BROMELIADS FOR MARCH ....2014

Hi Nev,the friendly ones only chews on me.Just like one of the last babies one of them was a Filly and she was mean,so I never messed with her,because she was born mean.Love your plants.Take care.


Hi Bree thanks.It does take up a lot of room for them.My dad has big pens for them to be able to do their running.When the babies are born the mom and baby horse is put in a little pen,so the mare doesn't walk the baby so much.Take care.

Good Day

Cody

Hello all.
I am taking the time to get on the computer while hubby sleeps.He doesnt sleep well at night these days so I leave him sleep whenever he wants.
Besides , it gives me time to vanish outside and talk to the broms etc.
I took a few pics this morning .The day is a dull one so the pics may look a bit that way too.
I have told myself not to buy any more broms until all hubbys doings are over as I would not want to have any plants waiting in the mail while I am away.

Its been cold today and I am already looking at how to best protect the broms.
Finally I decided to go with what I decided a week ago.
Just leave them all under the shadecloth and tack a long piece to the open side.
They will have protection from the cold south winds as the shadehouses form the south and west walls. The north is sheltered by the shed wall and that only leaves the east which does have some trees but they will be leafless in winter so the shdecloth should do the job.
Last year I had plastic sheeting covering the broms on benches in the shadehouse, but having so many more over a larger area, that is not feasible .
They should do okay as the old ones in the top shadehouse survive all year round just under the cloth.

Nev, I meant to mention that you may want to watch the little fellow I sent labelled as neo Pemiento novar.
Once I potted the others separately, they look slightly different. One has definite spots all over .
and is a darker red than the others.
Still all pretty though.
I do like all your orlandianas together. I like the speckled look they have .
I only have 2 at the moment. One is very dark and the other much lighter. They are only labelled as oralndiana so I have no idea if they have other names.
They both have pups coming .the dark one has 2 a bright dark green and the other has a speckled one. The dark one has nearly always been in the shade but the other is out in very bright sun under shadecloth.
Once the pups are big enough, I will move them around to see what happens.
Your nudicaulis are lovely too. In your pic 4 of 4 march the pale pink in front and the striped green above and slightly behind caught my eye. May I ask to go on your list for pups ?

I am looking at using more hooks and moving things around so I can hang more than just the bills. In the shadehouse with all benches, I am looking at maybe trying to find some weldmesh to put along the walls above the benches to hand a few,
What I may do is what I did on one side and also in the old shadehouse. Hubby had some long pieces of of waterpipe . I suspended a couple from the crossbeams to give lots of hanging area. I could do that if hubby lets me cut the pipe shorter. There are solid uprights under the roof beams so they will hold the weight.

One question I do have in regard to hanging plants.
I notice that some of my bills are getting tall and the hangers get in the way of the leaves.
Bill. Red Raven is a great example as he is sticking up above the hangers and leaves are being pushed out of shape.
I have no other way of hanging the pots , just the usual bought plastic hangers.

Nev, you simply must stop teasing us all with the unreachable broms from Peter Coyle.
The ones in pics 3 & 5 are particularly lovely..

I noticed this morning that my aech Reverse Ensign has a pup coming.
I am watching all my varigates to see what they produce.

Shirley, your vr Franklin Forest is gorgeous as is the neo Bakers Tiger.
I see by your pics that you are still spoiling your broms with a stay at the brom resort...lol

Cody, beautiful pics of the new foal. Baby animals are always so hugable.

Teresa, I hope all is well over there now with the water going down. Your Ellerslie pics were beautiful.
I see broms making their way into your garden now..

Trish,I hope you ended up getting plenty of rest after you big day.
Hope your mum is doing well with her broms too. Its starting to get colder down here so she will want to get winter woolies ready for her brom babies..lol.
Lovely lot of broms in your pics too.
Hope your stall idea does really well.
I've given up any idea of selling broms locally.
Too far from anywhere and people seem to think all broms are tropical anyway...

Colleen, lovely broms you have there and I hope they appreciate the rain you had that never got here..lol...
Your yard looks inviting and a happy place for the boys to play.

Hello Tash, Ian and Wendy. Sorry I couldnt reply to every thread but I do get to read them all and enjoy all the helpful tips too.

pic 1...bill Red Behemoth in front of a pretty noid.

pic 2...neo Johannis de Rolf ... a beautiful specimen . my other one has very few stripes being mostly dark green .

pic 3... vr Angela...another lovely anniesam bromeliads plant

pics 4 & 5 ... two very nice vrieseas from anniesam.... You Beaut x Milky Way and You Beaut x Snows of Kosciusko...I am sure they will mature into beautiful vrieseas..

Jean

A few more pics.

pic 6....Shirley ...your neo Deep Regard has a pup coming . .. a surprise as it never flowered but did color nicely. Not as good as up your way but still very pretty.

pic 7...the orthophytums. Very slow growing but still nice plants.

pic 8...this shows how hardy some broms are. I tossed some old dead mums and leaves under the bench and now I have pups coming. As I didnt throw the labels out too, I have no idea what they are. I think one maybe bill Perriums Pride but will have to wait & see.

pic 9..I never get tired of admiring my vr White Chestnut. It was one of my first and still is a favorite.
I have seen it grow from a little green plant to its magnificent self now. The pic does not capture its size and beauty..

pic 10 ... a pretty neo I have admired for a while ...neo Bird Rock.

Jean.

Thanks Jean.

Cody - did the 'born mean' filly make a good race horse?
Top race mare Sunline was well known for being a stroppy cow, broke her strapper's collar bone & managed to kick & bite her way to the record books.

Horses were my first love - but being a state house kid with a solo Mum there was no chance of me having riding lessons let alone my own pony.
Made do with visiting the horses across the road.
Also combined horses with my love of gardening at age 8, filled my little plastic bucket with manure & dug it into my garden.
Mum was horrified but it was the start of a life long passion for growing things.

I love the spotty horses, dogs & plants :)

Hi everyone.
I had a bit of a fall today in the shopping area today. I got out of the car and turned to shut the car door and over I went. Landed on my side on my elbow but split my big toe open. Blood everywhere. Lucky the car door was still open cause I climbed up and into the car and said 'take me home'. when I hurt myself I usually pass out so I had to lie the seat back and recline all the way home. thought I'd be sick. I could feel the she full of blood but wasn't game to look in case it made me sick. Got a nice gash on the toe and might be broken it is throbbing so much. a few scrapes on the other leg and arm that I landed on and tonight the shoulder is a bit sore but my pointer finger on the scraped arm is very sore and the tip is numb. there's a bit of skin off it too. maybe it's broken also??? ah well. they'll heal. I've already kicked my toe on the bottom of the bed so I'll probably kick it a few more times over the next week.

Nev that snowflake is grown epiphytically in the tree. one of the pups is right beside that tree in a pot in a totem getting same light and is nowhere near as white as that. I show everyone the difference and use it to show that growing condtions and light will change the colour of a plant so if it doesn't look like ours in their garden try moving it or a pup to a different section of the yard and see what happens.

Nev I don't have any info on the neomea at all so no idea of name or parentage. I'm saying neomea based on the shape of the infloresence which is very similar to others we have flowering at present. I loved the discolour on the leaves of this one and the lovely purple flowers in the centre. I'm intrigued with the bigenerics at present also. I've bought some duds that turned out to be nothing but I've also got some amazing ones including xneomea munchkin which is a little stunner. another one called blazing torch is not bad if you can look down into the plant to see the blazing red torch shaped infloresence. but if it is at face level all you can see is the outside leaves. I also have a xtillvriesea called raspberry ice which is variegated. It's been growing bigger and bigger for years and hasn't flowered yet. It's probably chest high now so should flower soon. It's been there I the yard so long now we no longer look at it. So when we see that colour appearing it will be a surprise.

Oops just noticed I don't have the upload images button again so I'llpost this now and close and reopen to see if I can get it,
Wendy

pic 1 is guzmania sanguinea x wittmackii that I discovered flowering this week.
Pic 2 & 3 is another guz we found flowering. the label just says 'fantastic blush' not sure if it is the name or a description.
Pic 4 & 5 are a couple of lovely gingers flowering at present. the last says costas rubra and other is a NOID. Love the red infloresence with the big yellow flower.

Wendy

Hi everyone – Well at last the area round the frog pond area is finished. At least all the bits to do with brom's that is. I still have a little bit of prettying up to do around the pond itself yet with a few bits of moss and Maiden Hair Fern, but once that's done it's “all over red rover” and onto the next project..... now where did I put that list of jobs to be done?

