Nev - Great to see you back :)
Glad your family crisis has resolved to a happy ending!
What an amazing array of birdlife you attract to your garden.
Did you know there was a bird watchers forum on DG, another free one like the Aussie gardening.
They have a thread for bad photos of birds... I have posted a couple of my blurry out of focus shots of Wax eyes in the plum tree.
I like those marble throat seedlings - although someone forgot to tell the plant in pic 3 that marble is usually white :)
Jean - Bil Strawberry is nice, I called off my experiment with my bil nutans attached to a Pepper tree - they were not looking too flash & I think they were too dry even with me misting them.
The location wasn't easy to reach so the misting wasn't frequent enough for them to get established.
I put them both into a pot & once they look a little healthier I will give them to my Mum.
On the job front - nothing yet.
Applying for a few every day & happy to wait for the right one to come up.
cheers - Teresa
OUR BROMELIADS INTO 2015..
I just reopened the tea room so if anyone wants to pop in for a cuppa...
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1388351/
cheers - Teresa
Hi everyone – Looks a bit like rain here this morning, overcast and quite warm outside, so I guess it’s back into the garage to work today. The Brom Society is having a trial “Sale Day” next Saturday as a way of promoting brom’s and getting people interested in them. As well as plant sales, we will have the usual things we have at our shows such as plant raffle, pot sales, Lucky Dip, Advice Table and hopefully this may also attract a few new members to our society. There is a lot of new development in the area now and as very few places are selling brom’s,hopefully we will get a good response.
Jean – The birds have become a big part of our lives here and it’s becoming a real little sanctuary, unfortunately there’s also a stray cat that’s starting to visit as well so I’ll have to see if I can get a trap to catch him and take him to the pound. He’s continually knocking over pots, but it’s the worry about him hunting the bird life that’s the real bother.
Your mention of some of your bulbs starting to show buds reminded me that the lily bulb you gave me a couple of years back (I forget the name now) grew to about eighteen inches the first year but no flower. Last year it grew much taller and had a nice bud on it until my daughter came over with her dog who decided he had to run right through that particular part of the garden and snap it off, so now the waiting game is on again.
Your mention of the pups on your Hallelujah getting very large, prompts me to suggest that you don’t remove them but let it grow into a clump instead. I think Bill’s are at their best when growing in a clump and although not all lend themselves to this sort of culture, Hallelujah is one that does, and in a clump it looks magnificent.
I hadn’t heard of a snake called a “gwarder” until you mentioned it and a search of the internet revealed that it is also known as the Western Brown Snake. While searching I also found these other statistics you may find interesting.
Since 1980 there have been 49 deaths (31 involving brown snakes) Australia-wide attributed to snakes (most recent Australian deaths – 60 yr male March 2013 Sth Bellingen, NSW - believed bitten by Stephens' Banded Snake, succumbing 7 days after bite; 26 yr male April 2013 Darwin, NT - bitten while handling "brown" snake prior to running; and 59 yr female November 2013 Raymond Terrace, NSW - believed bitten in garden. A timely reminder to say out of their way and don’t threaten them.
Teresa – Thanks for mentioning there is a bird watcher’s forum on DG, but I already visit two other Bromeliad Forums beside this one and I just don’t have the time to visit any more as I much prefer to be outside trying to keep up with my brom. jobs.
True most marble is usually white or sometimes pale shades of grey, but I think the term marbling when applied to brom’s is used more to describe the pattern on the foliage rather than the colour. The original marble throated type to be seen was Marble Throat which was bred from the seed parent Neo. chlorosticta 1978. From this, Marble Snow was produced in 1986 and since then there have been eleven others registered and many, many more which aren't. I like them personally and suggest they are worthy of addition to any collection because they are just that little bit different to the norm.
That’s it for today and a few random pic’s to finish with.
All the best, Nev.
Hi Everyone!
Fantastic to see so many great posts and wonderful to see you back Nev our beautiful friend and that all is well.
The weekends been a busy one with no gardening in sight till tomorrow as I have taken day as annual leave as felt I needed some time to relax & unwind.
Anyway I will try to pop in later otherwise most definitely tomorrow I will pop in for a good chat with you all and I want to take & upload some fresh brom pics too.
It's still very hot outside so will have to pic some nice spot to setup my potting table.
Looking forward to catching up with you all then.
Take care & happy gardening!
Trish
Hi everyone – Not much doing here yesterday except getting plants ready for the plant sales next Saturday. It’s at times like this that I pay the price for not using any insecticides as I’m spending many tedious hours cleaning cobwebs out of the leaf axils of the plants I’m taking to the sale.
I find the easiest way is to get a small paintbrush of the round type artist’s use, and for this job it’s about a centimetre in diameter. I just put it down into the leaf axil and start turning it in a clockwise direction (any direction would do). This winds the cobwebs onto the brush bristles and makes them easy to remove without damaging the plant or getting your hand tangled up in prickles.
Once they are all on the brush, it’s a simple matter to hold the web and the brush bristles firmly between two fingers and just wriggle and pull the brush away from them leaving you holding the wound up web between your fingers. It does a good job and saves a lot of pricks in your fingers from the leaves.
The plants then all have to be priced and the system we use is to put a price sticker on a leaf as well as a “paddle pop” stick in the pot with the price and the seller’s initials. The sticker is so the buyer can quickly and easily identify the price of the plants and not have to go pulling out labels looking for it elsewhere.
The “paddle pop” stick is for the use of the sellers; who take it out of the pot and put in a partitioned box with a grower’s name on each partition. As we sometimes have plants from up to a dozen different growers, this makes the seller’s job much easier when working out who sold what. It is the same system we have used at our shows for many years and it works well.
Trish – Taking a day off from your annual leave wouldn’t have been tolerated by fellow workers when I worked at the steelworks many years ago as it was common knowledge that’s what “sickies” were for; Ha! Ha! ........ You're just too honest……………… Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your very short holiday .
Time to go, and the pic’s today are my own hybrids all bred from the same seed parent which was an unusual variegated sport from Neo. 'Painted Lady'.
All the best, Nev.
Hello everyone.
I have just been for my walk and enjoyed it as the morning is cool and no breeze at all. Lovely to walk and admire the gardens as I go.
