Hi everyone – Nothing got done here yesterday as I was at the museum all day, and I expect not a lot will get done today either as I have to go up the coast to visit a sick brom friend and while I'm in the area I'm also going to get a load of Euco Mulch and Potting Mix.
I've found out that if I buy 6 or more bags of potting mix, they work out at about $1.20 per bag cheaper than Bunnings and the same for the Euco Mulch. I've only recently found out about this place and didn't expect to get what I wanted there as it was once just a Produce Store just selling various types of cattle feed and bird seed by the large bags. Now they sell pets/pet supplies and garden stuff such as fertilisers and potting mixes as well, so hopefully a useful supplier, and I don't have to get ripped off by Bunnings with their over inflated prices.
Wendy – Seems like your memory's going like mine and you're heading toward membership of the “CRAFT CLUB”.
Cody – I suppose if you have horses coming there all the time to foal, you won't notice the separation from the foals so much as there's always a new one to keep you occupied. Anyway, continue to enjoy your interaction with your equine friends.
I don't know where everyone's gone, but as there's no one else to talk to I'll just say, see you tomorrow.
All the best, Nev.
BROMELIADS FOR MARCH ....2014
hi everyone. Havent been on for a while but looking in. Pups coming up. New pup on monday and instead of dancing daughters doing swimming.
Hi all Another week of work over again and time for a couple of days off. Now I hope I can do something for myself. I have plenty to do as most of us do. I am still tired most of the time and have poor concentration. I am also a CRAFT club member.
I am seriously considering a trip next week-end to Townsville, just for a brom meeting with People yet to meet, some would call them new friends. It would also expand my network of collectors who buy, swap and sell broms. Things are moving slower than I want,guess I'll have to show a bit more patience.
Have a good one
ian
Pic 1 Orange Blanchie flower
Pic 2 Front bush house
Pic 3 Green Blanchie flower
Pic 4 Ae tocantina
Pic 5 some plants
Hi everyone – Here we are again at the start of a new weekend. I got all of my mulch and potting mix OK yesterday, so if the weather holds I'll be weeding and mulching this weekend.
Cody – Good to see you have continuity of work; keep the new foals coming.
Breeindy – Nice to hear from you again, I know kids keep you busy running them around to their various sports. When our kids were young, the two boys played rugby league and my daughter played net ball all at different venues. 3 kids at different venues + two parents + one car = Logistical nightmare!
Ian – Your trip to Townsville could be very interesting as I'm told there are some very good brom growers in that area. I have a “Brom Friend” in Townsville called Rob Smythe who is a hybridiser with 189 registered hybrids (mostly Neo's and Aechmeas) to his name and who I'm told has a great collection.
He also writes a great informative little monthly News Letter called “Bromwatch Townsville” which he will email to anyone F.O.C. if they just request it; unfortunately I've never been to Townsville nor seen his collection.
I don't know if he's a member of the Brom club up there but if you give him a call it's quite possible you could arrange a visit to see his collection while you're there and I have no problem with you telling him I said to call. If you get on the BCR and type “Smythe” in the window of the search engine, highlight the box that says “breeder” and then hit the search button you will be able to see pic's of his work.
You say things are moving slower than you would like, and I can relate to that as there just seems to be so much work to do and not enough time to catch up with it. When I retired I was asked what I would do with all the spare time; what spare time? The trouble is that as I get older, jobs that once took me half an hour to do now take half a day, but I guess everything works out in the end and at least there's always something to do to stop me from being bored.
Now for a few pic's to finish with; Pic.1 Ae orlandianas in their new home, Pic's 2, 3, and 4 are Neo's I found that have pups to be removed and Pic.5 was a nice surprise I found flowering yesterday, Ae nudicaulis var. 'Aequalis'
All the best, Nev.
A big g'day to everyone and hope all is well. I'm back home again for the weekend but I'll try to make this short and answer the questions that arose from my last post.
I remember the Kunai Grass when I was in Papua New Guinea, it's Imperata cylindrica. We also get it in the north of Australia but the only common name I've known it by here is Blady Grass. The tall grass in my photo is Spear Grass, Sorghum intrans. It covers the countryside during the wet season, growing from 1.5 metres to 3 metres depending on soil/moisture/etc. During the dry season this is what mainly burns.
Turns out the Tillandsia wagneriana just blooms for a certain time and then the flowers change colour. I just happened to notice the flowers at night when they were still blue. They'd probably been open for a while and ageing was hastened by daylight. Since then I've seen them blue during the day also.
I'll finish this off here. I just got news today my mother passed away this morning. It still hasn't really sunk in. Take care everyone.
Hi everyone – Well everyone seems to have vanished except the three of us, so I'll just keep this short as I have to go out this morning and there's not many here to read it anyway. I spent yesterday doing the boring job of weeding, but I must admit I'm glad I did as that finishes off that particular section of the garden and it finally looks tidy again; now there's only another 80% to go.
Cody – Hi! I hope you're having a nice weekend.
Tropicbreeze – Thanks for answering the questions about the Kunai Grass and Tillandsia wagneriana. It's always good to hear what you have to tell us and I always look forward to your posts.
I know I'm speaking for everyone on here (although a lot are absent for various reasons) when I ask you to please accept our condolences on the passing of your Mum.....Remember the good times.
I'll just finish with a few random pic's today as the Lorikeets are wanting to be fed and are making so much noise I can't think straight. Pic.1 is a close up of the flowers of Neo.,'Oh! No!' x self, Pic.2 is Neo. 'Royal Cordovan', Pic.,3 is another close up this time of Neo.'Golden Fantasy', Pic. 4 is Ae. fasciata variegata and Pic.5 are my visiting young Kookaburras waiting for their breakfast.
All the best, Nev.
TropicBreeze - my sympathies for your loss.
I'm not sure you ever do get your head round the loss of a parent but you come to terms with it in your own time & your own way.
Take care of yourself {{{hugs}}}
Teresa
Hi all, I have been busy running in circles here trying to sort out what to pack or keep or dispose of. Then there are a few repairs to do and the house needs some more paint. Then there will be something else. You all know the story.
I hope to get some brom time in a few days, they appear ok and I haven't found any bad smells. My computer is playing up and internet keeps dropping out.
Sorrry to hear of your loss Tropicbreeze, I feel for you..
Have a ggod one
Ian
Pics 1 Anagelia Madam lash
Pic 2 Neo Princess Grace
Pic 3 Rot in Alcantarea top
Pic 4 Neophytum Gallactic Warrior
Pic 5 Ae Aztec Gold
Hi everyone.
Tropicbreeze I'm so sorry to hear of your mum's passing. it's almost 10 years since my mum passed and there are times when I still think I'll tell her something and then remember I can't. so it is something you will never fully get over but it does get easier to remember the good times and the love she gave you. Chin up.
Ian I love you madam lash. I bought one from M&M couple years ago and it has very very pale variegation compared to yours. that is stunning. I wish mine looked like that. So if you ever get a spar pup could you please put my name beside it.
Hi Cody, Nev and Teresa also. Nev I'm finding it harder and harder to remember things these days. if I don't write down my passwords I just can't remember from one day to the next. I know they tell us to never write down passwords but shit we'd never be able to log on to fb, dg, or anywhere else to talk to each other. some days I can stand looking at a brom and know that I should know the name but it just won't come to me. I just have to walk around looking for another one and hope the label hasn't faded on that one. then next day I can walk out and write the label immediately. not problem thinking of the name. go figure how that works hey.
People's names are hard to come by but I usually remember faces and know that I know them, I just can't pull the name out that goes with that face.
