Bromeliads for Novices and Addicts - May 2013

Hi Everyone, lovely day here, very warm this week for some reason up here but still supposed to be going to get a cool change, actually this morning was a bit cooler than previous mornings, but glorious days.

Sorry just a short one this morning on the whole stabbing subject, kids are keeping me busy so can't hang for long.

Ok back to the stabbing subject. Are you picturing some crazed person from a horror movie, ha ha.
I too heard from someone to stab all the way through, but later found out that person had never stabbed a brom so far, so all advice from that person kind of carried a bit less weight with me. I recently had a good chat to someone in the US that doe this all the time to produce his stunning hybrid that are then imported over here. He has never in all his years lost a brom to the stabbing process, meaning none have ever rotted out and died afterwards.
Basically he confirmed that they way I do mine, is how he does his. Destroy the meristem to stop it growing, by use of whatever you have, ie screwdriver and then leave it be. Best done when the plant is growing well, ie not coming into winter when they are going to sulk and slow down. If you are worried about rot as the centre has been damaged and rot could potentially occur, leave it on it's side for a few days to heel and preventing the cup from holding water. I often cinnamon mine as well as a preventative although he said there was no need for this. Just something I do. Then stand them up and treat them as normal. I often give them a good feed of fertilizer too.
You can't do it to a plant that has flowered. When a brom flowers, the centre can no longer grow, so all energy then goes to pup production, which is the same idea as stabbing them, to stop the centre growing and force it to redirect it's energy to pup production.

If you have one that has flowered and not doing much.....if it were me.... I would give more fert :)

Gotta go, Cheers Tash

hello all, I couldn't get onto DG at all last night. The site must have been having difficulties, as I couldn't get it using two different computers connected on different networks. I couldn't even load the log in page. I haven't checked if it has come good on the PC yet, maybe tomorrow.
Trish, gld you are back. When I finish posting, I will Dmail you my Email address. I have a feeling that I deleted those orchid leaf pictures, but I will still check in case. I've cut them off the plants and destroyed them, and am watching very carefully for any signs of more marking.
We use Cypres chip mulch in our garden, but also used teatree fines in the pathway, and now use pine bark in the pathway, and haven't had Termites in any, despite the fact that we do get termites eating any timber sleepers, ornamental wheelbarrows and in the past, hardwood chip. So i would recommend all three. Termites love fresh hardwood, as it is still soft and moist.
Ian, get that Neo. tarapotoensis into some bright light, even full sun. It goes a gorgeous orange/pink/yellow with spots ad gets a great tubby shape. I am growing it here, but it hates the cold and is sulking a bit now.
Shirley, i took the ginger to the post office yesterday, and they couldn't gurantee me that you'd get it by friday, even if I sent it express, so it has come home with me until monday. i have parcels to go for Ebay then, so will add yours to the lot. I am dreading doing the parcels, as i haven't had much luck at calculating the right postage, and i think this will be the last Ebay listing for me.
We had rain yesterday, and although it was forecast for today, most of the day was beautiful and sunny, and unfortunately I had to work. Mind you, as it was outdoor work, I am glad it didn't rain.It is raining now, and we'll be getting gusty winds as well by the look, so maybe an inside day for me tomorrow?
sorry all, I am feeling a bit ordinary so will sign off and get my Dmail off to Trish. Hopefully I will feel a bit more normal tomorrow and I can add a bit more ad some photos. Yes I took some.
Sue

Hi all,
It rained yesterday so I didn't do much. Today I started to catalog my plants, well the Neos anyway. When I got to 71 the light ran out so tomorrow is another day and I will try again. Then there are the others to do as well. Much fun? I am counting my pups as I go and marking each as a pup. This I learned from Nev.
Trish I am using Maleuka leaves and have had no trouble with it except that it breaks down reasonably quickly. I would like to get Cyprus sawdust as I have never seen whiteants in it . For that matter I have never seen whiteants in any sawdust. Maybe I ought to open my eyes. Cypress would have to be imported from Injune, the cost would be prohibitive.
Shirley I have been told that to get the best with varigated pups to put the strongest varigated side of the plant facing the sun, sounds like a variation of lying the pot on its side. I really like Red Africa.
Wendy enjoy your break and have 1 for me too.
Nev my Red bird looks altogether different,close to right colour but wrong size, another case of "don't trust the label"
Tash thanks for describing the stabbing tecnique, Now I understand what Chester Skotak was doing with a albo marginated alacantarea. He only takes a part of the growth centre, what he does after this I have no Idea.
Sue I have put the Tarapotensis in full sun as I thought it could do with some good light.
Have a good one
Pic 1 Bil veridiflora X Ques heieoniana (Pinegrove lass) flower
Pic 2 Bil NOID it is too nice not to have a name.
Pic 3 Neo Moon X Fort Dix
Pic 4 N Nelson
Pic 5 N Quintesence

Hi Everyone!

It rained today which was nice as it freshened up the garden and my broms. I went out there with an umbrella early this morning and nearly was late getting to work because I lost track of time which is so easy to do when you’re in the garden.

During my morning stroll amongst the Vrieseas; I was ecstatic to find 5 x pups on my Vriesea ‘Platynema Var. x Uluru Sunset’ given I have already taken 1 x nice sized pup off her, which would make it a total of 6 pups it has produced in 1 year. Hopefully mother brom can handle the pressure she is currently under and raise them up to be as big and healthy as the last pup I took off, time will tell?

Hi Wendy great to hear from you and that you have gotten away for a bit, hope you have a wonderful time and get to kick back and relax and post us all a thread when you can as we miss hearing from you.

Hi Nev about what I wrote about Termites liking Railway Sleepers, I count our blessings that we have not had any trouble here with Termites, I have always wanted pine bark or similar in our garden beds but we were worried about this bringing Termites in so we have not done so. Sorry to confuse anyone, but what I was trying to say yesterday in my post was that here we are worried about having pine bark or similar in our garden beds when we recently put Railway Sleepers in our garden knowing this can bring Termites but chancing it anyway. Nev thanks for the information about Cyprus mulch, with the 100% alternative against Termites is to instead use River Pebbles or similar types of stones.

Nev luved you’re Pic 4 of Guzmania ‘Sunny Time’ and Pic 5 of Guzmania ‘Hilda’, what great tropical colours to have in the nursery / garden, and something nice to bring inside to display in the home.

Hi Tash it’s been interesting reading the posts the last couple of days about the stabbing subject with broms to bring on the production of pups. It’s amazing some of the stuff we hear about on this great forum and this in another one that has totally blown me away, stabbing a brom, who would have thought. For now I will just resort to fertilising more when I think it’s needed which I had done with the Vriesea I mentioned above as it had flowered, the flower had died down and it had only produced the one pup, I then fertilised it plus dropped one little osmicote fertiliser granule in each lower leaf axels like I have read on this forum from Nev (thanks Nev) and now have 5 x more additional pups appearing on the mother which I am thrilled about.

Hi Sue sorry to hear you have still been experiencing issues with D.G, I know how it feels, how annoying.

Great Sue, flick us through an email with you details when you can as possibly the issue you are experiencing with your Orchids could be transferred from one plant to another either from water splashing from one plant to another or the wind carrying the disease across. It would be great if you can find that pic to send me so I can show my friend who is a wiz with orchids as well as she has many friends who have been collecting them for years.

Sue thanks for letting me know what mulch you use in the garden, now to decide what we will do in ours?

Anyway time to head, had a big day at work today and my eyes are getting droopy.

Trish

Pic 1 to 5 – Random Garden Shots mainly of Pups

Hi Ian

We appear to have posted at the same time, thanks for letting me know what you use as mulch, it's been great to read what some of our friends on this forum use out of interest, for now I am going to keep using the recyled leaf matter we have been collecting, it has caused my broms no issues yet and I have been using this throughout summer and now and have been happy with it.

Trish

Hello everyone,

We finally took the topper off the brom house today. We should have done it weeks ago but with the rain and this and that we didn’t get to it. I expect the broms will colour up really nicely now that they are getting much better light.

Trish, your parcel arrived today, thanks so much, they are lovely pups, I am so looking forward to seeing them mature into beautiful plants like yours. Love the dwarf red ginger too, thanks again.

I bought a couple of neos on eBay that arrived today as well, so I’m a happy little vegemite.

Nice pics, Trish.

Wendy, hope you enjoy your break, stay warm ... hope you don’t encounter too much rain while you are away.

Nev, thanks for the link to ‘screwing alcantareas’ and to neos Perfection and Fosperior. I like the colour in your neo Yellow Devil, I hope mine colours up as well … is it a big plant.

Tash, thanks for the additional info on ‘stabbing’, I didn’t realise it had to be done prior to flowering.

Sue, no problem with the ginger … next week is fine, thanks. Hope you don’t get too much rain. Sounds like we’re in for quite a bit over the next week or so as well. Hope you are feeling better tomorrow, looking forward to seeing your new photos.

Ian, nice pics, I think your pic 3 is neo Moon over Fort Dix, nice brom.

Trish, those are lovely, healthy looking pups in your pics. What is the toothy one in the centre of pic 4, please.

Sorry, no pics tonight, hope to take some tomorrow.

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi everyone. I said I'd have more time for posting while on hols. We actually sat outside tonight and did some fishing leading up to high tide. Score was 4 bream to me and 0 keepers for Johnny. I would have had 5 but when he was taking the last one off he dropped it and it bounced on the rocks and back into the water. anyway that said time for warming up inside the van.

We use only 10ml multi-coloured gravel under our broms. we do have termites in our area but we have the boundary sprayed so they stay next door. most of our pots are on mesh shelves anyhow and where we do have pots on stones the stones are regularly soaked in termite spray. it doesn't hurt the stones and they bounce back to their multicolours while the mix goes down to deter the termites coming into our yard.

We're moving on tomorrow to Coffs Harbour area as the park here has been overrun by noisy kids with a large family reunion on here. they all arrived today and there were kids running everywhere and the parents were using paddle boards they were standing on and paddling right through our fishing lines. how the hell can you catch fish with kids screaming and their parents paddling through the fishing area not to mention boats flying past back and forth. so time to move on I think. will give us a chance to take down and fold up our new annex and reset it up again to see if we can do it properly next time. we did it 3 times before we got it right here. that's what happens when you let a man have the lesson on putting it up at delivery. after we worked out that we had it wrong and how it should have been he says "oh yes I remember him saying that when he showed me" duh....... anyhow it's been great having that extra room this time.

Off to bed now so I'll say goodnight. I've loved the pics and am working through the posts as well.

Wendy

Oh and we woke up this morning to a lovely sunny warm day. doing lots of walking to the shops and back so should tone up a bit.