Trish, enjoy your day off and have a very relaxing rest.
Teresa, I hope you are also enjoying some mild Autumn weather over there.
Give sugar a pat for me and I know she is behaving like the pretty lady she is...lol
Nev, I have been using long twigs from the gum trees for years to clean out the spider webs. Unless they were really messy, I usually left them alone as the spiders clean up lots of pests.
I did have a few of those larger squishy black ones that would get into the base of the pots...ugh...
Your idea of using the brush is great as you want the plants looking good for sale.
I used a long stick to clear away all the webs that accumulated around the shed and house eaves too. Winding it around as you do. The web is easily removed as you say. Wonderful that it is considering how sticky it can be.
I hope your plant sales do well.
I like the variety in those pics you posted. The one in the first pic is my favorite because , as you know, I love stripeys.
I am going out to do a bit of potting this morning. I have half a bucket of bulbs that I brought over from the house when I moved. Mostly daffies and they need to go into pots as they have been sitting in the bucket for months now.
I also have quite a few tulips to plant as well.
Its easier to pot them all as I can then move them when flowering is done.
The broms are all going to be moved around to make room and I want to arrange them where they will have some winter shelter.
I am following your suggestion, Nev, with my bill Hallelujah as there are now about 6 large pups and they do look lovely.
I have added a couple of new pics .
My neo Gespacho has 5 large pups and they all show lovely color and no ill effects from the sun although poor old mum is looking very old and sad.
Looking at the broms, I am going to have to remove some big pups and a lot of dead leaves. That will be a job for the weekend..
Pic 1...bill Red Behemoth is turning a beautiful pink which the pic doesnt show very well
pic 2... the noid bill is also such a lovely pink. I thought it was maybe Hallelujah before, but its more pink.
pic 3... bill Hallelujah is a bit pale as he has been shaded for a week by the quick growing brugmansia leaves. He is now back in the sun, so will soon color up again.
pic 4...neo Gespacho with the pretty pups and poor old mum.
pic 5... yet another of my paintings. Once I start , I like to keep going until the painting is done.
Using palette knives is quicker than brushes too.
Time I went and started on that potting.
take care
Jean.
Hi Everyone!
I had a lovely day off today with a really early wakeup at 1.30am but I snuck in a nap before day break which was enough to keep me going the rest of the day that was spent in the garden as soon as daybreak broke I went and fed all my Vrieseas, Neo’s and all of the seedlings, then tackled some weeds that were annoying me, raked leaves for the compost bin and merrily potted broms the rest of the day, but still much more to be done around the place and wish I had another couple of days up my sleeve but not the case and back to work tomorrow.
The grasshopper are having a field day out there at the moment and I must have got rid of about at least 5 super large ones with the help of my little Jack Russell Lucy, they have been chomping on pretty much just about everything around the garden and I had to do a lot of leaf shaping for the plants that sustained the most damage.
Now to catch-up on all the posts I missed…
Hi Teresa I don’t mind snakes at all and I respect them for what they are, I was always fascinated by them as a child and had many encounters with them and just let them go on their merry way. The only reason I do go near the Pythons is because they are more than happy to stick around when there is food around and I worry that they are after our dogs as they like to hang around the back doggie door which is a bit of a worry. Today I found a few snake skins wrapped around my brom pots and had a bit of a giggle as they really do get around and sure some curl around and sit in my broms for a bit of a cool nap during the day; I always wear garden gloves and long sleeved shirt just in case I happen to pick-up a pot with one in it one day and knowing my luck it will be a venomous one, so better to be safe than sorry.
Yes I totally agree Neo. ‘Frivolity’ is a little bit unusual and that’s what attracted me to it.
Hi Tania great to see you posting again given how busy you currently are, I hope you find some time to spend in your garden as I know what it feels like to never find enough time to be in it as that’s one of my big problems but I do try to get out there as much as I can as it is a great stress reliever and sometimes I take a day’s leave like I did today just so I can be in it and keep my sanity given the hours I work and the little holiday time I do take off which is never for that long so I can afford to take a day off here and there to end up with a long weekend.
Great to hear you planted your brom near the other one as sounds like you planted it in the right spot if the other one is pupping well.
Hi Nev I could not bring myself to calling your Neo. Purple NOID a “cull” from your batch of seedlings but appreciate that’s what it was, I had tunnel vision as all I could see when I saw the pretty pic of it was a beautiful Neo. ‘Purple’ NOID looking up at me in the picture and I was really taken by is lovely colour as Purple like many other people here is my favourite colour. Look forward to seeing pics of the ones you have growing in the shade house when they grow and colour up,
Unfortunately Mum does not own a computer or want to own one but if she did I know that she would luv to join us here on this forum given the passion she has for growing broms. Whenever she visits me we log on together and read the posts and we look at all the pictures together; it has been a good couple of years since we last done that together and I am trying to get her up for another holiday but Mum’s not quite ready yet as she has all the projects going on in the garden at the moment and wants to get everything ready before the frost comes but I do get to see her in July for my Nieces wedding so that will be very nice as I miss her always.
Our Girls luv it when we take them to the beach, this weekend they were funny because the Market was on so they had many ladies come, sit and pat them for most of the time we were there and they even got hugs and kisses and some of the local store holders even gave them snacks because they thought they were so cute, they had it made and they do get these cheeky little grins in their faces when they are getting so much attention or know we are going to the beach.
Nev I think I already have your name down for the Neo. NOID that you liked in Pic 4 from the other day but will check my records and if not will pop your name down by all means.
He he yes I am way too honest and take annual leave if I want a long weekend and keep my sickies for sickies; what's wrong with me as I really don't feel like going in tomorrow but have to (sad face).
Nev your hybrids are stunning, you must be thrilled with the outcome as all of them are beautiful and I could not pic a favourite.
Good luck with the sales and wish I lived closer as I would be there for sure cueing up to buy broms from you as they always look so lovely and healthy.
Hi Jean for now no more wriggly critters have been visiting but I am finding snake skins around my pots so they are most definitely around. Those pups you spoke about sounded very lucky indeed not to be bitten, safety in numbers must have been a contributing factor for them all attacking the snake and surviving, what bread were they?