Anyway after our very very busy weekend with guests and 40th party to prepare and keep secret it went over a huge big success with everyone having a wonderful time last night. our son was so surprised to see all his school friends he hadn't seen for 10 years or more. he had a lovely time reacquainting with them and his wife gave him an address book with names and contact details of all his mates so he can keep in touch with them now. And Rylee enjoyed sharing the birthday celebrations for her 3rd birthday yesterday. Paul included her in everything from blowing candles and posing for photos. she told us he was her best friend. he was so pleased with that. he was born to have lots of kids but unfortunately he knows they can't afford more than the 2 they have.
anyway my bed is calling now. I'm fighting to keep the eyes open an we have a very early start tomorrow for a hospital visit. wonder if there will be any doctors left in the hospital to see us after Campbell has scared them all off.
Wendy
Hi everyone – Here we are again at the start of another new week. Not much done here yesterday, we took one of our grandsons to the light Rail Museum for some train rides in the morning and I spent the afternoon potting up a “mixed bag” of “odds and sods”.
These were the ones that had been put in the “to be done later area” and consisted of Canistropsis, Billbergias, Vrieseas, Neo's and Aechmeas. While I was looking for somewhere to put them I spotted a pot knocked over and when I stood it up I noticed a flower spike just emerging. When I looked at the name, much to my surprise it was Aechmea 'Del Mar' which I got from Sue as a pup some time ago and had forgotten I even had it so it got potted up as well and now I wait to see what the flower turns out like.
Hi Theresa – How's things going over there in New Zealand?
Ian – I remember when we moved, I went through the same things you are going through now, checking, double checking, a little maintenance of the house here and there and a bit of painting thrown in as well. Just as you're about to leave you realise the house is looking better than it ever looked and then ask yourself the question; “am I doing the right thing moving from here”?
Then you have to have a reality check and remember all the reasons you decided to move in the first place. I don't know how long you've lived there but in my case it was where I was born and the day we left was a sad day for me I must admit. The thing is, nothing can take away the good memories.
I like the xAnagelia 'Madam Lash'; this is another plant we have to thank John Catlan for as well as Aechmea 'Aztec Gold' which was another of his creations.
As I look at the rot on your Alcantarea, it seems like you still have a fair bit of sound tissue around the base. I would trim it back as far as necessary to remove the rotted tissue and then dip the end in Flowers of Sulphur and leave it for a few days to dry out completely before deciding on your next move.
That's a nice looking 'Galactic Warrior' Ian, and I hope you don't think I'm starting a “Pick on Ian Week” but if it was mine, I'd take it out of the blue pot and put it in a dark green or black one and see how much better it looks. I give this suggestion because after much discussion and various colour trials over a few years at our brom society, it was a unanimous decision that these two colours best compliment the plants.
We now have a rule that all brom's exhibited in the Monthly Point Score or the Annual Show must be in black or dark green plastic pots as it was decided that fancy coloured pots detracted from the plant; e.g. if you have a table of plants in the required standard coloured pots and put a plant among them in a brightly coloured pot, all eyes are drawn to the coloured pot and away from the plant, and after all it's the plant we should be looking at and not the pot.
In my own collection I changed over to all black pots about five years ago and I'm pleased I did because all of my plants look so much better when they don't have to compete with a brightly coloured pot. It's just a little thing but it makes such a big difference.
Wendy – We have a similar problem, however mine is more advanced than yours. I too can remember faces and can even remember the names of many of the steelworkers who passed through the ambulance rooms during my thirty years working there, but introduce me to someone new now and an hour later I can't remember their name.
As for what you said about the plants, “some days I can stand looking at a brom and know that I should know the name but it just won't come to me. I just have to walk around looking for another one and hope the label hasn't faded on that one”, I do exactly the same thing, but once I have found the name I forget where the plant was that started it all......doh!
Passwords; well that's a whole new ball game and what I've done is to make a thin, slide out shelf beneath the top of my computer desk and on this I have written all of the current passwords. I know it's not very good security, but then there's only my wife and myself in there anyway. I knew a bloke at the steelworks once who reckoned he had the fail-safe way of remembering the password on his credit card; he just wrote it on the card where he knew he wouldn't lose it ???????????.
I'm pleased to hear the party went off well; they always seemed a lot of hassles to organise to me but as that bloke on the”A Team”often said, “I love it when a plan comes together”, and although when my daughter organised my 60th Surprise Party and after I got over the initial temptation to “write he out of my will”, I really enjoyed it and it was great seeing my brother and his family as well as all of the blokes I worked with on our shift 4 in the ambulance.
I think now that every time the grand-kids have a birthday party, I possibly missed out on something as a kid, as none of the kids where I lived ever had a party; we always got a birthday present but no party. On the other hand we were luckier than the kids of today as we had the freedom to roam all around the countryside rabbiting, fishing, swimming, bird nesting and exploring, without the fear of being accosted by some “sicko” as often happens today, so I guess it all evens itself out in the end.
I'd just like to inform you all before I go, that Geoff Lawn has just registered a new Billbergia hybrid for me. It was a Rick Cairn's seedling which I got as part of a swap for some Neo seedlings and it was made from Bill.'Fred Red' x 'Hallelujah' and has been registered as Billbergia 'Stephen Stone'.
Just to fill you in a bit about how I decided on this name; Stephen was a friend of mine and always a bit of an artist. He did a lot of nice work but two years before he was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer he became friends with a young aboriginal chap near where he lived and this chap taught him a lot about Aboriginal "Dot Painting". They became very close friends and spent a lot of time together painting and Stephen's style changed and became a combination of his own personal technique combined with the Aboriginal painting styles. The last time I saw Steve, the plant I have just registered was about three quarters grown and showing some nice colour which attracted Steve's artistic eye and he said the white "dots" reminded him of Aboriginal "Dot Painting". He also asked if he could paint a picture of it for me next time he came down and obviously I agreed. However he passed away later that year at the young age of 42 and never got the chance to paint the picture of the plant he liked so much, that's why I thought it would be nice to name the plant after him as a lasting, living legacy.
Time to go and I'll finish with a few pic' of Bill.'Stephen Stone'.
All the best, Nev.
Nev - that is a touching story about the naming of Bil. Stephen Stone.
Lovely looking plant too :)
We got through our cyclone ok... was more of a severe storm than what was predicted.
In fact we had less rain than last week & none of the flood drama.
hi everyone. Nev I love that billbergia Stephen Stone. I'm not sure if I crossed fred red with hallelujah. I know I have fred red F2 and hallelujah F2 and lots of crosses of other things. so I'll keep my fingers crossed for this one.
Ian I hope you had lovely birthday today. I think when you finish packing and doing up the house you will stand back and look at it with a sense of achievement well done. then you will close the door and open a new one.
Dalfyre I'm glad you didn't get too much of a severe storm. the weather is all stuffed up at present isn't it? we keep getting signs of a storm coming but it just doesn't get any more than some rumbles and a few spits then it's all gone.
Nev I know exactly what you said about not being able to find the plant that started the whole search. I often move a plant to put it somewhere to get back to it when I find the name. then when I find the name I can't remember where I put the plant. I can remember where it had been and should have left it there all along and never moved it at all. Hey I've even been know to go to the supermarket to pick up something for Johnny but when I get there I can't remember what I went there for. I can stand there waiting for it to come but it doesn't so I walk up and down the aisles hoping for inspiration. I end up coming home with bags of stuff and Johnny says 'did you get blah' and I say "oh that's what I went to get".
We are still in wind down mode after the weekend but tomorrow we will start putting our stuff back into the motorhome. Today I booked our site at Evans Head park and we are reall reall looking forward to a week of rest and relaxation. Johnny can fish and I'm going to read a book or two. I'll take the laptop though so I'll keep in touch but no photos as it will chew up the mobile data.
