BROMELIADS FOR MARCH ....2014

Hello everyone. I saw that a new thread was needed as we slide quickly into March.
We came from here...
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1349052/

Autumn is creeping up on us and once Easter has been and gone it will be the slow slide down to yet another Christmas....lol
Not a lot of news from here as I have only done a bit of potting of a few new broms.
My seeds are growing slowly and I hope they survive the winter.
I seem to have filled a lot of spaces in moving all the broms around during the week.
I was going to be very smart and make another list of where they all are, but after the work on the last list , I think I'll just leave things and look at labels when I need to know where any are.
I am getting better at recognising a lot of them just by looking .
Better go over and see what every one has been doing on the old thread and then get hubbys breakfast.
take care and stay safe.
Jean.

Hello Nev,Shirley,Trish,Colleen and Ian.

Hope everyone is doing well.Take care!!!

Good Day

Cody

well didn't I get a pleasant surprise at the Ellerslie Garden show today...
broms every where :)

I wasn't too surprised to see them in the floral art section but in an out door garden?

And apparently selected for growing in ChCh conditions!

I was handed a leaflet with information about the garden but shoved it in a pocket without looking, need to find it for a proper read...

pic 1 & 2 - indoors
remaining pics - out doors

Hi all, Well the good news for Better Homes and Garden viewers, Dillings are being featured on 07-03-14. This will be a tease for all of us. Well Aussies anyway.
All I have achieved today was more sorting and some cleaning and watering. It doesn't sound much but it took all my time and energy.
Teresa I am surprised that Vresias could be grown outdoors where you get snow and ice, I do know that on North Island they are grown outdoors all year where they have the hot springs.
It is surprising what selective breeding can do for plants in this case.
Hallo Cody, I am ok. hugs.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1Al gigantean
Pic 2 Androlepsis Skineri
Pics 3 4 5 from past when I did not name them on computer

A big g'day to everyone. Back home again, for a short weekend this time. Was late getting away from work so ended up getting home after dark. Usually I get an early mark when I'm going home.

Don't envy your move Ian, especially heading south. Dalby is a far cry from Kuranda. I live in 2 houses, work and home. Both are chockers, I dread the day I'll (eventually) have to move everything into the one house.

Although summer is now over, we've still got a couple of months of wet season left. Rainfall will ease and peter out over that time. With the extra sun we've been getting the weeds and grass have gone ballistic. At work I'm trying to get everyone focussed on weeds but the past week we've had flora and fauna surveys to do. Early starts checking traps and closing them (so nothing gets trapped inside during the day and gets cooked), late afternoon and into the night rebaiting and setting them again. And then during the day the ordinary work. Still, it's good exercise, climbing up and down rocky hills, pushing through tall grass and scrub. I needed it to work off the icecream I had last weekend, LOL.

Noticed an interesting thing with one of my broms (I might know nothing about broms but I can still find something to mention about them). I posted photos of my Tillandsia wagneriana in flower, it looked very unspectacular. Last night I was wandering around in the garden and noticed it had some dark blue flowers. Thought I'd get a photo in the daylight, but this morning the flowers were, let's say, very unspectacular. Took a photo but suspect that they flower at night and the flowers die once daylight comes. I'll have to check it in the dark again, and then daylight to confirm that.

Take care everyone.

So the photos, first 2 are the unspectacular (daytime) flowers of T. wagneriana.

Third, Tacca integrifolia, White Bat Plant.

Fourth, one of the "victims" of our trapping, Zyzomys maini, Arnhem Rock-rat. Under threatened species legislation they're listed as vulnerable. They're endemic to the Arnhem Land Plateau.

Fifth, some of the tall grass this time of year.

Hi everyone. Ian I had a good thought regarding your move. If you send a pup of each of your special plants to the rest of us then after you move and settle in we can send one back. you don't have to downsize and cull any. you can have them all. the ones you take with you and the ones you send to us to receive back. Aren't I clever?????? LOL

I did go for a look at the sale this morning with Jen but I took $200 in cash and the card with me so I was really serious about just looking. Anyway I got a lot of loose billbergia pups and one really nice vrisea for Johnny. He really liked it. I'll get pics tomorrow to share. not sure where my camera is. I think in my potting apron downstairs. anyway Johnny was so exhausted redoing the area down the back this morning while I was off with Jen so he decided we should go for a drive to give him a rest this afternoon. guess where we ended up?? Yep Cheryl Basic was surprised to see me back again. she said didn't I get enough this morning I had to come back for more. Anyway Johnny picked another 5 vriseas. he is happy now. pics to follow.

Nev after looking at BCR for neo chocolate I'm not sure the ones Shirley and I have are the same. Shirley got one from me. separately they look the same but put them side by side and they are different colours ie caramel and chocolate. in fact our chocolate looks so much like your seedling Nev. I really thought odean and chocolate would have been from the same grex they are so close to same. but apparently totally different. I can't remember where we got our first one. we've been to MPs at Gympie so possible even got one from her. not sure.

Jean you are so clever starting all the threads for us. I managed it once but I think it was pure luck. I never managed it again.
Shirley sorry I missed you at Wavell Heights today and not just once I missed you twice.
Hi to everyone else.
On the spur of the moment last night I posted a couple of pics of our small motorhome with a for sale notice and today a couple looked at it and they are pretty certain they will get it. they are short a little bit extra money so need to talk to the bank and ill get back with answer on Wednesday. sounds good.

time for bed I think. don't want to get into another movie now so I'll wimp out an have an early one for a change. Night all.
Pic tonight is ae ornata var nationalis. it was growing in the top of a totem where we couldn't back into those vicious points but it started poking through the shadecloth roof so we had to get it down. I'm sure it will be ready to flower soon. then pups to follow.
Wendy

Hi Ian,i hope things work out for you.Always have Faith in yourself for you and your wife,that every thing will be ok where every you go.Thanks for the hugs.Lots of hugs back to you as well.

Ian please take care of yourself!!!!!!

Good Day

Cody

This message was edited Mar 1, 2014 11:44 AM

Hi Everyone – It seems that the rain has finally stopped although it rained all day yesterday and all through the night. Today's forecast is for continuing showers with sunny periods, so lets hope the forecast is wrong as its my youngest grandson's birthday party today and I don't fancy being couped up inside the house with twenty little four year old boys.

Despite the rain yesterday we still had a very interesting brom meeting. We were entertained by “The Frog Man” who was our guest speaker for the day. The Frog Man is a chap who remembers the abundant and different types of frogs in the area when he was a boy and who now is concerned at their serious decline, especially the Green and Gold Bell Frog. He has re-designed his garden with various ponds to encourage these frogs back into his yard again and is on a crusade to educate all gardeners to do the same. There were many interesting facets to his talk but I found the most interesting was a common fallacy he disproved and that was that frogs will eat mosquito “wrigglers”. Apparently this isn't true; they will eat any small insects including mosquitoes but not the mosquito “wrigglers”. So after all of these years, I like many other growers who believed that frogs in our gardens will eat the mosquito wigglers in the cup water of our brom's need to think again as this just isn't true.

Jean – Thanks so much for once again coming to our rescue and starting a new thread for March, it's much appreciated.

As you point out, autumn is here and in my opinion, thankfully growth will start to slow down a bit and give me a bit of breathing space to catch up on all of the unfinished jobs around the place. Unfortunately the number of fine days when work can be carried out in the garden will be less also, so maybe I won't catch up on as much work as I would like.

However, starting tomorrow I'm pulling out all stops to finish off the current reno., although the talk by the Frog Man yesterday made me realise that my frog pond is in the wrong location and not getting enough sun and needs to be moved as well, so it looks like this will also have to be fitted into the equation while I am working in that area and it's presently free of plants.

Cody – Hi Cody, I hope you and Alex are both well.

Theresa – Sounds like your visit to the Ellerslie Garden Show was a bit of an “eye opener” and there are more brom's in your area than you first thought. I haven't heard any more about the variegated Bill. nutans and unfortunately for some reason I can't access my emails this morning which may be due to the blackout we had here last night, so back to the computer man and until I have that sorted out everything depending on emails is on hold.

Looking at the pic's you've posted, it seem like some of the most popularly grown ones here can be grown in your area as well. In the three pic's showing the “outside plants” there are Neo's (Pic.3), Vrieseas (Pic's 4 and 5) and Alcantareas (Pic 5). Although the Aechmea fasciata shown in Pic.2 will grow inside, it's more commonly grown outside here and I think should do OK in your area as well.

