OUR BROMELIADS INTO 2015..

Hi everyone – Well Teresa anyway; where have you all gone?

Yesterday was a day where I didn’t seem to achieve anything to do with brom’s as I has a heap of little things to do and places to go which took up most of the morning. The mower man didn’t come to cut the grass until about 2.00pm as he wanted to give it time to dry out a bit after all of the rain. By the time he had finished it was wild bird feeding time and the best part of the day was over, so I went into the garage and cut up about 500 name tags out of old venetian blind strips, just so the day wasn’t a complete waste.

Today I hope to tackle the repotting of my very large Neo’s. Yesterday I was able to find bamboo stakes at Bunnings and these will be better suited than the skewers I normally use for the smaller plants, so thanks to whoever it was that mentioned they use these and where they can be purchased. I must have used thousands over the years staking my orchid spikes but never gave them a thought in regards as a support for bromeliads, so thanks again to whoever mentioned it and jogged my memory.

Teresa – You say you like the colours in my hybrids and this is exactly why I chose to use the parents I have used when hybridising, as colour is my main concern also. Of course if it turns out to be combined with a nice shape, well that’s a bonus, but primarily colour is what I’m after. All bromeliad breeders select their parents with an objective in mind and my prime aim is for nice clear colours, whether they are bright or subtle doesn't matter as long as they are clear. With me, shape is a secondary priority and as I said an added bonus, but I like nothing more than to look at a collection of plants and see loads of different colours. With some collections, when you stand back and look at them in total, they all seem to blend into a sea of uninteresting green shades and there’s no real standouts. It’s these collections which benefit from a couple of brightly coloured plants here and there to break the monotony, and what a difference they make to the overall appearance.

Don’t get me wrong; when breeding with this objective in mind you still produce many “nothing” plants which don’t meet the requirements, and if they don’t show any promise of colour initially, it’s unlikely they ever will, so these should go in the green bin.

You say,” Pic 1 & Pic 5 are strikingly different to the rest”; this is true because they are from different crossings. Pic.1 is from a selfing of an unusual variegated sport which was produced from a plant supposed to be, and purchased as Neo. ‘Painted Lady’. It looked like Painted Lady but there’s now some thought it may have been a Painted Lady hybrid to be able to produce a seedling like that, (that’s what the experts say at least).

Pic. 5 is a different altogether and is from a bi-generic hybrid called xNiduregelia ‘Something Special crossed with an unknown pollen parent. (xNiduregelia is a cross between a Nidularium and a Neoregelia). I didn’t do this cross; the plant was done by someone or something else and was in flower when I bought it. I just planted and grew on the seed as it seemed interesting and I was curious to see what it would produce. [Besides all of the experts told me the seed would be infertile as they were from a “mule” (bi-generic parent)].

You also say, “I can see similarities with your earlier photos of Neo concentrica x (Charm x Cracker Jack)”. That’s very observant of you, and the reason for the similarity is that they are all from the same grex. The colours from this particular grex were over a vast range and this is why I suspected that this first cross I did may have had some help with the pollination from ants or other insects; it just didn’t seem possible to get such a large range of colours from the same two parents. There is a saying when hybridising that “you only ever know for sure who the seed parent is”, because you can never be certain whether or not an ant, bee or small bird has visited the flower just before you and already crossed it with pollen from an entirely different plant altogether.

I’ll go through my files and find five pictures from that first cross I did just to show the variation I’m speaking about, and if you’re interested I can show you even more different plants in the days to come.

The cross was Neo. concentrica x (’Charm’ x ‘Cracker Jack’); as you know, concentrica is a well-known medium/large species with a mauve/purple centre and the ‘Charm’ x ‘Cracker Jack’ is a medium sized reddish/maroon colour with slight spotting.

All the best, Nev.

Hi Nev - always interested in your broms & their backgrounds.

I guess the only way to guarantee the parentage of your seedlings would be to grow them in isolation inside an insect proof case of some kind...

possibly a little more trouble than most hybridisers would want to go to.

cheers - Teresa

Hi all,

Ended up a nice day here today after a fair bit of rain overnight. Supposed to warm up tomorrow perfect for the grass to grow a foot.

Nev, very healthy and colourful plants in your last couple of posts, with the two orange shaded plants as favourites along with the Neo 'Braz-el'. It must give you a bit of a thrill to see results like these, I get a buzz just seeing the pups come through!

Jean, love your flower painting, we once did a job at a famous artists house and I thought he would be sitting around waiting for inspiration but there was none of that, he was at it all day.
There were paintings laying around everywhere from minute ones to the million dollar affairs.

Anyway, hi to Teresa, Trish, Shirley and Colleen.

Pics of some pups that are getting there.

Have a good weekend.

Brian.

Hi everyone I am back but typing on my tablet tonight so slow and steady I go like a snail as normally use the laptop so please excuse if I take any shortcuts as we just got it this week.

Hope those living in the path of Cyclone Marcia are safe and well and were spared any damage to properties etc, I am still waiting to hear back from friends in Yepppon who lost power the day she hit but they did text me to say then they were ok but that there was devastation everywhere.

We are well and keeping busy as usual and I am sporting a sore shoulder at the moment so taking thing's easy, just an old injury that gives me grief every now and again.

Spent a little of the weekend potting broms as well as we brought and placed a nice full circle bench seat to wrap around the avocado tree that I really like as somewhere nice to sit with a book and cuppa.

Tomorrow I have some weeds to spray and more potting to do and then the usual dreaded housework to do.

Looking forward to going to the beach in the morning and then going out for dinner with friend's.

Looks like I have missed many posts so will have a catchup read tonight and have a proper chat with you all tomorrow.

No pics to attach as do not have any stored here at present but we get some out on the laptop tomorrow.

Potted up some nice new minis a couple of weekends ago that are doing well and I will have to remember to take some pics to share.

Given Cyclone Marcia was below us we hardly got any rain but did get the odd storm that brought us a we bit of rain which was nice; the humidity has been shocking of late 70% humidity and not much breeze and the evenings have been around 28deg.

Anyway time to head as carving a good cuppa.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Good morning.
Its so lovely at the moment here. There was a small shower of rain overnight making the morning fresh and lovely to be outside.
All the plants are looking to the sky for more rain.
We may get a little as the clouds are there, but going on what usually happens, the sun will come out and burn the clouds away.

I pulled out my two tomato plants as they were getting to b every straggly and I have had enough tomatoes. I must have had at least 50 from the two plants, so well worth having them.
I'll have to plant something else in the space now. Have to have a think on what will grow during winter.

Yes, Nev, the broms seem to not be worried by all the fertiliser they get.
I alternate between different ones for the brugmansias and other plants. so the brom diet is mixed...lol

During winter, I may move all the broms from the back area to the front. The veranda is wider and they will be protected from any real cold there.
The brugmansias will be cut back anyway, so it wont bother them to stay in the back area. There is nothing much else to worry about. The clivias live right at the back of the front veranda, but will come right out during winter as they flower in spring.
The broms can hide behind them .

My roses will be also looking for cooler weather so the flowers can open instead of being toasted.
I am hoping that another year in their pots will make them hardier and used to the heat a bit more.
The odd thing is that those at the back in full afternoon sun are doing better than the ones that get sun only until about noon.
Too bad now as the pots are large and I would never move them.

Brian, you have some lovely broms coming on.
I am guessing the pretty one in pic 4 is an aechmea, one of the orlandiana lot.
I like all the colors they get as they mature.

Teresa, you will have a tree full of bill nutans before long.
They are certainly one of the hardiest I have had. Hope Miss Sugar is enjoying herself after the great win.