Nev you will love your ae del mar when the infloresence is full. it is a stunning colour. I'm off to bed now but before I go I just came across the pics of our best ae blanchetiana alvin (purple form) from Catlan's. Pic 1 and 2 is our #3. This one has the best shape and lovely fat leaves. This one is a stunner. Pic 3 is another one #2 which has thinner leaves but a nice shape and colour. we also have another 2 we've kept. one did have lovely colour but someone has given it a boost of fertiliser and it's lost the lovely colour and has these super long leaves that lie on the ground and we trip on. I've cut most of them back so we don't trip on them. I'll wait for pups now and see if we can get the colour back in next generation.
Night for now.
Wendy
Hi Nev thanks it was good Alex rode his 4-wheeler during the weekend.I hope you also had a good weekend as well.I Just wish it could have been longer. LOL. Take care.
Hi Tropicbreeze sorry for your loss i can feel your pain.I have been their with mine as well.My heart goes out to you!!!!!! Take care.
Hi Wendy i hope things went well at the Dr. visit. Take care.
Lovely pictures everyone!!!!
Good Day!!!
Cody
This message was edited Mar 17, 2014 9:25 AM
Hi everyone – A bit of change in plans today as I'm going to the museum today instead of Thursday. My youngest son will be in Australia on business and he's making a “flying detour” via home for one day while he's in the country. Only brief, but still very pleased to be able to see him.
Yesterday was spent doing the "same all same all" with more tidying up and re-potting and at last the garden is starting to look somewhere near decent.
If anyone has a bit off spare time today, get onto the BCR and look at the “What's New” section, there's some nice new Neoregelias from New Zealand and some beautiful new Vrieseas from Jack Koning.
Theresa – Pleased to hear you didn't suffer any major damage from the cyclone. I was a bit concerned that there may have been a repeat of the recent flooding, however, thankfully that wasn't the case.
Wendy – I hope Johnny got a good report from the doctor; I think a bit of a break and a bit of fishing in the Queensland sunshine will be just about the best medicine Johnny could get. I can just see you both; him relaxing with a fishing line and you relaxing with a good book and both dozing off as you recharge your batteries. All you need to hope for now is there's none of those nasty Queensland cyclones around to spoil your plans.
As for the Bill. I've just registered, There is another I have from this same cross and it's also a nice looking Bill., but much paler in colour and more in the pink colour range.
It will be interesting to see what you get from your 'Fred Red' crosses. Bill. 'Fred Red' isn't grown around here and I hadn't even heard of it until I got these seedlings from Rick. As for 'Hallelujah', well, what a great parent that's turning out to be and thankfully not passing on the trait of stolons like its Bill. Ed. Mc Williams “pollen parent”. Fortunately the other parent, Bill. 'Domingos Martins' (A cultivated variety of the species Bill. vittata) must be a stronger plant which cancelled out the stolons.
That “Blanchie” in your pictures is a "beaut"; great compact foliage and a most unusual colour for a “Blanchie”. Unfortunately, the “someone” who gave your plant a good dose of fertiliser needs to understand that there's been a lot of nice shaped brom's buggered up by too much fertiliser. That sudden boost of nitrogen gives some of the leaves a growth spurt and spoils the whole conformity of the plant and you're back to square one and have to wait for another year to grow on a pup to rectify things.
I know from a lot of the Neo seedlings I grew I have a similar problem; not from over-fertilising but from lack of good light. My neighbour's tree on the northern side is robbing all the northern light and the plants are all reaching out as they search for more and it makes them look terribly long and spindly and difficult to tell what to keep and what to toss.
Fortunately I've grown on a small sample of each in a well lit area so I know which crosses are performing and which aren't, and like you I've had to trim the excess leaves as I wait for next years pups. The only good thing about the whole situation is that what ever cross it is, I know if it's grown in good light next year, the colour and shape will both be an improvement from what the present conditions have produced and at present I'm seeing these plants at their worst.
I'm beginning to think that once a seedling is established, I would be better off by not giving any fertiliser at all and growing them really hard. I know this would keep the shape compact and definitely improve the colour; what's more, a smaller compact plant equals less required growing space required which equals less overcrowding......Certainly food for thought.
Cody – I have to agree with you, the weekends seem to go so quickly which is a bit hard if you're still in the work force, however it's not so bad for retirees like me as one day is just like the next and I don't have to try and fit everything into the weekend.
Tell Alex to be careful riding that quad bike and make sure he's wearing his “crash hat” as they do tent to “buck” and there's been some nasty accidents with them here in Australia recently. In fact they are even considering bringing in a law to ban anyone under sixteen from riding them.
I remember when I was working, we had an area near the harbour where the only access to the wharf was through a narrow access way which was originally designed as a walkway and too tight to drive an ambulance through. The “powers that be” decided that the ambulance man could respond quicker to emergencies if they provided him with a motorised three wheel trike to carry him and his equipment.
Well what an initial joke that was when we were learning to ride it; press the throttle a bit too soft and it wouldn't move, press it a bit too hard and you would be bucked off backwards. It didn't last long though as they were automatic and on one occasion the automatic transmission wouldn't disengage and the rider decided to jump off and the trike kept going, right into the harbour. In the end they decided it would be better and cheaper in the long run to widen the access-way so we could drive down onto the wharf in the ambulance instead.
Here I go; side tracked yet again.
Time to go anyway, and today I'll show some more of Peter Coyle's new creations from New Zealand. Pic.1 is Neo ('Avalon' x 'Fireball') x 'Felix', Pic.2 is Neo.'Wild Tiger' x 'Jewellery Shop', Pic 3 is another new hybrid with name unknown, Pic.4 and 5 are two of his new Vriesea hybrids; again names unknown.
All the best, Nev.
Nev - those are beauties...
isn't number 3 amazingly glossy.
I wonder if 4 & 5 are related?
Nev those pics of Peter Coyle's seedlings are wonderful I love number 1 with that white centre. And the vriseas are stunning especially the first.
We started packing the motorhome today. I made the bed and put some things back in it like washing stuff, showering supplies, some containers of food like tea, sugar, coffee, wine..... just the important stuff. we're going to take the car as well as the motorhome so we can do some day tripping when it is too hot to sit in the sun fishing. we thought a day rip to Coffs to see Sue would be nice and another to Wardell to see Ross Little. and I'm trying to get Shane Weston to give me his address so we can see his place. he wants one of my newly registered bill. fruit salads so he either has to pick it up from Evans Head or we deliver it to his place. would love to see his collection. he has some amazing stuff.
Nev, Johnny decided he would rat proof the seedling area today before we go away. we have bird wire along the bottom of the fence now on 2 sides, t
he wall of the house on a 3rd side and now we are doing a wall with a door to close off the little juicy ones. we moved out the bigger ones today and then put all the bigger seedlings together on the bench so our son can just hose them while we are away. the smaller seedlings will still be in the covered shelf units to be misted with the hose. now we should be able to grow some good vriseas without risk of rats chewing them.
time for bed I think.
Wendy
Hi Nev don't worry alex does wear a motorcycle helmet.He has one of those little 4-wheelers.It's perfect for his size.I have to make him slow down at times because he does have a lead foot to were he wants to go fast on it.I am out their with him when he is on it to keep a eye on him to make sure he doesn't get hurt.
Yeah it's great that they widen the pathway for an ambulance to be able to get through their when someone got hurt and needed y'alls help.
Nev hope you had a great time visiting your son.Any time is better then no time at all. Take care.
Good Day
This message was edited Mar 18, 2014 8:04 PM
Hi everyone – According the the weather report it seems there is another nice day on the way again today with the possibility of afternoon showers. This is what they have been forecasting for the last five days and each time they've been accurate except for the afternoon showers which never arrive.
All in all we have had a week of wonderful autumn weather with clear skies and nice warm days which make it a pleasure to be out in the garden. I just want it to last for one more day so I can weed the rest of the front garden and finish off the mulching so I can cross another job off my list.