The little Tillandsia Cyanea in Pic.1 is probably an "each-way bet" as it can be a bit touchy and in some countries is just purchased when in colour to bring inside and when the colour drains away they are tossed in the bin and a new plant purchased like they do with Vrieseas, Guzmanias and of course Ae. fasciata which is still one of the most popular plants bought in Europe for this purpose.

The end result is that you seem to have more brom options than you first thought.

Ian – That's a nice looking plant of Androlepis skinneri and the first time I've ever seen it. The foliage has some similarities with Ae. pectinata in that it colours up (albeit not as brightly) on just the ends of the leaves. When I look it up I see that it has quite a large inflorescence which is basically very pale green/white in colour with small bright yellow flowers, so quite an interesting looking plant and certainly one you will need to take with you when you move.

The Cryptanthus in Pic.3 I think is a great looking plant with great colour and how I wish I could grow them like that, the one in Pic.4 is either a small Cryptanthus or a xCryptbergia I think, but I can't offer a name for either of them. The plant in Pic.5, I'm not to sure of either, it could be Ae. maculata or Ae.'Red Bands' which is a cross between Ae. maculata and Ae. triangularis.

Tropicbreeze – Good to see you back and able to post again. Your job sounds very interesting; are you working in a National Parks and Wildlife capacity? I'm always interested to hear of this type of work that the general public seldom hears anything about.

Not being very knowledgeable about Tillandsias, I decided to look up Tillandsia wagneriana and I find that it appears to be quite variable with bracts and flowers in several colour combinations. There is one with mid/pink bracts and pale blue flowers, one with pale/pink bracts and light/purple flowers, one which has almost white bracts with mid/purple flowers. One with almost white bracts and light/purple flowers and finally one which has deep/pink bracts with dark purple flowers in much the same colour combination as the common Tillandsia cyanea.

I couldn't find anywhere whether it's a night or day bloomer but judging by what you say about your plant, I would hazard a guess that it is a night bloomer and the reason why the flowers look different in the morning is that during the night they have been pollinated by insects and are now in decline and on the journey to start building a seed capsule. A lot of the patterned leaf vrieseas are also night bloomers and in these cases the hybridisers use head torches so they can have both hands free to pollinate the flowers. If possible could you get another pic of your flower at night before it's pollinated.?

I love the pic of the spectacular white bat plant, it's amazing. Does it last very long or is it like a lot of other spectacular flowers and die after just a couple of days?

The little Rock-rat is looking a bit worried, it's a pity you can't speak his language and reassure him you're not about to harm him.

As for your last picture, what sort of grass is that, is it a type of Kunai grass as experienced by our troops during the Second World War in New Guinea? Sorry about all of the questions, but I just find the subject matter so interesting.

Wendy – That's a good idea about Ian's pups except that Johnny would put them on your sales tables at one of your shows. Ha! Ha!

I knew it, I knew it........ SALE + women = money spent. How did you honestly expect us all to believe that you and Jen were going to a brom sale just to “window shop” ….impossible! At least I'm glad Johnny was able to go in the afternoon and even the score a bit with some Vrieseas.

As for the colour variations in your and Shirley's Neo.'Chocolate', it may easily just be a “light thing” remember the light can vary in all parts of your yard as well as Shirley's and the only real way to compare the colour in the two plants is to grow them side by side at the same location.

Aechmea ornata var nationalis is a beautiful plant with beautiful flowers but oh how vicious are those spikes on the ends of the leaves, I reckon they could almost go right through your arm if you fell on one; and the non-variegated Ae. ornata is just as vicious.

Time to go and get ready for the grandson's party. All the kids are going to dress up as super heroes and when I was asked what I was going as I said I'd just go as an old man with no hair!

Just to further demonstrate what I said about the effect of light on plant colours, Pic's1 and 2 are both my Neo.'Break of Day' plants and are from the same mother plant. They are growing in the same shade house with one on each end of the same bench. Pic's 3, 4 and 5 depict Neo. 'Burgundy Moss' grown by three different growers in three different locations; look at the different colours in those..

All the best, Nev.

Hi Nev,we are doing good thanks for asking.I hope everything your way is good as well.It was a lovely day today.The wild flowers are growing and the trees are starting to put leaves out again.I was raking the yard today.Still have some to go and then it will be time to start mowing.Well take care.


Lovely pics everyone!!!!!!


Good Day

Cody

sorry Nev once again I forgot to get your seedling pics. we had a couple come to look at the motorhome late yesterday afternoon and will be back in a couple days so I had to put the day into cleaning it out. anything we wanted to keep had to come out and the rest cleaned. It was like an oven in there even with all the windows open. just no breeze when you are inside a shower or a cupboard cleaning.

the new area down the back that Johnny has been working on is coming together nicely. it's looking good and I can't wait to start putting plants in there. lots of new shelves to fill. we're not going to put the totems back in as the wind just dries those plants out too much. He tapped into the large water pipe that runs up one side, along the back fence and down other side. anyway we now have a tap with 4 way splitter on the leg of the shelf along the back fence. he plans to put a shadecloth roof on the new area just to stop the leaves falling into the plants. the sprinklers will then run on the roof structure.

after I finished the motorhome today I cleaned up all he pitcairnias, topped up the pots with new soil and a scoop of fertilizer and some top dressing of spent orchid mix. then returned them down to new area. they look so much nicer now. I wish I had access to the photos on my big computer so I could share some. I've downloaded all the pics from the camera onto here but there is so much sorting to do and naming. I have to listen to the audio file attached to each pic to find name and rename the file and drop into the relevant folder.
I've attached pics of my androlepsis skinneri flowering a while back. I would have liked to collect seed and grow some but apparently they are either males or females and you need one of each to pollinate so we'll have to still to growing pups of these. sorry about the sideways view but it always turns them round for me. don't know why.

Night all. I need some sleep.
Wendy

This message was edited Mar 2, 2014 10:52 PM

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post tonight as it is already after midnight.

Wendy, sounds like you got a good haul at the brom sale, and Johnny too. We didn’t make it over there, just ran out of time. So many things on the go on the moment, need a few more hours in the day.

Nev, hope you enjoyed your grandson’s birthday party.

Hi to Jean, Cody, Teresa, Ian, tropicbreeze and Trish.

Old file pics tonight –

Pic 1 – neo Wally, pic 2 – neo Mini Me, pic 3 – neo Macho Splotcho, pic 4 – neo Screaming Tiger

G’night, Shirley

Good morning everyone I'm here but my post just up and disappeared I haven't got time this morning to re-write. Will try to get back later. Colleen

Hi everyone - Well the weekend's over and the rain stayed away and we had a beautiful sunny day for my grandson's birthday party and a great time was had by all; even “Spider Man” (and friend) who dropped in for a visit.

Time to get back onto the reno. once again as it's a nice fine sunny day, so straight after breakfast I'm into it and hopefully no distractions this time. Yesterday before I went to the party I went around the yard with the camera and just took random shots of “colour” and once again I came across a nice surprise. A couple of days back I had noticed what looked like a white/blue inflorescence coming out of the centre of a plant I previously though was a Neo. I had used as a “fill in” between a couple of Alcantareas. Much to my surprise when I looked again yesterday this inflorescence had grown to about 12” since I last saw it and it looks like it could be a plant of Ae. 'Shelldancer'. I know I have a plant of this but never knew I had two, so a nice welcome surprise.

I thought we might have had more reading this morning but I see there's still quite few who have been too busy over the weekend to post. No doubt we'll hear from them in time.

Cody – Sounds like “spring has sprung” with the trees putting out new leaves and the wild flowers popping up. What sort of wild flowers do you have there?

Wendy – Today I was looking forward to seeing the seedling pic's but again a “no show”; if you don't post them soon, I'll be too old to use the computer to see them. Ha! Ha!

It sounds like the new area that Johnny's working on will be very handy and an extra tap installed with sprinklers to come as well. I've always said I prefer to hand water (and still do) but I've been toying with the idea of putting in a few “misters” just so I can just give everything a brief misting each morning to freshen them all up. I guess I'm trying to mimic the evening and morning fog and mist they would get in their native habitat. Just when this will happen is anyone's guess, as this job is on the bottom of a very long list and possibly by the time I've gotten around to it I'll be too bloody old and weak to even turn on the tap!

