lady you purchased your brom's from called Germaine? I heard she was selling them all and moving into town but never thought she'd go through with it. If it was her, I've swapped a lot of plants with her in the past and she does have very nice plants and certainly knows how to grow them and I certainly recommend her plants to anyone.

Thanks for the promise of a future pup off your Neo 'Kismet', I'll really look forward to it. I had a Miltonia (orchid) once called 'Kismet' which I used in a breeding programme and I still have bits of one of the seedlings I kept around the place somewhere. It was nothing special (shape wise) but the colours were an unusual mix of deep burgundy/chocolate petals with a light purple/mauve lip.

I like the colour of your Ae Mirlo; I've always been attracted to leaves which have a natural shiny gloss about them. I find that if I grow mine in a shady section of the yard the leaf colour will be quite dark and as the light increases, the leaf colour becomes lighter like yours. The only problem is that it doesn't flower as readily in the shade as it does when growing in better light.

Get well wishes to anyone who's on the sick list and we look forward to hearing from you soon and Colleen, take it easy and keep getting better.

Just some old file pic's today, as I still haven't taken any new ones. Pic 1 Boromelia 'Pinguin'. Although this plant is a very prickly customer and will grow to a very large size if it gets out of the pot, it does have a magnificent flower which makes all the hassles of growing it well worthwhile. Pic 2 is Neo. 'Fanfare', Pic 3 is one of my Neo Concentrica x [Charm x Cracker Jack] crosses. Pic 4 is is Neo 'Mon Petite' x 'Tangerine' and Pic.5 Neo. 'Crimson Glow 'Red Fleck'

All the best, Nev.

Hi Everyone!

Nev you are correct, great guess it was Germaine, what a beautiful person she is and yes her broms are beautiful, she really looks after them. We are going to miss visiting her and buying her beautiful broms, good sellers of broms are hard to find that stock good quality plants at the right price.

Great Nev I will keep you a pup of Neo Kismit as soon as I see another one pop up.

Get well soon Colleen, I know exactly how you feel as I have had pneumonia before (twice) when we lived in VIC and it is not nice and really knocks your immune system around bigtime. My chest has never been the same since because I also suffer from broncitis and ashma, hence why we moved to the better weather so I dont' suffer near as much.

Nice pics everyone, apologies I have taken none to post this time around.

Anyway, time to get tea on the road.

Speak to you all later, take care and Happy Gardening.

Trish

Hi all, rain threatened this afternoon so I went and watered and rain cleared out. Cleaned out some more rubbish and then it was dark.
I was told by a grower that I could buy any pup as long as there were 2 or more. I understand that this could be so that if the parent plant died the 1st pup could replace it. If I didn't have that pup then I would have no back up. Would this principle be correct?
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Ae fendleri or is it. The flowers look wrong to me.
Pic 2 Ae Bert or fosteriana
Pic 3 Ae fasciata primers doing a vr style of pupping, it is different to what normally occurs.
This plant with dutch/ german tag forbidding propogation. It even has EU Patent #4712 an NL patent # a USA plant patent # and a USA patent# I guess this confirms Nevs suspicions .
It also has flyspec scale that I have just treated, I didn't see it this afternoon

1. I think is Manoa Beauty but its a little more maroon than red.
2. This one is just tagged MS Hybrids.
3. Do you still think its tricolour perfertor? heres a better shot. Its not a very big plant. Ians yours looks way nicer and really big.
4. Aech. Pie in the Sky and Gympies Lavender Lace, im starting to really like these Gympies and i dont even like minis.
5. Decora starting to look very fluro.