Also, a big “Get Well Soon” to anyone on the sick list, I hope you're soon up and about and running on all cylinders. Hi also to everyone we haven't seen for a while; it would be nice to hear from you all again sometime if you can squeeze in a brief visit.

Cody – It's that initial contact that does it; I once got a pup that was the runt of the litter who no one wanted and it was going to be put down because it had a crooked tail. While I was looking at the litter, she came straight over and licked my hand and I rubbed her tummy. That was the start of a wonderful bond for fourteen years; she was a wonderful little dog who became a very important part of our family.

Jean – I wouldn't worry too much about your brom's, from what you tell us you seem to have everything in hand, and besides they are very resilient and very capable of looking after themselves.

I'll keep an eye on the Pemiento NOVAR pup you sent and it will be interesting to see what it matures into, as sometimes these NOVARS turn out completely different to what we expect.

I have found Ae. orlandiana to be a bit difficult to accurately identify with each one being just that little bit different to the next. Given that, plus the fact that the different degrees of light on them alter the colour dramatically; “name wise” they are really all locked up like a big can of worms as the great majority of plants with a varietal name haven't been registered and I think these names for the most part were just given by the growers for their own convenience.

I know I have several that I mentioned in a previous post ('Dark Knight', 'Dark Form', 'Dark One', 'Touch-a-Pink', 'Stain-Glass' ) and none of these are registered on the BCR these are just the names they carried when I bought/swapped them. Even the one Wendy mentioned yesterday called orlandiana 'Snowflake' isn't registered as such, yet it's been around for years under that name here in Australia. However, if it's the same plant that's grown in America its registered name is orlandiana 'Snowflakes' (plural). One letter can make a lot of difference when you're researching a name.

Even the BCR tells us that if there was the slightest variation orlandiana was given a “cultivar name” and also crossing and back crossing with Ae. 'Bert' (which is Ae. orlandiana x fosteriana) also gave many orlandiana “look-alikes” to confuse the issue even further. It goes on to say that “no doubt there have been others given these ‘fancy names’ but not registered”. We can only guess at how many there are and they are all lumped under the collective title of “Orlandiana Group”. But if you are to type “Orlandiana Group” into the “notes section” of the advanced search window of the BCR you will be rewarded with a list of eighteen extra orlandiana plants with varietal names currently registered; …......So there's your homework.

Jean, I think you mean Pic.4 on the March 3 post as the March 4 post were all Neo's. The pink one in the front isn't a nudicaulis, it's Ae. pineliana minuta, and the banded green one behind is Aechmea nudicaulis var. aequalis which was grown in “low light” (it has more colour when grown in high light but I like the contrast between the two colours)

I'm sure hanging your plants from a length of water pipe would be successful, but us “old blokes” who have learned by experience are dead against cutting a long length of anything unless it's an absolute last resort because you can guarantee that within a week or two you'll find you need that long length for a job and the bit that's left won't long enough..... Murphy's Law!

In regard to your hanging Bill's getting too large for the hangers I can only tell you what I do.

Firstly as a general rule for all plant in pots suspended by hangers a constant watch is required to make sure the new leaves aren't getting trapped at the top of the hanger where the droppers all come together below the hook. This can happen very quickly as I've found; one week they look OK and then the next thing you see after a couple of weeks warm weather when everything has had a growth spurt, the tops of the new leaves are all trapped within the droppers at the top.

I find that by manipulating the leaves you can sometimes coax them to grow out between the droppers without effecting growth progress, but it does mean that your plant is often then growing at a slight angle and not nice and straight. The only way to really overcome this is to remove the hanger and put the pot back on a bench.

If it's too top heavy and keeps toppling over, place it inside a slightly larger terracotta pot and pack gravel in the space between the inner edge of the terracotta pot and the outer edge of the pot containing the plant. The extra weight at the base of the plant will keep it stable. Don't re-pot it into a larger pot as they grow much better when slightly “pot bound”.

You say, “sticking up above the hangers and leaves are being pushed out of shape”; by this do you mean the leaves are touching the roof? If this is the case the answer is more simple, just get a bit of 1-2mm wire about 12” long and make a hook on each end, connect one end to the top of your hanger and the other to the suspension point where you hanger was previously connect to, this will lower the plant to an acceptable level..

Like you, I too look at all of Pete Coyle's beautiful plants as "unreachable", and something I'll never have, so I think the next best thing is to treat them all as “eye candy” and soak up the visual enjoyment which doesn't cost us anything.

Nice pic's you've posted today and I must comment on Vr.'Angela', it's been around for a very long time now and it's still one of the best when grown properly. I'm sure you'll get good value with your two new ones from Tamera and Jack, everyone I know who deals with them are always satisfied.

I like you Pic. of the old bits and pieces under the bench and the new pup popping up, it just goes to show how resilient they are at reproducing themselves. And Bird Rock, well that's one of my favourites as well and is another one which looks good when viewed from below.

Theresa – I suspected that you may have been a nature lover from an early age. I don't think it matters where you live or are brought up it's just a natural love and interest that you're born with and one that stays with you all of your life.

I hope every thing's OK where you are and you haven't been caught up in the latest Christchurch natural flood disaster.

Wendy – Sorry to hear you had an “arse up”, I hope your injuries aren't too serious. I know what you say about your toe though, it always seems to be the sore one you bump all the time.

About the bi-generic, I thought yours looked a bit like a Neomea also, but then I've been wrong before. I think that bi-generics are a whole new world of brom breeding that we've only just touched the surface of and there will be some beautiful bi-generics to come in the future. It sound like you already have a head start on me as I only have two or three plus quite a few seedling of my xNiduregelia 'Something Special' x (unknown pollen parent), some of which are looking OK.

For some reason, D.G won't let me enlarge your pic's this morning so I can't see them well enough to comment so maybe I'd better end and post a few pic's of my own before it stops me doing that as well.

Pic1 shows a general shot of the plants in the "frog pond" area. Pic.2 is looking from the outside in (the pond is out of the picture on the right) on the left is a bench made of recycled and cut down polystyrene boxes Pic.3 shows the recycled boxes again making a Neo. bench along the back wall. Pic.4 is one of the Ae. nudicaulis x ? seedlings coming into flower and Pic.5 shows one of the xNiduregelia 'Something Special' x (Unknown pollen parent) seedlings

All the best, Nev.

Hi Theresa,she is not on the track yet.She has to train before she can run.Take care.


Hi Nev,we don't keep the babies.Other people buy the babies and they have someone train the baby and when it's ready it goes on the track.Yeah it is something how animals bond with you like the way they do.Take care.


Good Day

Cody

Hello again.
I am popping back in while hubby is finishing lunch . I have to grab what time I can as I like to be around near where he is in case he needs something done.

Its warming up outside now after a cold morning.
Supposed to be back in the 30s for the next few days.
The broms will enjoy it.

Nev, thanks for the tips on hanging the bills etc.
I do use extensions of spare hooks to lower some pots.
I used to use old fencing wire for all the hooks but its too hard to find now. The old stuff was easy to bend but the new stuff wont bend and tends to spring back at you.
I must buy a few more hooks now that I am going to make more hanging space. .

The bill Red Raven I was talking about is not touching the roof, just getting way above the hanger itself.
I know what you mean about plants growing a bit crooked as I have a few like that where I have carefully pushed the leaves to one side.
Once the pot starts filling up it wont be so noticeable.
Hubby was very strict about cutting pipe shorter, but these days he never uses it so I am allowed to cut how I like.
There are 2 nice pieces about 15-20 foot long which should do the job.
I use old clothes line wire to attach the pipe to the crossbeams and it does a great job as it doesnt rust. It will hold a lot of weight if doubled.

Nev, after reading what you say about the orlandianas and light variations, I think I will try one of my pups ( when big enough) right up near the roof in bright light.
I would love to see one turn out with the white like Wendys plant.

My little bill seedlings are starting to show color and I cant wait until they are all grown up.
All my vriesea seeds are growing but very slow. I may see them get to an inch high by next year.
The neo seedlings are a bit bigger being older.

Wendy, I do hope you are not feeling too bruised after your fall.
Its so easy to trip over and you cant catch yourself to protect the end bits like fingers etc.
It is scary being upright one minute and then on the ground.
Love your guzmania pics.

Cody, take care of the little foal while you have it, as animals remember kindness .
You are lucky to be able to have the animals around you.

Hello Shirley, Trish , Ian and anyone else I missed.
Better get out and do a bit of watering now hubby has gone to have a rest.
I may even start playing around with where I can use that pipe for hanging some broms.

Jean.