Oh and I'll share this little tidbit. ...... does anyone else always find they've left something home when they go away? last time we left the TV antennae cable and remote control. This time we left the step ladder beside the fridge downstairs. We were told to get one for setting up the new annex. we bought one specially for the van and left it behind. tried using the step to reach up but didn't work so had to borrow one from the park managers. ended up borrowing it 3 times before we got the annex right today. now we'll pull it down tomorrow and move on. Next big hardware we pass we are buying a step ladder for next stop.
Night
Wendy

good morning, I lost the DG connection again after posting so will try to Dmail you again this morning trish.
Wendy, hope you bought your tie downs with you. Its blowing a gale and raining cats and dogs. I couldn't stay in bed anymore because its so windy I am worried a tree might fall on the house. I imagine there is a great big mess out there which will become clear when the sun comes up. I spoke to hubby, who has been on the road since 4am, and he said there is sheet metal flying around down the highway and all sorts of rubbish through the road works. It wont surprise me if we lose power, as imagine branches will be falling around the power wires, willy nilly.
Sorry I finished off so quick last night. I have been chopping a bit of firewood because hubby gets home after dark, and I must have overworked my neck muscles and its hard to hold my head up. Anyway, I'll just try to keep it short, as I still am quite sore.
Photo one is a piece of alsonite I put up to try and keep the cold rain off xNeophytum 'Galactic Warrior' Now I am worried it might have been flung onto the broms and cut some, or the whole lot has taken off in the wind.
Photo two is A. 'Black Beauty' which hasn't had as much sun as in the past, when it turns the dark colour almost all over.
Photo three is xCanmea 'Galaxy' in flower
Photo four is a seedling Vriesea (probably V. 'Mariae') that has survived for about 3 years, since I wiped a pod of seed on the tree fern. The tree fern truck is like lots of little roots, and they actully grew over some of the seedlings. this is the last one
Photo five is some Tillandsia butzii seedlings, sown in Nov 09. They are quite slow to grow!
Sue

good news, I can access DG on the PC! I'm back because I forgot to tell Shirley that the parcel arrived on Wednesday, thank you so much. I am thrilled to bits with both plants. I also had two Ebay plants arrive, so I will pot them all today. It makes a yukky day so much better.
Sue

Hello everyone. It sstill a bit dark here this morning as its very cloudy. Some rain is forecast so I hope it gets here.
Yesterday was a typical partly sunny and mild autumn day. Great for shopping.
I neevr see any broms in the nursery part of the hardware shop that are worth buying. Usually just 2 or 3 guzmanias and maybe the odd fasciata.
I am waiting on my eBay buys to arrive next week.
I bought 3 nice looking bills..2 Special Grace seedlings and a lovely one named Peridot
Also have a neo. Beauty to Behold , coming.

I will be potting up today. Those that came last week will be done and I will be playing musical chairs with them all so I can fit them on the benches for winter.


I was very interested in reading all about the stabbing of broms. I have some here that have never flowered or pupped, so I may try it on them later.

Wendy, nice to hear that you are having a nice time despite the noisy kids etc.
Some people have no idea of manners when they are away. If we go out for a drive anywhere we try to avoid places where the tourist are likely to be or we go outside the tourist season .
I imagine up your way, it may be tourist season for most of the year.

Sue, I wish I could lift your beautiful aech. Black Beauty right out of the pic ,
I do love those dark spotty broms..
I hope you find very little damage when you go outside today. .

Trish, I love the pics of your very pretty broms.
I do like the red coloring under the leaves and the variegated ones in pic 5 are especially nice.

Nev, I do like your Yellow Devil. I just hope mine gets more of the red striping as it ages . I want to see it color up , but as the description says, I may not see a lot more of the striping as some dont get a lot.
I will be looking for more with that nice stiff shape and wide leaves.
Makes a nice contrast with the softer green ones.

I missed on Sun King on eBay but will be looking out for others like it ...

Can anyone tell me what the Elmore list is . I was looking for other broms of similar breeding to Yellow Devil but no pics just the note Elmore list .
I tried putting in a pollen or seed parent but that search field never works for me.

Better move as I want to get started on my potting and need to do a few domestic type things before I get to it. . Will post pics after I have the broms potted.

Jean.

Hi everyone – Another cold morning here this morning. The rain's stopped but the forecast is for more this afternoon so I'd better sort out a few bits and pieces I can do under cover today, such as potting up some more seedlings to make way for the smaller ones I have to thin out and transplant into new containers.

Tash – It's great to see you posting once again and providing us all with useful information. That's all interesting stuff you've written about the “stabbing process” and it's great that you're sharing the information you've been given by others with more experience in this area.

I must admit I only did it a couple of times on a couple of surplus Billbergias and I did it with a long screwdriver which I pushed down until I reached the meristem and then just twisted it from side to side with the idea being that the meristem would be destroyed. I had previously been shown this by someone who does it regularly so I thought I'd give it a go and see what happened. Well I just got two pups from one plant and lost the other plant to rot and decided that it would be best if I left it to the experts from then on.

Thinking back now, it may be that I did mine at the wrong time of the year when the weather wasn't very warm and that could be the reason I lost one plant to rot; anyway, not to worry as my problem isn't that I'm not getting enough pups, it's that I'm getting too many and not having anywhere to put them.

Sue – On the subject of Termites, when I bred foreign finches we used Termites for live food during the breeding season. We would go out into the bush, find a Termite mound and dig it out (with the Termites inside) and just put the chunks into Hessian bags and tie the top. We would store them in plastic garbage cans with a lid and sit the whole lot in a tray of water to prevent any escapes.

I was never concerned about them getting into our house as I learned firstly, that once they are exposed to light and open air they are very vulnerable to dehydration; secondly, the black ants love to eat them and thirdly, what the black ants don't eat, the Skinks will get as they become quite ravenous at the sight of them and more or less get into a feeding frenzy. I guess the moral of the story is, to keep a healthy yard where toxic sprays aren't used. Encourage lizards and other predators and just let nature take its course and whatever you do, never kill or bait black ants as although they can be a nuisance, they are insurance against Termites.

I really can't add anything more to the topic of Neo. Tarapotoensis as I was once told it doesn't like cold winters so I never even tried to grow it down here.

Ian – NEWS FLASH!!!!!!!!
Regarding Neo. 'Red Bird', I'm now saying mine looks like the “real deal”. After searching the BCR and finding the only 'Red Bird' registered is a Cryptanthus, I then decided to have a closer look on the FCBS Photo Index and there they have no less than three entirely different plants named as Neo.'Red Bird'. One is the plant I found the other morning when I quickly just glanced through the names and was the first one I came across, and after checking more closely this morning I find there are two more with the same name. One is a c.v. of Neo Carolinae and is scarlet in colour and looks nothing like my plant and the other is a Caronne hybrid from a crossing between Neo.'Black Knight' and Neo. Ampullacea 'Midget' and the photo's look identical to my plant, so there's one mystery solved.

Ian, I too agree with Shirley and think your plant in Pic.3 is Neo 'Moon Over Fort Dix' which is a cross between Neo. (Skotak's Tiger x sp. Friburgo leg. Gurken) x Neo. Hannibal Lector. See: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=5894#5894

Trish – It seems you have the “magic touch” for your Vriesea ‘Platynema Var. x Uluru Sunset’ to give you such a nice crop of pups. I think with that many feeding from the mother she should be rewarded with a little extra fertiliser to help her feed her babies.

I must admit I'm not really that much into Guzmanias but I do very much like the colours in 'Sunny Time' and 'Hilda'. Those two pic's I posted yesterday were old file pic's but this year the 'Hilda' (which is now due to be divided) produced three magnificent flower spikes and was such a picture that we had it in the house in front of the old fire place for three months before I returned it to the shade house where it's now waiting for the warmer weather before I may (or may not) divide it.

They're great random shots of your garden and having said that, regarding the Termites and what is the safest sort of mulch to use, I think you've answered your own question as all you need to do is look to see what you currently have mulched your garden with as well as the top of your pots

Shirley – I know it's a bit of a chore having to put up a “topper” in the summer and take it off again during the winter, but I'm sure your plants will appreciate the extra winter sunlight and reward you with some beautiful colours which hopefully you will photograph so we too can enjoy them.

Come on Shirley, you can't get away with just saying you bought a couple of new plants from eBay without showing us the pic's, what's going on?

Wendy – Are you sure the score was four to you nil to Johnny and not the other way around? I know quite a lot of fisho's and they all have one thing in common, and that is they are all sometimes a bit careless with the truth.

Oh the advantage of having a caravan, when it gets too noisy you can just up stakes and move somewhere else. I don't know if you get it up your way or not, but we have an add on TV where a few blokes have just set up their fishing camp in a nice secluded spot when they see another car load coming in. So they just turn up their radio on full bore so they look like a noisy mob of “rockers” and the other carload just keeps on going. They then turn off the radio and sit back an relax again. I can just see you and Johnny doing something like that.

I can relate to what you say about leaving something at home when you go camping. When I was an apprentice, four of us would go camping each month. We camped on a property at a place called Ryana (I think that's how it's spelled) just west of Goulburn where there were plenty of rabbits to shoot. We would leave after work on the Friday and get there in the dark to set up our camp. We would all take part of the camping equipment so it wasn't just left to one bloke to do all the work. On this particular occasion (the middle of winter) when we got there I got out the tent poles and pegs, my mate got out the sleeping bags and groundsheet and the other bloke went to get out the tent and found he had left it at home. Not to worry, we made up a bit of a “lean to” out of the canvas ground sheet so all seemed well. It snowed that night and I've never been camping since!

Sue – It seems like you're copping a bit of wild weather up there and judging by the weather report on the TV last night there's more on the way, so best batten down the hatches.

I'd better see if I have a spare 'Galactic Warrior' just in case your Alsynite comes adrift and chops your plant to pieces; You have given me an idea though Sue; you see a few months back I got hold of 6 pieces of Lazar Light about three feet long which were off cuts from a “stuffed up job a builder did when he over ordered”. After seeing what you've done with that single sheet, I think I'll put these across the roof of my top shade house directly over the bench as there will be enough to go the full length. This might just protect the cold sensitive Billbergias sufficiently to prevent any marking from the cold.

Your xCanmea is certainly “eye catching” wow! What a nice bright colour. How does it handle the cold weather during winter having Ae Chantinii in it's breeding line?. I have a Canistrum with a beautiful bright red flower as well but by the time it's flowering all of the leaves have brown marks on them from the cold and they really spoil the effect which makes me wonder if it's worth growing it down here.