I can't work out how your pic's keep coming out sideways. Are they the right way up when you load them from your camera? If so it's obviously a DG problem, or the way you're holding your mouth at the time. Ha! Ha! Why don't you tell DG about it by using the “contact us” box at the bottom of the page. I've contacted them quite a few times since I've become a member and found them very quick and helpful.

If the pic's are the right way up when you're posting them, the other thing I would be inclined to try would be to rotate them anti-clockwise by ¼ turn before you post them and see what happens then.

Shirley – It seems you're like the rest of us and finding the days aren't long enough to get everything done. I shudder to think what will happen during the winter months when the days are shorter still, but then we'll have daylight saving again by then which will help things out. I mean you must be really very busy when you weren't even able to fit in a trip to a brom sale; anyway, think positive and look at all of the money you saved.

Nice pictures you've posted once again and I can't help being drawn toward the pic of that unusually coloured Neo.'Mini Me', please put my name on the list for a pup “Pretty Please”, I think it's a great looking little plant which I just must have.

It seems it's unregistered as I can't find it on the register, and that gets me asking the question of why would anyone with such a differently coloured mini Neo. to anything else I've ever seen give it a name but not take the time to register it as it's certainly different and worthy of the name being recorded on the register.

The colouring reminds me very much of a standard sized Neo. I've seen on this site (I think posted by yourself or Trish) but I just can't bring the name to mind....The “CRAFT CLUB” is the problem you know.

You've done a good job of flowering the other three plants also but I'm a bit puzzled why I've never seen Neo.'Wally' before as the picture on the BCR and FCBS was taken by Jarka Rehak who although is not from our local area, he and his wife are long time members of our brom. society.

Neo 'Macho Splotcho' is nice also and this plant is a hybrid from Peter Tristram who is another Queensland hybridiser. The crossing is Neo.'Macho' x 'Predator', and although I can understand the Macho” part of the name, it's the 'Splotcho' part than has me wondering where it came from.

Finally, Neo. 'Screaming Tiger', a great little Neo which was bred by Sharon Petersen of Hawaii from a crossing of Neo.'carolinae 'Tricolor' and Neo ampullacea. Once again you've done it proud with the great colouring you've managed to get.

Colleen - Sorry to hear about your post and I can understand just how p...ed off you must be - "been there and done that". I know you shouldn't need to, but it looks like you'll have to start putting your posts on MS Word first and then cutting and pasting like I do, it really saves a lot of hassles.

Time to go again and today's pic's are all random shots I took around the garden yesterday morning starting with Pic's 1 and 2 of the mystery Aechmea which I think could be 'Shelldancer'. Pic.3 is an old 'Noble Descent' which although a bit battered, the colour is still nice, Pic.4 is just another of my many Neo. seedlings taken from a very crowded seedling area and just “plonked” in the garden until I can find somewhere better to put it to grow it properly and Pic.5 is “Spider Man and friends” from the party yesterday. When my daughter first talked about having “Spider Man” I said he would frighten the life out of the “littlies”; how wrong I was, and as you can see, when Spider Man and his friend sat down for pictures, the littlies were all over him like a rash.

All the best, Nev.

Hi Nev things maybe blooming, the cold is not over.I don't know the name of the wild flowers but they are purple and white.They pop up right before its mowing time.This week it will be in the 20's and 30's for the low and for the high it will be in the 40's and 50's.


It's great that the kids had a great time.

Good Day

Cody

Hi Everyone!

I am so way behind in reading everyone's posts so best I just start afresh otherwise I will get nowhere quick and better to start somewhere than not at all.

Life is still very hectic both at work and at home but our friends who were staying with us have now moved out and into their new home and we now have our freedom back which is nice as no matter how much you try not to break routine when you have visitors you still do and feel out of sorts in your own place and it is not as quiet as we usually like it.

Please bear with me while I get back into some normal routine as I am still very out of sorts at the moment as we try to get everything back on track. My work load at work has increased by half but I am not the only one that has been affected given all the people that have been let go.

To pick my spirits up I have decided to set-up a stall at one of our local markets in a couple of week’s time and try to sell some of my broms so have been busy potting up spare plants as well as other cuttings I have already established in pots such as heliconias and gingers. It is giving me something to look forward to and I have my tent, table and table cloth organised and just need to organise some colourful signage to hang in front of my table as a banner and then I am right to go. The main reason I decided to set-up a stall at the market was because I am finding it too time consuming at the moment to sell them in dribs and drabs and thought I might do better at the market to help free up some space around the garden to fill with more broms most likely he he and the money will come in handy for supplies. By preparing for the market I have already created some good space in the garden with over 50 pups already potted up for the market (no two alike).

Other than that we have been busy mowing lawns and gardening both at home and at our investment property that has just gone under contract which we are thrilled to bits about as this also will be one less thing on our mind as we have been greatly disappointed with all the Real Estates that have previously been our Property Managers who have really dropped the ball managing or property and the tenants that have resided there over the years.

Anyway I hope everyone is well and sorry I did not ask this in the very beginning, how rude of me.

We have a lot of wind here today but no rain as such but they say a low will come in by Friday so possibly lots of rain coming our way by end of week?

Anyway time to have a looksee and see if I have any pics I can share with everyone, I have not taken new pics in ages?

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone. Thought that I would try again tonight. Nev I haven't got a clue how to write in word then put it up here with "cut and paste" so I just hope this doesn't go into cyber-space too. The weather has been absolutely perfect here but they tell me we are in for some more hot days, Oh I do hope not. I have lots of buds on my Brugmansias including 2 USA ones and an UK cold one so it is very important that the weather stays mild for me. The USA ones I have been waiting about 3 years to flower for me. They have certainly taken their time. Lots and lots of pups coming on my Mummas that I have already de-pupped. what am I going to do? Maybe I'll have to do as Trish is doing and start selling at the markets. John my son, said to put some into my boot and take them around to the nurseries and see if they want them. The trouble with that is , I take them looking all nice and they put them into the shade and they loose all their colour or worse they stick them into the full sun and they get all burnt. I suppose, if I explain to them how to keep them looking nice in our weather and they don't heed my advice well that's their problem. Might have a look at some to take because I have to go to Berri on Thursday. Will let you know what happens. Glad the party went well and Spiderman turned up. Nev. Sounds as though they had a great time. Nev, of those Mr O'Dean seedlings 4 look as though they could be something, but all the rest seem to be just green. Time will tell I suppose. Thanks for offering me the Ralph Davis and the varigated Nutans. That's very generous of you Nev. Cody I'm glad that the weather is getting better for you over there, it is here too. Do you have a garden and what do you grow? Well everyone I must get moving again things still to do. Have a great night and see you tomorrow. Colleen

Hi all,I took some photos today and had a general look around, deleafed a few and not much else.
The first 4 pics show what has happened with the rot treatment, I just wish that I took pics from before. Hindsight doesn't make mistakes though. The bases are reasonably solid today not showing any signs of moisture but is showing a lot of shrinkage and drying out. I have kept them dry for the last couple of weeks. Maybe this week-end I will give the bases a drink but not a heavy one.
The tops are also looking good and are showing signs of healing. The larger one has sap oozing through where I would expect roots to form. Maybe I can sit these top[s on some potting mix and put some water in the vase on the week-end.
Trish Welcome back, hope things settle down for you now.
Hi Cody, The seasons are changing here too, the excessive heat has reduced and it is more temperate here now. We had a light shower this morning and fine for the rest of the day.
Hi Nev, I see that you are downsizing like the rest of us. It is working well. You have fantastic colour in Neo Noble Decent.
Colleen sometimes when I lose a post, usually this is because I go look at a previous share and forget to either use a right click and open on a new page, that I can't wright on until I close it or it is because I write a bit and then leave it open and go do something and come back and the site has been lost on my computer. I can avoid this by highlighting my text and copying it. Have a good one.
Shirley I just love that mini Nei mini Me, it is on my wish list now as well as Screaming Tiger.
Wendy how do you tell the difference in Male or Female androlepsis skinneri if the y are not flowering. I have one that flowered last year but have no idea whether it is male or female
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 5 some seedlings

Hi everyone.
Nev here's some seedling pics for you. these are some of my billbergias. I think I sent you some of these too. they are all hellicoides billbergias but from 2 different plants. The first 2 are the same grex but third one is different. In the group pic the pot on the left is the original plant and these are the pups from original mum in the middle. the silvery seedling is from the seed collected from this original plant. the coloured seedling was from seed collected from a helicoides at Carol Evan's place in Bundaberg. I thought the plant looked the same as the one I had collected seed from but these seedlings grew so much faster than my seed and of course different colouring to seedlings so not sure if they are a species or if something crossed onto the flowers in Carol's yard.
I'm working throught all the pics downloaded from my camera and I'll post some more tomorrow.

night all
Wendy

This message was edited Mar 3, 2014 11:41 PM

Hi Colleen,the weather was warm,but it has turn cold again here over night.I still live on my dads land.Even though he has 50 acres 90% is for horses.So I don't have a garden.I have not had a garden since '09 when I was married at the time.One of these years I hope to meet the right guy and maybe then I will be able to have a garden again.I am glad that it is cooling off for you.Take care!!!!