Trish , lovely to see you back again.
Take care of that shoulder. Its often the old injuries we have that give trouble.
Hope your Mum is doing well with our heat down here. She must be having fun with her broms as they grow and pup .

Its still overcast here but I will go out and water anyway as there wasnt enough rain to do much except wet the path.
Besides, I enjoy watering now that I only have the smaller area.
At the house, the area was so much larger , with so many plants, I didnt always get to see those at the back closely.
Here I am on intimate terms with all the plants...lol

Better move.

Take care and keep cool.
A few old vriesea pics again. I must get new ones.
pic 1... a David Shigii hybrid

pic 2... Margarita

pic 3...Pink Blush

Jean.

another warm day here - gave some of the gardens water this morning before dog club, they haven't had any for a while & the roses & lilies don't appreciate drying out too much.

Bil in the tree got a blast while I was at it, will go back & mist again later to make sure the water is under the bark cover where the roots can use it...

I didn't really think things through as one bil is tied on the opposite side of the tree & not even visible from the yard, I have to get into the garden to get at it.
Maybe I should tweak the positioning now before roots have a chance to develop...

Hi Everyone!

Spent a wee bit of time in the garden over the weekend cutting off pups, watering broms, lawns and garden beds as not much rain happening here at present and today was spent also doing bookwork which I am glad to have gotten out the road. I will try to spend a little more time late this arvo in the garden once the day cools down a tad bit, even if it’s just to sit under a shady tree and kick back and relax before the day comes to a close.

Nev lovely pics you posted of your friends Dendrobiums, aren’t they amazing the assortment of colours they come in, truly breathtaking I find them and I can’t wait to show Joe the pictures.

Your Neo’s in the shade house on the bench are looking great – look at all that in your face colour. Oh and I just opened the pics of your own hybrids, they look amazingly beautiful – Pic 5 of xNiduregelia x (Unknown Pollen Parent) has such stunning colour with that intense orange and even yellow shining through.

Teresa how did your recent interview go or is it too early to tell? Hope all goes well for you with all the effort your are putting in, I know how tiring the search can be when applying for new jobs but sounds like your exploring every avenue and hats off to you and hope you land yourself a great job real soon.

That’s what I need a pedicure to revitalise these tired feet of mine, I keep meaning to book in but it’s really something I have never done before as I like to take care of my own feet usually as I hate the smells that come out of some of those places with all the chemicals that build up in the shops, can’t be good for your health; I should just grab my foot spa out and get into the habit of soaking them more often and using the fantastic products I already have at home that are far kinder to nature.

Congratulations “Sugar” on your award!!! What a clever girl you are. BIG HI FIVE from Lucy & Lexi.

Brian I too sometimes find the fungus spores in some of my brom pots, I mainly find them in some of the orchid mixes I buy, not when I crack open the bad but once I have used in pots and the mix is exposed to light and moisture. I just usually dig out and replace with fresh mix even though I know it does not do my broms any harm, it’s mainly in case our dogs decide to have a taste test as I worry could be poisonous to them? My plants get plenty of air flow so for me it’s just a case of the mix that I buy.

Your broms look fantastic and look at all those pups popping up everywhere, have you come up with a plan where to accommodate them all, always such a rewarding time to be cutting / potting up new pups.

Jean your latest painting looks fantastic, can’t mistaken them for anything else but roses.

Thanks so much for asking how mum is coping with the heat, she is doing really well and picking her times to go out but is never the less getting heaps achieved around the garden with new garden beds popping up everywhere and more shade cloth going up to protect all her bromeliads. I luv listening to her talk about her garden and the passion she feels for each and everything she grows and now she is well and truly at the point where she has enough to share with her friends and the passion is rubbing off on them too and she gets great joy out of this and I get great joy of listing to her and we find it hard to get off the phone sometimes LOL.

Your Vriesea’s look fantastic and I am glad they are doing so well in your garden as I know how much you luv them and all the other stunning plants you grow.

Thanks taking things nice and easy with my shoulder as it is aggravated enough without me overdoing things.

Anyway time to head off as want to cut Joe's hair while there is still some daylight.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 - Neo. 'Concentrica x ?'
Pic 2 - Vr. 'Cracker Jack'
Pic 3 - Vr. 'Raphel'
Pic 4 - Neo. 'NOID' - any clues?
Pic 5 - Vrieseas in the Igloo

Hi everyone – I didn’t get around to writing on here the past few day as we’ve been just so busy. Apart from everything else it was my youngest grandson’s fifth birthday on Sunday and we had a wonderful day watching 12 other five year olds all trying to outdo each other. We rented a Spiderman Jumping Castle for the day and the kids had a ball. It was only rented for four hours (supposedly 10.00am – 2.00pm), but because we have rented from the same company before on several occasions, they erected it at 8.30am and didn’t take it down until 5.30pm, so pretty good value when you are a repeat customer.

I’m still continuing to work my way around the yard “dead-leafing” and it seems a bit like painting the Sydney harbour bridge; when you finish at one end t’s time to start again at the other end.

Teresa – Glad you liked the pic’s of my early hybrids, today I’m posting some more of the Neo. concentrica x (Charm x Cracker Jack) cross to just show the variation in colours.

Brian – Its seems like you’re getting the same type of weather as we are; rain, sun, then high humidity. Summer is supposed to be finished now but Sunday saw record crowds at our local beaches so maybe the cooler weather isn’t ready to happen just yet.

Your next generation of pups are looking great and always a great sign of things to come next flowering season. What’s the name of the plant in the hanging pot in your Pic.5? I have a small one someone gave me but there wasn’t a name on it.

Trish – Glad to hear you are keeping busy but be careful not to slow down the healing of your sore shoulder by over doing it.

It’s good to hear you didn’t suffer any grief from Cyclone Marcia; it must be a worry for you all every time there’s a cyclone in the area as you wonder where it will strike; a bit like playing Russian roulette for want of a better description.

Great lot of pictures you posted, but sorry I can’t help with the ID of the Neo NOID in Pic. 4
Pic’s 1 and 2 are my two choices but as you might have guessed the plant in Pic.1 is my preference. Wonderful wide leaves and great shape, was it an Allan Freeman hybrid?

Jean – Speaking about your brom’s and fertiliser, prompts me to admit that over the previous year I haven’t fed any of my brom’s other than the initial bit of fertiliser they got when they were originally potted up as pups. They don’t seem any worse for it and the Neo’s are powering along and growing better than ever. The Vrieseas and Guzmanias however, even though they are all flowering, the flower spikes aren’t as big as they usually are when heavily fed.

They are three nice Vrieseas you’ve posted this morning and I was especially interested in Vr. Margarita which although I’ve seen it before, don’t know much about it. Being variegated, I decided to look it up to see what I could find, and interestingly, I find that its seed parent was a green leafed yellow flowering type called Vr. Asahi which was registered way back in 1972 and is a cv. of unknown parentage of Japanese origin. However the surprising bit (well I was surprised anyway) was that the pollen parent was Vr. Red Chestnut.

This explains where the glyph leaf marking came from, but it seems that the variegation is a one off trick of Mother Nature. It certainly is an unusual plant with the unusual combination of light green marginated leaves combined with glyph markings……A very attractive plant.

I’ll finish up with a few more hybrids from my Neo. concentrica x (Charm x Cracker Jack) crossing to just demonstrate the variation in colour from the one grex.

All the best, Nev.

no word on the second job I interviewed for...
it's been a week now so I won't hold my breath.