Theresa – There are some wonderful new hybrids being produced at present and New Zealand's Peter Coyle and Australia's Jack Koning are right up there with the worlds best breeders.
As for the plants in Pic's 4 and 5 being related; there were no names given so I can't say for sure, but judging by the coloured leaf tips it's quite possible they both have Vr. platynema variegata in their breeding history somewhere as this is a trait of that plant which it usually always passes on.
Wendy – Yes Peter's breeding some great stuff at present and not just Neo's and Vrieseas; he's turning out some wonderful Billbergias as well and the latest I've seen of his work is a variegated Cryptanthus, and just like Jack Koning, he's a man of many talents when it comes to brom breeding.
The bed in the motor home must be a bit crowded now after you put “washing stuff, showering supplies, some containers of food like tea, sugar, coffee, wine...” in it Ha! Ha!
You mention Ross, did you know he's either selling out or has already sold out? The last I heard was he was putting in a caretaker to look after his plants while he went travelling so best give him a ring before you go driving all the way down to his place.
I hope all of Johnny's “rat proofing” works well as you don't want to come home to be greeted by more rat damage like you've had recently. The bloody things soon work out when no one's home and they start visiting. We have an empty house next door and the old bloke that keeps an eye on it for the owners tells me there's evidence of rats all through the house.
I can't understand the owners as it's probably the “landmark” old original home in Shellharbour Village which people regularly come to photograph. It's two story and built of old sand stock bricks with a ”Cape Cod” style roof and it's been vacant now for almost three years and now requires maintenance on the building and the gardens (what's left of them). I can't understand the owners as I thought they were both intelligent people with the husband being an accountant and the wife working as a librarian at the university and yet the house is just sitting there empty and slowly deteriorating and as the wife's father says, “it's just dead money”.
Cody – I know what you're saying about your son having a “lead foot”. I think all kids are like that and they think of themselves as “bullet proof”. Anyway with you there to keep an eye on him, I'm sure he'll be safe.
Anyway, that's it for another day so a few pic's to finish off, starting with Nidularium Procerum. It's been around for a while and was originally called Nid. procerum v. karmesianum but like many other plants has had a “name change”. Pic.2 is one of my new Neo. hybrids, still a “baby”, but I think it has possibilities. Pic.3 Another “oldie” and one I bought named as Neo. 'Rain Cloud' although I have doubts about the name being correct. Pic.4 is another of my new hybrid seedlings Neo. 'Heart Music' x concentrica. I found it hiding away among a lot of other plants and what attracted me to it was the unusual leaves which curve slightly downwards. Finally Pic.5 which is another of my seedlings and although nothing in the shape stakes, it does have unusual colour, so I'll give it another year and see what the next generation of pups turn out like.
All the best, Nev.
Hi Nev yes that is very true when it comes to them thinking they are bullet proof and them thinking that they can not get hurt.He started driving the mule when was 7 and he had to stand up to touch the gas even then I would have to make him slow down because of him wanting to speed.He loves driving it though because he is driving it by himself with know one riding it with him.
Oh yes Nev you know me you know I will always be out their with him when he is driving something.
Nev I really love that first picture of yours.They are all so very nice.Take care.
I know your day is just starting,hope you are enjoying your day.So have a great day and enjoy your garden.
Good Day Mate
This message was edited Mar 19, 2014 9:12 AM
Hi Cody an Nev. seems you are the only ones around.
Cody I hope Alex stay safe on his quad bike. my son had an accident on his motorbike in 2004 and broke both his hands. we had to dress him, feed him and do all sorts of things for him but we drew the line at wiping his bum so we bought one of those showers that you can lift down off the wall. that way he could hold it and wash himself. Amazing how we can manage to save face while having someone getting you dressed.
Nev I love your pics. procerum is lovely as a clump because of the range of colours it goes through from new bloom to mature. that seedling in pic 2 looks promising. what is the parentage please.
I must get off to bed or I won't get the van packed tomorrow. have to go shopping for any extras especially foods. once we put the cold stuff in we're all ready to go. clothes are loaded. I had to read back to my last post to check how I'd worded it. now I see what you were referring to Nev. hahaaha. I knew what I meant. we'd only removed everything a week earlier and now we are putting everything back in. I meant in the motorhome not the bed LOL.
Johnny is having a bit of trouble getting the wall with the door in it. one side is done with bird wire and the screen door with bird wire again is also in. but the problem is that when we bring the other side of the door across to the wall of the house we have to somehow give ourselves access o the switch to turn the pump on to water the broms. how to finish the wall without blocking access. he'll work it out but he is getting damn frustrated. lucky the neighbours work and can't hear the words coming out of him when something doesn't work. He'll need that holiday after he's finished.
Pic1 is a guz we've been watching develop. at first it was just this amazing glow in the centre of the green plant. it's been slowly lifting itself up out of the centre and is now starting to stand up tall. Pic 2 is a guz sanguinea x wittmackii. it's a glorious pink colour and then these lovely white bits appear. it doesn't stand up far out of the centre like other guz.
Night
Wendy
Hi Wendy I will always keep my eye on him.He knows if he goes to fast I will either make him turn it off for a few minutes or make him put it up.I am always right their with him when he is on it.All of you know that this is my baby and I would never let him get hurt.He also has to be a boy at the same time.I am a very over protected mother but I also have to let him be a kid.I will always make sure he is safe.
Sleep well Wendy!!!
Good Day
This message was edited Mar 19, 2014 10:14 AM
Hi Cody and Wendy - It seems like it's just the three of us again to try and keep things going; and when you go on your trip Wendy it will just be Cody and me. Have you heard from Colleen at all? I sent her a D-Mail the same day as her last post to say I would send some plants to her and Jean on the following Monday but I haven't heard from her, so I hope she's alright and she got the plants OK.
I was trying to sort out in my mind why there's just the three of us. I know Jean's tied up caring for her sick hubby and Trish is trying to come to terms with all the new changes at work. Shirley told us she would be off the air for a couple of weeks and tropicbreeze will also be busy with the loss of Mum. Ian of course drops in occasionally as he gets ready for the "big relocation" and Theresa still drops in occasionally also, but wouldn't it be nice if some of the old regulars like Jen, Tash and Sue would still drop in from time to time. Anyway I guess it's just up to us to "keep the home fires burning" until they all return.
Anyway, I spent yesterday doing the final tidy up of the front garden and putting on the mulch and finally it's finished, so another job off the list. I gave everything a good water when I finished, mainly to settle the mulch and I had intended to water it again this morning to make sure the mulch is really saturated, but just since I've started typing, the heaven have opened and it's now pouring with rain so maybe I won't have to water again after all.
Cody - G'day to you mate as well, you're beginning to sound like an Aussie.
It seems like Alex is no different to all the other boys his age all over the world; they all love speed. So it's up to the parents to get the message through to them that speed's OK as long as it's controlled and they are constantly aware of the dangers associated with it. I have no doubt you are a good Mum and keep re-enforcing the safety rules to him.
It's only natural you want to protect your kids, and you should do all you can to show them the right way to do things, but you can't wrap them up in cotton wool and they eventually have to learn for themselves.
I think what's wrong with the world today is that there's too many signs telling people what to do and people become too reliant on them. If they learn from experience rather than constantly reading all of the signs, they will be better drivers and riders. What the "powers to be" tend to forget is that while you're reading a sign you're not watching the road and this is where the accidents happen. I don't know about America but Australia has gone so overboard with signage it's almost got to the stage where there are signs to tell you how to read signs............................. There are signs everywhere!
