BROMELIADS FOR NOVICES AND ADDICTS - JULY 2014

Hi everyone - Well the weekend's here and what a disappointment, the cold wind is still with us which doesn't make it very pleasant at all.

Shirley – Another five nice plants you've posted again, they're all nice but I just want to comment on two of them; firstly Neo. 'Apricot Nectar' which has always been one of my favourites.

A couple of years back a friend took me to an eccentric old bloke's place to look at his brom collection, and on the way he said although he encouraged people to come and look at his plants, he didn't sell or swap and he got very "crotchety" with anyone trying to convince him otherwise.

While browsing through his plants I noticed over a dozen beautiful adult plants of Neo.'Apricot Nectar'. When I asked why he kept so many plants of the same type he said because 'Joseph' was his all time favourite plant. When I said I was pretty sure it wasn't Joseph but was Neo.'Apricot Nectar', he said, “Oh that's just its registered name; Joseph is what I've always called it”.

When I asked the reason, he asked if I was familiar with the story of “Joseph and his coat of many colours” in the Bible. I said yes, but asked what that had to do with it and he said he called it that because of all the colour changes it created on its journey from a pup to an adult plant reminded him of Joseph and his coat of many colours and so all his plants were called JOSEPH…... Not Neo.'Joseph' or Neo. variety 'Joseph'; all the name tags showed the same name, just JOSEPH.

Recently I mentioned Jack Koning's theory of how the pollen parent influences the colour of its seedlings, but your plant of Neo 'Heart Music' x 'Grace Darling' seems to contradict that theory as your seedling is showing nice radial red lining and yet according to the name, it's the seed parent (Heart Music) which has this feature. The only answer I can give is either Jack’s theory is not always right or that the name of the cross was written incorrectly by the breeder. Some hybridisers don't care in what sequence they write the names of the parents but the names should always be written with the seed parent first and the pollen parent second, this is the international standard and they’re the only explanations I can give why that seedling has the radial red markings. Whatever the reason, it's still a magnificent looking plant and you've grown it very well.

Colleen – What you say about the nursery selling a plant with the unregistered name of Neo. 'Crackling Red', doesn’t really surprise me; Wholesale Bromeliads of Australia are also selling the same plant with that name. There are quite a few brom’s getting around with names that are unregistered and they have been in circulation for years; in fact one day when you have some spare time (Ha! Ha!) and can go through the FCBS comparing names with the BCR you will find quite a few on there that aren’t registered.

Some of the fair dinkum growers will go out of their way to register some of these unregistered plants while others couldn’t give a toss and just perpetuate the problem by selling them with the unregistered name. What they are doing is perfectly legal as there’s no law against it. In fact some nurseries will purposely alter a name to make it more attractive to the buyer. Aechmea gamosepala is an example; it didn’t sell all that well until its name was changed to the “Matchstick Brom” and there are many others which have undergone a name embellishment just to suit the sales aspect of it all. All we can do is to write the correct name on our plants if we know it.

About your Alc. Imperialis Rubra, I too bought a plant with the same name at Bunnings about five years ago. It got to about five feet across before it flowered and still the foliage was all green and not the rubra colour I had expected. Now whether they were tissue cultured plants "gone wrong" or seedlings from a selfing I don’t know but I do know it was green and not what I expected.

Alc.‘Silver Plum’ is in fact a select clone from a selfing of Alc. Imperalis but it’s not recorded whether or not the parent was straight Alc. Imperalis or Imperalis rubra (which I suspect it was). Alc Imperalis itself is variable with foliage from grey/green through to rubra in colour and you can see examples of the variation in the pic’s on the FCBS Photo Index.

As for Alc. imperalis vinicolour; its name is just Alc. Vinicolor and it is a species. This too is variable in foliage colour with a range between green with some rubra markings on the leaf tips right through to all rubra in colour. There are also examples of the variables on the FCBS Photo Index as well.

I’m very envious of you getting some of your gardening done, I started to do a bit of watering this morning early and at about 8.00am that rotten cold wind came up again and my hands nearly dropped off so I’m inside now typing this instead.

Breeindy – Gee we haven’t seen you for ages and now your back just to give us the bad news that you’re getting out of brom’s; what a disappointment, as you do grow such nice plants, but then I suppose we all have interests that change and your love of dogs has overruled your love of brom’s.

It’s very interesting that over the years I’ve noticed that most brom growers seem to rotate between five different hobbies; orchid growing; bird breeding, fish breeding, cacti growing and fern growing and almost all have either dogs or cats as a pet. It just shows we’re interested in all things from Mother Nature and goes to show what nice people we all are doesn’t it?

Hello also to Teresa, Trish, Jean, Wendy, Jen, Tash, Ian and our friend (I think it was Tropic Breeze) from up near Darwin who we haven't heard from for quite a while now, and any others I may have missed, we look forward to hearing from you all again, (but not to tell us that you’re getting out of brom’s).

That’s about it from me today and I’ll finish with a few more old file pic’s of Alcantareas just for a change and seeing they seem to be a favourite of Colleen. The pic's aren't mine they are ones sent to me from other Brom Friends who don't mind me sharing them with others. Pic.1 is Alc. Imperialis (Green Form), Pic.2 is Alc. Imperialis Rubra, Pic.3 is Alc. Imperialis Rubra ‘Ajax’, Pic. 4 is Alc. Imperialis ‘Skotak’ and Pic.5 is Alc. Imperialis Rubra flowers

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone I hope all is well. I hope y'all are staying warm. I wanted to let y'all know that I am on facebook as CODY PROCELL MCELWEE. I don't know y'alls last name to find y'all and send a request. So if y'all want to look me up I would like it very much. I already have 3 of my Aussie mates on their. I would love to have y'all on their as well. I miss chatting with y'all folks. Well anyway y'all take care and stay warm. HUGS TO ALL

Good Day Mates

CODY

Hi everyone. Well Jack Frost is out there this morning where I've cleared the garden out the front. It's minus2C and the A/C keeps freezing up. Should be a lovely day though. Thanks for all the info. Nev. I do hope that the Rubra that John got isn't all green. Hi Bree, sorry to hear that you're getting out of the broms. They are so easy to look after that I think they would be the last of my plants to go if needed. although the cacti and succulents are easy too and I got rid of most of them. I still have quite a collection of cacti but they are all in pots now. If I decide to get rid of them too the same guy who took the big ones will take them. It's calming to know that there is a good place for them if need be. If I do move closer to my son the broms will be coming too. and cuttings of the brugs and anything else that I can manage. lol Anyway I'm not thinking of moving just yet so don't have to think about it now. Hi Cody, you're most welcome to come in here and have a chat. Tell us about what you have in your garden and your weather over there and anything else that takes your fancy. I'm sure that everyone on here will be interested in what's going on in your part of the world. Do you grom broms or anyone close to you. so that you can put some brom-related pics up? Well must move or I might freeze. have a great day everyone. Colleen.

just heard back from the local supermarket - they have offered me the job.
Going in next week to fill in the paper work.
Bit of a relief :)

Hi all - Still very cold here as well and I definitely blame Colleen for sending the weather up from S.A. as that's the direction it's coming from.

I've just come inside after finishing the watering I started yesterday and I can hardly feel my hands; and my fingers are stinging like hell as the cold seems to aggravate the condition I have with the nerves in my fingers.

Cody - Hi! We haven't heard from you for quite a while, how have you and the young fella been keeping?

How's your Guzmania growing? Those pups must be getting pretty tall by now.

I probably won't see you on Face Book as I rarely go on there now but I still keep getting notifications through my email that there are messages there for me and don't know how to stop them; as soon as I see the words "Face Book" on my emails I just automatically delete them.

Colleen - Seems like you're getting your fair share of cold weather also and with temps like that you must have a bit of ice on the ducks' water.

Don't forget to put any brom's that have burgundy or bi-coloured foliage under cover as they are very cold tender and will mark easily.

I don't know of Neo. 'Uluru Dawn'; with a name like that I thought initially it may have been one of Jack Koning's hybrids, but I can't find any info on the BCR so it's not registered. What do you know about its history?