31C here today...
I put our pedestal fan in the room with Sugar to keep her cool while I was at 'school'.
Onto MS PowerPoint... cracking through the textbook and had a play at creating a photo album on my lap top at home.
I will save it for my Mum as it is photos of my twin nieces - her grand daughters - taken from Facebook.
Mum refuses to have anything to do with the dreaded FB so is missing out on what my brother & SIL post.

Trish - I like the striping on Vr Cracker Jack - and on Vr Raphael, both very different to each other.

Nev - all your seedlings have their charms but pic 2 & 3 appeal to me.
I do tend to be swayed by spots, stripes & purple tones.

cheers - Teresa

Hi all,

Much cooler day here today.

Teresa, Good luck with the job hunting.

My son recently left our company to work closer to home and went for a couple of interviews in car dealerships. He wasn't getting anywhere after the interviews and decided to go back to one of them just to see whether he was wasting his time and why he didn't get the job. They told him if he had rung back to chase it up they would have given it to him, they regarded that as an essential part of it. After this he decided to just do the rounds without any jobs being advertised and got one at the first place he went.

Nev, the hanging plant you asked about is either the one on the left (pic 4 below) is a Tahitian Bridal Veil, and the one on the right is an Amazon Lace (Rhipsalis Teres). They both seem happy in a semi-shaded area.
The purple /mauve in pic3 of your hybrids is a standout for me.

Trish, thanks for the info on the fungus, I thought it might harm the plant so I re-potted it anyway. Good to know I can just clear it out of the pot. Your Vrieseas as usual look amazing.

Jean, thanks for the info on the aechmea in a previous post, I probably haven't given it enough light to get to the colours in the pics I looked up.

Hi everybody else.

Pic 1 Neo 'Red Macaw'
Pics 2 and 3 are 2 pups growing nicely from a plant labelled as Neo 'Johannis DeRolf' but I think is known as DeRolf (?)
Pic 4 is for Nev
Pic 5 Vrisea, I think is not worth the effort , going to bin it.

Brian.

Hi Everyone!

Nev pleased to hear you had a wonderful day watching your grandson having a ball on his 5th Birthday; the Spiderman Jumping Castle would have been a real hit with all the kids and sure it would have been a great deal of fun watching them bouncing around for hours, sure all the kids would have slept well that night after all that energy they used jumping around he he.

Ah dead-leafing, that’s something else I have been doing because it does not take too much effort but like you mentioned it’s an endless job. I do enjoy it though because it gives you the opportunity to really examine each brom for condition, pests and pups etc. so another task that I enjoy.

Thanks I am taking things easy with my shoulder just that it’s a little difficult because it’s the right one and I am right handed; but all the heavy chores I need to do are on the back burner, so no lifting heavy pots, digging holes, moving garden pavers etc. till it has had a chance to properly heal which could take weeks.

Yes when we are on Cyclone alert aside from the worry it’s getting everything ready even though we have a cyclone cupboard fully stocked it’s the stuff you have to do outside that’s very stressful, trying to tie everything down, lock things away so they do not become air born etc. We do have a bit of a laugh when it comes to our brom and orchid collections as the ones that we absolutely cherish end up inside with us, but it’s great because while they are inside we get to take a closer look at them and give them a bit of TLC while we wait for the cyclone to pass and is a great way to keep your mind off things.

Pleased to hear you liked the recent pics I posted, unfortunately I do not know anything about Pic 1 of Neo. ‘Concentrica x ?, I did quiz the seller I brought it from at the time but unfortunately they had no history on it other than the name they wrote on it’s label; it took my breath away when I first laid eyes on it as it had all the qualities I adore most of all in broms, wide leaves, great shade and beautiful markings.

That’s a fantastic lot of pics you posted of your hybrids, the variation in colour from the one grex is truly amazing and not what one would expect; I could not pic a favourite as they are all beautiful specimens as far as I am concerned.

Hi Teresa maybe a decision has yet not been reached with your interview, now days the review process can be long winded and drawn out as well as companies not bothering to get back to unsuccessful candidates via phone or email which is so unprofessional.

I also like to put the pedestal fan on for the girls if they are feeling a little hot, also I have a kids half clam pool situated in our entertainment area that I fill with 3 x buckets of water to cool them down when they need and they luv it and it’s saves them trying to splash in their water bowls LOL.

Pleased to hear you liked the look of the variegated / stripy Vrieseas, they are just that little bit different to the others aren’t they.

Anyway time to head as beddy time and I am sure as soon as my head hits the pillow I will be out like a light with no time to count sheep this time around he he.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Sorry no pics tonight as left my run a little late...

Hi Brian

Sorry I missed your post (I think we posted at the same time), will have a good chin wag with you tomorrow night.

Cheers

Trish

Hi everyone – It was a nice fine day here yesterday and I managed to get more dead-leafing and tidying up done. I’m slowly but surely catching upon the back log of work I have, and can at last see a tiny bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Teresa – Pleased to hear you’re doing a PPP course, I might need to call on you for some advice in the near future. Our brom society recently bought a projector and laptop package to use when giving presentations. Next Monday we are having a workshop to teach the few interested people how to assemble and use it all, so it should be interesting. I’ve worked out how to put pic’s onto the Power Point programme and can copy them to a thumb drive but there my knowledge stops. I know you can do much, much more with the Power Point programme, but that’s the only bit of it I need to use. I just have to learn how to hook up the projector and laptop and I’ll be in business.

It’s interesting what Brian says about the job hunting; I have a friend who works in administration at our local Bunnings and when I was discussing about a young friend of ours who had just applied for a job there, he told me to tell the young bloke to keep ringing to see if his application was successful. His exact words were, “pester the life out of them”. He said this is a tool they use to gauge how keen the applicants are and a very important part of their candidate selection process. Sorry but I never thought to mention this before.

Brian – Thanks for jogging my memory about the process to go through when job hunting, as soon as I read your comment, the light came on in my brain and I remember what I had been told about Bunnings and the importance they place on these follow-up phone calls.

Thanks also for the ID on the plant in the hanging pot; it was the one on the right I was enquiring about, the Rhipsalis Teres. Are there any cultural tips you can give about it as any expertise I have starts and ends with brom’s.

The plant you liked in Pic.3 is nothing special “shape wise” but the purple centre is quite brilliant at certain times of the day, especially late afternoon.

Looking at you pic’s now and the Neo.’Red Macaw’ in the first picture although only a pup yet, will grow into bigger and better beautifully coloured plant. The tips of the leaves will take on a brilliant red which contrasts wonderfully with the lighter green of the rest of the leaves.

You are quite right about pic’s 2 and 3; these plants are now called Neo.‘DeRolf’ although for many years it was known as Neo johannis DeRolf, in 1995 it was officially registered as Neo.’DeRolf’. It is a cultivated variety (c.v.) of the species Neo. johannis and was probably named to avoid confusion as this species is quite variable, (see examples at No. 39 in the FCBS Photo Index). Even the Neo.’DeRolf’, like many other variegated plants is variable as well and can vary in colour and markings from season to season See FCBS Photo Index No.863 in the cultivar listing as well as on the BCR at: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=3915#3915
It’s certainly an eye catching plant which can grow to a large size when garden grown as a feature.

As for the Vriesea in the last pic. the white scale is easily controlled; I would rip off the lower leaves and immerse the base of the plant in a bucket of insecticide as we previously discussed. Does it have a name? Once you have controlled the scale you could plant it in the garden as the glyphs aren’t very clearly defined on the leaves and don’t really make it worthy as a potted plant unless the flower is something special.