Jean – You certainly know how to make a bloke envious when you torment me by saying you have a Neo. 'Beauty to Behold' coming your way. It's a beautiful brom and I hope you have a lot of success with it. For those of you who don't know it, go and have a sneak preview at: http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=3087#3087

I can't say I've heard about an “Elmore List”. I know about “Elmore Oil” and use it regularly for my arthritis and know it's made in a Victorian town called Elmore which is down your way and is north-east of Bendigo on the Campaspe River. Maybe this might be a good place to try and find out about an Elmore List.

Time I wasn't here so I'll finish with a few pic's once again; Pic.1 is the same plant of Guz. Hilda' I posted yesterday; except it's now three years older than when the other pic was taken and has seven pups poking their collective heads up through the leaves. The question is whether to divide it or try and keep it as a single plant.

As we've recently been talking about Alcantarea Grass Pups, Pic.2 is a group of these as they arrived by post for the members of an Alcantarea Study Group started by Rob Smythe. This is just to show the size they can be taken off and grown up in Queensland; down here where it's colder only about 50% survived. To give an accurate idea of the size, the white tubes are sections of normal drinking straws, so they're not too big are they?

Pic.3 is of a very nice clone of Ae. 'Bert'. It was grown by a friend in Far North Queensland and I was fortunate enough to obtain a pup through a swap. Unfortunately, although it's nicer than the usual clones around here; I still can't get the beautiful colours that they do up north such as those shown shown in the pic. Pic.4 is Ae.'Mirlo' showing just how dark it will get when grown in low light and Pic.5 is my Ae Pectinata taken the year before last.

All the best, Nev.

Nev, Elmorelist written under seed parent, is what I find on the BCR pages where no other info is shown.
I am assuming it means they have no info and the name is the breeder.
I also look for broms on the FCBS site.
Is there any other site that lists broms with photos and descriptions ?

I loved the pics of neo Beauty to Behold and was lucky to get it at only $8.

I also have an unusual one coming that was sold as neo monstrosum hatschbachii.
When looking it up to see what it would look like as it grows, I couldnt find any info on the 2 sites mentioned above so I just Googled the name.
I found a very interesting lot of pages from the SA Bromeliad Gazette.
There is lots of info on origins of the various names of broms and it seems that the neo monstrosum is actually neo cruenta rubra or red form. or just plain neo monstrosum.
Have you heard of it at all.
I do like the look of the pic of the one I bought.

I find myself learning all the time and becoming more interested in the various types of broms . It would be nice to be able to collect sets of broms from the same lines.
Is this what is meant by grex.... plants of the same line ?

My very curious nature rearing its head again.
My mother used to tell me to leave the innards of things alone but I do like to know about what, when and how...

Jean.

hi everyone! raining here all day. Oh love your Pic.3 Nev of the clone of Ae. 'Bert' and your Ae. Fasciata variegata.
Shirley your neo Kahala Sunset pup and neo Red Africa are nice.
1. my Neo 'Moon Over Fort Dix'

Hi all,

Wendy, good fishing, Johnny will probably claim he can’t catch as many fish as you, because he’s too busy taking your catch off the line !!! LOL.

We ALWAYS leave something we really need at home EVERY time we go away in the caravan, and often more than one item. We generally go away with another couple or a small group so we can usually ‘borrow’ what we need till we get a chance to buy a replacement.

Sue, glad you got your parcel OK. I love that xCanmea Galaxy … if ever you find you have a spare pup to sell or swap, I would be able to cross another brom off my forever growing wish list.

Jean, looking forward to seeing pics of your new broms. It was my plan to take some photos today but Michael had a specialist appointment this morning and then it was here, there and everywhere and we got home about 4.30 pm and it was raining, so no new photos today.

Nev, I know I’ve been really slack with the photos of my new broms but I only just got them potted a few hours ago … pics tomorrow, hopefully.

Wow, Nev, what a beautiful clone of Ae Bert, I have never seen another as nice as that one. Love that Ae Mirlo, do you keep your Ae Purple Heart in low light for the best colour and variegation.

Bree, I like your neo Moon Over Fort Dix … I thought it was a small neo but just checked the BCR and it grows to 40 cms.

Trish, you must be pleased that it’s Friday again … hope you get some time with your broms and good weather.

I will have to post some older pics, maybe I can find some I have never posted.

Pic 1 – bil Hallelujah, pic 2 – bil Deliciosa, pic 3 – canistrum Triangulare, pic 4 – vr Hieroglyphica, pic 5 – quesnelia Edmundoi Rubra

Ava Good Weekend, Shirley

Hi Everyone!

Quick post tonight as we not long got back from our friends place and its 11.26pm and my eyes are falling out of my head. Tried Chocolate Red Wine this evening and it was like having a glass of chocolate desert, I was in chocolate heaven LOL.

I will catch-up with you all over the weekend promise as well as looking forward to spending some quality time with my broms.

Need to get some beauty sleep as we want to get up early and take the girls for a walk on the beach, that's if I can get out of bed as I am really feeling the cold tonight at 13deg', I know I'm a big sooky la la but I can't help it that I feel the cold so easy, must be bad circulation or something? My wedding band on my fingers is usually very hard to get off but it's slipping straight off and I keep getting cramps in both my feet with my toes looking like someone has broken them to point different directions (ouchy mumma), hopefully frost bite does not set in soon LOL.

Time to get the BIG doona out otherwise I don't think I am going to be able to make it through the night SHIVER ME TIMBERS IT'S FRIGGEN COLD!!!

Speak soon and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone – Another lost day yesterday what with medical appointments and shopping but the good thing is it's all done now and I can get back into the garden today, hopefully to just “dead leaf” all of the burgundy leafed Aechmeas and that will be another job I can then cross of a very long list.

Jean – I don't know if anyone on here can shed any light on what “Elmore List” means but if you can give me the name of a plant where this is written on the BCR I'm sure I can find out what it all means (for all of us).

You mention the FCBS site so let me explain a little about what I have been told about it. Going back a few years now when the BCR was only available on line as a printed list of names, the FCBS started up a Photo Index. I say the FCBS but it was mainly a very dedicated member from the FCBS who did all of the work and (I think) Michael Andreas was his name and he compiled this great Photo Index of brom hybrids and species.

I have been told that because the BCR didn't have a photo index at that time, each time a new hybrid was registered the photo's were sent from the BCR to the FCBS for inclusion on the photo index. This is why the registration details are listed on a lot of the FCBS pictures. When the BCR finally started its own Photo Index, it no longer forwarded the pic's to the FCBS and this is why now a lot of the newer hybrids are only shown if the hybridiser sends their pic's to the FCBS.

The BCR is the official international registry of new hybrids, however there are still a lot on the FCBS that aren't shown on the BCR so it pays to check out both sites. Also, the BCR only lists hybrids and not species, to check these you need to check the FCBS.

As for other sites that list brom's and descriptions, yes there are others but the BCR and the FCBC are probably the biggest ones. There is an Australian site I use as well which can be found at:
http://www.bromeliad.org.au/

As for other sites, if you Google “bromeliad photo indices” I'm sure you'll probably find some more.

Regarding Neo. 'Monstrosum Hatschbachii', it is now registered as just Neo.'Monstrosus'. You have solved a problem for me as well Jean, as I got a plant via a swap from a grower in Queensland a couple of years ago; it was named as Neo. 'Monstrous' which I imagined was because of its large size; however it now turns out that my plant is also Neo. 'Monstrosus'.

Breeindy – How big is Neo. 'Moon Over Fort Dix', it looks very similar in colour to one of its parents (Hannibal Lector) but is it the same size?

Shirley – I grow all of my dark leaved Aechmeas on the “shadier” side of the “low light shade house” I use for my Vrieseas and Guzmanias. I call it the low light shade house as it's built off the southern side of the house and was originally built for ferns because it's always shady. The dark-leaved Aechmeas are hanging close to the house wall where they get very low light and also protection by the wall of the house from the cold weather. I find I get better dark colour here than in my Neo. shade house.

Trish – Chocolate Red Wine? Sounds like a good way to bugger up a good red!

Trish, you say it's cold at 13 degrees up there, gee when it's 13 degrees down here I'm just thinking about putting on a shirt over my work singlet, so I don't think you'd survive down here very well at all. Just for the record, a very good remedy for cramps is a capsule called “Crampeze” which is available from all chemists or on line. I was having terrible cramps and waking up many times throughout the night and I tried lots of thing to no avail but after taking these for just two nights the cramps stopped and since taking just one each night, they've never returned. The main ingredient is Magnesium and I can certainly recommend them to anyone with this problem. You can read more about them and what they contain at:
http://www.pharmacyonline.com.au/crampeze-forte-night-cramps-cap-x-30

That's it for another day and the pic's today once again from files, Pic.1 is Bill. 'Domingos Ladd', Pic.2 Nid. 'Campos-Portoi', Pic.3 An attractive Tillandsia flower I took at the show but don't know it's name, Pic 4 is a much under rated Neo. in my opinion Neo. 'Dark Rose Blush', Pic 5 is Guzmania 'Lingulata', this is a species and was interestingly the first brom ever to be brought into Europe in 1776.

All the best, Nev.

Nev, I was looking on BCR for others with the parentage of my neo Yellow Devil.
When looking up the others cultivars listed with Yellow Devil, I found elmorelist written and just above .. refer Yellow Devil. On the right hand side was Elmore J.
I am assuming this is the breeder and somewhere there is an elmore list of his plants.
I would love to get a few of the other cultivars as I like Yellow Devil.
I cant find pics of any of them.
Jean.

Hi all,another fine day, cool and wind was rising during the day. I did some sorting of plants and did the rest of my stocktake on the Neos. I have checked in my book that I will be taking to Cairns next week-end. That book has a current list of all my Neos.311 to date but there are a lot of NOIDs left out of it. I need to start a book of NOIDs starting with 001, maybe tomorrow. I will try to take a few pics then too. I also tried to tidy my shelving in the new bush house.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1Neo Tuff stuff
Pic 2 Neo HC7 someone elses numbering system
Pic 3 N Bossa Nova
Pic 4 Bil veridiflora X Ques heioniana (pinegrove lass)
Pic 5 Bil NOID

Hi Everyone!

We managed to get out of our warm bed early this morning and go for a walk on the beach. Heaps of people were already there fishing for winter whiting and they were catching them, we normally luv fishing for them as they are fun to catch, the biggest one I have caught was 36cm, it was a kidney slapper of a whiting and one that we brought home with its friends to cook up. There is nothing nicer than fresh whiting cooked same day. I luv to eat them for brunch with a wee garden salad – yum.