Hi everyone
we pretty much finished our reno job today. the paths have all been renewed with fresh crusher dust/cement and watered in so should be hard as cement tomorrow or in a few days. they look good all empty tidy and new. wish we could get rid of all the ones we moved out of there to do the paths. all those plants are now filling up all the paths with pavers and stones. we'll have to bring them all out again tomorrow, clean and arrange in their final homes. we seem to spend a lot of time moving them like deck chairs on the titanic. move from A to B to redo area A then move them back from B to A again.

thank you for all the kind words. I didn't feel as sore this morning as I thought I would. in fact the toe felt great this morning but after a couple house walking around and kicking it, it was sore again. It is the finger really sore. trying to pot some plants today and I kept bumping or pushing with it and it hurt like hell. couple nice grazes on the top. I'll get over it soon. I'll take the bandaids off the toe soon and give it a good soak. I'll see how wide and deep the cut is then.

Nev I've taken some pics of the biggest one of the mini neo ampulacea x blushing tiger seedlings you sent me. I hope the ones I sent back to you survived their little trip ok. If I get any really great plants out of the ones I kept I'll be sure to send you back a few pups. This one as a bit of a look of orlandiana to it but as it grows we will see what it becomes. I'll keep you posted.
Pic 3 & 4 are a couple of my billbergia seedlings. pic 4 is hallelujah F2 already multiplying in the pot and pic 3 is maya F2 colouring up nicely
Wendy

Hi Jean yes he will be taking care of.Yes they do know when they see kindness.The mare is sweet as she can be.So the colt get that from his mom.Take care.


Good Day

Cody

Wendy - are you going to see a Dr about your injuries?

That finger sounds a bit of a worry.
Failing that you could try strapping the injured finger to the one next to it to try & help it heal.

Hubby & I were tidying up after the flooding - just our blocked guttering & pruning back the over hanging trees that caused the blocked gutters.
We were incredibly lucky our house is in a higher area so no flood here.

We decided to get new secateurs & went to the local garden centre.
They had broms in but how disappointing, they were merely labelled 'Bromeliad' & were obviously two different types.

Certainly not paying $30.00 for mystery plants when the exact same thing is available cheaper at the Warehouse.

Oh well, the good thing was that hubby saw me looking & said if I wanted one I should buy it.
I'll save that thought for when I see what I do really want :)

Hi everyone – I hope you're all well on this beautiful Sunday morning and looking forward to being able to get out into your gardens for a while today. The weather here was sounding a bit ominous last night with lots of thunder and lightning, however it amounted to nothing more than half a dozen spots of rain and the promise of another nice day.

I'd no sooner finished the frog pond project yesterday when I unintentionally started another; I was walking through my Vriesea/Guzmania shade house and I saw a hanging plant with a few dead leaves that needed removing. I got it down and cleaned it up and before I realised it I was in the middle of a dead-leafing session. I ended the afternoon with half of the hanging plants cleaned up and today I'll finish the remaining hanging plants as well as what's on the bench. The good thing is that while doing this I also found quite a few Vrieseas which are putting up flower spikes; and as I've previously stated, there's something new to see every day.

Yesterday also saw me lifting out a large clump of Neo.'Sheba' from the garden in the open section between the frog pond and the top shade house. This has now been divided in two and transplanted in two sections of the garden beside the side path to the front door of the house. It's a north facing location so hopefully the plants will make good use of the sun and show their nice pink flush once they become established.

This now leaves me an area under shade cloth where I can accommodate a few of the larger Neo's from the Neo shade house thereby freeing up some more bench space in there; so you see, its a continual on-going "juggling act", much like Wendy describes when she writes about moving her plants around while the paths have their maintenance.

Jean – I use galvanised tie wire to make my extensions for the hangers, I get it at Bunnings about $10 for 50m... or is that 100m? .....I don't remember, but I know it's good value and does what I want it to do. It's plenty strong enough to do the job and a lot easier to bend than that high tensile fencing wire which springs back every time you bend it. I don't know if you have a Bunnings or Mitre 10 but you should be able to get it at any decent hardware store, co-op or Country Store.

I know Bill. 'Red Raven' well, I have a plant of it and have had it for many years. The best I ever grew it was one year when it was hanging about a foot below the "old roof" of the Neo. shade house when it still had the original black shade cloth on it. Late in the afternoon when the afternoon sun was behind this plant, it seemed to take on an iridescence and “glow”; a bit like a raven (crow) will appear to have that purple/green iridescence when the sun shines on it at a certain angle, and I sometimes thought that's where it got the name 'Red Raven'. I think at that particular time it was just a combination of everything being in just the right place at the right time as I've never been able to grow it as well nor get that wonderful colour since; but as I tell people who are after Bill's, it's an “oldie” but still a ”goodie”.

A brom friend of mine (the one who owned the great Vr. ospinae gruberii collection I posted pic's of last year) also has a great collection of Ae. orlandianas. He doesn't hang his plants but grows them in a built up garden among lots and lots of rocks. I don't know if it's the reflected light and warmth from the rocks or not, but he gets some wonderful colours as well.

You mention about how slow your Vriesea seedlings are and say, “I may see them get to an inch high by next year”. I found with my Vr. hieroglyphica seedlings, the larger they got the quicker they grew and the first year they seemed to just stand still, and then when spring came, all of a sudden they just “took off”. It's OK to give them a bit of half strength liquid fertiliser every two weeks (once they have five leaves is the recommended size) to hurry them along if you so wish; I don't as I can't keep up with the speed my seedlings are growing normally and still can't catch up with the potting up.

Wendy – Pleased to hear that you're not feeling quite as sore this morning. You say your finger hurts when you re-pot plants and then say,”couple of nice grazes on the top”. I hope your Tetanus vaccination is up to date because open wounds and the bugs in potting mixes don't mix very well.

That seedling of Neo. ampullacea x 'Blushing Tiger' in your picture certainly looks different and nothing like either of the parents. What's more, look at those leaf spikes; size wise compared to that finger, they're pretty savage looking.

It does have a bit of a look of Ae. orlandiana about it now that you mention it, so I'll ask the question; is there any way you could have mixed it up with some of the orlandiana seedlings you're growing? Either way, it's an interesting looking plant and I'm curious to see how it will mature and what sort of flower it will produce as that will tell you if it's a Neo. or an Aechmea for sure. Also something I never thought about is that there's always a possibility that “Mother Natures Little Helpers” may have been experimenting with bi-generic crossings and that it could also possibly be a xNeomea .......Food for thought.

Your Bill seedlings are showing good colour at this early stage; have they been fed? I ask this because if they have, the colour will only get better as the nitrogen in the fertiliser is used up. The Bill.'Maya' F2 is already showing darker colour than the usual Bill.'Maya', and the Hallelujah F2 is also showing promising colour as you would expect as it always seems to pass on the colour to everything it's crossed with (including itself), so as an F2, theoretically you could expect it will have improved colour compared to the 'Hallelujah' parent.

Speaking of Billbergias, I see when looking through the BCR “What's New” section yesterday that you've finally registered Bill. 'Fruit Salad'. Well Done! That's good news as it's certainly deserving of a registered name with that kaleidoscope of colour it displays so beautifully. I can now alter the name tag on mine from Bill.'Fruit Salad' (unreg.) to just Bill.'Fruit Salad'.

My old mind must be playing tricks with me though as I see you've listed the ownership trail as: Bob Cross > Phyllis Hobbs> Wendy Perske and I thought when you originally discussed this plant on DG some time back, you mentioned it was John Catlan who bred it and when you said it needed a name it was he who suggested to you jokingly to just call it 'Fruit Salad'.

I must have been day dreaming though, either that or hypnotised by its beauty. Maybe you obtained it during one of your brom purchasing safaris and you just happened to mention John Catlan as someone you visited at the same time and that gave me that impression it was his creation and he who suggested the name. Anyway, it's a beautiful Bill with a very appropriate name and you've done the right thing in registering it.

Tell me, how long ago did you submit the registration application? The reason I ask is that I submitted one a while back now and still haven't heard or seen anything and I'm starting to wonder whether it went through and if Geoff actually got it. I do realise and accept that he must get bombarded with heaps of registration requests and as his is a voluntary position these things do take time, my only concern was that he may not have received it.

Cody - Hi Cody, I think you said that Alex is home this weekend so I hope you both enjoy your time in each others company.

Theresa – Good to hear every thing's OK with you, hubby and the house. When I heard about the flooding on the news and you hadn't posted for a couple of days I was a bit concerned you may have copped it pretty bad, however it appears my concern was unfounded.