Wendy - I know exactly what you mean when you talk about your son with two broken hands, I had to have both wrists operated on for a Carpal Tunnel problem a couple of years back and the surgeon wanted to do the operations a month apart. I told him I wanted them both done at the same time and as I wasn't going to have two operations with two lots of surgeons charges and two lots of hospital fees. He gave all sorts of excuses why this couldn't be done. (He didn't say the main one was he would only get one lot of operation fees if he did them both at the same time) and it wasn't until I said I was sure I could find another surgeon that could do them both together, that he finally agreed. But I must say it was a bit awkward for the first week, (and I didn't have one of those portable shower heads), but it all turned out OK.
I must agree with you, Nid. Procerum does look nice in a clump, I didn't realise I had so much of it until I started tidying around the frog pond, and then I remembered I divided a plant a couple of years back and just "parked" them all near the pond until I found a permanent place for them, and that didn't happen did it?
Regarding the parents of that Neo seedling, I think 'Blackout' could be one, but I'll have a look today and tell you tomorrow. It's only a baby yet, but I do like the colour and the nice wide leaves (usually a good sign).
I have no doubt that Johnny will sort out the problem with the rat proofing as from what you've told us about him in the past, it seems he's pretty good at improvising and working out ways to get things done.
I like the colour of the "Guzzie" in your Pic.1 and it will be interesting to see what the inflorescence on the plant in Pic.2 turns out like and whether it will stay low in the cup like Sanguinea or grow tall like a wittmackii. I've recently flowered a wittmackii with peach/orange coloured bracts and white flowers. The inflorescence was almost three feet high and it was really something "very different" to my other Guzzies. It looks like yours will have the white flowers but it's not going to inherit the tall inflorescence like some of these species have.
Time to go again and finally a big "Get Well Soon" to anyone on the sick list and a big "Hi" to any of our friends reading the posts but not posting, c'mon drop us a line or two.
The pic's today are more from Peter Coyle’s collection. Pic’s 1 and 2 show a couple of his new Billbergia hybrids, Pic.3 is a new variegated Cryptanthus hybrid and Pic’s 4 and 5 two new Neoregelia hybrids with amazing colours.
All the best, Nev.
Hi Nev ((((thanks))))yes these days the boys and girl here think they have the need to speed.Alex knows he will get in trouble when he goes to fast.
(((((Thanks))))) Yeah that is my goal is to show him the safe way to do things.I am not as protected as I use to be I am learning to ease up some on him.
Their are a lot of signs like in big cities.The thing around here is people talking and texting on the phone while driving.Hate when people do that instead of watching out for their safety along the other folks they pass.
All your pictures are beautiful.
Good Day Mate
Good morning everyone.
I am sneaking a few moments as I wait for the sun to come up properly. I need to get out and check on all the broms as I have neglected them while being out every day visiting hubby in hospital.
I would go over in the mornings, and as its a fair drive, I would stay all day doing a bit of shopping etc then going back to the hospital for the afternoon.
By the time I got home each day, it was too late to do anything outside.
Now hubby is back home, I will have a bit more free time.
His big op will be next month and the garden will really be on its own then .
Luckily autumn has arrived by the look of things here. We had a bit of nice rain and hopefully more will come while we are away.
The mornings are chilly then turning into nice sunny days. When I have been leaving of a morning , there has been a low misty fog laying in the valleys. Very pretty.
My broms are pupping like mad things, I am going to have to do a lot of removing and potting when spring arrives. I have read all the posts but wont reply to all as I would be here all day...lol
Beautiful pics as always and lots of interesting news.
Nev, I love that bill of Peter Coyles, in your pic 1 today.
Wendy, I fell in love with your beautiful pale guz in your pic 1.
Hello Cody, nice to see your boy being a boy..
I went out and took a few quick pics now the sun has come up.
pic 1... my newest brom... aech nudicaulis cuspidata
pic 2...a noid bill with a pup on a long stolon
pic 3...my first pup from bill Selby Seidel.
pic 4...Nev, one of your pretty noid bills has a tiny pup coming.
( could this be bill Mottles ?)
pic 5... more for Nev, neo babies getting lovely spots...( Charm x Crackerjack ) x Sunrise
Jean.
a couple more pics...
pic 6... pic doesnt really show how lovely this one is... Neo Old Love Letters
pic 7.. vr Megan is finally getting some nice white edging
pic 8... guzmania Joyce .. a pretty mini.
Jean
Hi Everyone!
I hope you are all well and keeping busy in your gardens in and amongst your beautiful broms.
Well I am pleased to report that the stall I held at our local market on the weekend went really well, better than I had expected where I managed to sell a mixture of broms, succulents, cacti and gingers and made quite a few new contacts along the way which in itself I thought was great. It was my first ever stall at a market and I was very impressed with how busy I was for pretty much nearly the whole 5hrs except where it quietened down slightly just towards the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience because I got to talk to people who knew either a little or a lot about plants/broms and I welcomed the opportunity to answer questions people had and show them pics of what maturing plants would grow-up to be like.
Naturally the weekend flew by as Saturday was spent getting everything ready and loaded into our car and trailer in prep for the market and Sunday was consumed by the market where we did not get home until after 2pm, then after that we just rested for the remainder of the day indoors which was nice and I am sure I nodded off here and there because I was so happily exhaused.
My week at work after the weekend has been very hectic indeed not leaving much time to catch-up with you all on this forum’ but I thought I would sneak in a quick catch-up tonight prior to the weekend just to let you all know that I am still around but just that time has been very limited of late with everything going on in our lives at present and the added pressures at work.
We did get some nice rain today both at work and at home with more expected over the weekend which will be nice as our grass was just starting to get that dry look about it in some spots.
This weekend should hopefully be a free one for us with nothing much on except for mowing lawns and spending some time in the garden and naturally spending quality time with Joe, our Pouches and my Broms he he.
I will endeavour to catch-up on all the posts I have missed this past week over the weekend and hopefully there is a break in the weather so I can take some fresh pictures of some of my broms as it has been donkey ages since I have taken any.
Hi Tropicbreeze so very, very sorry and sad to hear about your Mum, our sincere condolences from all your friends here, our thoughts are with you during this very sad and stressful time – take care and big hugs to you our beautiful friend.
Hi Ian look us up if you are ever in Townsville and pop over for a cuppa or beer if you like as it would be nice to meet you if you are ever up this way. Happy belated birthday too, hope you had a good one!
Hi Nev what a very touching story about the naming of Bill. ‘Stephen Stone’, what a beautiful gesture naming the Bill. after your dear friend Steve. From the pictures you have shared with me in the past Steve was a very talented artist indeed and I was totally blown away by his beautiful works of art and I think it is wonderful that you have named this Bill. after Steve as a lasting, living legacy as you say.
Apologies if I have not touched base with everyone individually, I promise to do so over the weekend when I have more time up my sleeve as I just looked at the clock and it's way past my bedtime so I better clock-off out of here.
Anyway until then Take Care and Happy Gardening!
I adored everyone's pictures and plan to take a closer look at them all over the weekend.
Trish
Pic 1 – Vr. ‘Simpson Desert’
Pic 2 – Neo. ‘Sam Smith’ (pup) bright as bright can be.
Pic 3 – Neo. ‘NOIDS’ shining heavy even in full sun
Pic 4 – Neo. ‘Georges’ Prince’
Pic 5 – Neo. ‘Red River’
Hi I'm just checking in quickly as we are having an early one tonight so we can be up and at it early in the morning loading the last few items in the van and splashing some water round the garden before we leave. Getting excited now.
Nev the rat proof area is not too bad but Johnny forgot to do one vital thing and that was to leave a space to reach round the corner to switch on the pump. so now we have to unlock the door and go inside the seedling area to turn on the pump. oh well. better than having the seedlings chewed. we laid out all the seedlings today along the shelves so our son can splash them with bit of water next week. I had to cut drainage holes in every single tray so they don't hold too much water. I'll share some pics when we return from holidays..... probably in the April forum by then.