The rest of the day was spent doing house chores, potting up pink gingers and agave’s, collecting seeds from some of my Neo’s that have self-germinated, gave me Vriesea seedlings some fresh air and light by taking lids off containers and brought some Neo’s in from outside as pups need to be taken off. We also hung some Vanda Orchids from our Mango Tree and Joe set-up irrigation so they can be spritzed every day. We had to hang them there because the root system is far too long to have them in the nursery. I will have to remember tomorrow to take pics of the flowering one’s in the nursery as they are gorgeous. My friend also came over for a visit and we sent her home with orchids and gingers and she was going straight home to put the gingers in her garden. She is not into bromeliads, that is the only thing that is wrong with her but I still luv her he he.

Hi Shirley thrilled to bits the parcel I sent you arrived safe and sound and that the broms and gingers handled the trip well. I will send you some more red dwarf ginger down the track when some of the seedlings have grown a bit bigger as they were not as big as I would have liked but know they should still do fine as they are pretty hardy if you keep them watered and weekly / weekly fertilise them or use a little slow release fertiliser.

Shirley the toothy brom you asked about was a special gift from a friend that does not have a name tag yet, it is only just a pup so I am waiting with baited breath so see what it grows up to be like as I adore it.

Shirley I luved Pic 2 you posted on 24/5 of Bil’ ‘Deliciosa’, I will have to look out on EBay for one of those because it’s gorgeous. Also luv your Pic 4 Vr’ ‘Hieroglyphica’, they are still one of my favourites in my Vriesea collection.

Hi Wendy sounds like you did great catching all those breams. We luv going fishing on the beach and coming home with some bread and butter fish to have for brunch, my favourite of them all is Whiting because it’s so sweet and tender - yum. Hope the next camp spot you move to has no pesky kids or kayakers cutting in front of your fishing lines when you fish, on top of all the boats flying past, how annoying.

Wendy thanks for sharing what medium you use under your broms, it has been interesting to read what some of the people on this forum use, something for me to think about down the track. I found it very interesting that you soak the gravel with termite spray, what a great idea.

Hi Sue what a bugger D.G. is giving you grief again. I did get your D-Mail thanks and replied; hope you got it as well as I sent an email to your personal email? Sue sounds like you’re getting horrible weather; I hope when the sun came out there was no damage found around your property and that you are safe and well. I yes I remember my wood cutting days when we lived in VIC, I was a lean, mean fighting machine back then as Joe used to cut the dead tree’s into rings and I used to jump on with me splitting axe and cut it up, then cut it with the normal axe into more manageable pieces, load it in the trailer, unload it when we got home, stack it and then cut up some kindling. Ah those were the days. If I tried this now I would probably not be able to move for a month or more LOL.

Sue the Pic 2 you posted on the 23/4 of your Ae. ‘Black Beauty’ is gorgeous, and I adore your strong looking little Vriesea seedling in Pic 5 that has defied all odds and survived to be the last seed that took on your tree fern, how amazingly wonderful. Will you keep it there or look at moving it down the track? It does look like it is happy there. Sue I hope none of your broms coped any damage in your nursery after all the effort you went to protect your babies.

Hi Jean thank you for you kind comments about my broms. I can’t wait to see pics of your recent brom purchases after they arrive in the mail as well as the ones you are currently potting up. You must be so excited plus the fact you selected such special ones. Jean the variegated brom you said you liked in my Pic 5 I posted on 23/5 is Neo’ ‘Imperfecta’, it is in full flower now as I moved it into more light, so I will have to post a pic of it for you to see.

Hi Nev I hope you’re keeping warm and getting things done under cover like you wanted to do.

Nev thanks I am really pleased about the additional pups I discovered on my Vriesea and have been feeding the mother well because she well and truly deserves it. I still reckon it was from placing a prill in each leaf axel that did it though like I read from you way back when I first joined D.G so Nev thanks ever so much. I hope the pups all survive to grow up big and strong and if they do make room for one as I would be more than happy to post you one.

Nev I too am not too much into Guzmanias because I like colour in my garden all year around but some of the Guzmania pics you post make me go Wow how pretty is that one and they do look great inside to display such beautiful flowers.

Nev, yeah I reckon your right gravels the go for under my brom pots plus the fact I use it inside top of my brom pots. They luv it and it does them no harm come summer because I have them covered anyway. It will also keep my broms squeaky clean when we have heavy rain so nothing splashes up and onto or inside them.

Nev luved your Pic 4 you posted on 23/5 of Ae’ ‘Mirlo’ grown in low light – I like, when I split pups off my plants I will definetly try putting some of them in different spots as yours looks like a totally different plant altogether. The Pic 3 clone of Ae. ‘Bert’ is a stunner!!!

Nev thanks for the advice on “Crampeze’, I will have to get some because my muscles are sore from the cramps I got last night.

Hi Bree hope the rain has backed off for you so you get time in the garden. How are all your orchids doing, have you got a few flowering at the moment as would luv if you snuck in a few pics now and then. I will post some Vanda pics tomorrow.

Hi Ian 311 Neo’s and counting (not including your NOIDS), that’s fantastic. Have a great time in Cairns, careful on the road as there is a lot of road works going on at the moment and drivers are losing patience and overtaking recklessly. Ian not too sure what your Pic 5 Bil’ NOID is but I adore it and it’s beautiful flower.

Anyway time to head as Joe has been patiently waiting for the laptop – oops!

Trish

Pic 1 to 5 – Random Garden Shots but too much sunlight

Hi all,

Trish, I like the sound of your Chocolate Red Wine … yummm!!! I’m wondering if you managed to get up early this morning as planned or decided on a sleep in instead.

Nev, thanks for the info on where you grow your dark leaved aechmeas.

And Nev, you’ll be pleased to know that I took some photos today, lots of them, and if I ever find the bloody camera, I’ll be happy to share them with all of you.

I seem to spend so much of my time looking for things that I had five minutes ago … where did I put the scissors, where’s the plant labels, what have I done with the secateurs, where’s the camera … some things I never see again.

Anyway, hopefully it will turn up safe and sound tomorrow … I always put it somewhere ‘safe’ just can’t remember where.

Jean, I found this little bit of interesting info on James Elmore …


“ JAMES V. ELMORE - 1943-1989

The Bromeliad Cultivar Register has many Elmore hybrids, in fact some 709, but we have had very few photographs to show what these cultivars look like. Thanks to his niece, Lori Fullerton Melton we were able to remedy some of the omissions beside the name Elmore but there is a long way to go.

In 1989 Carol Johnson of Pineapple Place wrote an article on the exploits of James V. Elmore and because few would have access to this archival material this is reproduced here.
"A newspaper obituary leaves so much unsaid. It is all there, yet it is as though no real person is involved. James Elmore contributed so much to the Florida bromeliad scene, and then far beyond. Bromeliad growers all over the world cherish Elmore neoregelia hybrids and covet those they do not have. There are many bromeliad lovers who were converted to the hobby thru GRANDE MAGAZINE, a creation 90% James Elmore.

I first met Jim in 1977 when he attended a Florida Council meeting with Bob Puterbaugh, and at that meeting he advanced the idea of publishing a magazine strictly for bromeliophiles featuring photos of private collections; the plants, personalities, habitats and special projects, nearly all to be in colour. His enthusiasm was contagious and the fledgling Council was very soon in the publishing business. I recall a photo session for volume one, issue one (pages 18/20 held at Bob Puterbaugh's house in Brandon, when Jim was photographing for "A Tale of the Fabled Takemuras". Props for the session were a green plastic tarp, a supply of dry ice, several stepladders, lights and of course Jim with his camera. The plants were staged over the dry ice, we "helpers" climbed 3 of the ladders and Jim the fourth with his camera. We each held up a corner of the tarp with one hand and fanned the mist rising from the dry ice so that it swirled. The finished product, after hundreds of exposures, made the plants appear to be rising from the mist.

He was interested only in Neoregelia and it was a real struggle to get him to publish photos of any other bromeliads. A photographic assignment in South America was responsible for rousing his interest in bromeliads. Like so many other collectors, before long he was in business. He grew and hybridized neoregelias at Rainbow's End Plantation in Bradenton.

The Elmore flair for dramatic presentation was evident in everything he did. At shows where there were commercial booths, all the growers brought hundreds of bromeliad plants and toiled throughout the show to sell them. Jim brought representative samples of his neos and took orders for future delivery, and his booth was always a real fun and show place. His "Silver Suitcase" show at Selby in 1983 was a real classy production.

As with so many imaginative and artistic people, Jim was a real procrastinator and it was this trait that eventually put an end to the publication of GRANDE MAGAZINE . That, and he had to take time out to work for a living. The four issues that exist are collector's items and a fitting monument to his artistry. "


Jean, there are more than 30 of Elmore’s hybrids on the BCR but apparently few of them have photographs.

Ian, hope you manage to complete your NOID neo list before taking off for Cairns, are you going to be working, going on holiday or going on a brom hunt? I like your neos Tuff Stuff and HC7.

Trish, you did well getting up early this morning and heading off to walk on the beach. I don’t have any pups yet but if you don’t mind waiting a while, I will send you a pup from bil Deliciosa when it happens ... you’re on the list.

Lovely pics Trish, what is the name of the variegated neo in Pic 3 second from right, the same one is also in pic 4 second from left, please.

No photos tonight … I am too annoyed with myself to post old file pics.

Till tomorrow, Shirley

Shirley, thank you for the interesting info on James Elmore.

I finally worked out how to get into the list and boy , he did have a few plants.
Very imaginative names for them too.
I see that Caribbean Sunset is one of his too. This was what my neo Yellow Devil was originally sold as. Very similar without the red stripes.

You would think that by now there would be pics taken of his broms and their offspring that must be out there in collections.
Sounds like he must have been selling quite a lot .
It seems odd that noone has added photos .

I would love to get more of his broms but they are probably mostly in the US.

Trish, lovely pics. What is the dark brom at the back in pic 2 and the lovely variegate on the right in pic 4 ?

I have convinced hubby that I need more shade space for broms so he will cut the top off an old melaleuca to allow shadecloth to go up across a nice area that is about 18'x 12'.
Because the two sides of the existing shadehouses that form part of the square will then be under cover, I can hang pots along them .

I will definitely post pics soon of the new broms as they arrive.

Jean.

Hi everyone – Well here we are again and the weekend's half over already; where has it gone?
I got all of my dark leaved Aechmeas cleaned up yesterday so that's one job I can cross off the list and today I'll start back on the garden if the weather is fine, so fingers crossed.