Teresa - It seems like congratulations are in order after your successful job application. All you have to do now is put your head down and bum up and work like hell and you'll be the manager in no time and then you work your roster so you don't have to work any more weekends.

That's about all from me today. Hi also to the rest of the gang, come in out of the cold and start posting.

Pic.1 is Neo. 'Grey Nurse', Pic.2 is Neo.'Dexter's Pride', Pic.3 is Neo.'Screaming Tiger', Pic.4 is Neo. olens and Pic.5 is Neo. 'Rosella'

thanks Nev.
I really hope I can work my way into a position where I can avoid weekend work or at least have a set roster - would be happy to do 7.30am starts...

love, love that Neo Screaming Tiger!!!

the others are nice too :)

Hi Everyone!

We had a lovely weekend spent mainly in the garden playing with my broms and Joe with his orchids. I tackled a lot of my larger broms that really needed pups taken off so that consumed a good majority of the weekend as well as watering and feeding all the broms, with a little bit of housework thrown in there because it had to be done. I also collected some seed from some of my big ones so enjoyed drying the seed out etc for sowing later. I also checked on all my little Vriesea and Neo' seedlings and they are all doing really well and I will have to look at potting some up individually soon; something I am really looking forward to doing.

Hi Nev with Neo' 'Frivolity' I am thinking of growing it in a little less light like my Neo' 'George's Prince' so that it does not fully color as like you I like the current look it has but once it produces pups I will look at growing them both ways to see what they look like for comparison. Nev lovely pics you posted of all the Alacantareas, they make such a big statement don't they and I am always truly amazed at just how big some of them can grow. I also really liked the pics you posted on 12/07, Neo. 'Rosella' is lovely it both shape and color and I have always really liked Neo. 'Grey Nurse' because it looks great whether in flower or not with it's varagation.

Nev I will never tire from growing broms as they are the first plant I have ever grown that I truly enjoy growing and I am amazed by their beauty and how tough they are and with our busy lifestyle they are perfect for me as don't mind a little neglect and I luv that you don't have to baby them like some other plants I used to grow and eventually would kill; and the added bonus is they reward us with beautiful offsets so you are always rewarded with a fresh new plant that hopefully grows up to be as beautiful as the mother.

Nev take care of those hands of yours in this cold weather, could you possibly wear fingerless gloves with rubber gloves over the top just to keep the cold out when you water as annoying as that may sound?
.
Hi Shirley luved the pics you posted on 10/07 of such pretty pink/purple Neo's, especially of Neo. 'Apricot Nectar' and Neo. 'Crayola' showing great shape and wonderful color. I hope my pup of 'Crayola' grows up as beautiful as yours.

Hi Colleen I could not help but laugh out loud about your cat attacking your mouse (knocking it), sure you would have been very annoyed at the time loosing your thread etc; anyway justice was served for me laughing as I was typing my thread (still am) directly in DG when I lost all that I had typed so have had to start all over again, serves me right for laughing with no cat in site only two pouches trying to keep warm and hogging my seat LOL. Lovely pic also of Neo. 'Crackling Red', I have not heard of this one before. Also great to hear you got so much done in the garden, that always a great feeling to acheive something you have been meaning to do for awhile and finally getting the job out the road and the area looking nice.

Hi Bree great to hear from you, sounds like you have been flatout busy. What a shame the puppy dogs are distroying your broms and that you are selling them off but I can understand why as it would be hard seeing them getting damaged; I hope your orchids are safe and they can't get to them and all the best with your brom sales as you have some lovely one's listed.

Hi Cody, good to hear from you after all this time, sorry I don't do Facebook as has never been my thing but sounds like you enjoy it and have made some good friends there so good for you. Hope Alex is well, BIG Hi to the both of you and drop in on DG when you can spare the time as it's nice hearing from you.

Hi Teresa great to hear you got the job at the Supermarket, good on you that's great news, I am thrilled to bits for you congratulations. It's a great start in the right direction and is great for your resume as it shows you continually working whether it be from this job
to that job or at one job for sometime rather than not working at all for a long period of time.

Sorry no pics tonight as I am on Joe's laptop that has no pics of mine on it; I will post pic's during the week.

Keep warm everyone experiencing the bitter cold at the moment.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone. An overcast morning this morning so no Jack Frost. We had a beautiful day yesterday but didn't get anything done in the garden. We had a BBQ for lunch and the boys have discovered that they can climb the huge 50' Norfolk Island Pine. Branden thinks it's great. He climbs right up the top. Trish, no it's not funny when we loose our post but I probably would have had a bit of a giggle too if it wasn't so annoying. Nev have you a pup from Neo Rosella? I really like that one. No ice on the duck's pond. Jack doesn't get out the back very often, too many trees I think. Hope I haven't jinxed myself by saying that. Teresa, it's great to hear that you got the job. Hope all goes well there for you. Bree it's sad when the animals, chooks or kids wreck the plants but I just tell the boys to be more careful in the yard and it's not the end of the world anyway. They- never play around my broms., and the chooks haven't discovered that part of the yard anyway. There's too much else to be scratching around in. I have some REO over the pond in there to keep Ben out so the ducks haven't discovered that yet. Nev I can't remember where Uluru Dawn came from, have had it a couple of years. Probably the same place that Crackling Red comes from even though I didn't get my CR from there. It's about time I got dressed, the boys are still sleeping so nice and peaceful to get the housework done before they get up. Have a great day everyone. Colleen Just had to come back in and tell you all how cold it is today. 6C overcast and it's 2.30pm. Brrrrrrrrr

This message was edited Jul 14, 2014 2:26 PM

Hi all,

no internet till Friday ... talk to you then.

Shirley

Hi Everyone!

Hi Colleen I used to luv climbing trees when I was a kid and like the boys the bigger they were the more exciting given the challenge and I felt like a giant bird sitting up there looking down at everyone whilst making crazy bird noises at everyone who passed underneath LOL. 6C at 2:30pm Brrrrrr Colleen, I would find it impossible to get out of bed if it was that cold here given how early I wake up in the mornings.

Hi Shirley what a bugger you have no internet at the moment, look forward to chatting with you when your back up and running; hope it does not slow you down too much and that issue gets sorted out real soon for you.

Hope everyone else is well and keeping warm.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Old pictures tonight:

Pic 1 - Vr. 'Snows of Mauna Kea'
Pic 2 - Vr. 'Bianca'
Pic 3 - Vr. 'Red Chestnut x Squiggles'
Pic 4 - Vr. 'Tiger Tim'
Pic 5 - Old pic of the back garden

Hi everyone – It's not as cold here this morning now that the cold south west winds have stopped; let's hope they stay away for a bit longer. The family has gone back home to Bali for another year and while they were here we had some good "get-togethers" with all of the family. It's only actually once a year that we get our four grandsons together (we don't have any grand daughters) and these occasions make for great entertainment.

We now have more visitors as we're presently minding my eldest son's two small dogs as he's having a new fence put up on both sides of the yard and he wanted to make sure it was absolutely "dog proof" before he took them both home again. The fence has now been erected and all that remains is for Matt to go around and check there are no places where they can get under it, however he leaves for work in the dark and doesn't get home until after dark so we have the dogs until the weekend. Fortunately they are only small dogs and not hard to look after as everywhere I go they are one pace behind me. Now to try and catch up on the posts I have missed.

Theresa – Your comment about Neo.'Screaming Tiger' prompts me to add a bit of info about it, It was registered in 1995 from a crossing of Neo. 'Tricolor' x Neo. ampullacea and was made by Sharon Petersen of Hawaii. There was another similar plant called Neo.'Blushing Tiger' which was bred by Lisa Vinzant, also from Hawaii; this was made by crossing Neo. 'Perfecta' with Neo.'Marnier-Lapostolle F2 and registered a year later. There were a couple of other nice “Tigers” bred by Lisa Vinzant also, 'Unblushing Tiger' and 'Blueberry Tiger'. They are also smallish plants and ideal for small areas, but they do need good light to bring out their best colours.

Trish – Collecting more seed eh?. You'd better start building that second tunnel house now to get ready for all of the extra seedlings.