There is one I have with the name of Vr. ‘Tachete Gold’ it has similar foliage and sometimes has the coloured leaf tips and other times doesn’t, depending on how much light it gets.
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=VRIESEA&id=10477#10477
There is also another with similar foliage called Vr. Erotica
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=VRIESEA&id=8562#8562

Both of these have different flowers and I have posted a pic of ‘Tachete Gold’ flowers as there aren’t any on the BCR. Of course it may be a completely different hybrid altogether and you won’t know until it flowers, hence my suggestion of planting in the garden instead of binning it.

Trish - Good to hear everything’s going well with you and Joe, and like me I expect you are both busy doing plant maintenance on your brom’s and orchids, it’s a never ending task.

I’ll finish today with a couple of pic’s of Vr. Tachete Gold flowers and three more of my Neo. hybrids from the same grex as the others.

All the best, Nev.

I think if I go for a job that I am really keen on I will follow up with phone calls but I have to confess I don't really care if nothing comes of the last one I interviewed for...

Nev - the brom in pic 5 is a stunner... love it!

I looked for broms today but they only had one left & it was a very uninspiring noid Vr so I didn't even check the price.

Instead I splurged on two $5.00 orphans, one was a fuchsia marked down from $20.00
the other I'm not sure of but it is in a shallow bowl type pot that I want for succulents, the plant is a nice bonus.

Both have been tidied up, dead headed & cuttings taken.
They now look worth more than $5.00 so I'm happy.

cheers - Teresa

Hi everyone – Nothing new to report; yesterday was just a continuation of the dead-leafing and I have about another hour to do and I’ll be finished doing the plants in shade house No.2, I might then do some re-potting just to break up the monotony.

Teresa – It’s interesting you picked out that plant in Pic.5 because almost everyone else does the same, and yet when I think of how close it came to being binned, I shudder. When I was doing a bit of culling that plant was down to be tossed, but when I looked closely I saw a little dark colour on the leaf tips so decided to give it a reprieve. I didn’t have anywhere to put it on the benches so I potted it up and planted it (pot and all) in a space in the front garden.

A few months later, a bit of a tree branch from next door fell on it during severe wind and almost squashed it, and as I didn’t find it until some days later it was looking “pretty rough” and I again thought it was a candidate for the bin, but once again (for some reason) I gave it a reprieve, I don’t know why, I just thought it had survived this far and at least earned another chance.

A few weeks later a lady was walking this huge dog (almost as big as a small horse) up the street without a lead, and where do you think it decided to have a crap? That’s right, right on top of that plant. It wasn’t satisfied with that, but when it was finished it scratched up the surrounding area with its big hind feet and covered it with mulch and dirt.

I cleaned it up again and firmed it in the pot and re-planted it and from then on I didn’t give it much thought until late one afternoon when I was looking at the culls to see if anything unusual was happening and that’s when after looking past the “cosmetic” damage, I saw this wonderful dark colour on that plant. I went and got the camera and took a picture before something else happened to it as is often the case with Murphy’s Law. The thing I want to point out is that that pic is of a “garden grown plant” (warts and all) which has been knocked around a bit and hopefully when I start growing it properly it will look even better. It’s since been re-potted and moved around to the back yard under cover of shade cloth and has two new pups showing.

Just a few random pic’s to finish with today

All the best, Nev

Hello everyone. Sitting here with the front door open enjoying the magpies warbling. Its getting cooler in the mornings now. Real Autumn weather with the sun warming things up later in the day.
My broms are all liking the weather so far, but once the real cold gets here, it may be different, although they always got a lot of very cold weather at the house.
I was worried about frost here as the town sits in a valley, but one of the other residents was saying that because this place is higher up on the side of the hill, there are hardly any frost that would worry plants.
I will be sitting all the broms under the shadecloth anyway as I move plants around for the seasonal changes.
My clivias will be coming out from behind and also the brugmansias will be going behind as they sleep for the winter.

I finally got the camera out and took a few new pics of the broms. Comparing them with the ones I took a few months ago, I can see a lot of difference.
I didnt realise just how much they have grown.

Nev, I have to join the others on the choice of that lovely brom in your previous post. I love purples.
In your latest post above, I do like pic no 2 as I am also a fan of the stripeys.
Great to hear you have done so much in the dead leafing etc with all your broms. I am leaving my few until I move them all later , probably next month. I can then do a good check as I remove the pups also.

Trish, lovely to hear news of your Mum. Its so great that she has all her broms to play with.
She must have lots of pups by now.


Teresa, good luck on the job front . Keep at them all, the right one will turn up.


I have been painting again . Once I start, I hate to stop.
Its interesting to learn more as I try different techniques. I will get back to my landscapes soon as thats what I like to paint.
Doing the flowers is a way to learn about using the palette knives as well as different brushes.

Better get out and enjoy some sun before I start painting again.
heres a few pics of the broms.

pic 1... vrs Megan and White Chestnut

pic 2...vrs Snows of Mauna Key x White Chestnut (back) and You Beaut x Snows of Kosciusko.(front)

pic 3...neo Noble Descent.. starting to flower after already having a couple of pups.

pic 4...neos Burnsies Spiral and a noid which was sold as Beefsteak which its obviously not.

pic 5...this group of neos get full sun all afternoon. The color is lovely and no ill effects.

Take care everyone.
Jean.

Couldnt fit the last brom pic in so here it is along with my latest flower efforts.

pic is of a group but the main one is neo Enchantment albo marginata
behind her is neo DeRolf which has grown a lot .
second pic is carnations with butterflies done with brushes.
third pic is a vase of flowers done with palette knife.

Enjoy the day
Jean.

Nev - I'd be very interested to see how the pups on your 'reprieved' brom turn out :)

You've commented before about pups sometimes improving on the mother... and if you nurture these ones the odds seem good that they will indeed be something nice.

Jean - something odd has happened with your pics... there are no thumbnails showing but it has 'Click an image for an enlarged view' at the bottom of your posts.

It is a warm day here - should be 27C or so, I gave the bils in the tree a misting with weak seasol - so weak the water was barely tinted but I plan on misting them fairly frequently so figure less is more in this case.

cheers -
Teresa

He everyone – It seems like the cooler weather is here finally as there has been a cool southerly breeze blowing since yesterday afternoon and it has certainly lowered the temperature. It will now be possible to work in the yard without melting away in the heat and high humidity.

Yesterday I finished off the cleaning up in the top shade house and started a bit of re-potting in the garage which I hope to finish today; then it’s into the front garden to tidy that up and replace a few plants that haven’t done as well as expected in that exposed location.

Jean – I’m afraid that as well as tidying everything up, all of my dead-leafing has also made the hundreds of new pups more obvious and although they look OK at present as I have bought a bit of time by cutting away all the dying mothers to make more growing room for them, ultimately they will have to be removed and re-potted with nowhere to put them. If only someone driving a big Mercedes would knock on the door and say they need a thousand plants for their garden…… dream on old fella.

I love your paintings; it must be great to have that extra skill, especially with winter coming on and the outside weather getting colder.

Looking at your pic of Red Chestnut and Megan reminded me of what I read and saw in an article on another forum. Apparently it isn’t unusual for Vr. Megan to often produce an unusual sport in its pups. I guess you’ll now be like me and watching like a hawk for any new unusual pups.

I don’t know what your NOID in Pic. 4 is, but I think it’s equally as good as, if not better than Beefsteak. I like the pale colours which aren’t as “in your face” as much as Beefsteak colours. It could even be a Beefsteak hybrid, as Beefsteak was bred from carolinae crossed with a chlorosticta hybrid and as you know, once you introduce a hybrid into the equation anything is possible.

Obviously the afternoon sun isn’t as hot down your way as it is here; if I had plants in all afternoon sun they would be showing a lot of heat damage after a couple of weeks. I’d still be keeping a close watch on them when summer comes around again just the same.