Jean – The info shown on the BCR that you speak of means that Elmore, J was the hybridiser, I suspect #1004 is the registration number and 1976 is the year it was either hybridised or registered I'm not sure which. When there's a name given and there is and asterisk (*) beside the name, that means that the name is the person registering the plant and not the hybridiser.

If you go to the search engine, type in Elmore, select “breeder” and then search, it will bring up all of his hybrids that have been registered and they have pic's of, (500 in all). I think this is the “Elmore List” which you enquired about.

Ian – You seem to be making much more headway cataloguing your brom's than I am at present. That's a good idea having a separate list of the NOIDS, why didn't I think of that?

Your Neo.'Tough Stuff' certainly looks just that with its wide thick looking leaves and plenty of spikes, who'd pick a fight with that?

That's a nice looking plant in Pic.2 also and just going on past experience, I would say that “H.C” are the initials of the previous owner and it was NOID number 7. I've seen that system used by quite a few growers in the past, so all you have to work out now, is who is H.C. (Maybe Hector Crawford)?

Your next plant, Neo 'Bossa Nova' is a plant which is often confused with Neo Sheba (Sheeba) and rather than trying to tell the story here, to read all about it and draw your own conclusions go to:
http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=3306#3306

The FCBS tells us that Neo 'Sheba' is a hybrid of the species Neo. Mac williamsii and made by Chester Skotak. Neo.'Bossa Nova' is listed as a species with Neo Compacta given as the seed parent and the hybridiser shown as (Bello, R.+*?) and because it's a species it's not shown on the BCR.

Your xBillnelia is certainly something a bit different; is it easy to grow or is it cold tender like some of the Quesnelias sometimes are?

The Billbergia in Pic.5 certainly “gets the cigar” today, as it has everything going for it; nice flower, nice shape and great markings and even though it is a NOID anyone would be proud to own it. Please put me on your spare pup list, it's a beauty!

Trish – Gee Trish, can't you send an Esky full of Whiting down this way? I love 'em, and that 36cm one I think may have been a King George Whiting who migrated north because it was too cold in S.A.

More great group shots once again; my favourite is the pinkish coloured variegated Neo. in Pic.3 second from right on the bottom row. Does it have a name and can you put my name on your spare pup list please.

Shirley – That's a good bit of research you've done on James Elmore. What I find interesting is that it says the cultivar registry has 709 hybrids listed. I assume by this they mean that the listings are on the printed register and not the photo register as I have only been able to find 500 there as I said earlier in my response to Jean.

It seems like we both have the same tastes ( Trish's Neo. in Pic.3 second from right) it's very nice isn't it?

Anyway I hope you find your camera so we can see some more of your beautiful pic's instead of looking at the old file pic's that I'm still posting, which unfortunately I have to finish up with once again.

Pic.1 is is an old pic of my first front garden “reno”. I had become tired of looking at the old dead bases of my neighbours hedge so I decided to erect a screen to hide it and this was the framework. Pic.2 shows the screening fixed to the frame and the garden with the initial planting, in this case I planted the large gingers at the rear and some Neo seedling “culls” in the front. As they grew I was quite pleased with the effect Pic.3 until I found all of the Ginger plants were infested with a type of borer so they all had to come out. These were replaced with large plants of Portea Petropolitanea Extensa which I relocated from a back garden Pic.4. Eventually everything really got going with the border plants really going well until it just grew too much and became overcrowded (Pic.5) which is where it is now and has to all be thinned out and done again.

All the best, Nev.

Wow, so much to catch up on and my fingers I just realised are so sore for typing. We have been re-mulching gardens since Friday mid afternoon, my arms are carved up from broms, did the long socks on my arms yesterday which helped, and my fingers are just so sore from digging in mulch etc (couldn't find gloves and just needed to keep working).
The Front garden is looking a bit bare as I haven't finished putting a few more broms in there (as we took a few older daggy ones out) but the one near the brom house, we think is now looking great. I have wanted to do a bit of a feature Tiger garden... yes Nev... still into my toothy ones, lol....but haven't been able too. I would like it to be a garden on it's own, but that's impossible here, we are limited with it not being our house. So I used part of this garden to put some of my tiger types in. I still have heaps more, but didn't want to put them all in the one place... not putting all my eggs in the one basket you might say. So some are in the brom houses still. I will add some photos at the end.
Everyone has such beautiful photos!!
Shirley one I picked up on.... your Quesnelia Edmundoi Rubra, that might be Quesnelia edmundoi Var. rubrobracteata. Someone may have shortened the name on you. Ours got burnt in Summer when it came to us from a southern ebay seller and isn't doing so well, but gee I have seen some real stunners!!! Will take loads of light and morning sun.I am still in envy of the ones I have seen.... mine has a long was to go, lol.
Wow what a cool way to get the Alc hair pups Nev, yes we do take ours very small too, but wouldn't dream of posting them off, when taken so small I find they take a while to get moving, so I often leave them in the cup of an old flowered neo mum and although they don't seem to grow much while in there, they grow heaps of roots, so then once potted up and fertilised, they then take off. The theory being the sooner you take them off the more you will get and as you know with some Alc's they only way to get pups is through hair pups when they are young, as once they are too big... no more pups. And for me, mine seem to hair pup really well when they are quite young.
Ian you are coming up to Cairns, morning are chilly here this weekend, but nothing compared to down south, and the days are glorious, I got quite sunburnt yesterday actually. I hope it is a pleasure trip.
Sue I hope you are surviving the bad weather, and no broms get damaged and watch out for branches above you!
Wendy, enjoy your time away and I hope you find a nice quiet place to set up.
I'm sorry I know I'm missing commenting on everyone beautiful photos, they are all so nice... my fingers are sore and I am now two finger typing....wow that is slow... I totally sympathise with anyone who can't touch type and how much time it must take to type a message.
So I'll add some pics and get going
Things never appear in the order I load them... so I'll just adjust....
The first three are the garden, now freshened up with new mulch and all the daggies taken out etc. The last pic, which I had to delete and re add as it appeared in the middle of the others first try, is Neo Moon Over Fort Dix in among Neo Skotak's Tiger babies.

Yes Nev i think Moon over fort dix is similar to Hannibal Lecter, maybe a little redder in colour. Mines not full grown yet though so it may be bigger than Hannibal Lecter.
I started a Latch hook rug (remember them)...like i need something else to do. hehe! I had to draw the picture on (butterflies and flowers)as i couldnt buy a already printed one. Could be good or a disaster. well see. ha!
1.Pimmento and its little un varigated pup. 2. Gunpowder.

Hello all, have had a busy time cleaning up :-( seems as soon as the garden is tidy, along comes another storm to mess it up. I did have quite a few damaged broms in the garden, and left most lying down until yesterday evening, when the wind finally eased off. We had about 160mm or more on thursday/friday then with the wind and sun (yes, sun) it soon dried out. Theres a couple of massive branches caught up in the trees over the garden, and I have my fingers crossed that hubby will let me get a tree person in to sort it out, as if they come down, they will squash the garden, or me!
Anyway, its lovely to see everyones photos, and seems all are busy busy.
Nev, I thought photo five looked good. I wouldn't touch that garden.
Tash, yours is looking nice and tidy after the muching
Trish, you had me at Chocolate wine.
Shirley, sending a parcel tomorrow
Jean, I stayed at Elmore on my travels. It has a great free camp by the river.
Ian, have a nice time in Cairns. I'm sure Tash could give you some contacts for brom shopping if you need it?
HAve I forgotten anyone? sorry.
Still sore neck and shoulders (not cutting firewood anymore)
photos 1-3 the mess
photo 4 is an Orchid called Cirrhopetalum 'Elizabeth Anne Buckleberry' I bought as a tiny flask plant. Its doing well. The foliage belongs to a different orchid
Photo 5, new baby, Neo. 'Shep'
Sue

Hi Everyone!

Another lovely day spent potting up brom pups, ginger seedlings, agave seedlings and fed certain broms and checked to see how my little vriesea and neo’ seedlings are doing. I also went around collecting more seed pods off some of my neo’s (I know I will have broms growing out of my ears soon) and have them ready to pot up some time after work during the week. I sent some seeds to my mum so she can try her hand at growing them as well as sent her some pups to pot up along with a Bunnings card and she was thrilled to bits to receive her parcel on Friday. These are the first broms she has ever potted up but we have gone through the process and she appears ready as she even told me she dreamt about them last night he he, like mother, like daughter as I often dream about my broms because it’s my “happy place”. If I have a bad dream somehow it ends with me smiling with broms all around me – I know I’m addicted to Broms hey LOL.

Hi Shirley yes I did manage to get up early on Saturday after that bottle of Chocolate Wine and went for a walk with Joe and the girls on the beach. I was dog tired but knew I needed the exercise and we ended up being out for at least 3 1/2hrs so I was a little sore come Sunday. We did some sitting on the beach while we were out with newspaper and coffee’s and watched people fishing etc. so it was really nice and relaxing.

Shirley that’s so kind of you to put my name down for a pup (whenever you have a spare) of Bill’ ‘Deliciosa’. I adored the pic you posted of it the other day. I only have a couple of Bill’s, mainly Hallelujah which I ended up buying two plants of because I liked it that much.

Shirley the Neo’ you asked about in Pic 3 - second from right and Pic 4 - second from left that I posted pics of back on 25/5 is Neo’ ‘Purple Glaze’. It’s one you have honed in on already with those sharp eyes of yours as I already have your name down for this one. It has coloured up heaps since you last saw a pic of it a couple of weeks ago. Shirley I hope you manage to find your camera and that it’s not somewhere in the garden where it can get wet. I put mine around my neck otherwise I know I would leave it somewhere hanging off a tree branch or something for the sprinklers to attack in the wee hours of the morning when they come on.

Hi Jean the Neo’ you asked about in Pic 2 – at the back that I posted pic of back on 25/5 I will have to check tomorrow as I just can’t tell from the photo, might have been the lighting with the camera as it looks that dark I just can’t tell what it is? The one on the Right in Pic 4 is Neo’ ‘Fosperior Perfection’ starting to colour back up as I had it in the wrong spot.

Jean great to hear you are getting more shaded brom space, there is just never enough when it comes to collecting broms so I will be horrified to see what our back yard looks like in another couple of years, hopefully its full of broms but the whole back yard does not look like one big nursery because I still want the back yard to look nice, long and open so we can enjoy the fresh are and see the trees in the wetlands along with the wildlife.

Hi Nev I know where did the weekend go??? Sounds like you got a few jobs done around your garden which is great. Nev that garden bed area looks great and once you have thinned some of the plants out you should have heaps of room to plant more broms. I luv planting broms under my gingers and heliconias because they are not messy and don’t damage your broms and give them plenty of filtered light so they don’t burn.

