LOOKING FOR SPRING..... BROMELIADS 2015

Hello everyone.
Still very cold here, but the sun is trying to get out from behind the clouds. Yesterday was showery again and also overnight.
The gardens around are looking fresh though and lots of bulbs showing themselves. I have found a heap of tulips coming up from left over small bulbs when the garden beds were cleaned out by the previous tenant.
My little pansies and polyanthus are looking great despite the cold.
Lots of new growth coming on the roses too.
My broms are looking rather dull now and once I take the pups off I think the old mums can go. I dont need more pups from them. This will leave me a bit more room for the pups to spread out.

Nev, always great info from you. I have used Seasol for years , as I have mentioned before.
I started off with it on my brugmansias , but soon used it over the whole garden. Which reminds me, its time I gave everything another dose.
I usually just put it in with whatever fertilser I am using and so far , over the years, the extra fertiliser hasnt harmed the broms. I always use full strength and just pour it over everything.
I guess my broms are used to my ways and just swallow whatever I give them....lol

Teresa. lovely to hear you are enjoying the new job. The new bus trip sounds better too. If it takes the same time, you are losing nothing and having a seat for the trip makes a difference too. Sending a pat for Sugar too.

Trish, I see you and your mum roofing over the entire backyards...lol
So many lovely broms to enjoy.
I hope your weather is starting to warm a bit for you. I was talking yesterday to a friend and he mentioned that the forecast is for more cold but clearing for a nice weekend. I hope that is right as I am looking for more warm sunshine now . I love to sit outside in the mornings with my cuppa , but if I did now, I would be an icicle.
I will post a pic of the newest teddy bears later as I still have to try and get the camera program onto the new computer.
I finally have much better service with the computer now. I am glad I decided to go back to ADSL as it is more reliable than the wireless connection. The new computer is so much easier too, rather than fiddle with the smaller laptop.
The tech who came to check the phone lines and add the connections for the ADSL was wonderful. The best tech I have ever had from Telstra. Very happy and obliging and easy to understand too. ...lol

I am still trying to get a few of the old programs onto this computer and I get lost amid all the technical instructions.
I may have to search out the original discs and redo the darn programs again. That is , of course, if I still have the discs. I may have lost them in the move as I had to toss a lot of stuff and I dont remember seeing any discs.
Oh well, just another thing to keep me occupied.

Better go as I must shut the front door and get a warm cuppa.
I always open the door in the mornings, but after a while the cold air starts taking over inside. Time to put the heater on and get cosy..

Hello Brian too if you are looking in.

More old pics today. ...
vrieseas... Franklin Forest, Grafton Sunset , Maroon Shadow and Plantation Pride.

Keep warm and safe
Jean.

cold start this morning -3C...
it was cold in the office but the sun was shining in this afternoon & all the blokes were out on jobs & I took a few minutes to stand in the sun & thaw out.
I learned a few new things today - how to allocate routes to meter readers & how to download special routes - final readings from the city council & then allocate them.
Luckily there were a few to do so I was able to practice, I took notes & will type those up tomorrow & that will help me remember what to do.

I helped with puppy training class after work, had just enough time to get home, change & wolf down a couple of slices of pizza before being picked up. Mis Sugar thought an outing in a strange car & a chance to play with puppies was pretty good but she surprised me by peeing inside.
Not sure is this is a sign of some bladder issue, she has been waking us up through the night wanting to go out every few hours. She slept all night last night so I'm not sure what's going on, will keep an eye on her & get her checked by the vet if she doesn't seem herself over the next couple of days.

Take care everyone
Teresa

Hi everyone – Another cold morning (by Shellharbour standards anyway), but hopefully once the sun warms up it will be more comfortable.

We’re going over to have a look at the new Masters store today and I’ll start comparing products and prices with Bunnings. It’s supposed to be 75% larger than Bunnings so I’ll probably have to hire a horse to get around as I can’t see myself walking that far. I’m particularly interested in a product they have advertised which is Searles 5 in 1 Organic Plant Food and is in 30 litre bags for $7.98 containing sheep and cow manure.