Hi Ian,i know you are not to thrilled about the weather changing down under.Just hang in their my friend.Take care!!!

Now the temp is 32F with a wind chill of 24F.






Good Day!!!!

Cody

This message was edited Mar 3, 2014 1:21 PM

This message was edited Mar 3, 2014 1:45 PM

Hello everyone.
I have a little time to read all the posts and admire the pics.
Hubby is sleeping still . I leave him to sleep when ever he wants as his body needs all the rest it can get to prepare for his op. We are on the waiting list but even though he knows there is a wait, it does get frustrating for him.

I had a long look at all my broms yesterday and I see pups poking through everywhere.
I moved a few out to the brom area from in the shadehouse.
I always keep any newly potted plants in the shadehouse for a while until they have settled in their pots.
I have 2 very large broms labelled as neo Beefsteak but they are very poor in color although very healthy. Probably grown in poor light.. I will post a few pics later, of them as they are now and how they look after being in the bright light.

i moved a few mini neos to a hanging basket together . I had them in a piece of large poly pipe but the birds kept picking the coconut fibre around them making the plants fall out. Now they should be okay .
I am still watching a couple of flower stems on the vrieseas but the very hot weather a few weeks ago has made the edges of the individual flowers all dry and burnt looking.
I have two vrieseas which are either Splenriet or Splendide. At the moment , although the foliage is slightly different on each, the flowers are looking the same.
I will post pics when they are out properly.

I have been wondering what to do with the brom area in winter as its hard to cover it in to stop any rain.
I think I will just hang some shadecloth in the front which is open . The rest is all shadecloth and the melaleuca tree will offer some protection from the cold. Even though all the walls are only shadecloth, they are walls of the adjoining shadehouses so offer more protection than if they were open to the cold wind.
I am hoping that the rain will not bother them too much and hopefully any really low temps will not affect them much either.
They did well last winter, even those I didnt cover so , fingers crossed for this winter.

Ian, I like the look of your androlepsis skineri.
I bought on ea while ago because it looke interesting but its only a very small plant and looks nothing like yours.
Maybe its a baby one. I'll find a pic I took when I first got it.
It looks a bit poor now because the main part has started to die off and the smaller bit is slowly growing.
I thought it was a mini type of brom when I first bought ti, but now I think its maybe a seedling one. From the FCBS, mine looks like a baby male plant.
I am a bit more careful in buying these days.

Trish, I hope you do very well with your stall. I wish there were more places around here for me to sell.
I guess a lot people associate broms with the tropics and never try them down here.
You will have lots of interest up there.

Shirley, as always your broms are looking exceptional. Its that resort you run for them...lol

Teresa, lovely pics of the show and now you can see that you can grow some of the different types of broms in your area.
Hope Sugar is being a lovely lady.

Hello to everyone else. Hubby is awake so I will dash off to get him some breakfast.
No pics today except for the small androlepsis.

I hope you saw my pics of all the broms on the end of the old thread.

Keep safe..
Jean.

He everyone – Finally I had a day where I accomplished something without getting side tracked and was able to stick to the job in hand all day. I was able to finish cleaning up around the frog pond and reposition some plants so more light fell on the water and while I was moving an old bit of log I found two frogs hiding beneath it. I don't know what sort they were as I haven't seen them before and the Frog Man who came to our meeting on Saturday didn't show pictures of them either. They were about two inches long, a light brown in colour with a nice yellow/orange stripe down each side of their bodies. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture as they were very shy and as soon as I exposed them they jumped in the pond, swam to the other side and hid under another bit of timber. When I looked closer at the pond I see there are dozens of tadpoles swimming around so it seems it suits them OK as it is and I won't have to relocate it after all.

I managed to get all of my Ae orlandianas and Ae. nudicaulis and nudicaulis hybrids hung up where they can be seen better and today's job consists of levelling the ground beneath them to accommodate some of the larger potted plants. Unfortunately the job will be interrupted as I broke a tooth in half last night and have to go to the dentist at 11 to get it fixed. I was a bit concerned I would have a long wait for an appointment but fortunately they had a cancellation so I can get something done about it before it starts aching and when I get home I can continue on with the work.

Cody – I've just now remembered that your temperatures are Fahrenheit and not Centigrade like ours and when you talk about temps of 20 degrees F they are equivalent to our -6 degrees C and even 50 degrees F is still only 10 degrees C and much colder than even the worst winter temperatures I get here. I'm afraid it's much too cold for me thank you very much, so best that you and Alex “rug up” and stay warm, that's all I can say.

I see in your last post you say, “Now the temp is 32F with a wind chill of 24F”. Wow! Even without the wind chill factor, that's Zero degrees C and much too cold for me.

Trish – What a pleasure it is to see you back posting again, and I completely understand where you are coming from with how your visitors would have interrupted the normal routine in your home. I know when my son and his family come over here for just a three week holiday each year from Bali, although we love to see them so much, it still alters the way everything is done around the place and our normal routine goes “up the spout”.

What you say about your work seems to be the norm these days where the employers wring every last drop of work out of the employees due to staff cuts and without any improvement in wages or conditions for those left to pick up the remaining positions. Sooner or later with this added work load, mistakes start getting made and costing the employer money or the health of the employee suffers and results in more sickness related absenteeism. The employers need to realise they “can't have their cake and eat it too”.

I'll be interested to hear how you go with your market stall. It sounds like you have a good variety of different plants to sell so you should attract a variety of customers and not just those interested in brom's. Your mention of gingers and heliconias reminded me to tell you that one the remaining ginger you gave me is now over two feet in height and growing well, so well in fact I may have to relocate it to a position where it has more room to grow. I didn't know you grew heliconias also, so maybe I'll have to swap you something for one of them to try, that's if you think they would grow down here.

Your pic's are full of colour as always, and even though they aren't recent ones they are still very “easy on the eyes”. It seems you're like me and just don't seem to get the time lately to take any new pic's, however I'm gradually getting back on track as I expect you will too. It's a good job Shirley, Ian, Colleen and Wendy put up regular pic's to keep the show going.

Colleen – Firstly, do you have MS Word or a similar programme on your computer? If not there is a free programme you can easily download called OpenOffice.org3.4 which is what I use a lot of the time as I like it better than MS Word. It is compatible with MS Word and is very user friendly.

Most computers have MS Word anyway and to start, just click on the MS icon and a blank page will appear.

Type what you want to type and when finished, highlight the text you wish to transfer to DG (or anywhere else for that matter) by left clicking and holding down the mouse button and dragging the cursor until the relevant text is all highlighted.

Then just right click and select “copy” from the list of options available. (Think of it as now having transferred this text into your mouse). Open what ever site you wish to copy the info to (in this case DG) and move to the area where you normally type your post, (“Your Message”) and with your cursor within the margins of this area, right click on your mouse. Another box of options will appear and from this, just select “paste” and your text will be transferred.

After a couple of practices it's really quite simple; it must be because I can do it and I'm a “computer illiterate”.

I'd never heard of Brugmansias until I came onto DG and once I saw a pic, I realised they were the plants we call the “Trumpet Flower” here. I never realised they were so popular or varied as we only have the white or peach coloured one here. However they'd be no good to me as they'd take up more space than the brom's.

If your nurseries are anything like ours, I wouldn't waste your time taking pups to them as they usually only want established plants in full colour and “pay you peanuts” for them, and sell them at inflated prices. It might be more worthwhile advertising on the internet via a free advertising site called “GUMTREE” available in all states except N.T. I know Jen has used it successfully and it won't cost you anything to try.