Your next picture of the albo-marginated Neo. Enchantment reminded me that when cleaning up around the garden I found an old Mother of the plain version of Enchantment which I had put there in retirement and she had produce the unexpected bonus of three lovely big pups; something else I have to now re-pot.

As I said above, I love your paintings, and while looking at the latest of the carnations and butterflies, I though wouldn’t it be great if you could in some way treat it with the beautiful carnation perfume. I remember once there were some “scratch and sniff” samples of different fragrances getting around for a while. Wouldn’t it be great if it were possible to treat the painting with a carnation fragrance so that each time you breathed on it (not scratched it) the fragrance would be released thereby adding another dimension to the art.

Teresa – I too am anxiously waiting to see how those pups turn out. I imagine I can improve the shape somewhat, but it’s getting the colour right that will be hard as it’s going to be difficult to replicate the amount of light it was getting when growing out in the front garden. I had another garden grown “cull” which produced unusual white tips on the leaves and I removed the pups and re-potted them all and put them in a well-lit part of the shade house in the hope of replicating the same unusual markings; that was a couple of generations ago and as yet no success. It’s all about duplicating the growing conditions and in particular the amount of light they were getting which isn’t as easy as it seems.

I’ll finish now with firstly a pic of the plant with the white leaf tips I mentioned above and Pic’c 2-5 are plants from the same grex as the dark one I photographed in the front garden that you both liked. These were all shade house grown plants and one in particular is showing more dark colouring than the others.

All the best, Nev.

Nev -I see what you mean about the white tips on plant 1.
it is very unusual & if it was consistent would make for an eye catching plant - and one that would be sought after I'm sure.

That grex produced some lovely seedlings, pic 2-5 are all nice.
interesting that they are alike in markings - well at a glance 2 & 4 look alike & 3 & 5 look like each other - apart from the colour.

I had a frustrating day, I couldn't get my power point presentation to do what the text book instructed... so I deleted it & am going to start over & try to follow the instructions to the letter...
I tend to know other ways to do things & jump ahead then find my way works differently to how the book way does.

I have plenty of time so may as well repeat the exercise & get it right.

cheers - Teresa

Hi Teresa - It looks like it's back to just you and I again.

What I find mainly interesting with hybridising is that you never know for sure what you will get, and even when you get it, different growing conditions can often alter it in many different ways.

My main reason for initially growing brom's from seed was economy based; I simply couldn't afford some of the prices being asked for plants I liked. It was a short step from just growing bromeliad seed to trying my hand at hybridising some of my own plants and obtaining my own seed rather than just using seed from other sources.

You say you had a frustrating day with your PPP; I have a frustrating day every time I try to do anything other than typing on my computer. I'm sure you'll conquer it in the end, remember what they say, "if at first you don't succeed; just try, try again."

Today I'll finish with a few more random pic's of Aechmea flowers.

All the best, Nev.

Pretty Aechmea flowers Nev...

wet day here but we managed to get Sugar to the dog park before the rain set in.
She is tired & happy & I am relaxing my brain so I'm ready to tackle PP on Monday :)

Hoping the rain lasts all day & night... at least on the plains where it is terribly dry.
We had an official drought declared but if we get enough rain before the ground cools down the farmers will have winter feed come away.

The prospect of going into winter without feed has seen some serious destocking in the worst hit areas.

cheers - Teresa

Hi all,

Nice day here today, starting to cool off a bit of a night though now.

Removed and potted some pups today. Also got a fair bit done around the gardens removing weeds. A lot of ground cover plants / vines growing too big, so had to be cut back or removed.

Pic 1 This one is looking a lot healthier now. It is labelled as maybe 'Red Raven', though I can't find anything about it any thoughts?
Pic 2 Neo. 'Burnsie's Spiral' is starting to get a bit of colour in it.
Pic 3 Putting off repotting this one, would need some welders gloves I think.
Pic 4 I don't know what is going on with this leaf.
Pic 5 Having to start hanging a lot more plants now.

Have a nice day tomorrow.

Brian

I don't know why the pics change from uploading to sending, strange.

Brian.

Hi Everyone!

What a glorious day if was out there today mostly spent in the garden after taking the girls to the beach this morning and catching up with friends there for coffee; then when we got back home after getting a wee bit of housework out the road, then the rest of the day was spent in the garden potting broms, racking leaves for the compost heap, watering broms and going for swims on numerous occasions and then when the sun had disappeared we cooked dinner together and ate outside in the garden with all the garden lights turned on throughout the garden; so what a perfect day it has been for us that has put a huge smile on our face because we feel totally relaxed.

Brian your broms are looking lovely, you will not be disappointed with Neo. ‘DeRolf’ (no longer Johannis in the front) it grows to a magical size about 1mtr and one that I will never tire of in the garden because it has so much going for it, size, wide leaves and beautiful variegation and colour and sometimes pups can come out variegated but with a lot of white which I find very appealing.

If I was you I would keep and treat your Vriesea in Pic 5 as it is easily treatable as Nev says. Scale is common with Vrieseas so just try to ensure they have plenty of air flow and that the mix drains freely and try not to over water as less is more; I sometimes do not really water my Vrieasea pots for a good couple of months (sometimes longer) but I do ensure there is always water in their centres so they can draw down what they need.

Nev thanks Joe and I are well and really trying to make the most of the weekends caring for our pouches, broms and orchids which are all doing very well; we have not had much of a monsoonal summer at all this year but have been very impressed with how well our collections have couped considering but we are very dedicated to our collections and do spend a fair bit of time at home on the weekends caring for everything as during the week it’s impossible.

Pleased to hear you are catching up on the backlog of work and now hopefully you can kick back for a bit and just take it all in and admire all your hard work before you plan your next project around the garden. What a great lot of random Neo. picture’s you posted so full of wonderful colour. Like everyone one else here I thought that Purple Neo. NOID to be very lovely as purple is my favourite colour but given what it has been through and how you have managed to revive it each time it will be very interesting indeed to see what the pups grow up like and would be great if you could share pics with us then which I am sure will be very impressive from what the mother has going for her even after all her hard times.

Teresa I used to luv growing Fuchsia’s in Victoria and had a large collection, they looked fantastic in the garden and some were that old they grew taller than me. I have tried growing them here when I found them sometimes for sale in Bunnings’ but it’s just too hot to grow them here so I have given up trying.

Jean I luv Magpies and so does Joe and he has one that visits him daily at work for a feed and a chin wag and it likes to jump on the back of his chair when he is not in it and often sings right in front of him.

Hopefully you experience hardly any frost where you are from what that person has told you sounds promising; mum will have to cover some of hers as she is in the valley where they get heaps of frost but she is preparing ahead and is already shifting broms around to other areas so less of a big job for her later.

I received a lovely parcel in the mail from my Mum on Thursday which were pictures she had taken of some of her favourite bromeliads and on the back of the photo’s she had written the name carefully of each brom as well as included some pictures of her garden beds and a couple of pics of her and the grandkids; I was thrilled to bits to have received such a beautiful parcel from her and rang Mum straight away to thank her and congratulate her on how wonderful her bromeliads and seedlings are doing and it warmed my heart that Mum is getting such joy out of growing them and she thanked me for getting her hooked on them which made us both laugh really hard. I was also able to identify a few NOIDs for her so she was tickled pink about that, others I could not identify because of lack of colour. Yes she has pups popping up everywhere and I laughed because she wrote on the back of the photos how many pups she had of each and she has quite a lot so has a bit of potting to do that she is excited about.