Your mention of the brom's in the local garden centre is pretty normal for what we get here where I live as well; even Bunnings, Mitre 10 and the larger department stores like K-Mart and Big-W all have plants with over inflated prices and the same generic name tag which tells us that the plant is a “Bromeliad” plus some “one size fits all” cultural information on the back. I've even seen Tillandsias with the same generic name tags and information as that on Guzmanias in the same shop. Hows that for getting prospective new brom growers off to a bad start?

I think you'd better go to the Warehouse or a nursery and buy yourself a nice brom before hubby changes his mind; it's not just women that do this you know.

Time to go again already and today's pictures are a few random variegated Neoregelias for those of you who like these colours.

All the best, Nev.

Hi Nev its just me this weekend.He is visiting his dad.He will be home Tuesday evening for a while.Take care.


Good Day

Cody

Hi all, not much happening here. I continue to sort and clean and today we had a market and our meeting. At our meeting we had a funny money day where each member brings some plants, a limit of 6 per family. These are secretly valued and monopoly type money is issued to that value. When all is in readiness an auction starts and when one is broke one can buy no more plants. It is just a fancy/ fun way of swapping plants. We also had our proper meeting as well.
We are enjoying wet weather again, sometimes more of a nuisance than benefit but just at the moment it has been raining nearly all day. Nice slow and steady.
I am pooped and yet I have done nothing much today.
Have a good one.
Ian
Pic 1 Til lindenii Regel.
Pic 2 Neo flumensis
Pic 3 Guz limones
Pic 4 Ae brevicollis
Pic 5 NOID brom

Hi everyone,

Cody, beautiful baby.

Nev, unfortunately Michael’s back will never get “better”. He has several stress fractures (the result of osteoporosis), a number of bulging discs (probably from incorrect lifting) and the odd pinched nerve … all in all, his spine is pretty well wrecked. He has tried nerve blocks … didn’t work, so he relies on physio and pain killers ... some days are worse than others.

Trish, hope you enjoyed your weekend and managed some brom time. Love your neos Sam Smith and Ink Spots.

Wendy, glad to hear you have finished your reno ... we still have a ways to go. Hope you are feeling OK after your fall at the shopping centre. Sounds like you did yourself some real damage, get better soon and take care. Your orlandiana Snowflakes is really pretty and those billbergia seedlings, are lovely, I especially like pic 3, Maya.

Jean, hope your hubby is improving. Your broms are looking great.

Teresa, pleased to see you were not badly affected by the recent flooding. Good luck with your bromeliad purchase.

Ian, your funny money day sounds like fun. Lucky you, getting some good rain. We haven’t had more than a few drops for months now. Your neo flumensis is very nice.

Hi to Colleen and Breeindy.

Some ‘wild’ pics …

Pic 1 – neo Wild Current, pic 2 – neo Wild Pepper, pic 3 – neo Wild Strawberry, pic 4 – neo Wild Melon, pic 5 – neo Wild Blackberry

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi everyone. nearly time for bed. I've been sitting here watching a movie with Johnny and finally got on here before logging off. sorry to be so late.
Nev you beat me as I was going to announce the registration of bill. fruit salad. I can't remember the conversation about it earlier as you said. It definitely came from Bob Cross and that is why it used to be labelled as Bill. Bob Cross until I took it to a BSQ meeting and Bob asked me not to use his name on it. He couldn't remember the open day where he gave a pup to Phyllis but she clearly remembers it right down to the colour of the cover on the table. I spoke to Geoff about the registration when he attended the BSQ meeting. I sent some photos to him but they had the date stamp and name on the pics and he wanted some more without those things. So if you are taking pics for a registration remember to turn off the date on the camera and don't put the name over the photo. Anyway I've been having trouble with the big computer so hadn't been able to send new pics. I took some more this week but wasn't happy with them compared to the earlier ones. so Geoff cropped them to take out the names and date. I had to download Microsoft office couple days ago so I could fill in the form for Geoff. next day it is registered. all done. Oh has your's multiplied in the pot yet Nev? we'll be able to do a big release now and charge a fortune for a newly registered plant LOL.

Nev I did briefly think I might have mixed up some tags somewhere along the way and hence an orlandiana with a label for your mini neo. oh well we'll soon find out. I have another six pack of seedlings of your mini and they are getting nice size. I've attached the pic of the six pack of those seedlings. there is another bigger one hanging with the billbergias so I'll get a pic of that tomorrow for you. you can see the back left one has some good teeth too.

One seedling that is really intriguing me at present is neo yang F2 which has come out red from the smallest size and retained that colour. none of the other seedlings are showing that colour. this one stood out in the tray and is still standing out among the greener grex mates. sorry about the rotation again Nev.

I'm off to bed now so I'll wish you good night.

Wendy

Hi Shirley. you posted while I was writing too. sorry to hear about Michael's back problems. I didn't know it was so serious. Johnny has similar type back problems so I know what you have to put up with. They can be grumpy old buggers when they are in pain. Jean must be in the same situation with a hubby in pain. Mine works harder when he is in more pain. he works until his body collapses and he can't go any further then he has to take pain killers and sleep it off. He is in pain today after doing all the paths which required him to barrow all the crusher dust from he front to the backyard then down on his hands and knees to spread it out level with the correct fall for water run off. even though he used knee pads to cushion his knees are still puffed up quite a bit so he is hobbling around.

I love your wild pics especially that first one wild current. nice colour and shape in that one.

Teresa sorry I didn't say it earlier but I'm so glad you didn't get flooded. I must have missed the news because I didn't even know there has been floods in your area recently. sorry
Night again

Hi everyone – Well the weekend over again and it's back to work again for the employed workers and we the unemployed retirees will just continue to work without any weekends off; although I did have the morning off yesterday and we took our youngest grandson to the museum for a steam train ride. We got home about lunch time and then I continued on with dead leafing my Vrieseas and Guzmanias, so not a very interesting afternoon.

Cody – Good to hear Alex will be home on Tuesday and you will again be able to enjoy each others company.

Ian - Pleased to see you posting again; when we hadn't heard from you since about the 4th I thought you may have been on the sick list, anyway it's good you're OK.

Although the steady rain will do a lot of good for your garden, it's not much help when you want to work outside, however there's not much we can do about it, is there?. I vividly remember as a kid when someone would be complaining about the rain, Dad would say, “yes we should do what they do in China” and when the other person “quick as a flash” would anxiously ask ,”and what's that?” Dad would just answer in his dry style, “Just let it rain 'cause you can't do anything about stopping it”.

Your meeting sounds interesting and “different”. I remember an old member of our museum once said at a meeting, “if you want to keep the members and the public interested, you have to keep pulling a different rabbit out of the hat” and that seems just what's being done with your group so “goodonya”.

I like the plant in your pic named Neo flumensis (fluminensis). I'd never seen that particular species before and went straight to the species section of the FCBS Photo Index to see what I could find about it. It seems there is some confusion about the identity as the record tells us:

“We continue to receive photos of Neo camorimiana mis-named as fluminensis. Neoregelia fluminensis L.B. Smith, was collected by Mulford and Racine Foster in 1940 near the mountain city of Teresopolis in Rio de Janeiro State. It has not been recollected. In addition, it has scurfy green leaves not at all like the shiny red cultivated plant. The photo we had was in error. If you have a photo of this that you would like to share please email it to webmaster@fcbs.org”

It might be worthwhile sending them a copy of your picture, at least you may get a definite identification. It doesn't matter to me whether its the right name or not, I like the unusual colour of the plant in you picture and I would like you to put me on a list for a spare pup if/when you get one please.

Shirley – I'm sorry to hear about Michael's back; I thought it was from a recent injury. It seems like we have a lot in common, I have a problem with pressure on the nerves where they exit the vertebrae. This causes varying degrees of pain, but the worst is I have very little feeling below my knees and almost none at all in my feet, this is why I can't drive very far any more as after about twenty minutes I can't feel the pedals and have to stop and walk around for a while.

I had a quite long operation where a neurosurgeon cut all of the excess tissue away from four of the nerves but after two or so weeks it was just as bad. When I explained to him,“the pompous fat little prick” (that's right, I don't like him) it was no better, he was very dismissive and said, “oh you're too healthy, it's grown back again, but we can do the operation again if you like”. Needless to say I didn't opt for a second go as I reckoned if it grew back once, it could grow back a second time and besides with each operation there was a 3% chance something could go wrong and I could finish up in a wheel chair so I decided to cut my losses. There's many worse off than me and at least I can still get around among my plants and enjoy them.

I guess Michael's like me and has his good days and bad days and we just have to try and plan around them and do the best we can when we can. You hear so often someone will say, “oh I've done my back in” and they're still able to walk around, go up and down stairs and do most of the normal things …............ if only they knew what it was really like.