Nev that 36cm Whiting is not the first I have caught off the beach near us, I catch them often and have grown accustom to their nibble just before they woof the bait down and jump out of the water like a crazed giant herring he he. I could never tire of catching them and luv eating them cooked whole in a pan with a little garlic – yum! If only I could send you some, you know I would.

Nev that brom you asked about in Pic 3 – second from the right that I posted a Pic of back on 25/5 is the Neo’ NOID you asked about that I have already put your name down for. It’s the one I thought was Neo’ ‘Inferno’ but I just don’t know for sure?

Hi Tash fantastic mulched garden beds for your beautiful broms, they look lovely. I adore the toothy ones also as they are tough and look good among other broms or on their own as a special feature plant. I like to pot some of my big ones on their own as they really have the wow factor about them and are a real talking piece when people visit. Any pups I have just live with my other broms but I give them a bit of space so they don’t cause damage. Hope your fingers are on the mend soon.

Hi Bree your Pimento pup is cute even without the variegation and I liked your Neo’ ‘Gunpowder’ which is colouring up nicely.

Hi Sue pleased to hear not too much damage to your beautiful garden. I can’t believe how much rain you got. Ah yes the Chocolate Wine was beautiful and we are looking at getting a box of it with a friend. Who needs dessert when you can have a glass of Chocolate Wine instead? Luved your orchid pic and pic of your new Neo’ baby ‘Shep’.

Anyway time to head as early start tomorrow.

Trish

Pic 1 & 2 – Random Brom Garden shots
Pic 3, 4 & 5 – Vanda Orchids (my favourite) and Joe buys them for me

Hi Everyone!

Forgot, here are my seedlings of some Vriesea's and Neo's:

Trish

Hi all, Just another day to cleanup some more plants and in general check them out. I found burn damage that I never removed ove xmas time and removed it today. Finished a rough stocktake and labelled 106 NOIDs. Some are sisters off the same mother but now each has it's own number. There are stil quite a few to go. Some I think I know but am not sure of are included as NOIDs with a possible name as well. I found during my stocktake 158 other species, that is not Neos and I think there were 311 that is a total of 469 broms.
Enough skiting. I am going to Cairns for a Bromeliad function and am preparing for it. It will be educational for me.
for more info one could google "Blooming Broms, Cairns 2013"
Have a good one.
Ian
Sorry no pics tonight.

Hi everyone,

Jean, sounds like you will have lots more room to put lots more broms, lucky you, looking forward to seeing your pics.

Nev, I did find my camera … finally. I search everywhere outside, I checked anywhere I could think of that I might have put it with no luck. When I went to fold the washing this morning, it was sitting on my sewing cabinet in the laundry where I had obviously placed it when I bought in the washing yesterday afternoon.

Your gardens look so neat and tidy, wish mine looked as good, Nev.

Tash, thanks for the name of my Quesnelia, I have corrected it in my catalogue, probably a big name to write on a small label and the seller shortened it to fit. I hope yours recovers.

WOW Tash, your garden is stunning. Are all those lovely broms in pots rather than planted in the ground?

Bree, good luck with your Latch hook rug.

Sue, what a bugger all that wind and rain damaging your lovely broms. Take care working underneath those branches caught up in trees above your garden. Looking forward to your parcel, thanks again.

Looks like you had lots of sticks and twigs to pick up Sue. Gee, those cordylines look nice on the left of your pic 3. I love your new baby, neo Shep, it’s one I have bid on a number of times without success … looks like I’ll have to try that bit harder, it’s so nice.

Trish, thanks for the name of that lovely variegated neo … obviously my taste hasn’t changed much. Yes, I did manage to find my camera, as I told Nev earlier, it was safe and sound in the laundry. I really must pay more attention when putting things down … I am always wasting time looking for something or other. Lovely pics, Trish.

Ian, enjoy your trip to Cairns, it sounds really good. Don’t forget to take lots of notes so you can pass on your newly gained knowledge to your brom friends here. Can’t wait to see pics of your new purchases.

My pics are 1 – neo Hannibal Lector x Concentrica pup, pic 2 – neo Euphoria pup, pic 3 – Ae Robert Seidelii, pic 4 – Ananas ?

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi everyone – I got bit more of the garden make-over done yesterday, moved a few plants and tossed a lot also. It's hard to do but you can only keep so many so some just have to go.

Jean – Just to shed a bit more light on our discussion about the BCR and the FCBS in my post of the 24th, I wasn't exactly sure if the facts I gave were correct so I sent out an SOS on the Bromeliad Forum asking if anyone could tell me the history of these two sites. Fortunately Lisa Vinzant who is a Global Moderator of the Bromeliad Forum and a well know hybridiser came to the rescue and this is what she said:

“Briefly, the site was started (and is still run) by Michael Andreas under the auspices of the Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies.  At that time the BSI did not have an online registry, and didn't seem particularly interested in creating one.  The FCBS photo index was created in part to fill that void, and for a while an unofficial arrangement existed whereby all registration information and photos were routinely forwarded by the registrar to FCBS for posting.  A few years ago, the BSI decided they wanted to host the BCR themselves, so ties with the FCBS site were severed.  All registrations are now posted on the online BCR, but many hybridisers, including myself, continue to send copies to FCBS. 

Although FCBS did act as a host to the BCR photos, the two have never been synonymous.  FCBS also accepts photos of unregistered cultivars, species, etc. from whoever is willing to contribute.  Just because something appears on FCBS does not mean it has been registered, and Michael A. takes no responsibility for making sure they are correct, although he does welcome whatever information you might have.  The site has essentially been a one man labor of love, and an invaluable resource for many people. 

As the official record, the BCR has more of a stake in accuracy.  Much of it is admittedly grandfathered in, and as such may be difficult to untangle, but current registrar Geoff Lawn has been tireless in chasing down histories and attempting to sort out inconsistencies.  In my opinion, there's room for both sites, and both deserve support.” 

So that's the whole story from someone who knows and I think we all owe a collective vote of thanks to these two men for the endless amount of work they contribute to these sites so that we all can benefit from these valuable resources.

Tash – That's a very colourful garden you've made there; nothing like what I'm doing as there's not much at all in colour at this time of the year and besides where my garden is doesn't get very good light in winter time. You have also given me an idea of what to do with the few remaining “toothy” plants, I'll stick them in the garden out of the way and then I won't get spiked every time I reach past them on the benches.

To follow on about what you say about edmundoi var. rubrobracteata; it's pretty annoying when people shorten names to make it easy for themselves and is probably due to the fact that a lot of the time they don't understand what the name really means. In this case “rubro” (Referring to the color red) and bracteata (Referring to the bracts) which are the leaf-like plant parts located below the flower or on the stalk of a flower cluster. Rubrobracteata is the botanical way of saying this plant has red bracts. Personally I think it would have been better to just say the plant had red bracts than to change the name to rubra.

Breeindy – We could never get the colour in Neo. 'Moon Over Fort Dix' that you northern growers do. Ours just seem to remain the same boring colour all through the year which hardly makes them worth growing down here in my opinion.

Nice colour in your Neo.'Pemiento' and Neo.'Gunpowder' also.

Sue – Are you over the storm damage now, it seems like you really copped a “hammering” didn't you? Be careful of those “hung up“ branches, they don't call them “widow makers” for nothing!

Sue you can't really see it in the picture but when you look more closely at that garden in Pic.5, there is a lot of dead stuff amongst it and those couple of shrubs are all dead underneath and the Porteas are just so untidy they needed cleaning up as well as the Neo's which had got cooked during the heatwave and I was just waiting for the new pups to grow a bit before I did anything. They say the camera doesn't lie, but I know it does!

Pic. 1-3 aren't too bad, just a couple of plants over, best not to stand them up again till the storm's over as they will just get knocked over again. Did your shade houses cop any structural damage?

Sue looking at the pic of the Cirrhopetalum in Pic.5 brings back memories of a bus trip to an orchid nursery I went on when I grew orchids. It was to “Wondabah Orchids” at Pennant Hills NSW which was owned by Leo Giles and his family then. Although he specialised in Cymbidiums, he also has a marvellous collection of rare miscellaneous orchids as well. I clearly remember an enormous plant of Cirrhopetalum (either Rothchildianum or Gracillimum) I don't remember which, but I do remember it was growing on a large tree fern stump and had over fifty red coloured flower heads on it, a truly amazing site.

I like your Neo 'Shep' it has nice form and similar colour to Neo. 'Break of Day', is it the same size or larger than that plant?

Trish – It seems like you're converting your Mum into a brom addict like yourself, and good for you too as it's a great hobby for older people as it's just in their own back yard and I'm sure she'll say what I've often said and that is “I wish I had got into these plants thirty years ago”.

Nice garden shots once again and I also like your Vandas. When I grew orchids we could only grow two types of Vandas down here without heat. They were both species (I think) and one was V. Rothchildiana and the other was V. Coerulea and both had the most beautiful bluish purple flowers which seemed to last in flower for ever. (Probably a couple Joe can keep his eyes open to get you) You keep teasing me with these orchid pic's don't you?

With your Neo. seedlings, do I see a few “albinos” among them or is it just the light? If they are albinos, prick them out and toss them as they will only die anyway and may contaminate the others with rot. What was the seed parent, was it an albo-marginated plant? I remember when I grew my first lot of albinos, I thought I'd really “hit the big time” until I mentioned it to another grower and he deflated me by telling me they were worthless and would die within a couple of weeks.... what a “downer”.

Ian – Good to see you getting all of your plants listed, you certainly got it done a lot faster than I did.

It's great to hear you're off to the 'Big Smoke” to rub shoulders with the “Big Growers” I hope they have some good guest speakers as you'll learn a lot from them and of course we all want a full report when you return.

Shirley – Thanks for the comment about my garden, but I'm not very happy with it, I just don't seem to be able to get it looking how I want it to look; probably due to lack of colour.

Nice pic's you've posted again, what amazing colour on your Ae. 'Robert Seidel' (I think it should be “Roberto” not “Robert”)
There's a good article about the history of this plant at:
http://botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/bcr/index.php?genus=AECHMEA&id=510#510

Also it's curious to see that on the FCBS, it's listed under cultivars as well as species, and the pictures are completely different???????? One pic shows a pendulous spike and the other shows an upright spike. Also the flower heads are entirely different as well, one is clustered and the other spaced out. Do we have two different plants with the same name?

Sorry no pic's this morning.