Your broms are looking fantastic and well organised and oh my you have been a busy little bee painting and trying out new techniques, good on you Jean I adore both paintings and would be proud to hang such beautiful pieces of artwork on my walls. Carnations are my favourite cut flower and the only flowers Joe ever buys me when he does buy me cut flowers and I especially luv the big beautiful smelly ones.

Time to head off, hope I have not missed anyone posting this time around but if I have I will catch-up next time.

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Gardening!

Pic 1 - Neo. 'Prince of Bagdad'
Pic 2 - Beach Babes :)
Pic 3 - Vriesea - forgotten name sorry?
Pic 4 - Neo. NOID - that I adore
Pic 5 - Neo. 'Cliff Siverd' - firm favourite of mine

Good morning.
Its a beautiful morning here. We had a little rain overnight and its so pleasant to be out enjoying the mild weather. I love Autumn because we do get so many of these type of mornings.
My broms are also enjoying a bit of cooler weather too.

Trish, like your mum, I will be moving a few plants around too. Its better to have them a bit sheltered even if they dont need much as one never knows what can happen with frost.
Its great to hear how she is loving her broms. Gardening of any type is so relaxing if you let it be.
I know some who fuss too much and the plants dont do any .
After all, there is noone to fuss over them in the wild...lol
Love the pic of the "beach babes'
Your pretty noid would be a favorite here too. So bright.


Brian, I had bill Red Raven and it was a lovely red. Sadly , not one that came with me. I have a dded a pic for you. It was always such a pretty red even from a pup.
Your savage fellow there is a dykia by the look of it.
I had a few , but was not bothered with them. I left them to their own devices in the ground at the back.
Probably still there under the weeds.
I love my neo Burnsies Spiral. It has always been such a lovely brom. I just went out to look as I have never seen any color on it.
I see hints of color coming now. It must have needed to mature a bit.
I'll have to watch it and get pics as it gets more color.

Teresa, nice to see you had some welcome rain too.
I bet Miss Sugar would have played out in the rain if allowed.
Once had a labrador who hated to get wet. would not even step in water. Silly girl, most labs love water.

Nev, we are still here, come talk to us. I miss your lovely long informative posts.
Hope all is well with you.

I hear the maggies calling. One comes up and peers in the screen door to see if I am here.
take care everyone. pics are old ones from 2 years ago.

pic 1 ..bill Red Raven... for Brian.

pic 2... bill Carioca

pic 3... bill Euphemie Waterman
Jean.

Hi Everyone!

Before I forget the Vriesea in Pic. 3 from yesterday is 'Graceful Charmer, still very young but showing beautiful colour and rosy tips.

I did not get anything done in the garden today as my body was telling me to have a bit of a rest and I have been listening of late and my shoulder is also better for it; so I spent the day indoors where it was nice and cool and watch TV, read a book and nodded off a couple of times which is not like me at all but I must have needed it.

Jean pleased to hear you got a little rain and that it was nice for you in the garden the next day and what a perfect time of year also for you broms to enjoy the fine weather.

I have always had a passion for gardening that I can thank Mum for, but back when I was a kid Mum worked too hard to really get to enjoy a lot of time in the garden so I enjoyed creating gardens for her whether it be veggie / herb patches and I liked growing flowers for her so when she got home from work she could do simple enjoyable tasks like water the garden and pick a couple of flowers to bring inside and put in a pretty vase, it really put a smile on her face and I got great joy out of seeing the stresses of life fade away after a hard days work and I never lost the passion for growing things and sure I never will. Mum was always reading garden books and collecting / sowing seeds when she could and our passion grew from there.

Many of my friends do not like gardening or have any hobbies as such and I find that hard to comprehend at times but they have kids and I am sure that keeps them very busy indeed.

Pleased to hear you liked the pretty pink Neo. NOID in Pic. 4, it's one I have had for ages that I have never been able to identify; it's the brightest pink that I have ever seen in a Neo. and the splotches of darker pink just add to it's beauty.

Luved your Bill. pics, do you have many in flower at the moment?

Anyway time to head as early start in the morning and hectic week ahead to get through but I will try to pop in during the week if I am not too tired.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

A couple of Joe's orchids, first one is my absolute favourite the Vanda he brought for me a couple of years ago because of how much I luv the colour purple.

Good Night!

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

wow - lots of lovely pics - those orchids are something special Trish...

Brian - I got fed up with DG changing the order of my pics so now I upload then & then write my comments..
or up load one at a time, takes longer but they usually stay in order.


just about to dash off to class, the sun is shining & the gardens look refreshed after all the rain.

I swear the back lawn has grown 4 inches over night!

cheers - Teresa

Hi Everyone!

Well back at work slugging it out, wish the cooler weather would get here soon as it’s really knocking us about this year.

The weather man is saying there is an 80% chance of it raining tomorrow and I hope it does. Also with those lows out there cyclones could be forming sometime this week so keeping a close eye on the weather at the moment we are.

Teresa pleased to hear you really liked the orchid pics I posted yesterday, Joe’s really got the knack for growing them well and gets great joy each time they flower. He got into them when I said I was more keen in growing broms than orchids and took over the small collection of orchids I had (back then 10 or 15 at the most) compared to now where he has about 300 orchids (not including all the seedlings).

It’s amazing what a good bit of rain does to the place, especially lawns; just wish we got a bit of solid rain this year as it’s the driest summer I can remember living where we are and the wetlands are bone dry.

Oh HA HA – Mrs Snake Catcher over here (that be me) had to catch (while in my work uniform) a 5 and a bit foot scrub Python this morning just as I was about to leave to go to work. Sorry Nev I did not get it on video as Joe had already left for work and I had to get the dogs away plus handle the snake on my own, but nothing like multi-tasking and I don’t mind a bit of a challenge. Anyway once I got our pouches away from the snake who were naturally barking and carrying on a bit, I attempt to get it out of the hedge located against our house but first I waited for it to climb the brick wall a bit and then grabbed it by the tail and pulled it out onto our garden path and ran our big garden brom up its body and gently pinned it’s head down till it calmed down a bit as naturally it was trying to defend itself; when it had settled down a bit it was happy to wrap itself around the brom head but I still had it by the tail, then I proceeded to walk it down the stairs into our back yard and shook it back down into the wetlands over the fence; at first it was reluctant and starting trying to make it’s way back down the brom handle towards my hand but I shock the brom hard enough for it to change it’s mind thank goodness otherwise I would have been back to square one. Anyway it took me about 8 minutes to get it out of the yard and I hope our pouches are safe when I get home although they would have no problems fighting it off because it was only a small one and they have each other’s backs whenever they see a snake and work great as a team; Lucy the Jack Russel has the Brains and Lexi the Dash-hound brings the Muscle but when I am around all I need to do is yell drop it and they do so very quickly and run away and keep their distance fearing they will get in big trouble by mum which is good; but if they were attacking something venomous I never interfere as it would be one sure way of us all getting bitten, especially if they are already in control of the situation and there is not time for me to keep them away from the snake. But if I do have the opportunity to call them away and inside then I lock them in for the day, call and warn the neighbours around us and leave the venomous snake alone giving it time to vacate our premises.

We are you Nev, hope your ok and not having computer problems?

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Phone pic of Bill. hallelujah.

Hi, I'm finally popping my head in here again. I hope everyone has been well. I brought a new brom (from Big W) and are wondering if anyone can tell me what kind it is??

thanks

Hello again.
Its a beautiful morning here . I am so enjoying these Autumn mornings.
I am being very good in keeping up with my walking.
I do 20 minutes each morning and can peep into all the gardens as I go. This is an old town which , as a lot of them around here was once a thriving place, but as people age or move away, businesses have closed and now its just another small sleepy town.
In Ye Olde England they would probably call it a village.
There are some lovely old homes and beautiful gardens. Roses seem to thrive, so lots of those.