Don't even give up on the plain 'Mister Odean' seedlings as the one I posted the pic of was a “nothing brom” for a long while, and narrowly avoided the green bin on a few occasions. Even if you grow them on and see what the pups are like, you may just get a nice surprise.

I know your pic only shows a small part of your garden, but it's a great collection of different varieties and colour, and very easy to look at.

As for the plants I was going to send you and Jean on Monday, what can I say except sorry; I got so wrapped up in the progress I was making on my reno. I completely forgot all about them. I'll send them next Monday for sure.

Ian – It's great you've kept a photographic record of the results of the treatment you gave your plants and very generous of you to share it with us all so we may lean as well.

Looking at the areas on the plants which were cut, they're looking good and pretty sound with no more signs of rot that I can see at this stage. It seems it hasn't affected the grass pup production either, in fact it may just encourage them to grow quicker. I don't know what further treatment you have in mind but I'll mention a couple of things I have tried successfully in the past with Neo's that had rotted off. These weren't my ideas but ones I read about on one of the international forums.

After I had cut away the rotted tissue and dried the bases sufficiently and was sure there was no further signs of rot, the time had come for them to be potted up again. I used both methods as described in the article I read.

1. I wrapped the base of one plant in sufficient fresh Sphagnum Moss (about a good hand full) to adequately cover the cut area and the base of the plant and then potted up in my usual potting mix. (I think at that stage it was just straight “Brunnings Orchid Potting Mix”.

The logic behind this treatment is that Sphagnum Moss has natural antiseptic/fungicide qualities. Wickipedia says: Sphagnum moss has also been used for centuries as a dressing for wounds, including through World War I. Since it is absorptive and extremely acidic, it inhibits growth of bacteria and fungi.

2. With the second plant I half filled the pot with potting mix and then topped up to three quarters with unwashed beach sand gathered from where the sea water washed over it daily. I sat the base of the plant on this and then topped off with my normal mixture. (I cut a piece of shade cloth to fit over the bottom half of the potting mix to prevent the sand from being washed away). The purpose of the sand is to aid good drainage and also as a vehicle for the salt. It's the actual salt that treats the rotted area but I don't know exactly what part the salt plays in the healing and preventing the re-start of the rot. All I have read is that it's been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine for treating many ailments including fungus diseases as well as bacterial infections; however it must be natural sea salt, not the processed salt we buy in the shops.

The final result of both trials was that both plants recovered and produced a healthy root system, however the progress was much quicker with the Sphagnum Moss and the root system much more substantial than the plant treated with the salt.

As for the plant of Nobel Descent I posted, it was put in an area exposed to full unprotected sun temporarily during the previous winter and I had meant to re-locate it and forgot. It went right through summer in this area including a couple of heatwave days with the only damage being a couple of burns on two of the leaves. I did find out though that this is one very tough brom.

Your seedlings are looking good mate; all neat and tidy with room to grow, not like mine all out grown their pots and blocking the light from their neighbours.

Wendy – There's some nice barring on the seedling in your first pic, but oh look at those prickles!

What is the larger plant at the rear of the group shot with the red name tag? It doesn't have the tubular shape of the other Bill's and the colour's different as well.

My other question is, what did you do to the last pic to get it the right way up? You just have to do the same to all the others now and the “sideways problem” is solved.

That'll do me for today and to days pic's are some of the progressive shots of the “reno”. Pic.1 shows the clean-up almost complete, Pic.2 shows some of the Ae nudicaulis and nudicaulis hybrids hanging in their new home, Pic.3 shows the Frog Pond almost finished, Pic.4 shows some more Ae nudicaulis and Ae. pinelina plants and Pic.5 show my Ae.orlandiana collection.

All the best, Nev.

Hi Nev,LoL!!! I will not be doing to much rugging up tonight.One of my dads horses is waxed up and she will have the baby tonight in 28 degree weather.So I am not to thrilled about freezing my buns off tonight.Yeah you are blessed that you don't have to deal with the cold we get.LOL!!!!


Alex has been visiting his dad.He comes home tomorrow for a few days then he will go visit again then he will be home for awhile

I hope your appointment goes good!!!!!


Good Day

Cody

This message was edited Mar 3, 2014 7:21 PM

This message was edited Mar 3, 2014 7:28 PM

Hi all another day with nothing done outside, I didn't feel like doing anything after work. Just some pics tonight.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Ae Fosters Freckles
Pic 2 Neo Maya
Pic 3 Neo Tangarine past its prime and losing colour
Pic 4Vr Red Chestnut

Hi all.
Ian we put a neo maya into the garden next door when we created it and it is stunning in full sun. the colours are spectacular and no sign of burning.

Nev I love all your different nudicaulis. there's some really nice and different ones there. Same with the orlandianas. I have a couple batches of seedling of orlandiana growing nicely now. I collected seed from snowflake and rainbow but I've seen a batch of snowflake seedlings grown by someone else and the colours were from white through to black so I should get some lovely plants (or I hope to).

Nev I didn't see a log in your pond for the frogs to climb out so just a tip they can't jump in water and need a ramp. Our frog pond has stripey marsh frogs. they look a bit like a toad but much smaller and they click not croak. sometimes it sounds like a room full of kids clapping their hand one after another. we do have some small green ones also that make like a kissing sound. not sure of the name but we call them sweetheart frogs. Nev there is a database on frogs. If I can get the big computer to work I'll send you the link. or you could try a google search or frog database and see what you can get.

Nev that group pic are all billbergia seedlings. the one at the back with the red tag is a helicoides billbergia but obviously different to the others. I was trying to find the ID for mine when Jen and I did a brom crawl to Bundaberg and there in the garden at Carol Evans place was a billbergia that I thought was same as mine. Carol kindly plucked a seed pod and gave it to me to bring home and plant. The seed from this one grew so very much faster that the ones I had been growing for a long time and as you can see the one from Carol is so much bigger than the others I had growing for so much longer and they look totally different in colour and patterning. the whole lot are all coming out the same colouring, shape and size so they must be a species. when I get one flowering I'll try to get an ID.
My pics tonight are all sideways sorry. Pic 1 is the infloresence of androlepsis skinerii, Pic 2 is catopsis subulata and Pic 3 is the whole plant of andolepsis. sorry about the rotating and I apologise for the sore necks from turning left and right. Nev I think some photos I turn the camera to get a long thin pic rather than short wide one. it is good for fitting in taller plants like billbergias. this makes the uploaded pic on its side. even though I rotate them in my folders DG uploads them turned back the way they started.

I'll go and upload some new pics now and share them tomorrow night.

Wendy

Hi everyone – Well the trip to the dentist went well yesterday with the problem all fixed up and what's more it never cost me a cent as my little Chinese dentist who I've been going to for over thirty years said he was happy to just take what the Medical Fund paid. He always treats me this way, even with expensive things like caps or crowns and yet I know of others in the same fund with the same amount of cover who go to other dentists and there's always a gap fee to pay; sometimes a very substantial one,I guess that's just called GREED!

Needless to say when I got home the day was half gone so instead of working on the "reno." I spent the afternoon potting up some Ae. orlandiana pups; so I can now cross another well over due job off the list of things to do.

Cody – I hope your Dad's horse delivered the foal OK and you weren't too cold while it was all taking place. I'll bet the little foal wanted to get back inside mum when it felt how cold it was.

Ian – Thanks to your pic's I've just found a name for a NOID I've had for years. I bought this strange spotted looking Aechmea at the markets years ago just because it looked a bit different to anything else I have. It's grown well over the years and I've taken off several pups, but it's never flowered; I didn't really worry about this as I liked it for its foliage, but now you've given me a name and I've been able to look it up I see that it also has a terrific inflorescence as well. What's more it come from a pretty unusual crossing of Ae. fendleri x Ae. orlandiana and no doubt it's the orlandiana that give it the spotted pattern. I guess it's time to try some different light levels and try to get it to flower for me.

Although I've seen some nice pic's of Neo 'Maya' when it's in full colour, it just doesn't seem to perform very well down here; and it's not just me either, as I know of several other growers who have got rid of it due to the “wishy washy” colouring. I guess it needs that good northern light to do really well.

Although your Neo.'Tangerine' is past its prime and losing colour, the “up side” is that soon the new pups will be poking up their heads getting ready to start another life cycle.