All the best, Nev.

hi all, another beautiful day, considering the forecast was rather glum. I even bathed the dogs!
Nev, I have cleaned up most of the mess, and as the wind is over, have stood the broms back up, but alot have damaged leaves and flower spikes, so I will get in and sort them at a later date. Yes, the igloo did get damaged. the wind has blown so hard from one side, that the 63mm polypipe has actually folded at the top of its side supports and is now on a lean. It can't go anywhere, as the palm tree is holding it up, But I have had to take down all the hangers and will have to cut the pipe at the fold, and make the whole structure shorter. Then we will look at making some support poles in the middle to keep it rigid in high winds. It really was like a cyclone at the time, although I haven't been in a 'rated' cyclone, I'm sure it wasn't much different.
N. 'Shep' is a small grower I believe, and another seller hd a mature photo as their gallery photo, and it looks as though it might flush a deep red, while the outer leaves stay yellow? Not sure yet, but I love the shape and form, and was thrilled when I received it, as the discription was 'One nice pup' and you never know what you'll get, but 'one nice pup' it was.
Gee, I wished I had seen the orchid plant with all the flower heads. I had seen one like mine at a show a few years back, so when I saw the tiny plant, in its blister pack, in Bunnings, I thought I'd give it a go, for $6.95. It flowered the first year, so it doesn't seem to be too finicky. Maybe I can get it to a great size with multiple flower heads too. Something to aim for!
Trish, I love your Vandas. I have one tht is flowering now, and a very small one that is just struggling for the last couple of years, but might get better as it gets some size to it. The dendrobiums seem to be the better growers here. Have you ever propagated Vandas, and if so, how is it done?
Shirley, your parcel is on the way, so hopefully you will have it by wednesday. I posted all the Ebay plants away too, and hope all the buyers are as thrilled with theirs, as I was with N. 'Shep'.
If thats an Ananas in your last pic, it looks very spikey! I think the ones i have a smooth. I will have to check now. I like your Aechmea 'Robert Siedelii' It has lovely colour.
Those Cordylines are just the common rubra ones, but they do look nice at this time of the year. When we went to Fiji last year, they were everywhere, along with those gorgeous gingers like Trish's. I love those kind of plantings.
Ian, off to Blooming Broms. You will no doubt see some friends of friends while up there. now I wish i was going. It would be lovely up there at this time of the year. Are you flying or driving? If Flying, and you make some purchases, its always good to remember you can post them back to yourself!

This is Aechmea 'Silver Streak' in flower this morning
Sue

I love Vandas Trish, i dont have much luck with mine. I think there to neglected hanging in to much shade under my citrus trees and not fertilised enough. Another job i have to repot them all and move them somewhere i can see them so ill look after them (after winter now).
Thanks Shirley, im really getting into this latch hook rug. Waiting on alot of wool i bought online as even spotlight and Lincraft 12ply is still expensive.
1. Braz-el? never heard of it but the colours are weird, was just plain green when i got it. 2. is my Moon Over Fort Dix compared to my Hannibal Lecter.

Hi Everyone!

Hi Shirley pleased to hear you found your camera in your laundry and that it was not out somewhere in the garden for the sprinklers to attack.

Shirley nice pics you posted, I especially liked Pic 3 Ae. ‘Robert Seidelii’ because of its bright Pink Flamingo colour which softens to look of those big bity teeth. I also adored its cute little pup.

Hi Nev pleased to hear you got a bit more done with your garden makeover, you will have to post pics when you’re all done. Thanks for the insight to the history with the BCR and FCBS websites, where would we be without them thanks to the wonderful two men for the endless amount of work they contribute to these sights.

Nev mum rang me today to say she has potted up the broms I sent her and sown the neo seeds and was over the moon. She is already teaching her friends on how to cut old leaves off broms (the proper way) and how to prepare a brom mix and pot them up etc; so I am over the moon how much she is enjoying them.

Nev sorry to tease you with those orchid pics, I could not help but show everyone how beautiful the flowers are on them while they are out. Thanks Nev I will write those one’s you mention for Joe to keep an eye out for as I adore the bluish purple flowers the most out of all the vanda’s. I will have to check one that we have that has bluish purple flowers and see if it matches the names you mentioned.

Nev thankfully no “albinos” seedling in the tray, they are all lush green, it was just the camera playing with the lighting. These were seedlings from a NOID that I really liked because the brom was so stunning and lush. A really hot pink colour with darker pink spots that everyone comments about when they see it, so I was thrilled to bits to see it had self-pollinated – NOID x SELF?

Hi Sue so great to hear you got some good weather today, hope your dogs enjoyed their bath time.

Hi Sue thanks please to hear you liked my Vanda’s. In answer to your question no we have never propagated our own Vanda’s and I would not know where to begin. I do have a Vanda that has about 4 x Vanda seedlings growing off it and am going to try separating the larger of them all in a couple of weeks and see how I go but I want to do a bit of reading up on things first to avoid at all costs killing it.

Sue luved the pic you posted of your Ae. ‘Silver Streak’ in flower, how great do they look all in flower.

Hi Bree pleased to hear you liked my Vanda’s, Joe brought me one a couple of years ago and we have been buying them ever since but slowly because they take up a lot of room as beautiful as they are. We have two hanging in the Mango Tree and the rest are in our nursery. Yes they like to be fed weakly weekly and watered daily but dry before dark. Never heard of your Pic 1 ‘Braz-el’, I wonder what it will colour up like?

Hi Ian have a great time in Cairns and stay safe on the roads

Anyway time to head as another early wake-up tomorrow.

Happy Gardening Everyone!

Hi to anyone looking in, type us all a line!!!

Trish

Pic 1 to 5 - Random pics around garden

Hi all,

Nev, you are right, my pic should have been named Roberto Seidelii and as you say, it looks nothing like the pic on the BCR. It does look similar to the pic on the FCBS as a species. I read another article by Derek Butcher dated April 2008 titled “Aechmea triticina to guarapariensis to roberto-seidelii” which concludes with “please change your label to Aechmea roberto-seidelii if it looks like an A. pineliana with white flowers”. I tried to insert a link to the article but it wouldn’t work for me.

Sue, look forward to my parcel, thanks again. I was told by the seller of the ananas in my pic that it was a ‘variegated pineapple’ and that’s the only info I have … it is fairly new so I don’t really know how it will grow. Do you think it could be something else?

Bree, I love the colour in both your neos Hannibal Lector and Moon Over Fort Dix.

Trish, I really like the colour of Ae Roberto Seidelii too … it’s just a newbie so I am hoping I have it in enough light to keep it the colour it is at the moment. Love your garden pics … so much lovely colour.

My pics are 1 – neo Baker’s Tiger, 2 – neo Red Earth, 3 – Vr Platynema Variegata, 4 – Vr Forest

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi everyone – Got a bit more done yesterday; not on the front garden though, the south west wind was just too cold so I shifted camp around to the back yard and “dead leafed” some more of the Neo's that are hanging there and found a couple more that I had forgotten were there.

Sue – It's good to hear that the shade house didn't cop too much damage. It seems that if you get a lot of wind in your area you might have to consider putting a few wind braces into the construction and as well as strengthening everything up, they would be another place to hang plants from.

Regarding that Cirrhopetalum I spoke of yesterday, I was told by the nurseryman himself that they had struggled to get it growing initially and it wasn't until they put it onto the dead Tree Fern stump that it really got going, so probably something worth remembering. There were just so many of us wanting to buy one after seeing that plant, but they just weren't available in those early days and I think the one he had growing had even been “wild collected” by another overseas grower.

I believe Vandas are propagated in much the same way as other orchids, i.e. from from seed or from new growths (pups) which are called "Kikies". These can come from the base of the plant or from higher up the plant as well (called aerial growths).

There are two different types of Vandas, the terete type (Pic.1) with thin leaves shaped like a “thin bean” and the ones with the wider leaves called “strap leafed Vandas” (Pic.2). The Terete types are the easiest to grow though and don't suffer from the cold like the Strap Leafed plants (or didn't when I grew orchids).

I really like your Ae 'Silver Streak'; another beautiful one from the Ae. Nudicaulis range. You've just given me a great idea for when the house next need painting. Now that I'm getting a bit “long in the tooth” to go climbing ladders, I'll just hang plants on the areas that need painting. I had a friend up Sydney way who had brom's hanging off his eaves all along the northern side of the house and boy did they make a great show, but my C.E.O. wouldn't let me do it here unfortunately.

Breeindy – Vandas do like a lot of light so if yours are growing in the shade, that could be why they aren't growing well.

I have a plant called Neo 'Braz-el'; It is a robust grower and grows into quite a big brom with attractive light green leaves and bright red “finger-nails” on the leaf tips.

Trish – Yes I have to agree with you about the FCBS and the BCR, what wonderful resources they really are and not just for the pictures, there is a wealth of other information on them as well, all about growing bromeliads. We all use these sites but it isn't until we have to find a few pic's to assist in the ID of a plant, that you really appreciate the mammoth amount of work the men running those two sites really do accomplish.

I'm pleased to hear that those little seedlings weren't albinos which I thought I could see, (must be going blind as well) and as for naming them, I would use the number system we spoke of the other day on the parents as well so at least you know which NOID they came from.

Because you can't say for sure they were selfed and don't know if insects may have pollinated them with something else, I think you would be best to just write, NOID (number) x UNKNOWN. That's a perfectly legitimate way of naming the cross as you only know the mother as a numbered NOID and don't know the father.

Nice random shots of around the garden; maybe I'll be able to do that too if I ever get this garden finished. It's raining here this morning so once agin the job's shut down and I'm held up again.

Shirley – It's good to see you are starting to take full advantage of the BCR and the FCBS site instead of just looking at the pictures. It's surprising where the time goes when you start on the trail of trying to track down a brom, isn't it?

They're nice pic's you've posted again; I really like the Neo in Pic.2 Neo. 'Red Earth' and I'm very pleased to say that I see it's on the list of all my plants. It's still a pup yet so I have that to look forward to.

That's a nicely marked Vriesea Platynema Variegata as well and I like the Vriesea 'Forrest' (2 r's). It's a Dilling hybrid and the BCR says the parents are unknown, but judging by the colour on the leaf tips I would think it has a bit of Vr. Platynema Variegata in it at least.

Time to go and still I have no new brom pic's to post so today I'm going to break all the rules and post a few pic's of orchids. Pic 1 is an example of the foliage on a “terete” type Vanda, as opposed to a “strap leafed” type Pic.2. Pic's 3, 4 and 5 are of a few of the newer Dendrobium hybrids.

All the best, Nev.

Good morning everyone, wow, it doesn’t take long to be behind in replies.

Bree I love Neo Pemiento, mine has flowered and is pupping now and even with all the new hybrids I have, I will be keeping a pup to replace mum for sure. Kahala Dawn is the other one I love and often have to stop and think which is which. My Gunpowder is in the garden and seems to like it much better out there than in the brom house.