I like your “wild series” of pic's, certainly something new for me as I don't know any of them. I decided to look up the BCR to see what other Neo's are listed with their names starting with “Wild” and was surprised to see there are twenty two separate listings.

I thought that as all of yours were named after fruit they may have been all from the same grex by the same breeder, but apart from 'Wild Strawberry' none of the others have been registered.

However, 'Wild Strawberry' which was the one that interested me the most from your pic's is a Jack Koning hybrid and is bred from Neo.'One and Only' x 'Predator'. When I delve into the listings even further I see that Jack Koning has a further six registrations from that same grex and all are nice looking plants. Neo's 'Wild Cranberry', 'Wild Grapes', 'Wild Peach', 'Wild Raspberry', 'Wild Rhubarb' and 'Wild Strawberry'. So it is very true, we do learn something new every day.

Wendy – I don't remember when it was you first told us about Bill.'Fruit Salad' (probably a year or two back as time really flies really fast these days), but it was a while back and the date on the pic was 20.03.2011. It was a plant that caught my eye right from the start and I was fortunate to able to squeeze a pup out of you, which has now grown into a nice plant.

I think I'll have to drop Geoff a line as I don't think he got that registration application I sent as it was sent 27.01.2014 which by what you say was way before you submitted yours (a couple of days ago).

Well that's it for another day

All the best, Nev.

Hi Shirley thanks.Take care.


Hi Nev yes I am so ready for him to come home.Take care.


Good Day

Hi Everyone!

Well most of the weekend was spent prepping for possible cyclone. I did manage to pot up a few more broms for my market stall this Sunday with about 80 broms ready for sale plus other plants such as succulents, gingers and a few orchids. I am getting really excited now and hope the weathers nice for then so that people venture out as they tend to hibernate around here when there is rain. We got not rain on the weekend but possibly some tonight by the looks of the clouds forming around us.

Hi Nev thanks we have been thinking about getting some of those snake repellor devices as have heard good things about them so thanks for the link you sent me, will have to look into that. Joe just called me out into the nursery and pointed out a beautiful little python in one of his orchids sitting happily there so still a lot of snake movement around our place at the moment.

Nev I am more than happy to put your name down for a Neo. ‘Ink Spots’, I will have to check my records and see if I have any spare pups ready and will let you know? Nev thanks for your advice on the Neo. NOIDS I posted pics of back on 6/3, the greener of the two neo’s goes a real chocolate brown in its markings through the green when grown in full sun over the cooler months but does not get any yellow colouring of the leaves. I have tried growing it in full sun during summer because of the tough feel of the leaves but it does burn so now have it growing under a little shade.

Nev those Vriesea pics from Peter Coyle were breathtaking, thanks for sharing these with us. Nev on another note the Frog Pond project of yours looks fantastic, you have done such a great job with it. I wonder what those little frogs you mentioned are called; hopefully you get a pic of them one day and can get them identified by the Frog Man you know?

Hi Jean I hope you and hubby are well. Thanks I did get a little rest the other day when my eyes were hanging out of my head he he, I just like hit a wall and felt so tired and exhausted. My mum is well thanks, still having to wear a protective mask over her face when she ventures outdoors because the fire is still burning in the Hazelwood Open-Cut in Victoria which is not far from her house. Mums having to lightly mist the ash off all her plants being careful not to disturb the ash too much to avoid inhaling any of it. When mum feels the need she is still using the AC at the moment because it is still hot there for her and not quite ready for the winder wollies just yet (even her broms). Great pics Jean of all your broms that appear to be doing very well and colouring up nicely.

Hi Wendy great to see your back and busy as usual in the garden as well as the exercise sounds like it is going well and you are enjoying yourself. I just read that you had a fall OUCH I hope you are ok and have no broken bones, feel better soon.

Hi Cody how are you, sounds like you have been really busy with that beautiful foal recently born, how much time do you need to spend with it now, everyday? I adore horses and always wanted one as a child, but my best friends dad owned a lot of race horses that I got to ride around every now and then and my goodness they were big/tall horses that made the ground look so very far away whenever I was brave enough to look down LOL. BIG Hi to Alex!

Ah we just got a little rain that I can smell sweet in the air, hopefully we get a little more tonight.

Hi Teresa pleased to hear you did not get flooded out – thank goodness.

Hi Ian great to hear your getting some rain. I liked the sound of the meeting you had with the funny money day, what a great idea. I really like the colour in your Pic 2 Neo. Flumensis, something different with those darker specks throughout the overall beautiful leaf colors.

Hi Shirley thanks I got a bit done over the weekend for my up and coming brom market sale this weekend. I moved all my sale plants into the shed to protect them and now need to move them back outside so they don’t lose colour by the weekend. Shirley I liked all your “Wild” series of Neo’s, a lot of these I have not seen before so I enjoyed enlarging your pics to take a closer look at them. On another note sorry to hear about Michaels back problems which sound so painful and it must be hard for him to manage the pain with so many issues going on in there, I hope he takes care and takes things easy.

Anyway I must head off as it’s getting late for me. Sorry no pics tonight as did not manage to take any new ones over the weekend.

I hope I have not missed anyone - sorry if I have?

Take Care and Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi all just a tease tonight with2 different species that often get mixed up with each other.

Pics 1 & 2 Neo camorimiana

Pics 3, 4 &5 Neo fluminensis.
Pics 3 & 4 are young plants grown in lowish light

Have a good one
Ian

hi everyone
Nev I took those pics today and I think I may have taken one of an orlandiana seedling thinking it was the mini neo seedling. They are about the same size but one grown on the bench and other hanging with the billergia seedlings. I thought the one on the bench was the mini but turns out to be orlandiana. Sorry for confusing you and me Nev.

well we've had a busy day today. I couldn't get my gym shoe on so I had to skip my exercise session this morning. I did plan to go to aqua aerobics instead tonight buy after a day of cleaning plants and putting them out in the new pathways we were totally bushed and called it a day at 4pm. We were moving deck chairs again today. trays of neos out of the green shadehouse to put vrisea and guzmania pots in there. the neos lose their colour over winter in that house so they have to come out soon anyway. the neos are now out in the new area down the back. every pot we put out on display had to be cleaned and often repotted with hydrated mix, pots cleaned and placed. we were picking out older plants to go to mothers area and new pups put in their space. we found some plants we'd never seen the names of before so we were able to repot and label with a coloured tag so we know not to sell them.

After we decided we'd done enough for the day we sat on the verandah and enjoyed a nice cuppa before going back downstairs to splash some water around till about 5.30ish. It's a job we can do with a stubbie in one hand and he hose in the other so not classed as work really LOL. gee it is so easy now with taps all round the yard. we just have to turn the pump on and we can both pick a section each grab the hose and point. we can reach every little nook and cranny round the yard. Oh and we got a new pet for the yard today. took some pics but I'll wait till tomorrow to get some better ones and post those.

Time for bed I think so I'll look for some pics to share. These are all pics of some of our concentrica seedlings. all totally different. we got some really nice sun tolerant plants out of this batch but alas Johnny can't remember which 2 plants he crossed. he just knows one was white centred and one pink centred. so unable to repeat the cross. I didn't number any of these seedlings so not sure if any of these pics are of the ones we have kept or not. I know pic 4 is one I thought I might name and register. and pic 5 is a huge one. I think this is the one we have that went black in the sun but now bleached a bit and no longer looking it's best. If I had a $1 for every time someone asked if they could have this black one I'd be rick by now. If I had a pup to sell to everyone that wanted it I'd be rich too. I need some names for these if anyone can suggest any.
Night all
Wendy

Hi everyone – Not a very interesting day here yesterday, but got a bit more tidying up done (which isn't hard as there's always something needs doing). I started out dead leafing the remaining Vrieseas on the bench in the Vriesea house and remembered I had originally planned to do something about the bench to stop plants toppling over.

The mesh on these benches was some I bought when the old mesh fence around our local school was renewed but the actual size of the mesh is a bit large and some of the pots tend to tip if they aren't sitting exactly right. This occurs with the squat pots I'm now using as on the bottom there are four areas where the bottom isn't exactly flat and it's these “step ups” that cause the problem and don't always allow the pot to sit flat. Anyway I found I still had a couple of sheets of the “Mini-Orb” galvanised corrugated iron left over from when I changed the benches in the top Neo. and Bill. shade house. I decided I would use that up as there was sufficient to do the back bench but unfortunately only half of the front one so now I have to track down a bit more sheeting at the “right price” to finish the job.