Thanks for the comments on the show pic's of Neo.'Rosella' and Neo.'Grey Nurse'. The Neo. 'Rosella' was actually my plant which I got as a pup from a friend in Far North Queensland. I grew it up high in good light as she told me to, and was successful in getting a first at our show with it. Unfortunately some time later it was destroyed when a tree branch fell on it. I have collected three others from different growers, but unfortunately there must be different clones around as even grown under identical conditions, none were as good as that original one.

I have to agree with what you say about brom's in your third paragraph. I haven't been near mine for the last three weeks and yet when I did a “walk around” yesterday, they were all still happily growing after having no attention.

Colleen – When I was a young man and we had just bought this house there were two 128 year old Norfolk Island pine trees next door and I climbed to the top of the biggest one just to prove I could. They are great trees to climb as there are plenty of convenient branches which are really like steps and if you fall you don't go far before you are stopped by one of these branches and it's virtually impossible to fall right to the ground. They are probably the safest tree any kid could climb and good on Branden, it's great to see him doing what real boys should be doing.

Sorry, but I can't help you with a pup from that Neo.'Rosella' in the pic. I posted, as unfortunately I don't have that particular clone any more. Can anyone tell me why it is that it's always the nice plants that meet with some sort of disaster?

The plant in your picture is identical to one I have which came to me with the name of Ae. lueddemanniana forma Rodco/Mend; quite a mouthful eh?

When I investigated further I realised it was all “mixed up” as lueddemanniana , Rodco and Mend are all different plants.

Firstly Ae. lueddemanniana is the species where several cultivated varieties such as 'Alvarez', 'Blanca Alvarez', 'Pinkie', 'MEND', 'MEND' (inverted), 'Rodco', 'Rodco Inverta' are derived from.

Without me trying to explain the complicate story you can look it up at the following sites one day when you have nothing better to do. The thing I find interesting is how the name of Ae. MEND was derived which you can read all about at: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=AECHMEA&id=359#359

After I had read though it all and looked at the pictures several times and scratched out the remaining bit of hair I had on my head, I came to the conclusion that our plant is Ae. Mend (inverted). There is a picture of this on the Australian Bromeliad Society Picture Index at http://www.bromeliad.org.au/

Just out of interest Colleen, what is the name on your plant?

Shirley – How bloody frustrating is it not to have any internet? We all look forward to hearing from you tomorrow.

Trish – It sounds like you were a bit of a “Tomboy” and preferred climbing trees to playing with dolls like a some of the girls that used to knock around with us when we were kids in the “good old days” when kids could roam safely around the countryside without fear of molesters which are a real danger now.

Nice pic's you've posted, however I'm not really qualified to comment, as Neo's are my “preference” and not other types, however I have always been interested in Vr. 'Tiger Tim”and all the many other different coloured and patterned clones of Vr.ospinae var. gruberi. I have a friend who makes a point of collecting every different Vr.ospinae var. gruberi he finds and at last count had about eighteen different variations.

I also like the shot of your garden (Neo's of course) with the sprays going on it and the rays of the sun giving a nice effect.

Gee look at the time, sorry no pic's today, I have to fly as I have several appointments on the Medical-Merry-Go-Round today.

All the best, Nev.

my brother & I loved to climb trees & I was pretty much a tomboy when it came to playing out doors.
Funniest story I heard was about my stepson - he climbed a tree & wouldn't come down for his MUm.
When his stepdad came home he asked Dan to come down, when Dan suggested he come get him his step dad counter offered with 'come down now or I'll cut the tree down'...

Dan's response that he wouldn't dare was met with the sound off chainsaw meeting tree trunk.
Dan learned that his step dad didn't make idle threats & he was better off doing as his mother asked him in the first place.

Teresa - That reminds me of a story an old mate told me once.

He and his elder brother were in trouble with their Mother and to avoid the strap, had crawled right up under the lowest part of the house where Mum couldn't reach them.

When Dad came home from work they were still under the house and when their Mum told their Dad the story, he crawled up under the house to get them out.

As he approached them, my mate's elder brother said,"what's up Dad, is Mum after you too"?

All the best, Nev.

I was going to say "Hi everyone" but there's no one here, so I'll just leave you with a pic of one of Jack Koning's latest Vriesea registrations; Vr. 'Kakadu Magic'......Who said green was boring?

Also for those of you who like the scarlet/orange shades; an old pic of my Vr. 'Splendriet'

All the best, Nev.

those are both nice Nev...
Nothing boring about Vr. Kakadu Magic, it is a lovely bright shade of green, got to love something spotty - I'm biased that way ;)
I do also like the stripes of Vr Splendriet.

Hi Everyone!

Finally the weekend thank goodness with most of the house chores taken care of during the week which should hopefully leave us with some free time to get a bit of fresh air and muck around in the garden as much as we can.

Hi Nev great to hear you had such a lovely time with your family. I can imagine your house would be very quiet at the moment with everyone gone and by now you would be getting back to some normal routine as well as now you have two little friends (4 legged kind) you are kindly babysitting following you around the garden checking out what you are getting up to with I am sure a lot of interest.

Nev ha ha yes I can't help it this habit of collecting brom seed, it's hard to turn away a ripe, plump berry and I find the collection and sowing process very relaxing indeed. I always enjoyed growing things from seeds as young as I can remember and this continues on now with my brom growing addiction. Where I am going to put all the seedlings down the track will be in every nook and cranny I can find around our yard but as such no more room for additional igloo's so I will have to work with what I've got.

Nev what a shame about your Neo. 'Rosella', if I ever come across one when we next visit the Tablelands I will get it for you in the hope that it might just turn out to be a promising clone?

Nev yes in answer to your question I was a real "Tomboy" when growing up and aside from the tree climbing I really enjoyed going fishing (still do), riding motorbikes (dirt bikes), servicing / restoring cars (servicing cars with my dad, restoring cars with Joe) like Cadilacs, EK's, HR's and Torano's, I also had a great luv for gardening and from a very young age got into growing herbs and veggies from seed and wherever we lived I also created a garden where we could pick our own fresh produce as well as I enjoyed growing flowers as I liked to be surrounded by color. I also enjoyed building houses with dad and also really enjoyed trying to fix things when they were broken where I would pull them totally apart and put them back together again to get them hopefully working again. Also I enjoyed working with wood and dad got me started working on small projects like making airoplanes to hang, then I moved onto making chairs, desks and restoring old furniture and I was very interested in antiques and still am. I did have dolls but I preferred my collection of matchbox cars and riding my BMX Bike and remember how horrified I felt when this kid I hardly knew accidently chipped some paint off one of my matchbox cars ha ha.

Nev wow your friend sounds right into collecting Vr. ospinae var. gruberi, the color combinations differences in them are truly beautiful and I remember you possibly may have posted pics of different one's awhile ago and I really enjoyed enlarging the pics to take a closer look at them.

Hi Teresa hope you are well, I really enjoyed reading your story about your stepson and the tree and the chainsaw, too funny. So when do you start your new job, must be getting close to starting now if you have not already?

Nev that Vr. 'Kakadu Magic' latest from Jack Koning is truly magnificant and the name is perfect for something so stunningly beautiful. Also I will never tire from Vr. 'Slendriet' and although I already own a fully grown plant and a pup I find it hard not to wont to buy more because it is just such an attractive looking plant; mine is yet to flower though.

Anyway time to head off and kick back before bedtime.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Sorry only one pic as for some reason pics are taking to long to upload and freezing up.

Pic 1 - Neo. 'Enchantment Alba'

Hi everyone,

OMG it is sooo C-O-L-D. The wind is howling, even now.

We have our internet back … we had used up our allowance and Telstra slowed down the speed, as they do. We have a poor service at the best of times, so slowing it down even further means it’s non existent, impossible to open any web site and dropping out all the time.

Trish, nice photos … I’m guessing DG swapped pics 1 and 2.

Teresa, love your story about your stepson refusing to climb down from the tree. Have you started your new job at the supermarket yet.

Nev, love your story too … wonder if he still got into trouble after that comment.

Trish, hope you get lots of time with your broms over the weekend.