I have been busy painting and am getting quite a few paintings done. Only thing is , finding a place for them until they dry.

Tania, your lovely brom is a vriesea as far as I can see, but which, is another question.
As Nev says, its so hard to ID broms from pictures as there are so many.
It looks lovely whatever its name.

Trish, those pythons must love you , but I bet that one was a bit hostile after being poked with the broom...lol
Down here , any snake we are likely to see will most likely be a venomous one.
Even at the house with all the grassland around and so many places to live in the large garden , we hardly ever saw any.

I hope Nev is well and not having any medical or computer problems.

I am off to water the pots at the back before the sun gets around that side. The plumbers were working on the unit next door , so I had to leave it until now.
Hope everyone else is well and enjoying their gardens.

No new pics, just more of the old ones

pic 1... bill Fantasia San Diego

pic 2...bill Hana Hou

bill 3 ...bill Mottles

Take care
Jean.

"Tania, your lovely brom is a vriesea as far as I can see, but which, is another question. "

Thanks Jean :) . It was a birthday treat to myself. It's got 5 pups on it too.

Hi Everyone!

Rains on its way and we are very excited about that so will be interesting to see how much we actually do get.

Hi Tania I have the exact same Vriesea in you picture at home that was given as a gift from a friend that got it from Bunnings' and it just said Bromeliad Vriesea on the tag but nothing else because these things are mass produced through tissue culture method and that's why they just get a generic name on the label; never the less the flower is very pretty and they are a prolific pupper, I leave the pups on and let them take over the mother and then cut the mother out and have mine in a nice wide squat pot so the pups have room to grow and spread.

Tania you should pop in on a more regular bases for a chat as it would be great to get some more regulars on here as it is pretty quiet at the moment; and every little bit helps to keep this wonderful forum going; I pop in as much as I can but some weeks are busier than others but when I can I like popping in and chatting with all my broms friends about broms and life in general.

Hi Jean great to hear you are keeping up your walking everyday, it's a great way to unwind and we have been missing it of late because of how busy we have been but we need to get back into going not just for us but for our girls as they luv us taking them for walks but when we don't go I make sure I play with them till I tucker them out with tennis balls and other toys they like to play fetch with.

I too like checking out peoples gardens when we walk or drive so I like am constantly rubber necking especially if I see something I really like as am always looking for inspiration.

Pleased to hear you are getting so many paintings done, when you run out of room on your walls for hanging them will you look at doing one's for gifts or to possibly sell? I used to sell my ink work drawings at the Hamilton Island Gallery, they were very popular and went all over the world. What about painting some of your favourite Bromeliads? Anyway if you ever think of selling any of your paintings please let me know as I would be keen to buy any rose or carnation paintings for mum and I, mums luvs roses and has them growing at the front of her house and I luv carnations but really only have the dwarf variety growing here but the ones I absolutely luv are those big growing one's that come in an awesome assortment of colours.

He he yes the Pythons do appear to luv me and my catching technique seems to improve each time although I try not to become complacent or cockie knowing that I am still dealing with a wild snake that could easily bite me and although not venomous could still harm me in some way never the less. It's fantastic exercise trying to catch them and some muscles hurt the next day no matter what size they are because the body must tense up to some extent which is your body trying to be careful I suppose.

What a great lot of Bill. pictures you posted, I especially like Pic 3 of Bill. 'Mottles', very pretty that one is with it light colour and splotches.

Anyway time to put the kettle on and dishes to be done.

No picture icon available because I took to long to type my post that I usually type in Word but instead typed directly here, so will send my post off and try after that.

I will have to send Nev an email to see if he is ok, worrying not to hear from him like we normally do daily more often than not, and Nev usually lets us know if he wont be posting for awhile.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pics as promised although relatively old pics taken last year:

Pic 1 - Neo. 'Darkest Hour'
Pic 2 - Neo. 'Frivolity'
Pic 3 - Neo. 'Morris Henry Hobbs'
Pic 4 - Neo. 'Red Furnace'
Pic 5 - Neo. 'Prince of Darkness'

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

hi all...
nice to see you back Tania - that is a lovely Vrisea you bought - good idea to give yourself a gift & this one will keep on giving :)

Trish - glad you treat the snakes with respect & care enough to relocate rather than kill them.
I know they are protected but that doesn't matter to some people.

Love the broms you posted, Neo. Frivolity is a little bit unusual with the fine silvery striping & the indents on the leaf tips. I can see why that touch of colour is referred to as finger nails, looks like a dab of very pretty nail polish...
hmmm - I just imagined going in to the manicurist with the plant & asking them to match the colour ;)

Neo Prince of Darkness reminds me of some of Nevs seedlings wonder if their 'pedigree' shares a few names.

Jean - nice Bils, like Trish I do like the look of Bil Mottles...
hard to believe plain old Bil nutans is in the same family as stunners like that.

take care all
cheers - Teresa

"Tania you should pop in on a more regular bases for a chat as it would be great to get some more regulars on here as it is pretty quiet at the moment; and every little bit helps to keep this wonderful forum going; I pop in as much as I can but some weeks are busier than others but when I can I like popping in and chatting with all my broms friends about broms and life in general."

Hopefully I will get to once my life settles down some, its always nice here. I'm currently in the process of taking a big government dept to court and have been representing myself so that is keeping me quite busy (I hate paperwork!!). I've had preliminary court hearings a month apart and had stuff for a while trying to sort out to do with it. I'm trying to learn how to do supenoeas and stuff.

While all this has been going on, my garden is almost dying (that's an exaggeration but I have lost several plants (rare plants) though things being overly hectic here so not being looked after as they should). I cant wait till things are over and I can focus on my garden a bit.

I forgot to say I planted my new brom and its looking good in its spot. I also cleaned up an another brom (last years birthday present I think it was) nearby where I put the other which was finished but had developed two pups (one has roots but one without).

Hi Everyone – Back again. I’m sorry to have vanished without any warning but on the 7th I had just finished typing my post for the day when we got news that we had to urgently attend a family crisis away from home; in my haste to cut and paste, I accidently deleted the whole post (Over two pages) before I had attached it to DG and lost the lot. I didn’t have time to re-type it and this is the first time I’ve had sufficient time at a computer to type a longish post. True I’ve posted a few short answers on the Bromeliad Forum, but as it was someone else’s computer, I didn’t want to appear to be taking over as he uses it for his business as well. Anyway, to cut a long story short, it’s all been sorted out and finished with a happy ending and everything’s back to normal again.

Today I’m going back to where I started before this all happened as there were a couple of questions which I should answer and I’ll start with Brian post of the 7th.

Brian - There are a couple of possible explanations for the colour change in the leave/s of your plant (I notice there are changes happening with the new leaf tip in the middle as well).

Firstly this could be the natural colour of your plant when it is mature and it’s just a bit slow and uneven in colouring up. This could be due to the unsettled weather we’ve been having over the last few months.

Secondly, and more sinister; it could be a sign of the commencement of rot. This often happens where the life cycle of the leaf seems to speed up just prior to its death. Firstly smell the centre of your plant and if it smells like a dead animal that’s been contained in a closed container and almost knocks your head off, it’s rot. You could also try a gentle but firm pull on the coloured leaf and if it’s rot it will slip out easily. I hope for your sake it’s the first thing I mentioned. Please let us know how it all turns out.

As for the order of the pictures changing from the order they were in when you loaded them, well that’s just a little quirk of DG’s which has been happening randomly since I joined this forum and no one seems to know why, but it doesn’t seem to happen very much on PCs and happens more regularly with mobile phones and the other up market technology used to take the pic’s. Another thing that sometimes happens is that they will show as on their side and not right way up.