As usual, while moving plants around I got another nice surprise, this time in the form of a Vriesea which I knew I had, but had forgotten it was one I was doing a “light trial” with as I had two plants and had one on the bench in low light and one hanging right up beneath the roof in high light. While moving plants around I found they were both flowering and there's no doubt in my mind that the one that was hanging is the more attractive of the two. The plant is Vr. 'Orange Sundae' (unreg.) and pictures of the both plants are shown as Pic.1 and 2.

Hopefully today I'll get the remaining dead-leafing done and a bit more re-arranging of some of the Neo's waiting patiently in the “parking area” of the new section I plan to make into another brom garden.

On another subject, did you all know that D.G. has a limit on how many D-Mails you can send? I haven't sent one for over a week and yesterday I wanted to just send two brief ones to tell a couple of members that I had sent them plants. The first one went OK but when I posted the second a notice came up to say I had used my quota of D-Mails.

Trish – Good to see you've found time to let us know what you've been up to. I always enjoy your posts as they're most informative. It's not a very good start to the weekend when you have to start preparing for a cyclone though, and I hope your preparations turn out not to be needed. I hope your first sale at the markets went well for you and the cyclone threat didn't turn too many away.

Thanks for putting me down for a pup of Neo.‘Ink Spots' and thanks for telling me about the light experiment with the NOIDS in your post of 06/03. It's interesting what you say about how they had, “a tough feel of the leaves” but they still got burned under full sun. It's very true when they say that “things aren't always as they seem”, here you have a plant with tough leaves which get burned and I've been experimenting with a Vriesea with very thin laves and it handled the extra light (although not full sun) without any heat damage at all.

Ian – Well now you've really confused me (but then I'm easily confused); it seems to me the plant in your second pic named as Neo. camorimiana is the same as the plant named as Neo fluminensis in the pic you posted Mar. 09. Now can you tell us which is which?

As I said previously, even the web master of the FCBS says he can't get an accurate picture of Neo fluminensis so if you've been able to get the plant pictured in shots 3, 4 and 5 definitely identified as such, I'm sure he would appreciate it if you sent him the pic's for the Photo Index; and besides, you would have your name on the FCBS site "for all the world to see". I can just see it now “identification break-though by boy from down under” Ha! Ha!

Wendy – Your place sounds a bit like ours, always something to be done. There's just no end to the work when we grow brom's, but then as I tell my friends, “it keeps me off the streets and out of the pub”!

Like you I find watering the most pleasant aspect of growing brom's as it's during this time you can see the results of all the ongoing hard work you've put in, and the progress of your plants. I must say I would find it much easier with an extra tap down the bottom of our yard as well, but I don't expect it's ever going to happen.

They're a nice little batch of concentrica seedlings you've posted and my selections would be the one in Pic.2 for the best shape, The one in Pic.3, for the best colour, and the one in Pic.4 for the best combined shape and colour. I think it's a bit like judging oranges against apples though as the plants in Pic's 1 and 5 don't appear fully mature and could have some more colouring up to do and because of this they shouldn't be compared against the others. Having said all of that, I still think my overall favourite would have to be the one in Pic.2 with it's terrific wide thick leaves and almost perfect shape. What's more if it ever wants a holiday, Shellharbour is a nice little spot.

Pic's today are of the Frog Pond project Pic.1 (a very much over grown) before and Pic.2 After. Pic.3 is Vriesea 'Orange Sundae' (unreg.) grown in low light, Pic.4 is Vriesea 'Orange Sundae' (unreg.) grown under high light and Pic.5 is a compact form of Neo. marmorata.

All the best, Nev.

Hello everyone. We are off to another doctors appointment today so I thought I'd look in early before hubby gets up for his breakfast.
A lovely lot of pics to admire.

Shirley, I love all your " wild " broms.

Trish, I hope the fires soon stop smoking near your Mums place
I hope all her broms are growing well despite the ash.

Nev, I look forward to your parcel, thank you so much.

Ian , hope you are feeling a bit more sprightly today. Very nice looking broms of yours.

Wendy, your very pretty group of pics reminds me of a splash of confetti on the path at a wedding. Maybe a group of wedding names... eg... Bridegroom, Blushing Bride, Confetti Splash, Wedding Rings and Best Man..
Nothing great, but then it is early and my brain is still waking up....lol

I hope all the weather doges out to sea up there, but I see that one cyclone wants to visit Teresa in NZ. Take care Teresa..

Bette go , the man is moving and he will be wanting a cuppa first thing..

Keep safe .. No pics today.
Jean.

Hi Trish I am ok.I just go outside and rub on the baby for abit.I don't have to stay out their all day.As long as someone keeps rubbing on him he will stay tamed.Yes I know their are huge horses when you stand beside them.It makes you feel like a little ant because they are so big.Alex will be home tomorrow and I can't wait.Take care.



Good Day

Hi Nev. If I knew which one of the seedlings was the one in the pic 2 I would send you a pup but I didn't number them or give pet names. whenever I saw one that looked special I would snap a pic and say what it was ie concentrica seedling. when I posted those pics I just went through the folder and picked out the five that looked the best using shape and colour as benchmarks. We've also let a lot of them go because they were growing in the sun and when people saw them they always wanted them. So the ones I definitely wanted to keep and grow on were taken away from the trolley of them growing together. I have another batch of same seedlings growing on now so I'll look for good shape and put some aside or your next parcel. I'll also put your name down for a pup of that one in pic 4. that's one that is out the front in a totem because that colour just made it stand out and I wanted to keep it for me. It hasn't pupped yet. there's another black one out the back near the tanks that is big, perfect shape and lovely dark colour. it is greener now from the harsher summer sun but I expect it to go black again or at least the pups will.

I have some lovely colourful seedlings of hot gossip F2 coming on. no variegation but some brilliant colour. Some of the young plants have very red bottoms but green leaves with lots of red patches. I've potted up some and pumped them along to see what they may turn into. I'll keep you posted. Oh and Nev I have a shelf full of your seedlings up the back and didn't realise Johnny had moved them up there till someone asked for one of them. That's when I realised they were all seedlings. So at least you know some of them are desirable to customers. I'll pick out some outstanding ones and take pics over next few days and share.

Nev as you say when you hand water you "find" treasures. pic 1 is a little vrisea I found yesterday watering. It looked like a goldfish swimming out of a bench of green. It was a pup given to me by a friend and I just called it Sylvias little orange vrisea. Isn't it darling?

I took more pics of those minis for you Nev. turns out I did post the mini neo pic before. Pic 2 &3 are the top and side shots of that bigger mini. pic 4 shows the mini neo ampulacea x blushing tiger on the left and orlandiana on the right. pic 5 is the orange six pack of mini neos with the 2 big ones from pic 4 beside it. Not perfect shots but hopefully they show the difference and the potential.

Have to go as I am trying to help Hayden with his mathletics so we can get him off to bed.
Wendy

Hi all just a quickie tonight. We have been having a bit of wind here blowing plants over and otherwise being a nuisance. I found another plant broken off today and it also has rot in the base but not in the leaves. Number 3 Alcantarea, I just wonder if someone is trying to tall me something. I have tried to treat it but do not feel as confident this time. The rot was worse this time and I did take 2 pics of it before treatment. I have also disposed of all damaged parts of the plant.
Nev On the 09-03 I incorrectly posted a pic of Neo camorimiana and called it Neo fluminensis.
I have posted pics to webmaster of fcbs and leave it up to him.
Pic 5 from 09-03 has been identified as Puya mirabilis , another plant that is not supposed to do well here.
Have a good one
Ian

Hi everyone

Wendy, hope Johnny is feeling better now. Michael is on slow release pain killers 24/7, they are very expensive and not on the subsidised medication list but worth it as it keeps him sane. Love the pics of your concentrica x seedlings, my favourite is no 2.

Nev, I do have neo Wild Cranberry somewhere and also Wild Crabapple but I don’t seem to have a photo of either. They are all from the same grex, One and Only x Predator, as you mention. I love your compact Marmorata and would love a pup when you have a spare, please. I like the Vr Orange Sundae grown under high light.

Trish, you sound very busy with your cyclone preparation and brom moving. Good luck with your market this weekend.

Jean, hope your doctor’s appt went well today. I like your idea of the wedding names for Wendy’s lovely broms.

Teresa, I hope you aren’t affected by that cyclone that seems to be heading your way.

Hi to Cody, Bree and Ian … and anyone else looking in.

I doubt that I will get a chance to post for at least 2-3 weeks but I will be back, I promise.