We are in the process of laying the weed mat in the igloo. All the broms have been moved out and unfortunately are now being blown about. Also trying to lay the weed mat with gale force wind blasting freezing air, sticks and dust wasn’t easy. We were hoping for a better day tomorrow but it doesn’t sound like it will be. We’ll get there in the next few days and then it’s back in for the broms.

Some pics attached of the empty igloo and my poor broms exposed to the elements (taken the day we took them out, the day before the westerlies started to blow). We did rig up a temporary shade cloth cover today to protect them from the flying sticks and falling branches … we certainly picked the worst time to do this.

Hi to anyone I have missed or who might be looking in ...

Bye for now, Shirley



This message was edited Jul 18, 2014 11:10 PM

I won't say good morning everyone as it's a nasty, horrible, windy, icy cold day, here today in beautiful Illawarra. I can't see myself doing anything out in the yard today and all I can say is thank heavens I built those shutters on the south facing wall of my shade shelter otherwise the plants would have all been blown off their suspension points. The wind is obviously coming up from the snow fields as it's just so icy. I didn't go outside to check the temperature as it's too bloody cold; in fact I almost got blown down the street when I went out to get the paper. I did see an interesting site though, a young lady jogging in just shorts and T shirt, I mean hasn't she got any feeling or maybe she just doesn't have a brain. I think I also saw a monkey walking up the street looking for someone who knew how to well “brass balls”????

We've had our visiting dogs sleeping in the laundry since they've been here and each morning when I open the back door they run out into the yard to “mark their territory” and investigate what's been around during he night. Not this morning though; they both followed me to the back door and when I opened it they turned around and were back into bed in a flash.

Teresa – Nice to hear from you and that you like the two pic's I posted. Now that I know you like spotty brom's, I'll have to post a few pic's for you. I like them also, but there are a lot of growers who don't even keep them any more as they are a bit like clothing and seem to go in and out of fashion down here and at present they aren't the flavour of the month.

Trish – As I read through all the things you did as a kid, it's uncanny just how alike we were in what we did. My introduction to growing seeds was when I was a young child. This interest started when I was about ten years old and I was given a packet of Dahlia seeds by Dad to try and grow in my own little garden in our back yard. I opened the packet of seeds, and in my hurry to plant them I tripped over and spilled the lot! Seeds went everywhere, and thinking I had ruined my chances of growing any plants at all, I raked the soil over once again in preparation for trying again later when I had saved enough pocket money to replace the packet of spilled seed.

I had forgotten all about them until one day when Dad said, “Your dahlia seeds are all up,” and when I went to look, sure enough there they were, all standing up like little soldiers, although not in nice neat lines as I had initially intended but all over the place. I watered and weeded those seedlings until they grew into adulthood and eventually flowered. What amazed me most was that all the flowers were of different sizes, shapes and colours, and I believe that is where my interest in growing flower plants from seed really started. Like you, I also expanded into growing vegetables and of course (in my case) much later life, Bromeliad seed and I've never lost the thrill of seeing the first of those seeds germinate and imagining what may be produced from them as they grow into mature plants.

As for the Neo. 'Rosella', I contacted the lady I got it from originally, but unfortunately she has got out of brom's in favour of other interests and doesn't have it any more. Thanks for your offer to keep an eye out for it when you visit the tablelands as I don't think it's so uncommon, it's just that there appears to be different clones. The ones I got as replacements are all of similar colour but none have that nice rounded compact form of the original.

Just as a brief footnote about Vr, 'Splendriet', down here it does have one failing and that is I find it intolerant of colder temperatures, and during winter it needs to be put under cover to avoid cold damage.

Neo.'Enchantment' is one of my favourite plants, yet for a plant that has been around for so long down here as well as in Queensland, I'm very much surprised that no one has registered it yet as it isn't shown on the BCR (Unless of course it's registered under a different name).

The plant in your pic. is actually the preferred albo-marginated (meaning white margins on the leaves) form of Neo. Enchantment which usually has green leaf margins. (See Pic.1)

The name is usually written as Neo. 'Enchantment' albo-marginata/marginated and I think part of the albo-marginata name has possibly been erased at some time and re-written as just “alba” which is incorrect as that means the plant should be white. This sort of thing happens a lot more often than we realise, where part of a name is erased or bleached by the sun so that it's illegible and it's often the case where the grower just takes a guess (usually an incorrect one) and re-writes what they think it should be.

Shirley – You surprise me when you say how cold and windy it is where you live, it sounds just like here this morning. I've always imagined Queensland as a warm, sunny place just like it's promoted on the tourism adverts. Possibly windy at times but never as cold as you describe it.

Our internet allocation was also used up and we were on very, very, slow speed for a few days. We didn't know what had caused it until I realised that our eldest grandson wasn't just playing games on his “Gismo” (or what ever you call it) but was constantly watching “You Tube” and using up my internet allocation. (Bloody kids and technology).

It seems like every time we plan something like you're doing with your shade cloth floor it comes up windy. I can remember when I worked with the builder, every time we were roofing and had to put the foil insulation beneath the roofing, as soon as we rolled it out, up came the wind; it never missed!

Anyway, think of how much better it will be with the weed mat down and not having to constantly weed between plants.

It's certainly a good looking construction, but I have to ask, are you sure you can fit all of those brom's in there? Although from my own experience it's amazing just what you can pack into a shade house.

They're certainly a nice looking lot of plants and I hope you can get everything done and get them under cover quickly without any damage from falling twigs, and don't forget to post lots of pic's of the finished product.

I'll finish today with Pic.1 Neo.'Enchantment', and the rest are spotted types for Teresa with Pic.2 being my favourite Neo.'Gold Fever', then Pic.3 Neo.'Golden Fantasy', Pic.4 Neo. 'Wine and Gold' and Pic.5 Neo. 'Midnight Moment'

All the best, Nev.

it was cold here today & I am nursing stuffy sinus & sore throat - great timing with starting the new job on Monday...

I am going to keep applying for jobs, eventually one that gives me the hours I want has to come up!
Meanwhile the supermarket will give me some income so we can top up our savings.

Nev - I love Neo. Gold Fever, not sure if you have posted photos of it before or whether it was someone else - I do remember seeing it & taking note of the name.
The other one that stands out to me is Neo. Wine & Gold, the colours are lovely.

Hi Everyone!

Joe and I had a lovely day together and started the day taking the girls to the beach, then when we go back home we cleaned up the herb garden, fixed broken sprinkler heads, planted some new fresh herbs, lavendar and chillies and topped with some fresh sugar cane mulch then gave everything a good watering; after that we kicked back in our chairs with our cups of tea and chatted as the sun came down and then retreated back inside when we started feeling the cold on the back of our necks.

Hi Shirley gosh it sounds horribly cold down your way. Great to see you back up and posting, there is nothing more frustrating than experiencing internet issues, hopefully everything is back on track for you as I am sure you have been lost without it.

Shirley what a fantastic job you have done with your Igloo, it looks fantastic and I am sure you are looking forward to getting the weed mat down and out the road so you can put your precious beauties back in there.

Shirley thanks I did not notice that DG swapped Pic's 1 and Pic 2 of the Vriesea pics I posted recently but that's probably because I did not go back in to have a look at the time and shutdown as soon as I posted my thread.

Hi Nev our dogs too did not want us going out too early this morning and ran back inside as soon as we opened the front door, so we stayed in a little longer and ventured out an hour later than usual but we put on their little doggie coats for a good couple of hours and we did not take them off until about 11am once things had warmed up a bit.