Jean your new painting looks amazing and takes me back down memory lane when I used to paint old farm houses and farm sheds; most of the inspiration came from when we used to go for drives and I would get Joe to stop the car so I could take a pic or do a quick sketch to later paint when I got back home. What was your inspiration for painting this and is it somewhere you know.
Brian hope your well, have not seen you post for awhile.
Anyway I must head off as early wake-up, apologies I have not loaded pics yet that I took today as left my run a bit late.
Look forward to catching up during the week.
Take Care & Happy Gardening!
Trish
Hi everyone – It’s quite old here this morning and the old fingers are aching quite a lot. As my old aunt used to say, “Arthur (Arthritis) isn’t well this morning”, however things will improve when the sun gets up.
I’ve just about got all the plants ready for the plant sales on Saturday and if I sell them I will have quite a bit more valuable bench space on which to put some good quality pups that need removing from their Mums.
Jean – I know just what you’re saying about your walk, and if I could say that the one thing I miss the most since I become partly immobile, it is my morning four km. walk from home to the entry gates of Bass Point and back again. It used to make me feel so refreshed and ready to start the day full of enthusiasm. It’s amazing the things you notice as you walk but never seem to notice them when driving; I guess you have more time to look when you don’t have to watch the road. Even though I walked the same route every day, there was always something different to see along the way, and it really made me appreciate just how lucky we are to live in such a wonderful area.
It doesn’t seem to matter how many different colours and patterns my hybrids turn out, everyone will have different favourites. You say you favour the plant in the first picture because you “ love the stripeys”, while I on the other hand favour the plant in Pic.4 as it has a bit of everything; mild variegation, nice soft colours, reasonable shape and a few spots and blotches thrown in for good measure. I was told by a judge it would never be any good for showing as the leaf pattern is “too busy” without a single feature clearly defined is how she described it………To each his/her own.
I’m pleased you aren’t going to fall into the same trap that many others do and remove all the pups from your Hallelujah. You will be so pleased you didn’t when it makes up into a nice clump and possibly the main feature plant in your collection. I’m posting a pic of one I grew once but unfortunately had to divide it a couple of years after the pic was taken as it just got too big and awkward to move around, however we had it in the house in front of the old fireplace and everyone who saw it commented on it favourably
Your mention of Neo. Gespachio reminds me there was one in amongst my sale plants which had four nice plants spaced evenly around the pot where the old mother plant had died away in the middle. It really looked nice and I put a bit of “old man’s whiskers” on top of the pot like a mulch dressing, and it really set it off. It looked so good in fact, for a moment I had second thoughts about selling it, but I have many plants of it so I guess it’s time to unload some otherwise I’ll just have more pups to remove and re-pot.
They’re a nice selection of Bill’s you’ve posted but my eye is attracted to your painting of the disused farm building in Pic.5. A while back I wrote how when we travelled through country Victoria and Tasmania I photographed every old farm house and shed we passed as I intended “one day” to use them as subjects for pen and ink drawings; I have a pic somewhere that looks exactly like your painting and was wondering if you painted it from a local picture or just from your own imagination. However it was done it appeals to me as that’s the sort of thing I like.
Trish- It certainly seems like you put in a very long day in the garden, and if that doesn’t help recharge your batteries, nothing will. Non-gardening people see this as work, but we gardeners know it as a “labour of love” don’t we?
Your mention of Neo ‘Frivolity’ prompted me to look it up on the BCR and I wasn’t surprised to see it’s an Allan Freeman hybrid. It was bred from a crossing of Neo. 'Fairy Plum' x 'Fairy Tale'. If the picture on the BCR is anything to go by it seems it will colour up much more in brighter light conditions.
Your “good luck” wish for our brom sales might be needed as I have a few doubts about how good our sale day will go as the idea was born from a suggestion I put forward a couple of years back, that we hold a trial “Winter Show”. It wasn’t met with much enthusiasm and nothing further done about it. We had different president at that time and he suggested the one day “Sale Day’ which again wasn’t met with much interest so was put on the back burner. Now that we have a new president someone asked at the last meeting if anything had been progressed about the sale and it was decided at that meeting to go ahead with it. Although I am interested and will certainly be keen to “pull my weight” and do my bit, I still have reservations about if the notice is too short and I feel the organising should have been started three months ago and it should have been advertised earlier and over a wider area. Anyway we’ll see on Saturday, I hope it all goes well but I’ll be pretty peeved if I have to bring a heap of plants home again.
Finally Hi to anyone who hasn’t posted for a while and we’d all like to hear from you again soon.
Time to go as we have a scheduled blackout here today from 0800 for necessary electrical maintenance work and I have to get a few things done requiring power yet (including breakfast). So I’ll just finish with a few pic’s of Bill’s for a change including my big Hallelujah for Jean.
All the best, Nev.
well it is a cold, wet, windy day here...
Cyclone Pam hit the East Coast of the North Island quite hard and down here we are getting the dregs of the rain & wind.
Nothing like the devastation in Vanuatu - the media reports have been coming in and to see widespread damage is shocking even for me being used to flattened buildings & rubble lined streets.
I showed Mum pics of Bil. nutans online & she will be happy to take my spare pups off my hands,
she has a shade cloth covered arbour & I think they will thrive there especially if we can hang them.
Nev - that selection of seedlings is lovely, I too like the first one for the lovely striping but am quite taken with the almost paint washed effect on plant 2.
Actually they all have their merits, plant 3 has an appealing green edge to the inner leaves that contrasts nicely with the pink of the rest.
Pic 4 - well I agree with you on that one.
Pic 5 - love the strong pink of the central leaves.
Good luck with the sales,
have you ever thought of selling your culls off cheaply at a sale - charging enough to cover the incidentals that go with the plant like the pot & growing medium?
you'd get rid of unwanted plants, make a little bit of money & maybe attract people to broms that might have been put off by the thought of paying good money for a plant they might kill.
Random thought popped into my head that you could label them "Practice Plants" ...
like training wheels for brom growing ;)
Jean - we seem to have similar views on wild life of the less popular kinds, I like spiders & snakes & would be happy to let them be as long as they weren't posing a threat to me or mine.
Trish - glad you managed to take your day off & get so much done in the garden.