Regarding your question on the Vriesea, I think Trish answered it as well as I could and I’ll just emphasise the importance of plenty of space around the plant to allow good air flow, remove any dead leaves from around the base and just spot treat the scale.

Trish – That purple NOID that you mentioned really isn’t a NOID but a “cull” from a batch of seedlings I did from a crossing of Neo concentrica x (‘Charm’ x ‘Cracker Jack’). I very much doubt if I can recapture that wonderful dark colour as it was growing in a full exposed position where it was and copped full sun for part of the day. Any pups will be grown beneath shade cloth to offer protection from the elements but even hanging up high near the roof won’t get the same light as it did in the garden. I expect the result will look more like the plant in Pic.5 which I posted on 5th March as both of these plants are from the same cross.

It’s really good to hear that your Mum is becoming very much involved in her bromeliad collection and enjoying it as much as we all enjoy ours. Does she have a computer? If so, can’t you coax her into joining us here on DG for a “Brom Chat” occasionally?

Great pictures you posted, I love the two girls who seem to be smiling after their “walkies” and romp on the beach.

All of the brom’s are nice also, but the NOID in picture four really has my vote; I don’t know what it is, but it has “class stamped all over it, it has reasonable shape and that most unusual colour combination. Would it be possible to please add my name to (no doubt) a very long list of people waiting for a spare “swap pup” as it’s one I just have to have? It’s a beautiful well grown plant and a credit to you.

Jean – It seems like you, my wife and myself all have similar tastes as we all love autumn with the lovely crisp mornings and nice mild sunny days. In my opinion, it’s the best time of the year.

I tend to agree with what you say about “fussing over plants”, and sometimes people overdo the TLC to the extent they continually interrupt the plant from settling in properly. Often the new plant just gets used to one set of conditions or plant food and then it all changes because someone told the owner about a supposedly better way to grow it. It’s far better to stick to the tried and tested rule; if it’s happy where it is, keep doing what you’re doing and only move it if it doesn’t seem to be doing well; but above all else, at least give it a chance to settle in.

Thanks for the “vote of confidence” in my long winded posts; I know I do tend to rave on a lot, but it’s just that I feel so at ease with all of you on this forum and want to share anything I think will help you to grow your plants better.

Your mention of the “Maggies” warbling, again reminds me of our common interests in the love of our native birds. We are currently feeding many and it’s interesting to observe the “pecking order”.

The Magpies will come onto the deck and start warbling as soon as they see movement in the house each morning. As soon as I produce the little bits of mince-meat they line up and I throw them each a bit in turn which they catch and eat. The whole time this is going on, there are two Willy Wagtails flitting in and out and I flick them tiny bits of mince which they expertly catch as they fly past.

After this it’s quiet for a while until 7.30am when the Rainbow Lorikeets start to gather for their 8.00am feed (We are currently feeding about 50-60). They get a mix of raw sugar dissolved in water and mixed with chopped up bits of fruit.

At the same time we are also feeding (in a different area) a mixture of about 20-30 Doves and Crested Pigeons; these get dry rolled oats which they seem to love. I was feeding them whole oats but this attracted the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos which were very destructive and chewed everything they could (including the architraves around the windows) so I stopped the whole oats and fortunately they don’t seem as attracted to rolled oats.

Once they are all feeding, a couple of Pee Wees (mudlarks) will quietly come right up to the porch looking for some mince as well, but they always wait until the Magpies have gone.

While I am feeding these the Kookaburras are lining up on the clothesline waiting for their turn. When the four of them are all there, I throw bits of mince onto the table on the back deck and they all come in together and after eating it, will sit there and catch the bits I throw to each one in turn. Considering that they are the largest of the birds we feed, they are surprisingly timid of other birds and don’t come in until the others are all eating or have all been fed. The whole time this is going on, the Willy Wagtail is constantly flitting in and out caching the tiny bits of mince I throw.

Around the side of the shade house and another area near the frog pond, I have small containers into which I pour a small amount of a sugar and water mix for the New Holland Honey Eaters and the Spotted Honey Eaters. I initially had just the one container, but the Spotted Honey Eater being the largest, would chase the New Holland Honey Eaters away and drink it all themselves.

I also put bits of fruit on a nail on the side fence and this is where the Bower Birds will come to feed once the other birds have all vacated the premises.

When they have all finished eating, the little Sparrows come in and pick up what’s left plus a small handful of crumbs which I throw them. These are one of my favourite little birds as in my opinion they the great survivors and no matter where you go they seem to be there.

Tania – Good to see you posting again and I hope we continue to see you more often.

Teresa – No I hadn’t forgotten you, it’s just that I had so much to catch up on and once again I got side tracked and started talking about birds instead of bromeliads. Not to worry, they are all part of Mother Nature’s Kingdom anyway, and we are fortunate to be able to be in such close contact with them, although I’ll leave the snakes to Trish as I don’t want then coming into my yard and eating my frogs and skinks.

If I’ve forgotten anyone, I’m sorry, but I really must go before my fingers fall off and I’ll just finish with pictures of three seedlings from a Marble Throat cross.

All the best, Nev.

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Hello all.
Nev, great to see you back and I'm glad your crisis turned out well for those concerned. It lovely to hear about how you feed all the birds. We dont have so many here where I am but there was a bit of variety at the house. I just hope the new owners are bird lovers too, as my maggies there will be looking for foody friends.
I only have 3 maggies here that come around to all the units cadging for food.
Its not the same as feeding those at the house because here they interact with many people and are not as quiet Although they will come right to the door and peer in to see if I am there.

My broms are growing a lot and appreciating the lovely mild weather. I have just finished fertilising plants and the broms got their share. The pups are growing so big , I am going to have to get some of them off . That means making more room where they are out of too much sun.
With the changing seasons, I will have to move a few more plants as some die off for winter and others start waking up.
I notice one of my nerines and one of the Vallotta lilies with flower buds.
Thats letting me know its definitely Autumn.

One brom that is going to have to move is my beautiful neo Exotica Velvet.
Its about 14" across now. The pups on bill Hallelujah are also growing very large.
I am pleased to see them keeping the color as I made sure the pot was in the sun most of the day.
I have 3 bills hanging where they get full sun until about 2pm when thye are then under the shadcloth as the sun moves. They are also looking great .
One is the variegated nutans , one Red Behemoth and he other is a noid very much like Hallelujah with a touch more pink.

I love those crosses from Marble Throat . Its a lovely brom and I must check under the bigger fellows as I am sure I brought mine over here.

Trish, hope you have not had any more wriggly visitors too close to the house.
One always has to watch when dogs are around.
I remember years ago when living in WA, coming home form shopping and finding a very large snake dead on the lawn. I had pups at the time and they had apparently attacked and bitten the snake to death It was a gwarder , one of the very beautiful but venomous snakes there.
Lucky pups at that time as I have lost pups and cats to various snakes over the years.

Teresa, how goes the work front ?
I agree that it seems that poor old bill nutans is a bit plain after some of the fancy dressers, but a large container of it in flower is still up there with the " pretty" ones.
I had a tree fern trunk halved and planted with it and it was spectacular once it had covered the trunk.
Pity it was so big it had to go in the sale.
Give Miss Mischief a pat for me.

Hello to anyone else. Time I moved and did my daily walk. I am late today as I was watering.

again just a few older pics as nothing much changes too quickly with my few broms here.

pic 1... bill Selby Seidel

pic 2... bill Strawberry

pic 3...vr Ginotti

pic 4...vr Royal Hawaiian

take care
Jean