In your last picture, what's the very tall plant with the nice silvery/grey/green leaves which has obviously fallen over because it's top heavy? It seem like you're growing them so well they are “jumping” out of their pots.

Wendy – My nudicaulis collection consists of the usual ones such as, 'Zebra', 'Aequalis', 'Costa Rica', 'Xavanthe', variety aureorosea, variety cuspidata, variety flavomarginata, 'Giant' (unreg.) and several NOIDS.

All of the lighter coloured ones without markings on their leaves are hybrids from seed I harvested from 'Aequalis' a few years back. I had nothing to do with the pollination so it was “Mother Nature's Little Helpers” who were responsible. The year I harvested the seed pods, I think every flower had been pollinated and according to all of the “international forum experts”, this was not uncommon, as this particular plant was a well known “selfer”. Seeing it was a particular favourite of mine I decided to sow the seed and get some more for stock to sell as it's always a popular plant.

The germination rate was so good I threw away three containers of seedlings as I think every seed germinated. I thinned them out and grew on about fifty or so of the strongest plantlets but as they grew so did my disappointment as the leaf colour remained without the typical 'Aequalis' leaf markings.

The leaves were all plain colours ranging from pale green through to ones with a pinkish tinge through them as well as a couple which were an interesting silvery/pale green colour with pale barring on the underside. They grew rapidly and it wasn't long before they flowered with a range of various coloured flowers none of which were the bright yellow usually associated with nudicaulis.

The form of the inflorescent appeared more like a cross between that of a naudicaulis and a gamosepala with some having the typical brightly coloured bracts of the naudicaulis and others without them. As the plants grew they quickly filled the pots with multiple pups and it was then I realised that although they weren't what I had wanted, they may still have something to offer.

The main distinguishing feature of a typical nudicaulis i.e. the “thumb indent” at the leaf base was absent on every plant so I knew they had to be hybrids, but just what was the other parent? When I thought about it, gamosepala was the only other Aechmea in flower in my yard at that time, and knowing full well how it likes to breed with almost everything, I'm now pretty sure that it was the other parent.

After giving away dozens of plants, the ones I have now finished up with are plants with plain coloured leaves of various shades which look quite nice when grown in a hanging position as the best leaf colour is seen when viewed from below and personally I think it is this feature which over rules the uninteresting flowers.

As for my orlandianas, well there are several named varieties such as 'Dark Knight', 'Dark Form', 'Touch-a-Pink', 'Stain Glass' and others I just can't bring to mind at present, but the Bower Birds stole all of the name tags so now they are all just Ae. orlandiana or Ae. orlandiana var. NOID and I have to wait until they are all fully coloured up again to try and sort out the “identity mess” and as you know the colours in orlandianas are quite variable so this might be a bigger job than it seems.

That's a good point you make about the bit of log in the pond and it was only the day before when I saw the frogs swim to the far side of the pond and drag themselves out over the edge that I realised that if the water level was down a bit, they wouldn't be able to do this, so now I know what the first job on the agenda is this morning.

I was surprised when you said the plant at the back was a helicoid type as any I have which are of that type are all tubular shapes and grey/green in colour Violacea, Zebrina and Rosea are three that come to mind (For anyone not knowing what a helicoid type is, its a type of Billbergia where the petals of the flowers are wound up and look like a coiled up watch spring see Pic.1) The seed capsules on these types usually look different to the normal Billbergia capsules as they much bigger and are a silvery colour and hang on the plant for some time and are another attractive feature of the plant (Pic.2) The third difference is that I have found they always seem to germinate faster and grow quicker than the usual types of Billbergia seed.

Time to go again and today's Pic.1 is of a typical helicoid flower and in Pic.2 the silvery looking bit behind the flower is the seed capsule just starting to swell, eventually it will look like a rough silvery ball as wide as it is long. Pic.3 is a view of some of my Billbergias on the bench in the background and hanging on the left Pic.4 and 5 are a couple of nice variegated Neo's I took while on my garden ramble the other morning.

All the best, Nev.

Hi Nev,he was born last night around 11:45.It was cold out their to but as long as it was for a good reason it was worth freezing my buns off.When you are helping to bring something into the world.It was almost 3 this morning by the time I was in bed,but I still got up a few times during the night to go out and make sure the baby was eating.I had to hold the mare while the baby could eat,because its only her second baby.She is letting him eat now without anyone having to hold her.He is very friendly to,he will come up to ya when you go in the pen.I am going to try and keep him tame to where he will stay friendly.Thanks for thinking about me though.Its very sweet of you.I should sleep good tonight.I will try and post a pic at the end of the week.Alex comes home in a few hours,so my time will be with him.They are out of school this week for Spring Break.Take care and love your pics.

Good Day

Cody

Hi everyone. Another beautiful day, a little breeze and blue sky. ahhhh. We were threatened with thunder storm but all we got was some dark clouds that went away as quickly as they came. So glad that the little foal was delivered safely Cody and is now settling in nicely. Have you got a lot of animals there? Oh Nev what a lovely Neo that no.4 is. What is it called? Thanks for the tips about how to save my post. I might try that if I loose any more. Not real good finding my way around here but have been shown {a million times] how to cut and paste so might be able to remember that now. I have word on here. Was looking around the SH yesterday and saw this nice brom. When I went to look at the name it has 2. one is Alcantrea imperious rubra and the other is Neo Tiger. Any hints which might be right?. The plant was given to me from a brom mate over here so I don't know how it got 2 names. Getting a bit late so had better find this pic and get to bed. Have a great one. Colleen

That is definitely not an alcant Colleen so my guess is it is neo tiger. In fact I think you've sent me a pup of that as I took a pup off one this week.

Cody so glad your foal was born safely. I would have thought you'd be sleeping in this morning to make up for the sleepless night but I guess with Alex due home you would be too excited to sleep. Make up for it tonight hey.

Nev I'm so observant I didn't even notice the coiled petals on the helicoides bills. I just thought the distinguishing feature was the nice plump round seed pod. That's why I was able to harvest those seeds when I didn't know how to get them from other billbergias until a grower explained it to me. I think I've only ever grown that one helicoid billbergia through to a seed pod. Now I have the 2 lots of seedlings plus 2 pups of rosea that you sent me Nev. Now I have to look forward to a flower to check out that coiled petals.

I've bought some nudicaulis seedlings from Genny Caitlan last year. I love the way they grab onto anything and climb it. there were some really nice colours in Genny's so I'd just grab one that caught my eye and she'd pull a pup off for me. I think I bought home about 5 or 6 different ones. Once I get a few pups on each I'll get Johnny to put a pup or two up in the trees.

I've also got a few different coloured orlandianas Nev. The variegated one goes as soon as we put them out on the sales tables as does the black beauty and rainbow ones. we have a rainbow and a black beauty in a totem ring on the supports for the shadecloth roof out the front. we have the rings pushed up as high as they will go on the pipe so he plants sit above the shadecloth and the fence. they can be seed as the cars drive past. the number of times people come in and ask for "one of those red or black plants I can see from the road". so I can't wait for my batch of seedlings to get big and colour up. I bought a couple of full sized seedlings from another grower we visited and even though they were both from snowflake one was very black while the other was only dark. we gave one to our son and kept one for us. So if mine turn out anything like the ones I saw at Brenda's I'll be happy.
can't upload pics tonight. don't know why. I'll post and then see if I can pick some.
Wendy

no it won't let me upload pics tonight. might have to close down and reopen.

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone is well and enjoying good weather and lots of brom time.

Nev, I have added your name to the neo Mini Me pup list. It is a lovely plant and is one I got from the Olive Branch. I haven’t had any pups as yet and will probably keep a couple myself. I think it looks like a small neo Lorena. I don’t know where the Splotcho in Macho Splotcho came from … maybe ‘cos it’s splotchy ??

Trish, gee you were busy enough before, how will you cope with a 50% increase in your workload ... no wonder people have work related stress problems. Good luck with your market sale, wish we lived closer.

Colleen, I hope your weather stays mild and you get to see your Brugs flowering. I think selling at the market is a great idea … I know I can’t go to a market without returning home with several new broms. It’s the early start that stops me even considering setting up a stall to sell my plants.

Colleen, your brom isn’t alcantarea imperialis rubra, looks like a neo I have called Baker’s Tiger. I’ll see if I can find a pic.

Wendy, those are nice billbergias in your pics … I love bills with teeth. What did you buy at the Wavell Heights sale.