You know you could justify taking a 'sickie' if you look at it as maintaining your mental health.
It makes it easier to do a tough job if you take time to destress when you need to.
Miserable day outside, glad I'm not booked into a class this morning...
have to go to dog training tonight but with a class of 5 I will take them inside the clubhouse.
cheers - Teresa
ps - Happy St. Patrick's Day
Hi everybody.
Bloody cold here this morning.
We had our little grandson over for the weekend and he has just started walking and running. I got no work done but had a great time with him.
Teresa, sounds like a huge cyclone that hit, Vanuatu really copped it.
Jean, another nice picture, its a real talent of yours. Do spiders cause any damage to the Bromeliads? as I just leave them as they are.
Trish, it sounds like the grasshoppers can do some real damage to the bromeliads in no time.
Nev, I am supposed to go to an 'end of season cricket trip' on Saturday, but I might give it a miss so my brain is still in working order for the next week. If I don't go I will drop down to your sales show for a look.
Hi to everybody else.
Some pics to finish
Pic 1 Not sure, small plant
Pic 2 Neomea 'strawberry'
Pic 3 Neomea 'shooting star'
Pic 4 Neo. 'Marble Snow' I separated 4 of these, fell apart.
Pic 5 Neo. 'galaxy' has a couple of pups on it.
Brian
Hi Everyone
Happy Saint Patricks Day!
Got home before it got dark today so snuck out into our garden to admire all my hard work yesterday and was pleased with what I had accomplished in a day.
Hi Nev like you and many of us here on this forum gardening is a labour of luv to me and I just can't get enough of it, I'm addicted and will never tire from all that it represents, being one with nature, getting your hands dirty and all that fresh air that makes you feel so wonderful, aside from it being great exercise, I worked muscles yesterday that I have not worked in ages, even my arse cheeks hurt Ha Ha Ha.
Thanks for the history on Neo. 'Frivolity', I think I prefer it grown in less light like I do same with Neo. 'Georges Prince', sometimes less is more and the plant can become more appealing and take on a totally different look that stops you in your tracks because its just that little bit different to how it's normally grown and becomes a great conversation piece amongst other collectors that can't guess what it is and adds another pallet of colour to ones garden.
I hope sales go well for you on the weekend and hopefully word gets around; what about emailing / phoning any regulars you have down as contacts, I do similar when I do the market and people known to come out of the woodwork and those who can't make it that day come before to not miss out altogether; anyway something to think about if you have not already?
I have about 100 plants ready to sell for the next market but am just waiting for them to colour up a tad bit more first as they sell better naturally.
What a lovely group of Bill. pictures you posted; what a showpiece Bill. Hallalujah is grown that way, I am always amazed what little growing room they need and adore whenever mine flower. What is your most favorite Bill. in your collection? I don't have many Bills' in my collection but plan to expand my collection as I think they are wonderful looking plants and look great placed in amongst other broms of different genera.
Hi Teresa sounds like you are getting a lot of rain and wind; the weather man is predicting some coming our way this Thursday and Friday with Nathan heading back to the coast.
Sickies I tend to keep for really bad days like when I get migraines as sometimes they leave me without vision for days. But if I want a long weekend here and there I just book a days leave and this works well for me as does not chew up too much leave time.
Does your Mum like to grow any other broms or plants, sounds like you both like gardening and that's a lovely interest to share together.
Hi Brian great to hear from you and lovely to hear how much fun you had with your grandson who is now walking, such a special time for you all.
Yes grasshoppers are not something you can treat like usual pests, the only thing you can do is catch them when they are less active which is dawn and dusk time and get rid of the worst offenders and do this on a regular basis to keep numbers down, it also helps to keep lawns cut as this gets rid of a few also as the lawn mower sucks a few up along the way.
Lovely Neo. pics' you posted, isn't Neo. 'Galaxy' a pretty one with all the beautiful colours it gets, a lot going on that really makes you want to pick it up and take a closer look at it and admire it's beauty.
I will post my thread and then jump back on and see if I can identify your NOID as don't want to lose what I have typed on my Tablet, which means again sorry to everyone no pics tonight as nothing uploaded yet from the weekend and I have no pics saved on this thing.
Nev have you heard from Colleen, miss hearing from her so if you are looking in Colleen a big hello and hope you and the grandkids are all well.
Anyway at least I still get to chat with you all.
Take Care & Happy Gardening!
Trish
Brian the Neo. NOID in your Pic 1 looks like Neo. 'Domino' (mini) if I am not mistaken, this week I will upload a pic of mine for you to compare with yours. Normally the plant is of a small compact shape but sometimes they throw long strapy pups but worth keeping never the less because they usually revert back next lot of pups they produce.
I found my Neo. 'Strawberry' (Red Form) mini in the garden yesterday that is just starting to colour up, I don't think I have seen it colour up yet as it was sheltering under some big broms I had growing in full sun so I have moved it under 70% shade cloth to see how it goes.
Cheers
Trish
Thanks Trish,
Neo. 'Domino' looks like a match.
Yeh the Neo. 'Galaxy' and the Marble Snow are favourites
I have hung a few plants up under the shadecloth and they are starting to colour up a bit now as well.
Brian
Hi everyone – Not much time today as we are having a “Problem Solving Workshop” today for interested members of the Brom Society. It’s at the Light Rail Museum park which is a good venue for these things as it’s a safe venue and members can bring kids, grandkids and dogs if they like as it’s fully fenced. As it’s a non-working day at the museum we will have the park to ourselves so it should be good in a safe outdoor environment with large covered shelters if the weather turns bad.
Teresa – There were some nice unexpected colours came from that particular Neo. ’Painted Lady’ (Sport) parent. I never expected shades of peach and orange tones but was pleased to see them nevertheless as they are a bit different to the norm.
I like your idea of selling culls as “Practice Plants” and will certainly give it some thought, perhaps I will try it at our Spring Show plants sales.
Brian – I’ll look forward to seeing you at the plant sale if you can make it. As I said it’s a “first” for us and the organising has been a bit rushed so it’s unknown how it will go but I guess if we don’t try we’ll never know. I personally don’t know much about the venue so I’ve emailed you the “information blurb” that was sent out to all members.