Pic 1 is one of Nev’s neo concentrica x (Charm x Crackerjack) seedlings, looking very nice. Pic 2 is neo Decora, a pup which Bree sent to me and also looking very nice. Pic 3 – xNeobergiopsis Pinegrove, pic 4 – xNeotanthus Firefoam, pic 5 – Hohenbergia Rosea

… back in a couple of weeks, Bye for now, Shirley

Hi Everyone!

Just a quick question before I head into work, are there any quarantine regulations posting bromeliads to the Northern Territory as I have a lady asking and I thought you could not?

Many thanks

Have a great day!

Trish

Hi everyone – Another nice day again here yesterday although the weather forecast is for rain from to day right through to next Tuesday. I'm not getting too worried about it though as they've been wrong with most of their forecasts this year so far anyway.

I finished all of the dead-leafing of the Vrieseas and Guzmanias yesterday and found a few plants that need re-potting so they will be my “wet weather job” if it does rain as predicted.

A big Hi! And “Get Well Soon” to anyone on the sick list and another message to regulars who haven't posted for a while, (like the add said) “Where the bloody hell are you?”

Jean – It's good to see you're still finding time to post in between looking after a sick hubby and tending your brom's and all of your other duties, and I'm sure you'll like what's in the box when it arrives.

Cody – My only concern with you getting very close to that foal is when the time for separation finally arrives and I'm sure it will be a very unhappy moment for both of you. But then you have Alex to take your mind off it anyway so all's well. Does Alex like and ride horses?

Wendy – I think when your seedlings get to that stage you have a good idea of what has possibilities and what one's don't and it's always a good idea to identify the “possibles” with either a number or perhaps a pet name on the reverse of the name tag or even a different coloured tag as well as taking a pic. I have found that the second generations of pups are often different and more improved than the original plant and many I have culled and put in the garden to fill a hole have now surprised me with their quality. As all of the good hybridists tell us, “good record keeping” is one of the most important parts of a breeding programme. The other thing they say is, you never get back the good one you unintentionally let go to someone.

It's more than likely your suspected F2's of Hot Gossip, aren't Hot Gossip F2's as records tell us that any albo-marginated seed parent will give mostly albinos with sometimes a tiny percentage of green plants. This was verified to me when I selfed an albo-marginated plant from the Aussie Dream grex, every seed that grew was albino and died within three weeks. It's possible your plant of 'Hot Gossip' is wrongly ID'd and is possibly Neo. 'Predatress' which looks similar to and is recorded as having links with Hot Gossip but isn't albo-marginated.

The little Vriesea in your picture, looks very similar to one have called Vr. 'Gemma'. It's only a small plant but a very good grower and pupper.

I think both of the seedlings in your Pic.4 show traits of Ae. orlandiana.

Ian – It has me a bit puzzled as to why it just seems to be your Alcantareas which are copping the rot. I only grow a couple so don't know much about them except I water mine much less than the other plants mainly because I live in a maritime climate plus the fact they are in larger pots and don't dry out as quickly. What sort of mix are you using with yours Ian, is it open and free draining?
How did the other Alcantareas you treated for rot go, did they survive and live to fight another day?

As you ask, “is someone trying to tell you something”? It seems we all have a particular plant that just seems to be prone to a particular problem, I know mine is Neo. smithii, I've tried it three or four time with the same result, “rot”. I've tried different mixes and no matter where I grow it the result is still the same even though it's growing beside other healthy Neo's under the exact same conditions. A pup will grow and the Mother will rot every time and the plant never gets any larger. I do know that some plants are prone to rot and I think in my area, Neo. smithii is one of them, but then it may just be this particular clone has a weakness as well.

Pleased you sorted out my Neo camorimiana / Neo fluminensis dilemma, and hopefully the FCBS Web Master may be able to sort the whole thing out and finally pout it to rest.

I'm surprised when you say that Puya mirabilis doesn't do well where you live as I thought it grew easily everywhere as it seems to grow like grass down here and resists the heat, cold and the strong winds without any apparent ill effects. I guess it's a case of different horses for different courses.

For what it's worth I'll pass on a bit of info I was once given by a very well respected judge and professional nurseryman who was one of the leading Australian orchid hybridisers of that era. I had been trying to grow a mixed collection of orchids and there was one particular plant no matter what I did it always died from one problem or another. This man told me to stop wasting my time trying to grow something that obviously wasn't meant to grow in my collection and that if I pesisted it would eventually “break my heart”. It did make me feel better though when he said that even with his large temperature and humidity controlled glass houses there were still plants he couldn't grow either and he concluded that some plants just weren't meant to grow away from their natural habitat.

Shirley – I'm sure I can find you a pup of the little compact marmorata and probably even a small plant of Vr. Orange Sundae (Unreg.) if you'd like one. My wife also likes the Vr. Orange Sundae (Unreg.) grown under high light, so much that she commandeered it to put on the kitchen table, although I suspect it will go back to green once taken away from the bright light, but I won't know unless I try.

I don't know if we can afford to let you stop posting for 2-3 weeks as we'll miss you and your wonderful pic's too much. However I suppose there is a guarantee with your promise to return so I guess it's all OK.

Your Neo concentrica x ('Charm' x 'Cracker Jack') seedling is looking nice and as I've found with these, the more established they become the more they improve, so it may get better yet.

I also like your Ne 'Decora' with its beautiful soft pastel colour and random darker markings. Last years I got a pup from someone called Neo.'Decore'. It's not listed on the BCR so maybe it's a different plant and someone has just given it a “pet name”. So in that case I'll have to ask to go on the list for a pup from yours if and when you get a spare one please.

I'm also fascinated with the two pic's of your bi-generics. I think the picture of xNeobergiopsis 'Pinegrove' is great, and clearly shows the compound inflorescence which is often associated with bi-generic hybrids. The pic of the xNeotanthus Firefoam is also a beaut and you've managed to capture the beautiful banding exceptionall well. Unfortunately it's a “Hummel” hybrid and for some reason he never divulged the names of the parents in most of his crosses. I don't know just how fast they grow (slow I expect like a lot of bi-generics), but if you ever get a spare pup of either I would love to take it off your hands in exchange for some other mutually acceptable plant.

Also the Hohenbergia Rosea, caused me to do a bit of a “double take” as it looks very much like one of the Neo. seedling I have, and I know it hasn't any Hohenbergia in its breeding as I don't have any. Anyway, enjoy your break away from the forum and we'll hear from you when you return.

All the best, Nev.

more lovely pics from everyone...

fingers crossed we don't cop too much bad weather as a result of the on coming tropical cyclone.
Sometimes they cause major problems & other times you wonder why they called it a cyclone.

Hi all, I did nothing with my plants today, so I have nothing to report.
Nev my Alcants were in 12" pots out in the rain and at some point collected some leaf litter. Recently I dead leafed them and it is possible that I damaged them below the leaves that I left on. I also cleaned the litter out at the same time. The ones I did a couple of weeks ago appear to be healing. I gave the tops a small drink on the week end and sat them upright in an empty pot on a bit of mesh to keep the bases aired. I am hopefull that I will be able to save 2.

Hi everyone.
Shirley like Nev I loved the xNeotanthus Firefoam and would love to go on a list for a pup. I also have a love for the hoenbergias at present as they are so tough and grow in the sun and we don't seem to have enough sun hardy plants here. So if your ho rubra is indeed a hoenbergia I'd love to go on the list for a pup when you get some. I have a growing collection of hoenbergias now but no pups so far. perhaps we can swap hoes later on.

Nev those mini seedlings of yours are similar in colour to the orlandianas but they have one feature that the orlandianas don't have . the minis seem to be getting a bit of a wave to their leaves, and they have banding under the leaves. I still have some small ones coming on so I'll keep going and see what we get. If you ever do any more crosses of minis I'd love to grow some more. I've collected some seed from other minis in the garden but none of my crossing has been too successful as I forget to keep an eye on the ripening seed and miss it. when I've collected seed from minis it is just luck that I am successful when I try to pull out the middle and crack it for a plump seed filled pod. If I ever get some seedlings going I'll share some with you.

Nev I have vrisea Gemma so I'll have to watch for it to flower and compare with this one I posted. I have a vrisea called goldfish but it has a more pendula type infloresence that is supposed to look like a goldfish swimming through the green. this one seems to stick straight up so different. next time goldfish flowers I'll get a pic to show you the difference.

Shirley I hope all is well and it is not health related that you will be offline for a couple weeks. Johnny also survives on pain killers but he uses Panamax which we get on PBS. I don't like to see him take to many and he is pretty careful about taking too many each day. Michaels slow release sound good and I'm glad they work for him. Since my fall I've noticed that sitting in the car I'm getting a pain in the right hip so maybe when I landed on it I did jolt it a bit. if it doesn't improve I'll go for a massage and see if that will fix it. I might try aqua again tomorrow first and see if that helps.