I'll be checking in and reading while we are away and probably post some responses but not sure about posting pics.
Cody boys will always be boys and even if you keep them under control while you are watching they will always grab that one moment while your back is turned and try something dangerous. That's what my son did but he was well grow up by then. can you imagine a 18yo letting his mum wipe his bum? not happening hahaha. At the time he broke both hands my mum was diagnosed with cancer and instead of being able to stay with her in hospital I was being dragged back and forth between her and our son and his needs. It was a stressful time and at the same time my job was upgraded and I had to reapply to keep it. Not a good headspace for doing an application. But as they say one door closes and another one opens. I ended up in a better job it was hard there for a while.
Night all. Catch you all on the road.
Wendy
thought I'd share some pics of our recent reno of the back of our yard. It worked out pretty good. just check the 3rd pic first as it was a progress shot. the others are the end result.
hi! Its been dry here for a long time but finally getting the rain we need now.
Have a new pup...like having a baby again. hehe! and 3 chickens that are a week or so old, been bringing them inside at night and putting them in chook pen during day but its been raining heaps. Im a sucker for extra jobs. ha!
1. I think Macho 2. Stars and Bars 3. Unknown from Trish 4. Leopard
Hi Wendy yes boys will be boys.I am so sorry that you had to go through so much pain back then.I know what you mean about turning your back that something could happen.The 4-wheeler he has is real and not that big.Even though he could still get hurt on it.It is as big as the ones that toddlers start out on the battery power ones.He was riding it yesterday and he was being hard headed so I made him get off of it.Thats why I am trying to teach him not to speed on it now,because I know as they get older they think they have to speed on them.He knows he has rules when it comes to riding it.If he doesn't go by the rules then he knows it's time to get off and he hates when I make him get off.Take care and be safe.
Wendy your pictures are beautiful.
Hi Jean thanks.
Good Day
This message was edited Mar 20, 2014 4:55 PM
Hi everyone – Nothing much exciting to report, just spent yesterday doing more “catch up” work, a bit of rearranging here and a bit of re-potting there; you all know what I mean. Once again I had a nice surprise and found a nice half grown plant of Portea silveirae. I had forgotten all about this plant as it had been knocked off a bench a couple of years back and when I found it under the bench it was half dead with the centre rotted out. I just stripped away all the dead foliage and put it back on the bench meaning to clean it up properly and re-pot it later; …......... Once again I got side tracked didn't I, and yesterday was the first time I'd had seen it since. Once again it shows the amazing ability these plants have to survive.
I posted a pic of one of my new Neo. hybrids on the 18th (Pic.2) and Wendy asked for the name of the crossing. Well I had a look yesterday and it is Neo.'Blue Nude' x 'Black Onyx'.(I think I said I thought one of the parents was 'Blackout'; anyway it did have “Black": in the name). Neo.'Blue Nude' is an old one registered by J. Elmore way back in 1979 while Neo.'Black Onyx' is more recent and bred by John Catlan in around 2000.
Cody – Being in the “horse game” you've no doubt heard the saying “you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink”. Well the same applies to kids; you can shown them the safe way to do things and guide them, but in the end they will make the final decision on what they will do and how they will do it. We just have to hope that they have taken some of our advice on board when making those decisions.
Jean - Nice to hear from you and good to hear hubby is well enough to come back home again, and I'm sure he'll be feeling a lot better in his mind now that he has a firm date for the operation at last.
I wouldn't worry too much about your plants during the period he is having the operation and the recovery in hospital as it's the best time of the year to neglect plants as they have slowed down with their growth and their requirements are much less than in the hot weather. I don't expect you will have any losses, but if on the remote chance you do, I'm sure I or someone else here can give you a plant to replace it with.
Jean, you mention that you like that Bill of Peter Coyle's in my first pic. and I agree that it is nice, but just let me also say that about three years ago I had a Bill.'Hallelujah' which I had grown in an exceptionally bright north facing area and it was as white as or maybe even a bit whiter that that plant of Peter's. I find it fascinating just how you can manipulate the colours of plants with the use of various light intensities.
After looking at your first pic of the Ae. nudicaulis cuspidata pup, I have to say I've had a plant for years with the same name, however it doesn't look anything like the one on the FCBS site, as mine has a lot of dark markings. It still has the bright yellow flowers which contrast with the vivid scarlet bracts, but the foliage colour has none of those pinkish tones depicted in the FCBS photo.
My plant is more like the one on the FCBS Index in the Pic.3 photo by Peter Franklin which is in the section of plain Ae nudicaulis. I will be interesting to see what colours your plant develops when it's mature and I am eager to see if anyone else has a pic of an Ae. nudicaulis cuspidata in their collections they can post for comparison.
It will be interesting to see how the Bill with the long stolon turns out as like all NOIDS there is usually a surprise once they have matured. I can't help comparing your picture of the pup from Bill. 'Selby Seidel' with pups from my plant of Bill. 'Ed McWilliams', they are both of similar colouring which isn't surprising as they are both cv.'s of amoena v. amoena, but my plant has very long stolons more like those on Bill. amoena var. stolonifera.
You're getting some nice colour in the Bill NOID in your Pic.4 but I still have no idea of it's name. As for the little Neo. seedlings they should colour up as I expected and with parents of Neo. (Charm x Cracker Jack) and Neo. 'Sunrise', the maroon./burgundy background with the pale green spotting should be more enhanced than either parent and produce more of the spotted types you say you like.
Trish – I'm pleased you've been able to find some time to post; I realise just how busy you've been with the restructuring at work and for a moment I had forgotten all about you preparing for your first market and I'm delighted to hear it went so well for you. As well as being able to unload some of your excess plants, like you say there is the added bonus of making new contacts and friends. You may even be able to introduce some to our little forum, who knows? Do you intend making the monthly market a regular thing or are you just going to set up a stall when you have excess plants to sell?
I hope the coming weekend allows you to start to get back to normal; looking at your plants and spending more time with Joe and the “girls”. I know all the changes have been tough but just remember there's always light at the end of the tunnel and there's nothing better for de-stressing than spending time with your family, pets and plants. I know with more time you'll be able to share some new pic's with us and that's something we always look forward to.
On to your pic's now and firstly Vr.'Simpson Desert' a beautiful Vriesea and with a name like that it has to be one from Jack Koning and what can I say about Pic.2 Neo.'Sam Smith' a fabulous little Neo. and one I can't wait to see mature in my collection.
The NOIDS in you third pic. are of similar colour to what I told Jean her seedlings will turn out like and I wouldn't be surprised if your plants don't have either Neo.'Charm' or 'Cracker Jack' in their parentage either. Also Neo.'George's Prince', another beautiful Neo. and one I have used in a couple of crosses, some of which are now reaching maturity and showing some promise also.
Finally Neo.'Red River' showing beautiful colour and like many of these type of plants, I have found that down here if I'm to get good colour like that, I have to hang them high up in the shade house just below the shade cloth roof.
Wendy – I can just imagine you now running around like a “chook with its head cut off” in preparation for your holiday. Everything will be going through your head as you ask yourself, did I do that and have I done this etc. The thing is, if you've forgotten something you can always ring your son and get him to do it so don't stress out.
Now that you've cut drainage holes in all of the trays, don't forget they'll dry out more quickly and to avoid having to water them so much, when you get back home you can just stand those trays inside other trays without drainage holes in them and you'll be right back to where you started.
I think you and Johnny need a collective pat on the back for the magnificent job you've done on your “reno”, it looks great. How I wished I had someone like you two down here to give me a hand when I was trying to sort my lot out.