Jean, we haven’t progressed much with the new area of the brom resort, there always seems to be something else that takes priority.

Cody, your new baby sounds so beautiful. Enjoy your Spring Break with Alex.

Hi also to Ian and Teresa.

Now to find some pics … old ones, I’m afraid.

Pic 1 – Vr Speckles X Milky Way, pic 2 – Vr Franklin Forest F2 – pic 3 – Vr Heiroglyphica hybrid, pic 4 – Vr Platynema hybrid, pic 5 – neo Baker’s Tiger

Bye for now, Shirley

Pics of the baby

Hi Colleen,thanks he is settled into the world.He eats like every 15 minutes.I think he eats more then he sleeps,and he is just a day and a half old.We have 6 horses counting the baby.Another baby is due in a month so that good.So we only have horses and two dogs all together.Take care.


Hi Wendy thanks,i did get lots of sleep.I slept until noon yesterday our time,because I got up a few time during the night to make sure he was eating.Alex didn't get home until 6 yesterday evening.Thanks for thinking about me,that was also sweet of you.Yes,i was so ready for alex to get home.Take care.


Hi Shirley thanks,yes he has a chestnut color on him.I posted somes pics of him above.He will be gone again tomorrow,so I will chat with y'all folks tomorrow my time.

Love every ones pictures!!!!

Good Day!!!!
Cody

Hi everyone – Had a pretty good day yesterday and got a fair bit done in the morning. I set up some old cut down polystyrene boxes to make a low bench along the wall of the shade house opposite the frog pond, so that material has now been re-cycled twice. I relocated quite a few plants from one of the over-crowded benches in the shade house to the new area also so that will give some of my better plants more space and room to breathe.

All was going well until about 2.30 when we copped a hell of a thunder storm and the rain really pelted down for about ten minutes, so that put a stop to my work for the day. It didn't last long but the ferocity of the rain was sufficient to drench everything and make any more work impossible. I'm not all that worried though as I'm well and truly getting on top of this “reno.” now and should have it finished on Friday.

I won't get anything done here today as it's the day I go to the museum, so just office work today and then back into the brom work tomorrow.

Cody – Pleased to hear the birth went well. It's a beautiful looking little foal and it's good to see it doing what comes naturally. You must be a proud Surrogate Mum, Ha! Ha! It's great to share a very special bond with animals.

Colleen – It seems they got the weather forecast wrong yet again and we got the storm you were promised. Don't be too disappointed though as it only lasted for about ten minutes and mostly just a lot of noise and lightening and just enough rain to make everything wet and unpleasant to work with.

I realised as soon as I posted that pic that someone would ask the name and I meant to look it up and forgot. I think it's one of the many plants from the “Aussie Dream” grex, but I'll check later and let you now tomorrow.

As for typing on MS Word and then cutting and pasting – why don't you either file my instructions or print them off so you have them for future reference if you have more problems with D.G. eating your posts?

Your plant with two names is definitely not Alcantarea Imperialis Rubra, it is a Neoregelia. I'm not familiar with a plant called Neo.'Tiger' and when I looked it up on the BCR I see there isn't a 'Tiger' registered either. What I did find is that there are 10 different plants with their names starting with “Tiger” however none of which looked like your plant.

I decided to also look on the FCBS site while I was at it, and found there are two plants listed there as “Tiger”; there's Tiger (Skotak – 3661) and Tiger (Baker – 3662). From here I went back to the BCR and see these plants are listed separately as 'Skotak's Tiger' which we should all be familiar with and which is a large plant with a distinctive “tiger” pattern and colours with prominent spikes. Secondly there is also a 'Baker's Tiger which is entirely different and has some similarities to 'Lambert's Pride'. Although the colour is different to your plant, it does also have similar semi-concentric markings and it's just possible the difference in colour is due to light quality.

Was your plant grown in bright light or low light? Without waiting for your answer, I would say at this point that your plant could be Neo.'Baker's Tiger'.

Wendy – There's certainly no problem distinguishing the seed capsules on the helicoid Billbergias as they shine like “silver balls” about 1/2" in diameter, but as I said, all of my plants are the boring grey/green colour with the tall tubular shape, although some of the Bill. 'Rosea' seedlings have some nice barring. I will be interested to see the flowers on that coloured seedling which came from seed collected from a helicoide type Bill. at Carol Evan's place in Bundaberg to see if it's a helicoid type like the mother plant

Like you say, the Ae. nudicaulis are excellent subjects for mounting on trees as are Ae. orlandiana plants. I find the orlandiana a bit tricky to identify as they go through so many colour changes on their way to maturity. In fact I have one plant which when its about adult size just appears as black markings on a green plant but when fully mature it's almost completely black and I can't remember whether it's 'Dark Knight' or 'Dark One' as unfortunately many of these varietal names are just “pet names” and are unregistered. Maybe we'll, have to compare some pic's in the future with a view of swapping some different plants with each other; same with the nudicaulis.

Too bad DG won't let you post pic's today, maybe you need to contact them and speak to Melody to find out what's wrong.

Shirley – Thanks heaps for adding my name to the Neo 'Mini Me' list and all I have to do now is anxiously wait for it to pup. Maybe you could give it a bit of IVF treatment to help hurry things along.

As for the Neo. 'Macho Splotcho' being named after splotches, I'd thought of that, but going on the pic on the BCR where it is registered, it only had a few not very well defined spots and certainly nothing we could class as blotches and I though there may be some other reason.

I must say I'm pretty “chuffed” when I read what you say about Colleen's plant looking like a Neo you have called 'Baker’s Tiger'. I have a swelled head now as it seems my detective work was right on the money. …........................A man's gotta be right occasionally.

Your building project is sounding like the work on my “reno” hard to get started and when I do, keeping up the momentum without any interruptions. How's Michael's back coming along? Probably building new tunnel houses isn't the best thing he could be doing just now so best to wait a bit longer until it's properly better..........................What' happened? ...................................

...................................Well it's 7.20am and Dave's Garden has decided it wants to shut down and won't let me open it again so I'll have to pick this up later. I just checked again and it's now 7.32 and I still can't open D.G. so hopefully, I'll finish this when I get home from the museum this afternoon.

Back again finally; it seems like the Gremlin's gone at last and I can once more open and read the posts.

Back to Shirley again - Although the pic's of your Vrieseas are ones we've seen before, they still make a nice change from Neoregelias every day. I like your pic of Baker's Tiger although I don't recall seeing that one before.

Finally a big “Get Well Soon” to anyone on the sick list also a “Hi” to anyone who hasn't had time to post due to other commitments.

Time to go again and I'll finish today with some pic's of Neo's I took the other day when I went a bit “snap happy” after the storm.

All the best, Nev.

PS Colleen -The name of that Neo. you asked about is Neo. 'Dream Baby' and it was a nice surprise I once got from Tash and Jason.

Hi Nev,i had a chance to get on here for a minute.Thanks it is nice to be able to bond with them from birth.Their are some babies that will not let you rub on them,some come out wild,even when I try to tame them.This one is loveable he will come right up to me.I guess because I was around him when he was born.Rubbing him dry and making sure the fluid was out of his nose.He was chewing on my finger earlier today.I guess I am his chew toy.It's a good thing they are not born with teeth.

Good Day

Cody

nice looking colt Cody, I like the distinctive blaze he has.
The appaloosa site I visit just had a filly with the most unusual splotchy markings along her neck as well as very nice white blanket on her rump.

Hi Everyone!

Just got home, what a big day we have had, anyway at least we have the weekend just around the corner to look forward to. When I have a little more time up my sleeve over the weekend I will respond to everyone's posts but just not enough time tonight and my eyes are ready to fall out of my head.

Looks like we are in for lots of rain over the weekend but hopefully I can sneak out into the garden to get a bit done with my broms.

There are a lot of snakes around at the moment with the wetlands filling and we are finding them in our hedges and in the nursery, nothing that can kill you but still could make the dogs sick like tree snakes and whip snakes.

Anyway I will see if I can find some old pics to post of individual brom pics I have taken.

I look forward to chatting with you all over the weekend.

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 - Neo. 'Sam Smith'
Pic 2 - Ae. 'Fosters Freckles'
Pic 3 - Ae. 'Chantinii'
Pic 4 - Neo. 'Ink Spots'
Pic 5 - Neo. NOIDS?