You say the plant in your first picture is a small plant; by this do you mean it’s a mini ? (Less than 8” in diameter). If so it could be Neo. ‘Domino’ which is a stoloniferous Neo. which is said to grow well in bright conditions. The plant in Pic.3 of the following link is a good likeness. See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=NEOREGELIA&id=3978#3978 another example is the plant in my Pic.1.
xNeomea ‘Strawberry’ is a very popular bi-generic plant that’s been around for quite a while and will reward with great colour if grown in a well-lit position.
I’m not familiar with xNeomea ‘Shooting Star’ but on looking it up I find that it’s a crossing between Neoregelia johannis and Aechmea recurvata v. benrathii. The robustness of Neo. johannis combined with Ae. recurvata v. benrathii which I’ve often said (in my opinion) is “bullet proof” should have resulted in a very tough plant which I would be interested to hear more about.
I don’t think the plant in your Pic.4 is Neo. ‘Marble Snow’; it’s a nicely coloured plant but a true Marble Snow just doesn’t have that amount of colour See my Pic.2 for comparison. Marble Snow has been used a lot in hybridising over the last few years and there’s a good chance what you have is one of the hybrids from it.
Your final picture (“Galaxy’) is an example of one of the better ‘Marble Throat’ hybrids and was made using Neo. 'Marble Throat' crossed with Neo. 'Takemura Princeps'
Trish – I totally agree with what you say about the colour changeability of plants grown in different degrees of light and just to emphasise the point I’m posting a picture of Bill. Hallelujah grown in low light (Pic.3), it still appeals to me in a sort of a fashion but not to many others. Perhaps if I hadn’t first said it was Hallelujah, people’s response would have been different. In fact I posted it yesterday but didn’t identify it so obviously no one picked it up.
I have quite a collection of Bill’s now, but as for a favourite it’s hard to say, but I think it would be Bill. ‘Stephen Stone’ as I have a soft spot for this one probably due to family connections of its history (Pic 4). As far as the Bill. flowers go, I still favour the flowers of Bill. pyramidalis, I know they are short lived, but I think they are magnificent.
Yes I did, get a short note from Colleen, her and the boys are all well but she’s been very busy with family matters and selling plants. She said she would pop in as soon as she got a bit of spare time.
Time to go again, the pictures I’ve attached are as mentioned above.1. Neo. Domino, 2 Neo Marble Snow, 3 Hallelujah (Shade grown), 4 Bill. Stephen Stone and 5 pyramidalis flowers
All the best, Nev
.
Bil Hallelujah looks to be a very useful plant, it is attractive no matter what light it gets.
I do like unfussy plants :)
Bill. Stephen Stone is a stunner, I remember you sharing pics and the explanation of the name & history. Anyone would consider it a desirable plant but the personal connection you have would make it all that more special.
I think I take after my Mum in being a gardener, she always encouraged me to help - and I was always delighted to spend time watering the gardens for her and was thrilled when she dug a small patch for me to tend.
I had a very large daisy of some description & Mum gave me packets of Alyssum & Sweet William seeds.
Good choice for a junior gardener, they germinated well & of course kept re-seeding each year.
Mum hasn't had anything to do with Broms - but she was impressed when I showed her some of the pics here.
Mum's speciality has always been growing roses from cuttings.
Almost anything that can grow from cuttings will normally thrive for Mum.
cheers - Teresa
Hi Everyone!
Blowing its ring off here today off and on, can’t make up its mind but understandable with Cyclone ‘Nathan’ approaching the coast; too high up for us to get any rain weather man told us tonight but I am worried about my Niece and Great-Niece who live in Cairns so will have to give them a call and see what their plans are.
Hi Brian great to have been of help with Neo. ‘Domino’, it’s such a fantastic mini to have in one’s collection and I can’t get enough of it and have been reluctant to give any away because I want mine to clump up a bit before I cut any off. I have a pic of my ‘Domino’ on one of my hard drives so will look for it on the weekend and upload a pic for you for comparison but Nev has kindly provided a pic which is great to help with identifying.
Great to hear hanging some of your plants under the shade cloth is improving their colour, it’s always interesting to see what is achieved when moving them around but once you find the perfect spot for them it’s remembering not to move them; lucky for me I seem to remember the spots some of mine really like but remembering all their names is always a tad bit harder for me to remember.
Hi Nev I hope your “Problem Solving Workshop” went well and was a productive day for those that participated.
Nev that’s a fantastic example of how different a plant can look grown in different light and to me both are very appealing plants, I have my Bill. Hallelujah growing in different light conditions and the colours are different but not as different as the one’s in your Pic 3, what a truly amazing difference; I will have to try to get mine to even go lighter as would look fantastic around the garden. Bill. ‘Stephen Stone’ is gorgeous, any chance of you putting my name down for a pup whenever you get a spare please pretty please?
Thanks, great to hear Colleen and the Boys are well and look forward to seeing her post again when life returns back to normal again for her and I hope she does well selling some of her plants.
Hi Teresa great to hear you take after your mum when it comes to your luv for gardening, it’s always such a nice hobby to be able to share together and always nice to be able to bounce ideas off each other or share cuttings together. I am sure it won’t be long before you have your mum hooked on broms and great that she likes the pics we post on this forum. Have you looked into getting more Tills?
Anyway time to put the kettle on.
Pic 1 – Sedge Frog that live all over our garden, I adore them to bits and managed to get a good close up of one to share with everyone.
Pic 2 – Vrieasea but its name has slipped my mind sorry.
Pic 3 – Neo. ‘Prince of Bagdad’, just took 3 x beautiful pups off this one.
Pic 4 – Bill. ‘Hallelujah’ in flower.
Pic 5 – New seat under our Avocado Tree – work in progress how to position the bricks as lots of tree roots in the ground naturally; I might just mulch inner circle and put mini broms in pots to fill the gaps for now?
Take Care & Happy Gardening!
Trish
Yeh Nev, the Neo is about 4" diameter.
The Marble Snow was white originally (as in pic below) and has only just changed colour recently. Been in the same shaded position all the time though.
Teresa, I was given a N.Z. Christmas bush today, I am hoping it is a bush and doesn't grow to the size of the larger tree.