Breeindy – Great to see you back again – It seems you're a country girl at heart; plants, dogs and chooks; what more could a girl want? Now you really will have your work cut out, all of this and a young lady to look after as well.
That's a great plant of Neo.'Macho' in your first picture, it has fantastic form and nice compactness and brilliant colour for this particular plant. It seems you have a very good clone, far better than many others I have seen and this combined with your ability to grow it well has definitely produced good results. You've done well with Neo.'Stars and Bars' also, it's a pity something has fallen on it and damaged a leaf. As usual when this happens, it always seems to be a leaf in the centre of the plant that “cops it”, it's never one down the bottom that can easily be removed without anyone noticing. That plant in Pic.3, although it doesn't have the shape of the other two, it does have the most unusual combination of markings and colours.
Your last plant (Neo. 'Leopard') I think is possibly Neo.'Catlan's Leopard' and someone has just shortened the name. The Neo 'Leopard' previously listed on the BCR has had a name change to Neo.'Rainbow carcharodon' and when you look at pic's of that you will see it looks nothing like the Neo. 'Leopard' we know.
Like wise you can't necessarily go off the pic's of Neo. Catlan's Leopard on the BCR either as you will only get that magnificent colour when it's grown under optimum light intensity which requires a bit of trial and error to get it just right. Most times it's more like your plant which colours up to purple in the centre at maturity. It's said to be a selfing of a special clone of Neo. concentrica.
Sorry no pic's today.
All the best, Nev.
Hi Nev that is true.I will not be able to control what he does when he is almost grown but hope the god he stays safe.As long as he lives with me he will always have rules to go by.If he really loves something then he knows to go by the rules.He is only fixing to be 9 years old so I have a ways to go and try and make him drink the water and hopes he will listen and learn as he gets older.His dad takes him to 4-wheelers,lawnmowers and go-cart races.He has seen people get hurt and people even die from those races.I don't like my son seeing that stuff,but I can not control what goes on over their.His dad is still wanting to put him in go-cart racing and I am still against that.
All I can do is do my best and hope he listens.
Good Day
well I have been busy applying for new jobs & despite a couple of good interviews no luck yet.
what an amazing lot of photos, Nev - the Peter Coyle Bils are amazing... so are the rest.
Cody - I think you are on the right track with Alex - he is learning self control & that his actions have consequences.
Hi Teresa thanks!!!! It's hard to see your kids grow up but at some point you have to let them.I guess it would be easier if I had more than one kid but he is my only baby.So that is why I am trying to get him to start being safe so he can grow from that and learn to stay safe.
Good Luck Teresa!!!!!
Good Day
Cody
Hi everyone – Well here we are, (at least two of us anyway) at the start of another weekend; where has the week gone?
A big “G'day “ to any "lurkers", why don't you come in instead of just watching from the side lines? Also a big “Get Well Soon” to anyone on the sick list, hurry up and get better an start posting again, as we're running short of posts.
Cody- Perhaps Alex's dad taking him to 4-wheelers, lawn mowers and go-cart races might be a “good thing” in a way, as he can see first hand what can happen in the races and that the things they race with aren't the toys they first seemed. All of this helps to re-enforce the safety rules you've been teaching him.
You say, “I don't like my son seeing that stuff”, but remember, to see is to learn, and there's nothing will get the safety message through better than to witness a serious accident and think of why it happened and what the consequences are.
Theresa – Good luck with the job interviews......How times have changed, when I first went into the work force sixty years ago we only ever needed to officially apply for one job and that was the first one. Permanent work was all the go then and it wasn't unusual for a person to stay in the same job for the whole of their working life. There were no written applications and no C.V.'s, you just rang up and made an appointment for an interview. At the end of the interview you were usually told if you had the job or not.
After I had served my apprenticeship I left the steelworks and went into the building industry as I didn't want to be an industrial carpenter all of my life, I wanted to be able to build a house. I just looked through the paper one Saturday morning until I saw an advert. for a carpenter, rang up and was told to show up ready for work on the Monday. My new boss didn't ask for any written applications, references or documents to prove I had served an apprenticeship, he said a written application would just tell him I could write, and he wanted to know how good I was at carpentry. He said he would just watch me work and that would tell him all he wanted to know.
I must have been suitable as I stayed with this builder for the next five years and enjoyed every minute of my employ, it was just a small family business; The boss, who did the quotes and a bit of carpentry when he had time, the boss's wife who did the books and the pays, a labourer, an apprentice and myself made up the whole crew. When the opportunity came up to eventually get into industrial ambulance work I grabbed it with both hands as this is what I'd always wanted and besides, the building industry was getting pretty “shaky” and heading for a big “slump”. I stayed in ambulance work and enjoyed it immensely for the next thirty years until I retired.
I feel so sorry for the young ones today as they write out application after application and often never even get to an interview, and if they do there's usually a lot of others applying for the same job; how demoralising and stressful must that be. I reckon I was definitely born in the right era. Anyway, good luck with the interviews; by the way, may I ask what sort of work you're seeking?
There I go again, side tracked once more.......................
Now back to brom's........ As there is only the three of us today and as I'm the only one with a “largish” bromeliad collection, I thought I'd share few little “tips” for growing some of the more common types of brom's that new growers start out with which are commonly known as “urn” type brom's. This is from an article I was asked to write for new members of our society back in 2009 and as the information is still relevant today, I thought I'd share it with our forum members here.
Firstly what is an “urn” type of bromeliad? Loosely speaking it is any brom whose leaves form a sort of a “vase” or “urn” which can hold water. Plants such as Aechmeas, Neoregelias, Nidulariums and Vrieseas being good examples and which are commonly grown by us all.
When we acquire our first “urn” type bromeliad it is usually already potted up and may or may not be in flower, and like all other plants we need to find out a little about its basic requirements. I have on various occasions overheard various descriptions of the cultural requirements for these plants, often at the markets from the sellers or from other establishments and more often than not the advice given is mostly incorrect.
One of the most common mistakes that the new grower is told is to stand the plant in a saucer of water so it doesn’t need to be watered too often and just make sure that the centre has water in it at all time. Consequently after a few weeks the plant begins to look sick and gradually deteriorates to the stage where it’s almost dead. At this stage the new grower will sometimes seek advice from someone who grows these plants, and this all usually leads to the plant being taken out of the pot only to reveal it has been growing in nothing more than a pot of mix the bottom half of which is mud; in other words the mix was “water-logged” and the plant has “wet feet”.
To prevent this from happening, I would suggest to all new growers to start with the basics; Understand the basic requirements of the particular plant genus you want to grow. The basic requirements of the plant can easily be worked out firstly from how similar plants grow in their natural habitat. This is usually on trees, on rocks or on the ground. The one common denominator here is in the fact that no matter which form of growth these plants take, they all have good drainage.
The other fact worth noting is that “in habitat” these plants always have adequate space between them allowing for good air circulation, if they do become crowded for some reason, the weakest plants die which then creates growing room for the strong ones, i.e. the survival of the fittest. Likewise the plants growing on rocks and on trees have constant access to good air circulation which is necessary to prevent attack by various types of fungus which cause rot.
So based on this we can gather that the two main basic requirements of these plants if they are in a pots, are firstly a free draining mix and secondly, adequate space between plants to allow for good air movement.
Next we have to look at watering and again we can be guided by what happens in their natural habitat. First we need to realise that plants in the wild are mainly reliant on rain and dew for their moisture requirements. The infrequent amounts of moisture coupled with the free drainage and good air movement certainly doesn’t allow for any plant to become waterlogged and the only way they could get an abundance of water is due to excessive prolonged rain which will accumulate in the vases of the urn type plants.