Hi everyone.
Cody I love the pics of your little colt. he looks adorable.
I'm ready for bed already and I've only just got here. I had to help Hayden with his mathsletics on the computer. I feel sorry for any kids who don't have internet access at home as their maths homework is online. Hopefully now he understands how proper fractions and improper fractions work. He had no idea so I had to put my teachers hat on and remember how to teach that. He gives up too easy and thinks he can't do it. I could actually see in his face when he got it. I'll check with him again in the morning to see if it stuck.

We finished our reno today although Johnny will find something else to be done tomorrow. we are nowing cleaning plants to put in the area. I got some pics last thing this morning but I have to upload them so I'll share tomorrow night.

Pic 1 is orlandiana snowflake growing in a tree getting a lot of morning sunshine.
Pic 2 is orlandiana ensign the albomarginated version. I'll get a pic of the variegated one tomorrow.
Pic 3 & 4 is a new bigeneric I was given from Phyllis Hobbs. she wanted to know it was with someone who would look after it in case something happens to her. It's a nice discolour plant but I love the shape of the ifloresence.

NIght all, Wendy

Hi Teresa thanks.This is the first time that I have seen a marking on ones face like the way he has.In a way it does give him the edge like don't mess with me. LOL.He is a Thoroughbred horse.He will end up on the track being a race horse when it's time.


Hi Wendy thanks.Some time later I will go out and see him.I have to make sure I keep him tamed.If I stop messing with him,he will become wild and then he will not let know one around him.

Good Day

Cody

Hi everyone – Once more the end of the week is upon us so I have just today to finish off the current “reno” I'm working on if I'm to keep to my plan. Just mainly a bit of tidying up and finishing touches and replacement of plants and it's done – hopefully I'll have some “after” pic's as well.

Cody – I don't think your new foal looks on you so much as a “chew toy”, more like a “second Mum”.

Theresa – What a versatile girl you are, dog's, brom's and now horses. Nothing like a bit of variety.

Trish – Nice to see you've been able to fit a quick post into your busy working week, I'll bet you're looking forward to the weekends now more than you ever did before.

Lots of rain over the weekend may spoil your time in the garden but at least it will do the garden a lot of good and give you a chance to relax a bit and recharge your batteries. Your mention about the snakes in your yard (even if they don't have a fatal bite) and your concern for the dogs reminded me of what happened to a friend of mine down at Jasper's Brush where he has a farm on low lying land close to creeks and a bit of a swamp.

He was very concerned for his two year old son as they were seeing black snakes in the yard every week or so, it wasn't the same snake every time as they were different sizes and his wife (a city girl) was really starting to “freak out”. As they are both animal lovers and respect nature, he didn't want to revert to shooting the snakes (although it's illegal, when your child is at risk, legalities go out the window) but decided to look for a better alternative. As it wasn't just a “one off”, catching the snake and relocating it wasn't an option, as there were plenty of others waiting to take its place.

In the end he saw an add for some solar powered “snake repellers” in a gardening magazine and bought some, and he hasn't seen a snake in the yard since. (There are still plenty of snakes in the nearby paddocks around the swamp but not in his yard.

He is convinced these things work even though initially he thought they may have just been some sort of “sales gimmick”, so maybe they're worth trying in your yard as you're close to wet lands.

He bought them from a company that started out with non poisoning treatment for termites (the same as we successfully use at the museum), they then went into “mossie traps” and now these solar powered “snake repellers”. Probably worth checking out and details can be found at www.envirobug.com.au FREECALL 1800 858 977 …...I've sent you a D-Mail as well.

A nice variety of pic's you've posted this morning; Neo.'Sam Smith' I have (thanks to you) and it's growing very well and will mature next spring I expect, (and I can't wait), Ae.'Foster's Freckles' I also have and that came to me as a NOID from a friend in Victoria. Although it 's growing well and the spotted leaves are looking great, there's still no sign of a flower.

Ae. 'Chantinii' are some of my favourite plants, but unfortunately I can't grow them here as they don't like the cold winters. Fortunately I can still get my “fix” while ever you, Ian, Tash and some of the other “northerners” keep posting pic's of your plants

I love your plant of Neo. 'Ink Spots', it's one I don't have and one I've never seen down this way so I must ask you to put my name on your pup waiting list please. When I checked it up on the BCR just now I see it was imported into Australia from USA with just the formula name, Neo. smithii x Neo pauciflora, and as you can see both of these parents are species which proves there is still good options available to growers using species in their breeding programmes.

Neo.'Ink Spots' looks a bit similar in colour to Neo.'Blueberry muffin' and Neo.'Blueberry Smoothie' which are both hybrids produced by Lisa Vinzant of Hawaii. In both cases Neo. smithii was used somewhere in their breeding and it seems from this that smithii usually passes on its spotted colouring to its babies and the likeness is quite incredible. The interesting thing is that two different Neo. smithii hybrids were crossed together to produce 'Blueberry Smoothie' which surprisingly resulted in a plant with spineless leaves.

Finally your collage of NOIDS is nice and certainly a bit unusual colour-wise, but I have no idea of any names for them. I would be inclined to try one of the green ones in as much light as it can tolerate; just a “hunch”, but I think it could produce more yellow in the colour as I think there is a vague resemblance to Neo. kautskyi in the leaf patterns and there's always a possibility this may be in its breeding somewhere as there are five registered BCR hybrids using kautskyi as a parent and very likely there are many more which are unregistered.....Could be an interesting experiment.

Wendy – I feel sorry for kids today as there is too much reliance put on computers in schools and if they're not careful, instead of the student using the computer as just another tool to aid learning it will become so much of an obsession that the student will forget how to use the most important computer of all ..…. their BRAIN!

My grandson started pre-school seven weeks ago and already he has a half hour every week on the bloody computer. My next grandson started kindergarten this year and he uses the computer at school every second day and the third grandson who has just started second class (sorry “year 2”) uses one every day.

I was disgusted to hear that students are allowed to opt out of mathematics in year ten if they so desire and its' no longer a compulsory HSC subject; what ever happened to reading, writing and arithmetic? A lot of teenagers you see today can't write, they only print and if they are shown a hand written document they back away as though they were being given a spider to hold as they exclaim in disbelief, “I can't read this, it's running writing” as though it's some form of ancient hieroglyphics. As for reading, well they are all very proficient in the “texting language”, but give them a book in the English language and they're buggered!

I have a Primary School Headmaster living next door and he agrees, it's a disgrace the way the basic are being dropped from the curriculum and what's more he was embarrassed to admit to me that he has teachers in his school that never did maths past year 10, and some of these are teaching our kids and grand kids maths; I mean what chance the kids got? If all the computers in the country blew up tomorrow everyone would be buggered except "old farts" like me who can still do things the “snail way”.

See what you've done Wendy, you've got me back on my soap box again, and I was going so well too.

Nice pic's you've posted today and congratulations, you've only got one out of four sideways. Ha! Ha!

That's a nice plant of Ae. orlandiana 'Snowflake' you've posted there. I seem to remember that as being one of the plants I have, however at this stage there's none with that much white showing and that's what I meant yesterday when I said that the colours are constantly changing. Maybe I'll do a little experiment and select three different orlandianas, grow them in an area side by side and photograph them each month for a year and then compare the results and I'm sure that will substantiate what I'm saying.

Ae. 'Ensign' which is an albo-marginated form of Ae. orlandiana, is always a popular plant and I can sell them as fast as I can grow them. There is also a variegated form which looks like a reversal of the markings on the 'Ensign' and although quite popular, not so much as the albo-marginated form. A funny thing happened at out annual show last year when one of our long time members had an Ae.'Ensign' which grew an albino pup (I posted a pic previously). She cut it from the plant and tossed it in the bin and unbeknown to her, her husband retrieved it, potted it up and entered it in the show in the Aechmea section (as a joke). Obviously the judges disqualified it knowing what it was; but it proved the most popular plant in the show from the public's point of view and I'm sure almost everyone who saw it took a pic of it.

I'm always interested in bi-generic hybrids and the one you've posted is no different. What more do you know about its breeding, is it a Neomea? If so, do you know the parentage?

Well that's it for another day; best wishes to anyone on the sick list, and get well soon and we hope to see you back here posting again in the near future. Just for a change today I'll post five pic's of some of Peter Coyle's Vriesea hybrids from New Zealand, just to make you collective mouths drool.

All the best, Nev.

Love your foal Cody! i want a horse but dont have the room for one.