Good morning all.
Oh lordy, lordy I am tired and sore! The things we do!
Colleen, get well soon! i hope you and the boys don't have any lingering trouble. At least while you are recuperating your back is benefitting also! I hope the weather is kind to you while you are convalescing.
Wendy, lucky old maxxy loves a thunderstorm. Lily is a mess when there is one, and last week i came home to find her shut in the laundry, as a kind neighbour had found her on the road during a thunderstorm and locked her away. Her son, Leo, isn't excited either way, and just carries on as usual, wondering what all the to do is about.
Normally, I'd offer for you to send down those tills needing room, but I am actually a little short of room myself! I have started the shade house, but am waiting for kind weather to weed spray the floor area, and then get the cloth up. It was blowing a gale yesterday.
I was amazed by your A. 'Primera' photo, as i didn't know about the groove, nor had i seen one before.
We had 110mm here on saturday night and have had brief annoying showers, usually when i am working up in the old growers shade house, where there is no protection! At least I haven't had to worry about watering the plants while I am so busy moving them.
Trish, same here as for Nev, it has cooled down so much I pulled the doona back on last night. It was 15 degrees yesterday morning, but I must admit, the cool weather is much nicer for working in!
Thank you so much for the offer of your first N. 'Kismet' pup. Its a beauty! Let it take its own time to grow and in the meantime, keep an eye on the plants I post pics of and write in your book the ones you'd like a swap of.
Lucky you to score the first go at the sale. I always tell my regulars they don't have to wait for a sale, but to just ring and make an appointment, as I don't mind who buys the stuff, as long as it sells, and the regulars are...well, regular, so why shouldn't they get a reward for being good customers. I am sure the lady is happy that you got them, and in knowing she can contact you if she wants to collect again.
Your A. 'Mirlo' looks very much like A. 'Belizia'. I wonder if they are similar parentage? I can't check on the bromeliad photo index as it is playng up this morning.
Ian, I'll go along with that theory. I usually keep the first pup, and then anything after that is up for swap/sale/gifting. Sometimes, if its a special one, I'll keep the lot, and have found if I plant one in the garden, and keep one for stock, then I should have a plentiful supply.
I am not familiar enough with A. fenlerii to say if your flower is right, or not. I have a bunch of A. fendlerii in the new collection, so I guess I will find out.
Nev, I have some interesting old journals i am going to post down to you. Lots of interesting stuff from the 70s and 80s. I will pop them in the post today.
Right, photos. SD card......check!
Photo one is the new shadehouse structure.
Photo two is some A. blanchettianas
Photo three and four are part of the sales area
Photo five is more . blanchettians, which will be getting some attention very soon!
Till tomorrow, I am off to deliver sale pamphlets and walk the dogs.
Sue

Sorry Bree, we posted around the same time. I'm am a fan of Minis, and have N. 'Gympie Lavender Lace' also. Its a cutie!

Hi all – Just a brief visit this morning, shopping and doctor's appointments to bugger up today so I'd better not waste too much time here chattering.

Trish – Thanks for confirming it was Germaine, and to fill you in a bit more, she also sold plants on Ebay under the name of “Garden Gems”.

Ian – What you were told is correct; always keep a pup for a spare in case something happens to the main plant.

I don't know enough about Aechmeas to definitely say what that plant is, but just as a guess I would say the flowers look too bunched together to be Ae. Fendleri. What about an Ae. Fendleri hybrid or some type of Portea or a Portea x Aechmea of some sort, there are many possibilities to what it could be, but as I said I don't know a lot about them. The flowers look to me like they are forming seed pods and if this is true you are going to have seed “coming out of your ears” when they ripen.

Once again I'm hesitant to try answering your second question because of lack of knowledge of these plants, but as a wild guess I would say it's Ae. Bert grown in insufficient light.

Wow! Talk about deformities. Your plant is a great example of what I said the other day, however on the bright side, the pups seem not to be too badly affected, but let them suck all the goodness out of the mother and get a good size before you remove them. It just shows how greedy some of these “mass producing merchants” really are, this plant should have been binned a long time ago and for an international nursery to be producing this type of rubbish is nothing less than a disgrace to the bromeliad industry.

Breeindy – Comparing with my plants of Neo. 'Manoa Beauty', I'd say that's wht yours is. It is a mature plant and as they get older the colour deepens like most plants of this colour. I can't say what your M.S. Hybrid is, as the MS could be the initials of the grower or of the mother plant. So who do you know with the initials of MS?

It's hard to say for sure what your variegated plant really is as there are literally thousands of Perfector Tricolor “look alikes” about and it really needs an expert to be able to tell you for sure.
There's no doubt that it's a beautiful plant and size wise that's as big as it's going to get as it's now mature, but it could also be one of the many thousands of variegated hybrids that look similar.

The BCR has this to say about the “Tricolor Group”:
“Neoregelia ‘Tricolor Group’ Up to 2008, when the BCR was part of fcbs.org we had a Group called ‘Tricolor Group’ based on the variegated form of Neoregelia carolinae but the more we looked at this, the harder it became to sort variegated Neoregelia into separate boxes. Such has been the cross hybridising in recent years that there seems a continuum from plants with N. carcharodon size through N. carolinae to N. ‘Fireball’, and many with or without spots, crossbands and marbling. Thus any variegated Neoregelia can be called as being part of the ‘Tricolor Group’ and need not be listed.”

So after reading this it's anyone's guess.