Brian
Sorry Trish,
I got sidetracked for about 2 hrs and forgot to press the send button, missing your post.
I can see the Domino looks better as a clump, I will leave them as is
Brian
Hello everyone. Not much news here at the moment. There is only so much one can do with just a few broms.
I was thinking I might just try and find a few of the ones that wont grow into giants, then maybe sell off the couple of lager ones I have. I love them, but can see them getting out of hand as they keep getting bigger. I need to look at how I will be able to handle the plants as time goes by.
If anyone can suggest a few pretty ones that like some sun and a lot of cold, I would be grateful.
I dont want to have large unwieldy plants that are too much for me to take care of properly.
Nothing worse than poor untidy plants.
I love the stripeys and those with lots of lovely dark spots.
If anyone has some spares of some neos that will not grow wider than about 9" , I would be happy to buy them. Better to get plants from those I know than eBay etc.
I like the neos because they sit nicely in pots and you can look down into them and see the color and flowers.
I dont have much hanging space for anyway.
from the look of how my broms are growing, it looks like all my favorites are going to go. I was a fan of the larger ones because I had the room and help of my Robert , but now those lovely large ones are going to give way to smaller ones. I look on the bright side, I can fit a few more in if they are smaller...lol
Its quite warm here even though overcast. We had a few nice showers early yesterday but the day was warm.
I have been out for my walk and looking at the gardens, we do need rain . It will come and we will be complaining about it. Typical humans.....
Teresa, if you Mum loves gardening she will fall in love with broms. I can see a few coming once she sees so many lovelies.
After all, some of the most beautiful are coming from NZ.
Nev, hope the day goes well for you with the sales at the weekend.
How did your problem solving day go ?
It would be an interesting thing for many growers as problems can come up that one doesnt see often, so help is always appreciated.
Brian, your broms are looking great. You will soon have them taking over more & more of your yard. It is certainly a pleasant addiction.
Better get myself moving as I have to do some shopping .
Hello to any I missed and take care , especially any in the cyclone areas.
A couple of old vriesea pics
pic 1.. vr Evita
pic 2...vr Barbara
pic 3... vr Orange Sundae
Jean.
Hi everyone – When I first opened this forum this morning I was horrified to see that my post from yesterday wasn’t here. I had typed it on MS Word as I usually do, then cut and pasted it, previewed it, made a few alterations and sent it. The only thing I did differently was that I didn’t check (like I usually do) to see that it had gone through, and “Murphy’s Law” being what it is, it hadn’t. Fortunately I still had most of it saved on MS Word and hadn’t deleted it like I usually do after I’ve sent it, so I’ll start today’s post with what I wrote yesterday if that makes sense and below is where I started yesterday:
We had a great day yesterday at our workshop, the weather was fine and it was most enjoyable down in the park at the Rail Museum with the Crimson and Eastern Rosellas watching on from among the trees.
There were also a couple of Australian Noisy Minor birds (Not to be confused with the Indian Minor Bird which has become such a nuisance) hopping around the tables at lunch time getting bits of food from the members and for some of these people who live in Wollongong, this was quite novelty as they don’t usually see these birds in the city.
When I previously asked at our last meeting for a show of hands to see who was going, the count was nine; however, word must have spread as there were nineteen present at the actual workshop.
It was a “Do it Yourself Workshop” and was quite interesting, as members were asked to bring along a problem plant/s which needed some attention which we collectively discussed and then the suggested remedy was performed by the owners of the plants under the direction of a couple of more experienced growers.
We started out with one member who grows beautiful Cryptanthus brought along a box of pups and showed everyone how he treats them. He emphasised the importance of them being firm in the pots while initially growing roots, and to achieve this he just pushes the base into the potting mix (Which is a commercial African Violet Potting Mix available at Bunnings) and secured the pup with a thin rubber band which went over the top of the pup and under the bottom of the small pot. It was surprising just how firmly it held the little pup. He said he leaves these in place and by the time they have perished and fallen away the pups are usually well rooted.
He also demonstrated how he removes the small grass pups from young Alcantarea plants. Without taking them out of the pot he just gets a finger down into the mix and in between the grass pup and the plant and gently prises them apart. At this stage the grass pups are quite small at just a couple of inches high and most were devoid of roots. He said this didn’t matter as they soon grew some new ones once planted. These were potted in the same African Violet mix as used with the Cryptanthus.
I took along a box of small pots and Neo seedlings (3” high) of various crosses for sharing with members, and they were able to practice how to handle these plants which were smaller than they are used to growing, it will be interesting to see what comes out of these crosses as they were otherwise destined for the bin as I already had what I needed. (I suppose they could be called “practice plants” as Teresa suggested on Tuesday. There was one particular cross which I think will prove interesting and that was Neo. Rosea Striata x Rosy Morn and as everyone got at least one, we should see a good cross section of the results. We finished up with a Question & Answer segment, and good day was had by all.
Teresa – Your Mum sounds like she doesn’t have a “green thumb”, he has a “green hand” instead. I envy people with the ability to continually strike cuttings with no apparent special treatment; there is an elderly lady in our area who has the same skill, whatever cutting it is, she just pokes it in the garden, gives it a drop of water and forgets about it and the next time I’m there she has an established plant growing nicely. As for me, well I think I have a “black thumb”, because every cutting I try to grow just turns brown and dies.
Trish – I hope you don’t suffer too much wind damage from the edge of “Nathan”, the main things is that you, Joe and the girls are safe; the mess can always be cleaned up afterwards.
As for the “Problem Solving Workshop”, it went well, see above.
I can certainly put you down for a pup of Stephen Stone; however, the bad news is there are over twenty already on the list. I divided it into three plants to try and hurry up pup production and even planted an old Mother that was destined for the bin, and now three months later find it has three small pups peeping out from the base. It has always seemed to be a reasonable grower but I wasn’t sure just how good as this is the first time it’s been divided, so you may get a pup sooner than I first thought.
I love you Sedge Frog, how I’d love to have some of them in my garden. I only have the small brown frogs that are seldom seen and just make a “glump” sound of a night; pretty uninteresting, but a sign of a healthy environment all the same and still some of Mother Nature’s Children that have to be protected.