Even in these cases, nature has an inbuilt safety mechanism whereby when the excessive amount of water becomes just too heavy, it causes the plant to either tip over and empty itself, or in extreme cases the sheer weight will pull its roots from whatever it is attached to. Whatever the cause, the plant will not be waterlogged. Bearing all of this in mind the message here is that these plants don’t like to be over-watered and it’s a generally accepted fact that many more plants are lost from over-watering than under watering.
Now to just recap on what we have established already:
Brom’s don’t like to be waterlogged................................Free draining mix
Brom’s must have good drainage ...................................Free draining mix
Brom’s must have adequate space to grow ….............. Don't crowd plants together
Brom’s need good air circulation, plant and roots ........ Free draining mix and no overcrowding
Now what about fertiliser? Again what happens in nature?
When these urn shaped plants are growing naturally, they are exposed to debris and leaf litter falling into the vase as well as the occasional bird, frog or small animal droppings. This mixes with the water already in the vase and makes (for want of a better description) a “soup”, this mixture then starts to rot and break down all of the components and ultimately it becomes a weak liquid fertiliser which as the urn receives more water, becomes more diluted. This is a ongoing cycle and consequently the plant is continually getting minute quantities of dilute fertiliser and it’s probably from this very fact that the old nurseryman’s adage to “fertilise plants little and often” was initially born.
The following is a summary of the basic needs required to grow urn shaped brom’s in a domestic environment based on what occurs in nature:
1. They need a free draining potting mix to afford good drainage and air circulation around the roots; they don’t like overcrowding so they need adequate space to grow and they also only need a minimum of water.
2. In my case where I am one street back from the ocean and my climate could be classed loosely as a “maritime climate”. I only water once every two weeks in the summer and monthly in the winter. The exception being on very hot days where I give plants a light misting in the late afternoon.
3. As far as nutrition goes they need the fertiliser in a very dilute form and fed regularly, and if the instructions say mix 1 teaspoon of fertiliser per litre of water and apply monthly, you would be better off mixing ¼ Teaspoon per litre and feeding weekly.
These are good safe principles from which to start your journey of growing urn type bromeliads.
All the best, Nev.
job hunting is not my favourite activity...
I enjoyed my interviews but didn't get the jobs.
They were similar positions, one working for Wattyl in the trade centre - taking orders, picking, packing & dispatching.
The other was with MacPac - taking phone orders & using the computer to organise stock transfers to fill orders.
Both sounded well within my capabilities - my final job at the Press was a similar thing with advertising as the product.
So I'm still looking for something within retail/admin.
Not keen to go back to bar work, unless I could just work in a nice bar during civilised hours.
Odds on that are pretty low ;)
Nev - I really enjoy your tips on brom growing.
When I finally extend my collection beyond Bil. nutans I will have a head start in keeping them alive :)
take care all
Teresa
Gee Theresa it looks just like you and me today, so this shouldn't take too long. I'm late today as I was waiting to see if anyone else posted but it doesn't look like it.
Sorry to hear you didn't get the job, however, don't give up hope; as the old bloke who was my neighbour when we lived at Dunmore often told the young 'uns, “jobs are like trains, there's always another one coming”. I know that was true in those days but maybe today the trains don't run as often????
I'm glad you found something useful from the tips I wrote about. I've written a few articles for our news letters now and I have to keep reminding the other longer serving members that we often forget that people just starting out find this stuff quite useful even though we take it for granted and find it boring.
This morning I started clearing away my neighbour's weeds where they're coming over the fence. So far I've managed to cut out a Black Berry bush, a couple of Lantana bushes and given a Cassia Tree a good pruning so that it no longer overhangs my shade house roof and blocks the northern light from my seedlings.
The next job was to attack the abundant “false choko' (Araujia sericifera) which is currently covered in fruit. I've cut this all off at ground level and removed the fruit before it seeds; and just to do the “good neighbour thing” I gave the cut stems a good drink of Glyphosate.
It's now 4.00pm, and I've just fed the wild Lorikeets, Magpies, Kookaburras and other birds so I think I'll make a cuppa and call it a day.
Just a few file pic's of some Neoregelias to finish with today.
All the best, Nev.
Hi Everyone!
We had a lovely weekend spent mainly at the beach in the mornings taking our girls for their morning walk and sitting back with our cappuccinos and our daily newspaper and relaxing and chatting for a couple of hours; then the rest of Saturday was spent cleaning up some of my broms situated up high on one of our retaining wall gardens where I weeded around the pots and also took off any dead leaves, checked labels etc.
Today went super quick for us with house chores to begin with, then shopping, fuelling cars etc; so by the time we got home it was about 2pm which only left a little time for me to water some of my broms and seedlings, shifted some pots around outside and then back inside to do some bookwork and then the daylight was nearly gone and then there was dinner to think about.
Currently we are building a large compost bin with three compartments making up the whole length but because of the rain we had yesterday we decided not to do anymore work on it for the time being until the ground dries up some. It will be great when it is finished because then I will have a place to put all the leaves I rake up constantly from the avocado and mango tree.
I am also looking at preparing over the next three weeks the area where my igloo is going to be built so I have shrubs to rip out and the area to be levelled in prep for when we build it which should hopefully be over the Easter break. It will be great to have an igloo as I need an area that is grasshopper free to keep some of my special broms in as the broms outdoors have really been chomped by the grasshoppers and there is nothing I can really do about it other than trying to catch them when I can or have the time to do so, but the odds are naturally against me as there are so many of them in all shapes and sizes; so at least having an igloo will protect at least some of my favourites if we construct it right.
Hi Wendy, I hope you and Johnny have a lovely holiday and stay safe on the roads. Great pics also of your recent reno of the back of your yard which looks so beautiful and organised.
Hi Bree nice pics you posted on 20/03 especially liked your Pic 1 of Neo. ‘Macho’, what a stunning looking brom showing great shape and colour – very impressive indeed.
Hi Cody hope you and Alex are well, sounds like Alex is having heaps on fun on his 4-wheeler. I was right into motorbikes when I was little and had dirt-bikes as a child and always said I would get a road-bike when I was old enough but decided against it in the end and then got right into cars and 4-wheel-driving (bush-bashing) instead he he.
Hi Nev in relation to your question about how often I will have a stall at our local market. I plan to just have one every now and then when I have excess plants to sell when taking into consideration how precious the weekends are to us given the limited time we have to do things during the week. Thanks Nev we are slowly getting back to some normality around home on the weekends and a good sign is the current projects we have on the go where we are chewing away at them slowly but surely with no records to be broken.
Hi Theresa, good luck with future job interviews; I know how exhausting looking and prepping for them can be but in the end I hope that you get exactly what you are looking for.
Nev thanks ever so much for sharing with us all your great cultural notes for growing/caring for “Urn Type” bromeliads, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the wonderful information you provided and I am sure that everyone here will find the information just as informative and useful to put in practice. I can’t thank you enough for all that you have taught me to date and would be lost without people like you Nev and others on this forum kindly willing to share their knowledge on growing broms.
Nev sorry it has taken me many weeks to respond to your query, that you did not know I grew Heliconias as well as Gingers; I do have a few Heliconias but they are not doing as well as I would like because I am not giving them enough mulch, fertiliser and water so I am trying to bring them back to their former glory and when they are looking better I will look at posting off some shoots to you to try growing in your garden as I think they would do just fine in your climate and a great indicator is how well the gingers are doing for you that I previously sent you as they grow side by side in our garden just that gingers can handle neglect a little better than the heliconias he he. Nev lovely Neo. pics you posted also on 22/3 - can I ask please what Pic 2 Neo is as I really admire it's beautiful overall shine and amazing colour?
Anyway I must head off as it’s getting late.
Take Care and Happy Gardening!
Trish
My Pics will not attach for some reason so I will try again during the week? Taking way too long?
Pic 2 Neo. 'Jinx'