Nev I too often think how much you and I have in common when I read all the lovely stories of when you were a kid and what you used to get up too and it always puts a big smile on my face because I can relate to so much of it. I remember reading your lovely Dalia Seed story once before and it reminded me of a similar story when I was a kid with my first Carrot Seed packet I wanted to sow that I saved for where back then our pocket money was about 20c per week and my packet of seed set me back about $1; anyway I triped over the broken metal mop bucket I used to sit on and all those little seeds went flying up in the air and landed everwhere (including me) and weeks later they popped up in amongst all the other vegetable seedlings I had sown in neat little rows and we all laughed how funny the carrots looked growing in amongst the other veggies totally out of place but they grew well and tasted beautiful never the less. How great is it to have so many hobbies and interests and how dull would life be without them. Joe and I meet so many people nowdays that just do not have any hobbies or interests at all and can't even remember their childhood years and I can't help but feel very sorry for them. As a child I did not need to be surrounded by friends or people to keep me happy and often preferred my own company and the company of animals over people as well as I had all my hobbies and interests to keep me busy. Even now during my adult years as much as I luv our friends we do not live in each others pockets and we enjoy our space to rest and unwind and spending time in the garden is the best medicine I reckon and we are richer for it as it's so good for the soul and one's spirit because it gives you something to always look forwad to and like a canvas it forever changes and something I know I will never tire of.

Nev with any luck hopefully I can track you down a good clone of Neo. 'Rosella', I have stated to do a bit of a call around where one lead, leads me to another but no luck yet; but I am not giving up just yet because I have sent out a few emails and hopefully someone will have one in amongst their collections?

Nev thanks for your correction on my Neo. 'Enchantment' (alba wording), that was very confusing the way I typed it's name but thats what I have on the lable because it's shorter but it has got me into bad habbits when I type it's name so I will have to get out of that bad habbit. Also nice pics you posted of Neo. 'Enchantment' and the Neo. spotted types, all beautifully grown plants.

Hi Teresa sorry to hear you are not feeling well but hope your back to you normal self for starting your new job on Monday; hope you have a fantastic and enjoyable day and like you say at least you will be bringing some income in which in itself is a great stress reliever.

Tomorrow I am having a lady pop over so see my brom collection and to teach her a little on how to grow them as the first couple she ever brought were from me and she is getting the brom bug. I will let her know about this great forum of ours as I am sure like me she will learn a lot from everyone here and make beautiful friends like I have.

Anyway time to put the kettle on for a hot cup of coco, well and truly cold enough for it 11deg' so far and we are feeling it as well as the girls LOL.

Sorry no pics tonight as I am on Joe's laptop tonight.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone. Back after a hectic few days with my sister and her 2 Grandkids paying us a visit. We went over to the Loxton Historical Village. What a great place. Some wonderful old photos and the history of Loxton and surrounding districts is very well presented. The boys all had a great time though it would have been much better if the rain and bitter cold wind had stayed away. We cut our lunches and planned to sit by the river and eat it but it was just too cold. My brom in the lawn cuttings have roots now so probably time to start potting them up again. I have found this a much easier way to deal with my broms instead of doing one at a time. I just get the Mumma one and take the pups off and put them into the box with the lawn cuttings then if the Mumma one needs repotting I do that and pop her back into the SH. I slip the name tag down into the leaves and just wait for them to grow roots, then I take the whole box out to the potting table and pot them all up at once. Nev I have Gold Fever here and it looks nothing like your's. Mine must have been growing in the dark I think as there's no yellow at all in it. Still a nice plant though. Will put a pic up and of my boxes of pups. Have a great day. Colleen

Hi all, I have been busy trying to tidy up and pack so that I can sell this house and move to another location. Just as well that I have had the handbreak on as where I am going has been cold -8C and this does not do well for most of my broms. I have had time to plan how I can try to make the new location as suitable as possible. I will need coolind with misting during the peak of summer and heating in winter. The cooling wit be with an industrial fan behind a water mister connected to a timer. The heating will be using hot water under the benches. I am not planning a lot of heat in the water maybe around 25C or something like that ought to push the cold air away from the plants. I just hope it will work.
I have also been making a type of bookcase to contain my plants in a container for the move.
I know that I have been spending too much time on FB but I have met a lot of other bromaholics there and had a few interesting discussions with them.
I have also sold some of my spare plants, not ones promised to anyone in this group.
Have a good one
Ian
Pic 1 Vr splendens 2 1/2 yrs old
Pic 2 Same plant side view
Pic 3 N Fosters Little Gem
Pic 4 N Gold Medal
Pic 5 N Perfection, I got careless with a paintbrush.

Hi Everyone!

Did not get to chat with you all on Sunday as we had visitors most of the day but I got to spend most of the day cleaning and watering some of my broms and then spent a good couple of hours with a nice lady that I met a while back that is interested in broms and is just getting into them with the first two she brought from me at the market. I ended up sending her home with a few to grow and have offered to teach her how to grow and care for them and she is keen to learn as much as she can about them.. I did tell her about this great forum but it's not her thing as she is not good with computers aside from the fact she does not own one.

Hi Colleen hope you had a great time with your sister and the grandkids, sounds like you were busy. Your pups are growing great in the lawn clippings which looks like a very clever way to strike them and handy that you can just carry the whole box of them in to pot them up. Do you have any that rot using this method?

Hi Ian great to see you posting again, sounds like you are flat out busy with the pending move but sounds like you are really thinking ahead on how to care for your bromeliads under the harsh conditions they will be subjected to, I hope that all things work out for you and Roz and that when you get settled we get to hear from you more often as we seem to be loosing everyone to FB which is a bummer but thats life I suppose.

Anyway I must head, got home from work late and there's dinner to get on.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pics tomorrow night hopefully if all goes well?

Hi everyone,

Nev, hope it has warmed up in Shellharbour. It has been way colder here than I can ever remember. Our minimum temps have been as low as 2-3 degrees, the coldest for many years, in fact, the coldest temps on record in many places. I must admit Brissie is usually warm and sunny and that’s why we live here.

We didn’t manage any progress on the weed mat over the weekend, and we had other priorities today but tomorrow we hope to complete it. All of the broms that are outside the igloo came from inside and I am hoping to rearrange the shelving to get in a few more when they go back in.

Teresa, first day at your new job … hope it went well. I’ll look for some spotty brom photos to attach for you.

Trish, it sounds like many of us had similar childhoods and have many happy memories from when we were kids. Our pocket money when we were kids was only sixpence a week. We used to walk miles along the highway picking up empty soft drink bottles and taking them to the local shop for threepence refund for each to make some extra money.

Colleen, how long is it taking for your pups to root in the lawn clippings and how deep and how moist is it, please.

Ian, are you moving to the south pole? Will you miss the tropics when you move.

That’s about it for now, I’ll find some pics.

Pic 1 – neo Sun God
Pic 2 – neo Romantic Rendezvous
Pic 3 – neo NOID
Pic 4 – neo Tigerhead
Pic 5 – neo Barbarian

cheers, Shirley

Hi everyone. Another day with not much done outside and tomorrow I'm going to buy a new TV. The boys haven't had any TV for about 3 weeks so it's going to be a surprise for them. I watch what I want to see on the computer then I can watch it when I want to. We watched two DVD's of Nanny McPhee yesterday. I really enjoy some of those type of kids shows. The local actors here are doing Annie at the moment so I'm going with my boys and my son and his family to see it next Sunday. Something different for the boys. mind you I don't know if they'll like it. we'll see. Trish I haven't had one pup rot as yet, touch wood, and it is just so easy. Ian you have been busy and it's great that at least you can sell some of the broms that you don't want to take. minus8 brrrrrrrr we've had minus2 here but that was cold enough thank you very much. One bloke who lives in Dalby has lost quite a few of his broms to frost but not his Alcantrea Imperialis silver plum. That was a great story that he put up on FB about it's travels.Nev if you're looking in I'm ready to put in my order but I would like to have a chat to you so can I give you a ring?. When's the best time? Well must get ready for some shut eye myself. Have a great day tomorrow. Shirley you sneaked in just ahead of me then so I've come back to answer your questions. The first lot I did took about 2 weeks to root but this lot have taken about 6-8weeks. I have them in a cardboard box with about 3-4" of about week old lawn clippings, so not completely dry cuttings then I just put water in the well and leave them. It makes the jobs so much easier for me so will continue to do them like this I think. Any pups that I take off with roots already on them go straight into the pots though. Colleen

This message was edited Jul 21, 2014 9:48 PM

just peeking in, feeling rubbish - have today off as I am doing a split shift.
Good thing as I am not up to working, sinus, sore throat, head ache, now the cough has started.
I've stolen Sugar's 'new' wool blanket and am wrapped up on the couch with the pellet fire blazing.
Had a sachet of cold & flu lemon drink... hope that kicks in soon.