I like your new seat under your Avocado Tree; I can just imagine it with a nice collection of mini Neo’s filling up the space inside the concrete blocks. Also the bark on the tree looks like it would be a great base for mounting brom’s on, have you tried any yet?
I think your Vriesea is a “special one” of Jack Koning’s and is called Vr.‘Yellow Moon’. It originally came as a sport from his very popular ‘Milky Way’ hybrid.
See: http://registry.bsi.org/index.php?fields=Breeder&id=10118&search=koning
Brian – I have several plants of Marble Snow and have never seen any of them colour up like yours, not even as old declining mother plants. It is possible there are other clones of this plant and yours in one of them or even a hybrid bred from Marble Snow and wrongly named. Do you know where you got it from or anything else about it?
I don’t want to jinx you, but a change in leaf colour like that can also be an indication of rot; but in most of these cases it’s the middle leaves that change first. I’ll certainly be interested to hear what happens as the story continues and in particular what colour any new pups are.
Jean – I’m starting to think along the same lines as you regarding the size of brom’s; it’s not so much because of space but the fact that as I get older they are harder to manage. My idea is to limit my Neo’s to mini’s and midi’s (Plants with a diameter of under about 30cm). By doing this I could fit a lot more in and they would be much easier for these old bones to move around.
I’ll put on my thinking cap and try and come up with a list of suitable plants for you. You say you “love the stripeys and those with lots of lovely dark spots” and there’s quite a few mini’s I can think of that fit this description.
As I said above, the workshop was a great success and the impromptu Question and Answer session ;proved to be very popular, and I think people are more comfortable asking questions within a small group than at a general meeting where there is a hall full of peple.
I just hope the plant sales on Saturday go as well, as one of the growers has informed us that he can’t make it due to family commitments, so I guess it’s up to the rest of us to try just that little bit harder, as like most things, you only get out of it what you put into it.
You’ve posted three of my favourite “green leafed” Vrieseas, and these will be ones I’ll always keep as they always look good and are reliable growers and productive puppers. The Vr. ‘Evita’ and Vr. ‘Orange Sundae’ are particularly interesting as they have the ability to change their leaf colour from green to a nice light mauve/burgundy colour when grown in high light.
That’s it for now and I’ll finish with a few old file pictures starting with Pic.1 Neo.’Ivan’ (Unreg.), Pic.2 Edmundoa Lindenii rosea, Pic.3 Neo ‘Sarmentosa’ x ‘Cracker Jack’, Pic.4 Neo.’Thunderbird x Self’ and Pic.5 is Neo.’Thunderbird’ x ‘George’s Prince’.
All the best, Nev.
Brian - it depends on which variety of 'NZ Christmas Bush' you have been given...
"There are about 50 or more species of the New Zealand Christmas Bush (Metrosideros), all from the South Pacific.
Related to the Australian eucalypts, these hardy shrubs or trees have leathery, green leaves, sometimes tinged with grey. During the warmer months they are smothered in flowers made up of long, brilliant red stamens.
Crimson Glory is a variety of New Zealand Christmas Bush that is excellent for exposed coastal positions. It grows 3 metres high and 2 metres wide, making it an ideal specimen planting, hedge or windbreak."
(http://www.thinklocal.com.au/articles/plants/garden-gardening-shrubs-trees-flowers-red-timber-hardy-crimson-glory/)
I've seen bottle brush referred to as NZ Xmas Tree in Aussie - much to my confusion at the time.
I've told my Mum about the variegated Bil. nutans & showed her photos online, now I have an extra pair of eyes on the look out - Mum has quite a few gardening friends so perhaps someone she knows will have a piece to spare.
It's not warmed up here - and more rain on & off... I know we needed it but I'd really like a bit more sun now.
I swear my brain is solar powered, I certainly do better in sunny weather.
cheers - Teresa
Hi everyone - It's quite cool here this morning at 5.00am. there's been cold south westerly wind blowing since yesterday afternoon and one could be forgiven for thinking the month was August and not March as we always previously got these winds at that time.
As it looks just like Teresa and me again, and as I know absolutely nothing about N.Z. Christmas Bush and the link above wouldn't open anything for me, I'll just post a few pic's as I still have a bit of last minute stuff to finish before the setting up of our sale for 8.30am.
All the best, Nev.
hope the sale went well Nev.
Cracking day here, sun is shining & I have been dead heading roses & pottering about.
Wearing shorts & t'shirt - may be the last time for a while...
cheers - Teresa
Hi all,
Been showers here for the last couple of days and looks like much of the same today.
Dropped in to the plant sale Nev's society were having yesterday, bought a couple of nice plants some are pictured below.
There is a local grower having an open day today as well, might go and have a look at how they are grown. Could be an expensive weekend
Teresa, thanks for the info on the Christmas bush. It is a Metrosideros thomasii.
Hi to everybody else.
Pic 1 Bill. 'Party Pink'
Pic 2 Vr. 'Gutatta'
Pic 3 Ae. Nudicaulis 'Costa Rica'
Pic 4 Ae. 'La Tigra' (?)
Pic 5 Neo. 'Blake Street Beauty'
Brian
Hello everyone. Another beautiful Autumn morning.
I have just been for my walk and enjoyed the quiet of a Sunday morning. No traffic around as yet. The main highway goes through town and can be very busy with lots of trucks. Its the main way to SA from Hamilton, so lots of large semis.
Its not loud up here on the hill but there is quite a bit of traffic on the road at the end of my street. It is a main road between towns, so can get busy at times .
Being in a plantation area, there are always plenty of timber semis back & forth.
My plants are all loving this fine cool weather and are growing like mad.
I have had to move some of the broms and brugmansias around as the brugs with their large leaves can completely shade the broms.
Not a lot going on , but I do enjoy my little piece of garden. The roses are all getting ready for an Autumn flush after being toasted in summer.
My cyclamens are waking up after a long sleep so will add color as they flower.
Brian, nice lot of new broms you have . I have aech La Tigra here. It was one I really liked so it came with me. A very tough brom which isnt bothered by sun. Mine hangs where it gets full afternoon sun for a few hours. The neo Blake Street Beauty is also one I like . I love the stripeys.