Sue sorry about all the bad weather you had and tunnel house being on an angle now. Sounds like you have cleaned it all up again, but what a pain. I really like the Neo Shep as well, not one I have seen before. I will have to look it up as it sounds like it will be a nice one. I love that Ae Silver Streak too, looks great in the basket too.

Trish I love the orchids, we only have a couple of simple ones, but gee I would love to have more of them, if we owned our own home I think we would have a lot more plants, orchids would be everywhere in trees and companion plants maybe to help give a bit of shade on the broms in the gardens. Oh we dream all the time about what we’d do. One day maybe.

Ian have fun at Bloomin Broms this weekend, I only know one couple who are going, ex members of the club, lovely people. Myself and others I know are not going. I hope you have fun and learn plenty.

Shirley, glad you found the camera, sounds like something we would do. I can probably count on my hand the number of broms we have that are actually planted in the ground, all the rest are in pots just sitting in the garden among the mulch. Couple of reasons for it. Firstly we don’t own this place, so we can easily move them when we need too. Second, like I said we can move them easy…. So if they are in the wrong spot, not enough light, too much light etc, it’s super easy to relocate them. Third…taking pups off is far easier when you can carry the pot to the bench and not have to dig around in the garden. Those are the main reasons. I love your Vrieseas platynema Variegata and Forrest. I bet you can’t wait for your Forrest to be huge.

Nev that’s very interesting about the FCBS registry, I didn’t know that. She learning new stuff all the time. Yeah sticking the spikey ones in the garden further can work well, you should see the photos of the front garden, now that has some nasty spikes in it, but I put them in the middle or towards the back to keep the spikes away from little eyes. Then put some more friendly ones at the front, I would prefer the kids snagged by a Skotak’s Tiger, than poked in the eye by an Aechmea sphaerocephala. I agree about the way you label your seeds that you have not pollinated yourself. I usually write Neo (whatever it is) X open pollinated. That way it covers it all, could be selfed, or yes the bugs could of done something for me. We are pretty big on taking photos in this house hold… take was too many… so I often know what else was in flower at the same time by photos if I didn’t take notes. I love your orchid pics too Nev.

Have I missed anyone, I hope not, kids keep distracting me.

Well the fingers are nearly back to normal, thumb still a bit sore, space bar reminds me each time, lol. I had a big brom tooth hanging out from under it, no wonder why they use bamboo under nails as a torture…. Oucchhh.
The weather has been cool and overcast the last couple of days. I took some pics of the Alc’s yesterday that have been in full winter/Autumn sun for just over a month now, gee they change quick. Can’t wait to see comparison shots at the end of winter.

Cheers Tash

My apologies if I have shared these pics before, it's easy to lose track lol
1 Alc Devine Plum really getting some nice colour to it's former green self a couple of months ago
2 Neo Gee Whiz which always looks good. Brought this from a good friend up here as a big pup, but is looking fantastic now.
3 Neo Macho
4 Neo Kahala Dawn.

Hi Everyone!

Hi Nev great to hear you found some hidden brom treasures whilst you dead leafed some of your Neo’s. I need to do another pup stock take as I had a quick look on the weekend and noticed many more popping their heads up that I am thrilled about.

Nev thanks yes totally agree I should use the “Numbering System” for my NOIDS or things could get very confusing if I try growing seedlings from other NOIDS down the track. So far I have 2 x trays of the same NOID that have germinated. Best to get into good habits sooner rather than later, so I am like a sponge Nev when you pass on such valuable information. Now I will pass on this valuable advice to my mum as I sent her some of the NOID seeds and like me she wants to learn as much about bromeliads as she can and has taken out a bunch of books from the library (as she does not own a computer) to learn as much as she can, plus we are always on the phone weekly chating about broms.

Nev please to hear you like the random garden shots, I could definitely see you doing the same in the garden bed you have been working on and can just picture it full of colour with beautiful broms and gingers everywhere.

Ah Nev breaking all the rules posting orchid pics, doesn’t it feel great! Great pics you posted of all those beautiful orchids. I showed Joe and he liked them all.

Nev check out the Bill’ Hallelujahs’ that I had growing in different light but finally brought them together once the hot weather started backing off. I know you will prefer the one on the right showing more green then the one on the left. I can’t help but luv them both as they really make a statement sitting side by side like this; mind you the one on the right still has a lot of growing to do. The one on the left has produced about 3 x pups in the one very small pot; I find they do far better under crammed conditions then if given a larger pot.

Hi Tash pleased to hear you like the Vanda pics I posted. We have some in our nursery and some hanging in the mango tree with irrigation running up tree limbs to them so they get a daily spritz as they luv plenty of water and to be fed weekly weakly. The only issue is we have to look at moving them when the mangos are on or fruit dropping could possibly damage them so we will have to move them to another tree till all the mangos are gone.

Tash pleased to hear your fingers are all nearly back to normal apart from your thumb. Know how it feels to have bamboo up your thumb nail as once did it to myself when using bamboo stakes for my tomatoes and got a splinter through my garden glove and up my nail, it hurt like buggery and I had to get Joe to pull it out because it dug in deep and the pain was felt for a long time afterwards and my thumb swelled up. I ended up having to put it in scorching hot salty water to try to draw some of the crap that was in it. I stay clear of using them now.

Tash you have posted some beautiful brom pics; what do you feed them to get them that big and glossy they look awesome.

Hi Shirley great brom pics, especially liked your Vriesea’s ‘Platynema Variegata’ and ‘Forrest’. My ‘Platynema Variegata’ is starting to colour up as well but yours appears to have a head start on mine.

Anyway time to head off.

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 to 5 - Random Garden shots

Hi everyone,

It has been raining here today on and off, some heavy showers but mostly just nuisance rain.

Nev, thanks for the info on Vr Forrest … it’s odd that the seed parent would be unknown but I agree that Vr Platynema Variegata was in there somewhere.

Tash, I am looking forward to many of my vrieseas ‘growing up’ and vr Forrest is one of the really nice ones that is still quite small. I have had a bit of a vriesea ‘thing’ lately and an aechmea ‘thing’ too for that matter … and I have bought a few neos as well, just can’t help myself.

Tash, love your pics … what is the alc on the left of Alc Devine Plum with the purplish leaves, please.

Trish, more lovely garden pics.

I thought I would post some pics of my seedlings. I remember some time back saying I didn’t think I would grow broms from seed as it was such a painfully slow process and I don’t have a whole lot of patience.

Well, Nev sent me seed, then Wendy gave me seed and Sue sent me MORE seed … so I HAD to give it a go. I am now well and truly hooked and I’m out there amongst the broms looking for flowers and seed pods and madly sowing seed, mostly neos. I have lots more, in fact, I have three little 4 shelf greenhouses full of seedlings … can’t wait to see how they turn out. I have no idea of the pollen parent of the majority of them but they’re all beautiful babies!!!

Pics 1 – 5 are pics of some of my ‘babies’

Bye for now, Shirley

Good morning, well not much happening here, I should have a few newbies on Friday this week, so I am looking forward to them, I will post pics next week of them.
Yeah watch out for them Mangos Trish, they would cause some big damage I imagine. Good plan to move the vandas at that time. ohhh and ouch rear the bamboo ...ewwwwww, glad mine wasn't that bad, but still annoying enough, got me right in the corner up the side. Can just feel it on space bar now, so getting lots better :) Thanks
I love your garden shots, broms always look nice in the garden. I'll have to have a look at my Bill Hallelujah's now, lol. They have been slow to multiple for me, I think cause I'm a bit scared to fert them, lol. I'm not much of a Bill person, not my favourite brom at all, but certain ones I do really like!
Oh as for what do I feed my broms, well, not much. They get their slow release when they are potted as babies, if they are a bigger or slower grower like an alc or vr, they get a bit more fert along the way. I do Seasol...when I remember, bit slack with that, and we have our own worm farm too, so we use the worm juice mainly on seedlings, but excess goes on whatever we feel like pouring it over. And I try to keep them in as higher light as possible.

Shirley your 'babies' look great and so well organised and potted up some already by the looks. Mine are kind of a mess and we tend to leave them that way and pick out the biggest ones eventually, lol, survival of the fittest at our house sometimes.
Yeah I am having trouble with my Forrest pups and if it continues... I will not continue to grow it. I don't think it likes my climate too much. I have some bad quilling going on and have tried every quilling solution out there... with no joy. the centres on a few are actually browning off now and it's just a wait and see game, they will either grow through it... or rot. I got 4 Forrest pups off my mother plant that died and I was hoping to grow them up a bit more and sell them in Spring, well 2 at least, maybe 3, but not after what's happened to them now, they will not be perfect for sale and will either need to be grown on for quite a while to grow past it, or they will be pushing their own pups if they end up rotting. Just gotta wait now and see what they do. I can't fiddle with them anymore, the centres are browning but firm and strong, so hopefully they might grow through it and grow it out.
I'll see if I can find a pic of the mum, stunning big brom (but long gone now).
the parentage of Forrest is similar to that of MilkyWay, except yes Forrest has platynema Variegata in it, Milkyway does not, and that's why Forrest can't take as much sun as Milky Way and probably why it doesn't like my climate as much either ;)
The alc to the left of Devine Plum is Silver Plum, another nice one to have.

I must comment on the numbering system, yes we have all ours numbered too, actually have never finished the Aechmeas, opps. But we don't use a seperate system for the NOID's, we just include them with the rest. I give them a bit of an identification in my records... like Neo NOID - big pink centre and then it's gets a number. Makes it easy to find later if I need it, you know, I can look in the list and think, what number is that big pink one.... and cause I have a small description, I can find the number. then if at any stage I get a name on that NOID, I don't need to renumber it or move it to the Neo list, just amend the name and find it in the yard. The way we numbered ours, was I just printed our spreadsheet, as I had all the names and NOID's catalogued already, so just walked around the brom house and yard, picking any one up in random order and giving it the next number. then I added it to the spreadsheet inside and now I can sort by number, name, seller, date, alphabetical etc. Comes in handy for me quite often and well worth my effort, for me anyway. Some people completely poo hoo the idea and that's fine.

ok some photos and I'm off to do the chores :) Cheers Tash

Vr Forrest, taken not quite 2 years ago, this is the mum to my pups
Alc Silver Plum, this is the one next to the Devine Plum, taken the same day, a couple of days ago.
Neo Wally. I had to have this one, I love it, apprently an old hybrid, lol, but still caught my eye. I had it with the mini's, but maybe 'Break of Day' type size, between mini and small type thing?
That's it for today, have a great day :)