Keep warm over in Oz, sounds like we are getting the same polar blast - sleet here this morning but so far only -3C over night.

-8C would be pretty bad!

PS - nice broms Shirley & Ian, I like Colleen's striped one too.

Hi everyone – Still very cold down here, however the wind has stopped and the sun has been out; typical winter days.

Teresa – Look after yourself; you don't want to start your first week with a “sickie”, I don't think it would go down too well with the management.

You're quite right, I have posted that Pic. of Neo.'Gold Fever' before, on a couple of occasions as it's my favourite of the “spotties”. I don't think I've posted Neo.'Wine and Gold' before though. It's also a nice looking plant and when grown beside Gold Fever, they compliment each other.

Trish – It looks like you and Joe are getting stuck into you winter veg and herb garden maintenance. Fortunately there isn't a lot to do with the brom's at this time of the year except removing any dead leaves from around the base to prevent a breeding ground for fungus and insects like mealy bug and some of the soft scales.

I'm a bit like you and am surprised when I ask friends what their hobbies are and they say they don't have any. How on earth do the pass the time away, I mean you can only watch so much TV or chat on Face Book for so long before it becomes boring; I just don't know how they pass the time during the day.

When I was a kid, my older brother was thirteen years older than me and was working so I didn't see a lot of him, but I was fortunate to live in a small village where there were several kids my own age to play with; however I had various hobbies even at that early age. I was mainly raring stray or injured animals and birds as we lived near various pockets of bushland and it wasn't unusual for a group of us to be wandering through the bush and come across an injured possum or bird which went home to join the menagerie.

As for the Neo.'Rosella', I did get one from Wendy and also another from someone else on this forum who I can't remember (maybe Jen) but both of those plants were the same although a different clone to the original. As Jen and Wendy live near each other it's possible they both got their plant from the same grower.

Colleen – I too used to like going through those restored villages and reliving the past. There was a good one at Timber Town in Wauchope NSW and another at Coal Creek in Victoria as well as several others which I can't bring to mind, but they are very educational for the young ones so they can see how us “oldies” lived when we were kids and hopefully makes them appreciate what they have today.

Please to hear your brom pups did well in the lawn clippings. I tried that once with disastrous results, the lawn clipping went all wet and slimy and the pups started to rot and I've never tried it again, but it's good to see your perseverance has paid off.

Regarding your Neo.'Gold Fever'; did it come from me and was it actually Neo.'Gold Fever' as I have several similar plants?; there's also 'Gold Fever Too' and 'Gold Fever Select', however the plain 'Gold Fever' definitely has the best colour. It needs strong light to bring out the best colour in it (as do the others) and if grown in low light will show green where it should be golden yellow.

Great looking Red Chestnut in you second post, you've done it proud.

I'm in and out a lot over the next few days and don't know what side's up, but after that I'll drop you a D-Mail re. a suitable time for a chat.

Ian – Nice to hear from you again, but a bit of bad news on the low temperatures in the area you intend moving to.

They're nice pic's of some nice plants and your last pic looks a bit like mine where where the magpies roost over them of a night.

Shirley – No it hasn't got any warmer here either, I can't remember it ever being so cold or maybe it's because I'm getting old and feeling it more. I always wore shorts and Tee shirt all through the year once but this year I'm living in “trackies”.

Great pic's once again, I've always been a big fan of Neo. Barbarian, in fact I've done a few crosses with it and it will be interesting to see what it produces.

I think of your five pic's today, Neo.'Romantic Rendezvous' gets my vote; what unusual colour and as I guessed, another from that master breeder of Neo's, Allan Freeman.

Anyway I have to go and I'll finish with some pics including some other gold fever types.

Pic.1 is Neo.'Gold Fever Too', Pic.2 Neo. 'Gold Fever Select', Pic.3 Neo. 'Guinea hybrid', Pic.4 Neo.'Meyendorffii variegata' (Red Form) Pic.5 Bill. Estrella

Hi all, All I have done today with my broms was to move some seedlings out of a transport rack so that I can put in another shelf or 2. The seedlings will get better light where they are now, actually some morning to midday sun. They also got a drink.
We have found another chemical that is a lot safer to use on fly speck scale. The active ingredient is Acetamiprid. Some use Crown, but that is for the large growers as it is expensive. Some groups are buying it and sharing it around, also sharing the cost.
I am using Defender Max Guard that I buy from Bunnings. I use as directed on the bottle. It is similar to Confidor but 200 times less likely to harm bees and wildlife. It is systemic and supposedly stays within the plant for 104 days. Spray once and the job is done.
Trish It has been a challenge to do much more than what is necessary, I think this is the coldest winter I have experienced in Mackay. Ros has been working in Dalby for the last 2 months, just so we can pay the bills. That is where I am heading as soon as I can sell this house. I will be taking most of my plants with me and then learn or relearn how to grow them under those conditions.
Shirley, I am not going to the south pole, but to Dalby or somewhere near it.Yes I will miss the tropic climate but not the city. I am country and ya can't take the country out of the kid.
Colleen, I have been in touch with Colin in Dalby and I am sure I could learn a trick or two from him. He grows his plants for show, not sales and has over 20 years experience with them. I have never heard of rooting broms in lawn clippings before but why not. Whatever medium that works, works. I might just try it sometime in the future.
Teresa I feel for you with that cold/ flue/ whatever. I use a hot lemon and honey with a dash of vinegar to soothe the throat. I often take Vitamin C tablets and this works for me. I won't recommend alcohol, but each to their own. Keep warm and look after yourself.
Nev I am on again off again, just trying to find time to do the things I ought to do can be a struggle. That plant was sprayed bu flicking out a paintbrush carelessly and it was not the only one. In March I went to a brom meeting at Bluewater, a bit North of Townsville and met quite a few new friends. Most of them are young and have a strong passion for collecting broms. I Think there were about 25 members there and maybe 6-8 over 50 yrs. Not many of them with more experience than me but have listened more carefully so they have made less mistakes than I have. Last month here in Mackay we had a couple come down from Innisfail and they gave us a talk on both hybridising and Scale control. They also had plants for sale.
Have a good one.
Ian
Pic 1-3 Ae Valencia
Pic 4-5 Bil horrida var tigrina

Hi everyone; well at least Hi Ian. Just as well you dropped in or I would be talking to myself again.

It sounds like you still have a bit of on-going work with your brom's to keep you busy while you wait for someone to buy your house.

Thanks for passing on the info about Defender Max Guard; I've just looked it up on the Yates site as well as reading about the active ingredient Acetamiprid on the Wikipedia site.

It seems it is a neonicotinoid which is a class of neuro-active insecticide chemically similar to nicotine and which shows reduced toxicity compared to previously used organophosphate and carbamate insecticides, and I would like to add that any insecticide with lower toxicity has to be an improvement on what's currently available.

It seems like Imidacloprid which is the active ingredient in Confidor, got all neonicotinoids a bad reputation as it was suspected of wiping out large populations of Honey Bees in Europe

The EPA considers Acetamiprid "only moderately toxic" to bees; however, some media sources and the recent documentary "Vanishing of the Bees" have blamed neonicotinoids like Acetamiprid for colony collapse disorder.

I guess the thing to remember is that backyard brom growers won't be spraying this around over vast areas like commercial growers do, so the the effects on Honey Bees would be minute if any; but at this stage it seems that Defender Max Guard appears to be a safer product than Confidor which is the insecticide of choice at present, so thanks Ian for sharing that bit of info with us and I guess time will tell just how effective it is against scale and other insects that bother bromeliads.

The other thing I find refreshing is your mention of attending a brom meeting at Bluewater where the membership contained a lot of younger members. That seems to be the opposite to what we have down here as a lot our members are retirees, so lets hope a new trend is starting where new, young blood is being drawn toward brom growing.

I'll finish today with just a couple of Aechmea NOIDS which flowered for the first time this year. I say NOIDS as the name tag did have a name but it was preceded and proceeded by many ?????? So if anyone can help with an ID I'd be pleased to hear it.