Sue – It seems you are getting your fair share of rain also, but unfortunately just when you didn't want it with you sale fast approaching.

I agree with what you say about contacting your “regulars” about a pending sale, if they have supported you in the past why shouldn't they get a little bonus in the form of a “jump start” on the general public?

You are pretty close to the money in your suspicion about Belizia and Mirlo having the same parents. Close but not exactly right though. 'Mirlo' is Victoriana discolor x Orlandiana and 'Belizia' is Orlandiana x Fulgens discolor, so close but no cigar!

Sue I'll be very pleased to look at your old journals as I find they are a wealth of information and always have something new to learn in them and your gesture is much appreciated.

Your new shade house seems to be well sited with good light all around so we are expecting great things from you in the future.

Boy oh boy you sure have a lot of plants for your sale. Just think of all the pups they will produce over the next couple of years, so you'd better sell them or prepare to move to a farm to house them all.

That's it for today, all the best, Nev.

Hi all collected some seed today from Ae Aztec 1 pod Ae fosters favourite favourite 3 pods and Ae sphaeroglossa 4 pods.
I checked with fcbs pics and Fendleri seems about right, in fact I will stay with it. The flowers are about 8" high and 3" round so there will be plenty of seeds. Ae Bert also looks right and it is growing in full sun but has only been there for a couple of weeks.
Still no rain but it is steamy and uncomfortable. But that is the weather and I can do nothing to change it.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Hohenbergia correa arrujoi
Pic 2 N Mini Cayene
Pic 3 N mini Domino
Pic 4 N mini Whim
Pic 5 N mini fall in love

Hi Everyone!

Quick post tonight, just got back from a nice walk and swim and now eating some frozen mango from our mango tree - ah it feels like summer. Even the pooches are eating mango, they luv it as well as watermelon.

Thanks Nev and Sue regarding feedback on Ae Mirlo, I looked it up today and got to see a picture of the beautiful red and cream flower it gets which looks really nice.

Thanks Nev for the additional info about Germaine, I have never come across her stuff on EBay, anyway hopefully one day we get to see her stocking and selling beautiful broms again.

Sue Wow you have been really busy, everything look so wonderful and organised, look at all those beautiful broms.you have for sale, sure you will get a great deal of interest from present and new customers. You must have such a beautiful and big property to be able to house so many broms. I cant wait to see how the finished shadehouse turns out full of broms, it would be nice to see the finished outcome, you know how much we all like to drule lol.

Thanks Sue for the offer of a brom swap, I will keep an eye on the pics you post and see if anything takes my fancy.

Bree I agree with you the Gympies a really nice, I just brought a Gympie Lavender Lace also and I think it is really cute and sweet. The Gympie Delight you sent me is doing really well. I am really looking forward to collecting some of the other one's that are out there also.

Bree I checked on the Pup NOID I am going to send you, it is growing really well and is just starting to show signs of flecks of color, I will see how much more it grows in another month and if it looks big enough then I will look at separating it from mum. I have since discovered a couple of more pups on the same NOID that I have in different pots so it will be nice to pop these in different spots around the yard to see how they go as all of these are in full sun at present with not one trace of leaf damage anywhere so this one should do great in your sunny garden.

Wendy I saw Ensign on EBay last night, it still had a few days to go I think if you are still looking for one?

Ian your pic of Neo Mini Fall in Love is really nice, I especially like how the leaves are more pointed in appearance rather than the usual rounded ends, something different which is nice.

Anyway, catch you all later - good night!

Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 and 3 are night shots that Joe took of just some of the recent purchases.

No pic 2 - what the?

Trish :)

Hi all
wow what a big day we've had today. went to buy a 2nd hand mower this morning so we have a spare again. wonder how long before one of the kids needs to borrow it and we'll be back to one again. We also ran about 8 new lengths of barbed wire to hang some of the new tillandsias we've potted up. I found 2 pots of lindenii blue today. I think I got about 10 plants out of them. But I think there's abou 10 times that many of the lindenii pink.

too tired to do much tonight. think I'm gonna have an early night.