Hi to everyone else ... Trish, Jean, Ian, Cody
Ooops no button again for uploading images. I'll have to close and reopen. sorry no pics tonight.

Wend

Well if this will let me, I will try to finish. I just tried to post a pic and DG sent the post. I have a couple of other plants that seem very prone to rot, one is Ae Red Ribbon if grown on a bench or up against a wall, I suspect air flow could be a cause here. Last year it was my Vrs but this year they seem ok, I had better check them tomorrow.
Sorry to be rude but my bed is calling me.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Ananas comosuss Varigatus
Pic 2 Ananas comosus var bracteata Tricolour
Pic 3 Ananas bracteata
Pic 4 Rot in base
Pic 5 Rot in top before trimming

Pic 1 is a vrisea pup that I took off over 12 months ago. it came off a plain green mother and there were 2 pups, this one and a plain green one. I did have them growing side by side for a while but along the way the plain one was moved. this one is in the seedling area as I've been watching this striping which has been retained on maturing plant. I'll see if pups will get the stripes or not. wonder what the infloresence will look like.

Pic 2 is some seedlings that Jack Koning shared with some of us girls. Sue Unsworth dumped all of hers thinking they weren't going to develop into anything special. she was surprised when she saw some of mine. This is probably the best one. it is neo tangerine x scarlet charlotte. it has the shine from tangerine and probably colour from s.c.

Pic 3 is the new addition to our household. 2 of them filled the back of our wagon. we had to jiggle to get them both in and he is bloody heavy. Johnny said (and I didn't tell you guys this.. I swear I didn't) he thought his boys popped when he picked it up. he struggled to get it up the back and had to stop halfway and put it on the potting table. He thinks he is now 6inches shorter than before he carried it. .

Hi everyone - Not much happening here, just a bit more plant rearranging and tidying up yesterday morning and a bit of potting in the afternoon. Today of course is Thursday so there'll be nothing done here as it's Museum Day, and my day to mingle and exchange bull...t and solve the world's problems with my old mates.

Theresa – I saw on the news where the cyclone was heading off in your direction, so let's hope if fizzles out before it gets there. Anyway, you'd better just batten down the hatches anyway, in case it decides to pay you a visit.

Ian – I've often heard it said that an accumulation of leaf litter in the centre of plants will cause rot, however I'm not fully convinced that this alone is the problem as this happens continually when plants are growing in habitat without causing any detriment. In fact it's the breaking down of this leaf litter and the combination of this, small animal and bird droppings with the water in the cup that makes the “soup” which acts as an on-going weak liquid fertiliser which helps sustain the plants. But then to look at the whole picture and take every thing in context, most of these plants are growing on trees or rocks in habitat and with this comes abundant air circulation around the plants and more importantly, the roots; and I think with domestically grown plants it's this lack of sufficient circulating air which causes most of the problems when we grow these plants under our backyard conditions.

I know that few years back I had a run of rot in some Vrieseas (about nine plants), they were all on the same bench and were badly overcrowded as I had just “parked” them there temporarily (and as we know these temporary things often last much longer) until I decided what to do with them.

Once I saw what had happened, I relocated them to an area with good space between them to aid air circulation, the problem ceased and no more rot started. It's because of this that I'm thoroughly convinced its more a matter of insufficient air circulation than leaf litter and other debris in the cup that's the cause of a lot of rot; in fact these particular Vrieseas were under shade cloth and had no debris in the centre anyway, so that obviously wasn't the cause in their case.

The size of the pot is also very relevant, as large pots take a long time to dry out and as you say, yours were in 12” pots which are pretty large as far as the usual size for brom's go. Generally speaking I have found that by under potting (using a smaller size pot than normal) my plants are growing better and look healthier than they ever have before, but the down side is that they are prone to toppling over unless simple steps are taken to rectify this.

To give an example, I have two Alcantareas just sitting in the garden on top of the ground among other plants and they are both about 2' 0” high and 2' 6” in diameter. They are still in the 5” pots they started out in. I also have an Ae. 'Forest Fire' seedling (which is a large growing type like a Blanchetiana) and that is about 30” high and it's growing in the original 4” pot it was last potted in a few years back. Although these plants don't have optimum air circulation, they do have the ability to dry out and not stay waterlogged, and because of the small size of the pot they don't require quite as much air circulation.

A friend of mine has the exact same type of Alcantarea and the same size (we both bought our plants at the same time) in a fancy glazed pot of about 15” diameter and it's growing in a very open potting mix. It's also growing well, even with a centre full of leaf litter, however it's the centre piece of her garden and is sitting up on bricks where it gets good air movement and optimum light all day. As I see it, the main requirement is good air circulation and the ability to dry out a bit and not stay waterlogged between waterings.

That's a nice group of Ananas plants you've posted Ian, unfortunately they don't like growing in my area. With your last two pic's of the rot, you've either posted the picture of “Rot in base “ twice or the D.G. Gremlin is playing games again.

Wendy – I did do some more crosses of mini's but I didn't sow the seed as by that time I had run out of places to put them; in fact I may still have some stored in the fridge, if I can find some I'll send some up to you and Johnny.

As for the plant I mentioned as Vr. 'Gemma', I've just remembered that the name was changed to 'Gemma Gold', as once again there were two Vr Gemmas listed on the BCR and both were different plants. (See Pic.1).

I seem to remember something about a Vriesea called “Goldfish”, I think it was brought into a meeting once as a “Show and Tell” plant. From what I remember I think it was a smallish type plant with a pendulous inflorescence and I also think it was a species. I could be wrong as the old memory ain't what it used to be.

From my past ambulance work I remember that usually when people have a fall it is more often than not “a three point contact” which results in three separate injuries of varying severity. Obviously, the most painful injury is the one you feel the most and it often conceals the other less serious injuries and it's not until things start to heal that the others may become apparent and this is probably why you didn't feel the sore hip at the time.

Looking at the leaf marking on your Vriesea pup, I had a similar thing happened to a Neo pup a few years back which got me all excited, but unfortunately as the pup grew, the markings disappeared.

I like the colour of your Neo seedling, and the pedigree of Neo.'Tangerine' x 'Scarlet Charlotte' has possibilities. Sue may have been a bit hasty dumping her plants as yours is already showing nice colour. Personally, I wouldn't cull any until you see what the next generation of pups brings, you may just be pleasantly surprised. Some people pick a plant on the colour, some pick them on the shape, but if you can get a plant with good colour and shape, well that's a bonus and you may just find that the next generation will show an improvement in shape.

Boy some of these concrete garden animals and reptiles do look realistic don't they? That one looks like an Indonesian Komodo Dragon like we saw when we were in Bali. I hope they don't frighten away the live birds and animals who might visit; although they could solve any future rat problems. As Johnny has found out, some of these things can be possible “hernia material” when you feel the weight of them.

Speaking of imitation lizards let me relate what happened to the lady in the house over the back fence from our place. She had a type of plastic solar water heating device installed across one side of her roof to heat water for her swimming pool. One morning when she came out there was water squirting up like little fountains from everywhere, the reason being the white cockatoos had been having a chew. She tracked down a company who specialised in animal and bird deterrents and they suggested a couple of rather large imitation soft flexible plastic life like looking Goannas. The very next afternoon I was in the yard and heard a commotion and looked up to see a group of cockies with one on each end having a tug-of-war with these new toys. I don't think the neighbour was very happy but I couldn't stop laughing at the sight.

I'll finish today with just one picture, Vriesea 'Gemma Gold'

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone. just a quick note to say I read posts earlier but couldn't reply because I was on the old laptop and couldn't remember password to login so I could reply. Hayden had to use powerpoint for his homework an it wouldn't work on the old laptop so he had to use my new one. I couldn't remember any passwords to do anything so I ended up just reading then sitting and watching tv.

Time for bed now. I'm not sure if I'll get onto the computer tomorrow night as our son and his family will be down from Hervey Bay for the weekend. not sure what time they'll get here. also we are having a 40th birthday party for Paul Saturday. that's why they are coming down. So if I don't get back on before Sunday don't worry about me. I'll be back for sure.

Night
Wendy

Hi Nev, I am use to it.My dad also broads horses for people to foal the babies.I try not to go in the field with them as much as they get bigger.The other day I went to clean a water bucket out and the baby was trying to rare up on my back trying to get me to play with him.He did it twice,so I had to run him and the mama horse away.The baby does that to the mother when they want to play.The baby kept following me instead of following his mama.Their is a total of 4 more horses that have to be foal.Take care.


Hi Wendy and everyone else.