Also just out of curiosity I'm posting a picture of a seedling I bred from a cross of Neo.'Gold Fever' x Self. The object of this cross was to get some nice spotted types (which I did) except this one obviously didn't listen to what the object of the cross was as there's not a single spot to be seen. You never know what's going to happen for sure with hybridising.

All the best, Nev.

Hi everyone. Nev, I do hope that I don't have any disasters with my broms in the lawn clippings. They look fine at the moment but now they roots I will try to get them all out of there and into the pine chips and mushroom compost. Thanks for getting back to me as to when I can ring, I can't for the life of me think why now. It's a bit like that around here sometimes. lol No doubt I will remember before I ring. The boys have been to Karate tonight. Cameren really doesn't like it but I thought that the discipline and the self esteem was worth a try. I will try talking to him between now and next week and see if I can change his mind. Any pointers for me would be appreciated please. He's 10 years old and as stubborn as his Gran. I don't use any sprays on my broms. I did have a little white speck scale on one but I just scratched it off and I haven't seen any since. I do from time to time get some on my Epiphyllums too but I just do the some thing and then throw some dusting sulphur over them. I do the same on the cacti for any rot or pest. I don't like all those nasty sprays but I've made up my mind that I'm going to use Black Berry killer on the bloody ivy that's coming into to my yard from next door. If it kills the whole hedge, so be it. It's coming under the fence and invading my carport and garden and I've got better things to do with my time than to cut it back all the time. I've complained to the neighbours so many times about it but he just laughs it off. Even if he tried to keep it trimmed on my side I would be happier but no, I have to do it or get someone else when I can't. One whole trailer load and a half of another trailer were filled with prunings today and are now off to the heap to dry and be burnt. I also filled 2 more green bins for rubbish pick up tomorrow. Have been busy today, Will have a bit of a rest tomorrow as I need to do a bit of shopping and get the boys some trackies and some new socks and jocks. Well, that's about all now, catch you tomorrow. Be good. Colleen

Hi all,

Colleen, thanks for the info on how you are growing roots on your pups in the grass clippings, I might have another go at it.

Teresa, hope you are feeling better … stay warm.

Nev, lovely pics, especially neo Guinea hybrid, love it and also your unusual spotless neo Gold Fever cross.

We managed to finish off the igloo weed mat today and also replaced most of the shelving and quite a few of the broms have already gone back in. I will attach a couple of progress pics and hopefully some of the finished job in a day or two.

Bye for now, Shirley

Hi everyone - Beautiful sunny winter days here but even though the sun's shining it's still cold, and as soon as the sun goes down it's bloody colder. Can anyone tell me why it's always coldest just before the sun rises in the morning? I was up at 4.00 the other morning as I thought I heard someone in the drive near the cars; by the time I got there the security flood light was on and there wasn't a sole to be seen, so at least the sensor flood light is doing its job. What I did notice though was that it was quite mild when compared with the temperature at 5.30 when even without any wind it was still uncomfortably cold.

Colleen - You say you don't remember why you were going to ring; you like me and have joined the CRAFT CLUB as well. This might jog your memory as you posted it a couple of days ago "Nev if you're looking in I'm ready to put in my order but I would like to have a chat to you so can I give you a ring?. When's the best time?" At this stage I'm still trying to sort out all my medical and other appointments but I'll let you know as soon as it's sorted.

I can't tell you a lot about Karate, except that although it originated in Japan as a weapon in unarmed combat, (Similar to Kung Fu in China) and as well as teaching "how to look after yourself" it also teaches strong personal discipline. When not used in competition, it's now mainly used as a defense and as a weapon as a last resort. A neighbour of ours told me this as he had a son with a violent temper. He would "go off" at the slightest provocation and was constantly being involved in fights with other kids. Someone suggested to his parents that Karate would help him with "self control", and it did as just after a couple of months he became less violent toward others and seemed to lose that "fight first and ask questions later" attitude he always had. He mixed in better with the other kids and his school work improved dramatically, although when pushed enough, the fists still started swinging but to a much lesser rate than previously. So a good outcome eventually. A lot of people think Karate is just about fighting by using the body as a weapon, but it is also a lot to do with self restraint and discipline and there are very strict rules as to when it should only be used as a weapon. We were always taught that if we were bullied by someone bigger; kick them between the legs and run like buggery to get your big brother to sort it out.......How times have changed.

Colleen, I know just what it's like when neighbours don't control their gardens as the family on the northern side of us (although very nice people) don't have any idea at all about gardening whatsoever, in fact they have almost every troublesome plant in Australia growing in their yard (and over my fence) Lantana, Privet, Blackberry, Rhus tree, Lagunaria (Itch tree),Cassia, Araujia sericifera (False choko vine), feral Jasmine, you name it they have it.

To make matters worse they have now moved to Katoomba and the house has been empty for a couple of years and although they have someone regularly cut the grass, no one cuts back the feral plants, so rest assured, it's just not you who have these problems.

Shirley - Regarding encouraging roots on pups by planting them in grass clippings, I think some time ago Wendy mentioned that her son was doing this with great success.

When I recently wrote of my experience I didn't mean to put Colleen or anyone else off from trying it, I just mentioned what had happened to my plants when I tried it.

As we know everyone has different growing conditions and it may also have a lot to do with the type of grass in the clippings which in my case was Kikuyu (Which itself is on the noxious plant list although I keep mine under control) I have noticed over the years whenever I put these clippings in the compost, they always stay wetter for longer than other types of grass clippings and this may have just been my problem.

The igloo is looking better every time I see it. Are your benches in picture 2 made from sections of pool fences? They certainly look very robust. Something a lot of people don't realise is the strength in polystyrene boxes which I see you are using for support of the bench sections and which I have no doubt will easily handle the weight..

If I may make an observation though, I would say you may find a difference in the colour of your plants in the future whereas, before they were sitting on white polystyrene boxes which would have given good light reflection, they will now be on a different surface over a black floor which will cut down significantly on the reflection provided.......Just a thought, not a criticism.

It's also good to see "Hubby" hard at work under the supervision of the "Watch Dog". Does he know he is now famous and that his pic is now out there in cyber space for the world to see?

I really don't know why I even kept that "spotless" Gold Fever seedling as it couldn't have been further from what I had aimed for, but maybe it's worth keeping if only just to show people that things won't always turn out as we predict, and who knows, even the second generation of pups might turn up something different again.

Just a few recent pic's to finish with Pic.1 (My pride and joy) Alc. Silver Plum which I grew from a grass pup just 2" high. Pic.2 Ae. 'Little Green Ruby', Pic.3 Neo.'Pink Star' just starting to colour, Pic.4 Neo. 'Burgundy Princess' (Unreg) and Pic.5 Neo. 'Mandella' x 'Back Onyx' seedling; where did the spots come from?

All the best, Nev.

Hey Nev - your seedling in No 5 pic must have stolen the spots from the neo Gold Fever x self...

lots of lovely pictures from everyone.
I am still feeling rubbish & have an appointment with my Dr on Tuesday.
By which time I may be feeling better but I need to see him about some other issues so it's worth going in.

It was no fun working this week, I have to admit I hated it with a passion.
It combines all the bad aspects of my old bar job without the enjoyment I had from being a barmaid.

I feel an utter fool but have told them the job is not for me & am resigning.
Already!

Now to find that elusive perfect job.
I applied for a job at Pascoes the Jewellers... new store opening at a mall that is on a direct bus route from home.

Hi everyone - Seems the cold has turned everyone indoors and it's just you and me today Teresa.

Bad luck about the job, but if it's something you hate, what's the point in pursuing it. I was very lucky, I had a job which I loved and looked forward to going to work every day (except roster days) for thirty years. I just hope there's a job like that somewhere with your name on it Teresa, just keep looking and hopefully you'll find it.

Now a few pic's to finish with; Pic.1 Neo.'Allan's Marbles' (Unreg.), Pic.2 Neo.'Amazing Grace' (Dark Form), Pic.3 Neo.'Rosatina' x concentrica, Pic.4 Neo.'Apricot Nectar' and Pic.5 is Neo.'Running River' (Unreg.)

All the best, Nev.