Nev, your day must have gone well with the sales. I hope lots were sold so you now have room for more...lol
Thank you for offering to make a list of small broms I may like.
I now have to sell or swap the large ones that need new homes.
Time I had a cuppa and a bit of breakfast.
See you all later.
Just a few pics today as I must get some new pics of my tills and vrieseas.
pic 1... aech La Tigra when it flowered last month. You can see the large pup which has been growing on mum since last Spring. A slow grower but very pretty.
pic 2...aech Aztec Gold and the mini recurvata. Both like being in the sun .
pic 3...neo Satsuma. It has 2 nice pups and also sits in the sun.
Jean.
That Ae. La Tigra is lovely. Nice to see examples from two different people too.
I also like the striped broms - and purple colouring so all of Brian's new purchases appealed to me.
I like the angle Neo Blake Street Beauty was photographed from, it is a bit different & shows off the striping.
Visitors just arrived so I'm off...
cheers - Teresa
Hi everyone – Wow what a busy past few days, firstly the brom sale on the Saturday and by the time it was finished I had had enough, everything was aching from standing around and sitting on those horrible moulded plastic chairs that my back doctor says should all be banned, then loading up all the plants that weren’t sold to bring home again.
By the time I got home and unloaded my lot all I wanted to do was sit in my lounge chair with a cup of coffee and put my feet up, I was buggered. I hadn’t done anything really physical as my job was just to answer questions that “newbies” asked but I was knocked up all the same; must be getting old; Ha! Ha!
The sale went well and it was good to see Brian and be able to have a bit of a chat.
I sold a little over half the plants I took up (about $600) worth so it was a worthwhile exercise and certainly worth having again next year I think, but next time with better advertising and more in advance. I spent Sunday and yesterday putting plants back on benches and generally tidying up the garage which looked like bomb had hit it after a week of plant preparation there. Today I intend to just check over my collection and sort out what needs to be re-potted next and get my work programme back on track.
Teresa – I thought it would be too cold for shorts and tee shirts in N.Z at this time of the year, but then you're younger and tougher than me and can handle the cooler weather better.
La Tigra is another from the Ae. nudicaulis family and is similar in size to Aechme nudicaulis var. aequalis and Aechmea nudicaulis 'Costa Rica' all of which like to grow in strong light to bring out the lovely banding on the foliage.
Neo. ‘Blake Street Beauty’ is one of the “radial reds” as they are called. It originally came from Queensland and was registered in around 2003 and is a red-striated sport produced by Neo. ‘Manoa Beauty’. It is one of those plants which is just as nice viewed from below as above and I’m posting an overhead view (Pic.1)
Brian - I see you got a nice selection of plants all of which will benefit from growing under good light except the Vr. Gutatta which I find likes it a little on the shadier side. It is a Vriesea species which comes from Brazil and mine grows under 50% green shade cloth but on the southern side (the shady side) of the house.
It’s a plant which will pup quickly and make up into a nice specimen in no time and I think from memory it’s just about due to be re-potted (have a look at the back of the name tag that should tell you the story). That was originally a pup from the plant which the Spotted Honey Eaters decided to build a nest in a few years back. The hen laid just two eggs (which seems the norm) and raised two young. Since then they have become regular visitors and are quite tame, nesting in the same shade house and raising a family each year. They even fly into the garage and sit on the shelves whistling occasionally as they watch while I re-pot plants. (See Pic’s 2-5)
Just a word of warning about Vr. gutatta though, the grasshoppers love to eat the flower spikes, so when they appear, keep a good watch out for these nuisances or take the plant inside where it’s safe.
They were all good selections you bought and I’m surprised to see the little flower spike on Bill. ‘Party Pink’ survived OK. When I was packing those plants I was wondering if the little flower spike would survive as these plants were being transported by other people and were handled many times by different people before they actually got onto the sales table. Apparently although it looks quite fragile, the little inflorescence is more resilient than it looks. Having said all of that though, that plant is grown for its foliage colour and not the flowers which like all Bill’s, are short lived anyway.
Jean – You say you are living near a plantation area; I imagine it’s a timber plantation and was wondering whether it’s Pine or Hardwood. Whatever it is, just watch out for those semi-trailers when you’re on the road as a lot of them tend to think they are “King of the Road”and give way to no one.
Yes Jean, the sale day did go reasonably well and the upside has to be the extra bench space I’ve created. While having a quick look around yesterday I noticed a dozen or more good quality plants all needing to have pups removed, and now I can do them as I have somewhere to put them.
I haven’t forgotten about your list, and as it’s now just starting to rain again it looks like today may be a good day to do it for you.
Although I’m familiar with it, Ae. ‘La Tigra’ is a plant I don’t have but from what I’ve seen, it’s similar to the others of that size and loves bright light and being grown “tough” to maximize foliage colour.
Neo ‘Satsuma’ is a nice smallish brom. which looks good when grown in a basket. I got a pup from Sue a few years back and it’s growing very well and pups quickly. It’s the colour that fascinates me as it seems to change with the different light intensities and seems to range from a mid-mauve to a dark mauve which seems to “glow” late in the afternoon. (At least mine does and I hadn’t even had a drink either).
Ae. ‘Aztec Gold’ was developed by John Catlan of Queensland from a sport of Ae. recurvata; interestingly, as recorded, “A phenomenon of this plant is that all pups appear as plain yellow, but as the leaves develop a green stripe appears which uniformly improves and the plant turns into a vigorous grower for a variegate". It has a fascinating history which can be found via the link below which I recommend you all should read as it’s a very interesting story about how this lovely plant came to be. This too is a plant which will benefit greatly from being grown in very strong light.
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=AECHMEA&id=32#32
Finally, I think we're overdue for a new thread so if one of you good people who have the skills could oblige, it would be appreciated.
That’s about it for today so now a few pic’s to finish with, firstly Neo. ‘Blake Street Beauty’ (taken from above), Pic.2 the nest of the Spotted Honey Eater, Pic.3, Mum on the nest, Pic.4 a close up of Mum so you can see her easier and Pic.5, Bub’s first day out of the nest; “Look Mum I can fly”.
All the best, Nev.
ok Nev - your wish is granted :)
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1389058/#post_10041597
new thread started...
cheers - Teresa