talk tomorrow
Wendy

Good morning all. I've just heard the dawn chorus from the kookaburras, noisy blighters! Still, always makes me happy to wake up to the sound of laughter!
Well, it looks like there is only one large load of plants to come, but my fingers, hands, neck, shoulders and back are all protesting quite loudly! So, this morning i will concentrate on getting the weed mat onto the ground so I can unload this last lot into the new shade house, well, some of it. I need to be a bit choosy about what goes in there, as not everything will fit obviously. I bought home about 20 Aechmea fendlerii types, so I hope they get flowers like Ians! I don't have plans for them to go in the shade house, as they will cope quite well in a protected garden spot.
Nev, there are lots of pots with multiple plants, screaming for separating and potting, so it will be an ongoing job, and i plan to go through at least two trays a day, for the next 12 months or more! Just with moving them, I had to take off A. blanchettiana pups to stop the pots toppling over, and make them fit in the ute without damage, so i have about 20 to pot up!
I posted the journals yesterday so look out for them, probably tomorrow as they went express. Its the cheapest way to post anything heavy. I still have a few here to send on, which i will get to in due course. They were interesting to read, as they are from 1970's to 1980's, and there is an article on Neoregelia 'Tricolour' and also a photo of Neo. 'Fosperior Perfection' from mulford fosters son, showing it as a new sport in his collection, and heaps of other interesting stuff. i was too lazy to read through it in depth, but figured you like to do the research, so there might be some good facts in them.
Ian, another nice group of photos. I think N. 'Fall In Love' looks similar to N. 'Break Of Day' at least in colouring. It sounds as though you will be busy with more seed sowing? How well does your A. 'Fosters favourite favourite' do up there? I have a heap in the new plants, but they all look a little shabby, and i thought it might be from winter?
Trish, I just bought some mangoes yesterday, as the ones on our tree are only about an inch round. We only get them every other year, as the rain usually comes when the flowers are out, and they get anthracnose which causes all the flowers to abort, so no fruit. luckily we had a dry spell when the flowers were on, and hopefully we will get enough Mangoes to fill the bath tub this year!
Your night time photos look great, and I can see that its time you continued that garden extension along the fence line.
Wendy, have you seen the Tillandsia lindenii, pink, flower yet? You gave me one last time I was up, and its growing well, and I am curious to see what it flowers like. I got a few Tillandsia 'Creations' from the new collection, and they are huge, so hopefully not far off flowering. I think I will keep them all and use them in the garden for impact.
Well, time for me to get up, although still a bit dark to do anything. I could walk the dogs though, and deliver more pamphlets.
Till tomorrow
Sue
photo one is under the Mango tree
photo two is under the silky oak
Photo three is in the shade of the heliconias and the golden penda
Photo four and five is where the plants came from

Hi everyone, we've had quite a change in the weather down here. It's cold with a strong southerly wind blowing and nothing like the weather's supposed to be this time of the year.

Ian – Do you have a pic of Ae. Aztec? I don't know of this one and although it's on the BCR, there isn't a picture with the text. If you have any of the seed you mention which is surplus to your requirements and looking for a home, I'm sure I could accommodate it as I have a group of young growers down here who are always looking for seed.

I like your little mini Neo. Domino, it's a great little plant and won the best mini Neo in our show the year before last.

Trish – I like the night pic's that Joe took, they look altogether different at night. Unfortunately it looks like Dave's Garden is up to their old tricks once again and chopping out pic's.

Wendy – Not much of a way to spend a morning. It's a pity you don't live down this way, I have three mowers under the house that I don't use any more and unfortunately my kids have their own and don't borrow them.

Sue – It looks like you have a lot of potting to do. Personally I find it very relaxing and always enjoy a day at the potting bench, so it's a pity we didn't live closer or I could give you a helping hand.

I had an email from Ross Little yesterday to say that Ae Mac Foster is now officially registered and on the BCR so to anyone who has this plant which was grown under many different names in the past, a quick visit to the BCR at: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=AECHMEA&id=11043#11043 will tell you all about it.

I'm looking forward to the journals arriving, it will be like an early Christmas present.

Sue when you get a spare pup you want to sell of Till. 'Creations', please let me know details as I'm after one.

Looking at your pic's, you certainly have a lot of potting ahead of you. Was the grower you got the plants from just a private grower or was it a brom nursery? Just asking as it looks to have been a reasonably large shade house in your pic. I'm surprised you didn't buy that and all the benches as well.

Time to go now, so just some pic's I took yesterday, firstly Pic's 1 and 2 which is (supposed to be) a Neo. I got in a batch of swaps. It's called Neo. 'Kel', and I can't find it on the BCR so if anyone knows anything about it please let me know as I think it could be a bi-generic and not a Neo at all judging by the way the inflorescence is growing. Pic 3 is a Nidularium NOID as is Pic 4 and again if anyone has a name, please let me know. Pic 5 is a Vriesea NOID I have and is flowering for the first time and I will take more pic's as it progresses.

All the best, Nev.