Hi all,

Nev, the benches in the igloo are sections of pool fence which we covered with plastic coated wire as the uprights were a little too far apart for smaller pots, which kept falling over unless placed carefully across two of the bars.

I remember you saying in an earlier post that you didn’t think I would get all the broms to fit into the igloo. Well, guess what … you were right. They all came out of there and I had hoped to fit in a few more by rearranging the shelving but as it turns out, it filled up quickly with quite a few left over. Maybe I was more generous with the spacing.

Teresa, sorry to hear that you’re still crook. Also that you hated your new job. Hope you find that perfect job soon.

Pic 1 – neo Walking Tall
Pic 2 – neo Grace
Pic 3 – neo Thelma’s Choice … might have to check on that one !!
Pic 4 – can’t remember this one either … having a senior’s moment, very tired.
Pic 5 - shelving close up

Bye for now, Shirley

Hello everyone.
Its very cold down here and I am taking a few minutes by the heater with a cuppa.
I have so much to do here and it all takes time.
Thank you for all the kind words on my dear hubbys passing.
I miss him very much but am slowly getting used to the odd things that keep popping up to remind me of him.
He was so worried about how I would manage with the house after he was gone and asked me to sell as soon as I could.
It is so hard to keep up with all that would need doing in maintenance, so I am doing as he wanted.
Trouble is ,I dont think that dear man ever threw anything away in case it may come in handy one day...lol
I am slowly getting through things will a little help from some of his mates but it takes time .
I have to somehow sell all the plants as well.
This is difficult because of living where I do. There are no outlets for many markets and selling on eBay is out because of the size of plants and postage costs now asked by the PO.
I counted yesterday and I have over 300 broms as well as umpteen other plants.
Probably it will all come down to a clearing sale for everything left in the house and all the plants.
I wish I lived nearer to you all so I could just give them all away to good homes.
I will miss all the broms as I have enjoyed watching them as they grew and colored then pupped. There are so many with pups now and even with the cold down here, still some nice color among them all.
It has been very cold over the last few weeks, not getting much over 11C during the day.
Mornings have been down to -1C at times.
Anyway, thats whats going on here.
I am looking at moving in to one of the independent living units which are very nice and I can still have a couple of plants to care for.

I have had some wonderful messages from lots of hubbys radio mates around the world. He was so well known ans respected in the ham radio world.

I have been popping in on here very quickly during the last months to see what was going on , but havent posted as I was not feeling like talking much to anyone for a while.
I have loved seeing all the pics and am still fighting the urge to buy just another brom. ..lol

better go as the sun is out and I need to get things done outside before the rain returns.
no pics as I havent taken any lately.

Jean.

Jean - {{{hugs}}}

I think all of us would wish to be closer to where you are just to be able to help with the awful job of sorting through everything that needs sorting & if nothing else to give a hug in person.

Take care of yourself!

A little birdie told me you were here Jean.
Sending a cyber (((Hug))) to you.
Hope you have some family to come help and be with you at this time.

chrissy

Hi everyone – I don't know what the weather's like where you all live but it's been pretty chilly down here. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day but there was still that very cold breeze blowing all day just t spoil it, and as soon as the sun starts to go down, well that's when the “Ice Man” starts doing his rounds as we're having very cold nights with quite a bit of cold damage to some of the soft leaved brom's.

Shirley – I had a similar problem when I used Weld Mesh fence panels on my benches; they were fine for the larger pots, but I was continually picking up the smaller ones which kept tipping over. In the end I covered the mesh with 1/2” bird wire. I'm now changing to “Mini Orb” as my son and his two next door neighbours are putting up two new fences and the old ones were made of “Mini Orb”.

(For those who don't know what this is, it was called “Bird Iron” when I was a boy and was corrugated iron but with a small corrugations. It was made originally to prevent birds from getting under the corrugations of the standard corrugated iron and into the cavity between the roof and the ceiling of early houses)

It's now used for many other things such as feature walls and other projects. Anyway the Mini Orb from the fences was a bit rusty on the bottom six inches and it was all going to the tip until I volunteered to take it off their hands. Out came the portable circular saw and a cutting disc and I cut off the bottom six inches from each sheet and “hey presto” enough to cover all of my benches free of charge. You may remember last year I trialled it on the benches in the top shade house and everything is growing great (and not falling over) so I've decided to now do the lot. I got the original idea when looking at some pic's of Thai growers' shade houses where they use corrugated asbestos roofing sheets on their benches.

I've had the same problem as you many times when I've taken plants off a bench to repair it and when it's time to put the plants back, there never seems to be enough room.

Great plants in your pictures once again but my two favourites are Neo.'Walking Tall' and Neo.'Thelma's Choice'. Neo.'Walking Tall' is a beautifully shaped what seems to be a medium/small sized Neo. and bred from Neo.'Small World' by Grace Goode.

My next favourite is Neo.'Thelma's Choice' which I haven't seen before, but it certainly caught my eye immediately and being of a curious nature I just had to look it up on the BCR and wasn't really surprised to see that it had been bred by Chester Skotak. It's from an unusual crossing of Neo. (carolinae x 'Royal Burgundy') and Neo. marmorata.which is a species.

Jean – It's so nice to hear from you again and learn that you are gradually coming to terms with all the changes in your life. What you say about hubby never throwing anything away in case it may come in handy one day is a habit that all of us old blokes have. It's just that blokes are natural “hoarders” and their wives are the “chuckers”. It's really uncanny how many times my wife has talked me in to letting her chuck out something I've been saving for years only to find a need for it a couple of days after it was tossed. The only answer is of course, don't toss it as you'll find a use for it eventually. I've lost count of the number of time my kids have come over looking for something to do a job with (it might be a bracket, a screw, a bolt or an odd shaped hinge or something) and sure enough, it will be in my shed somewhere.

As hubby obviously knew the house would be to much for you to manage alone, I think you're doing the right thing thinking about moving to an independent living unit. As you say, you can still have a few plants. You don't have to worry about maintenance which is a big thing also. A friend of ours lives in one of these units with just a small court yard and she too had a large collection of brom's before she moved and had to unload them.

What she did once she was settled again was to “downsize” and she just bought mini Neo's and Tillandsias and I was amazed at how many she had fitted into such a small space. Someone had given her a second hand security door which she had painted and attached to the brick wall of the back of the unit. On this door she has her collection of Tillys hanging with little wire hooks and it's amazing just how many she has in that small space. The Mini Neo' are located on a couple of small shelves and once again it's amazing how many are fitted into a small area. So you see, you have various option with your plants that don't take up a lot of space, and being the type of person you are, I'm sure you'll work out a suitable system for staying with some of your plants. Once you are settled, drop me a line and I'll send you a few mini types to get you started. And please keep dropping in to D.G. as time allows, because we love to hear from you.

Teresa – I hope you are getting over your cold bug and things aren't too cold (weather wise) down there.

I'll finish today with a few examples of different Tillandsias for Jean just to plant the “thought seed” in her head for the future. As I've said many times in the past, there's a brom for all situations.
Pic. 1 Till. straminea, Pic.2 Till brachycaulis, Pic.3 Till. fuchsii, Pic.4 Till. dugesii, Pic.5 Till. pueblensis

All the best, Nev.

I am still full of the cold, coughing has started now...
but a friend who had what sounds like the same bug said that was the signal that she was getting over it & her hubby has been the same.

I took my uniform back to the supermarket, washed & neatly folded. Thought it was the least I could do under the circumstances.

Bought bread rolls on a 'twofer' deal - a dozen for $5.00.
They are now stuffed with cheese & corned silverside with honey mustard sauce, wrapped in cling film & in the freezer along with a couple of silverside & relish sammies.
Hubby won't have to worry about lunches for a couple of weeks :)

Dishes are done, vacuumed the house, cleaned the pellet fire, checked the online job sites...
just a quiet day at home.

Love those tills Nev, I rmember being told about 'air plant' years ago & thinking it was a leg pull.

A friend's Mum had that as well as zygocactus in hanging baskets in her sun porch when I lived in Brisbane. It looked very tropical out there - wonder if she had broms & I just didn't notice, would have fitted in with the theme.