Teresa – It’s great to hear you like your new job, and I expect it will only get easier once you get used to everything, including the travelling.

As for the Ae. fasciata, there are many different types around now and for a while I thought of collecting a few more, but the amount of cold damage I’m getting with them this year, I’m now having second thoughts.

I hope Miss Sugar is OK and not getting a UTI, so maybe best get her to the vet and nip it in the bud.

Jean – I usually use any fertilisers at the rate recommended by the manufacturer; the only exception is that if I’m going to use it more often, such as in the case of seedlings in which case I follow the advice of the “old timers” where they always recommended “little and often”.

If the instructions said to use 10gm per 10 litres and apply it monthly, the oldies always said it was better to apply it ¼ strength (2.5gm per 10 litres) and apply it weekly; in other words Apply it Weakly Weekly. I tried this method over the whole year a few years back and I must say the results did appear to be better than when using it at the recommended time and rate. The only downside is that it did require more work.

I have to agree with you about the technician; good ones are few and far between, but isn’t it great when we get a good one? The last time we had computer problems I rang up a bloke we hadn’t used before and he’s now gone to the top of our list. He said right up front that all work was usually done in your own home and the charge was $60 for a service call less 20% for pensioners.

This included the call out fee and one hour’s work, i.e. if the problem was fixed within 15 minutes he used the remaining time to “tune up” your computer, answer questions or offer any tuition you may want. It turned out that our problem was easily rectified and we both had a very informative lesson and what’s more he taught us according to the level of knowledge we had (which isn’t much) but more importantly he was very patient and explained things in terms we both easily understood.

He said that he previously worked for a computer repair company who ripped off customers left right and centre often charging for two or three hours work when the problem had been fixed with a couple of key strokes and that’s why he decided to work alone from his home.

What’s more he said that most computer problems are easily fixed and some can even be sorted out “over the phone” and said to ring him any time and it may save us a service fee. Well I have rug him on two occasions now and twice he fixed the problem over the phone and no charge to us. Personally I think he’s “God’s Gift to Computer Illiterates” (like me) and I’ve recommended him to several of our friends which gave him a bit more work and he even rang to thank me for recommending him.

Time to go, Gooday Trish and Brian, I hope everything’s OK with you as well.

I’ll finish with a few more random brom pictures Pic.1 is Canistropsis ‘Plum’ x Canistropsis seidelii, Pic.2 Canistropsis ‘Sugar Fig’, Pic.3 is Orthophytum saxicola, Pic.4 Quesnelia liboniana and Pic.4 is Fosterella spectabilis.

All the best, Nev.

I don't know what happened, but I’ve just realised that I forgot to post this morning, so before I do, I can give you a brief report on how we found our new Masters store.

Basically, to sum it up, I thought Masters was a bit disappointing (from what I saw of it anyway). It’s an enormous store but we only did over the garden department and personally everything seems more expensive than Bunnings from what I saw. What’s more the Brunnings orchid compost that I had previously been told that Masters now had the sole monopoly on wasn’t even in stock, and the Searles 5 in 1 Organic Plant Food which was advertised on special was all gone, so a bit of a downer after all the hype. The staff were friendly enough but didn’t have much of an idea about gardening, and finally they had some really nice looking Guzmanias in flower for $28.95 and they were the same size and quality as the ones Bunnings had for $19.95 last Saturday.

well one week of full time work under my belt, yesterday I met the chap who sits at a desk behind me, he has been off work as he went out for his evening walk & tripped over a badly placed string line & fell face first into the footpath.
He needed a trip to the emergency room & several days off work.
He showed us photos of the scene - the string line was along the edge of the grass verge - but where it intersected the footpath they carried it over to a property on the other side making it a nasty little booby trap.

Nev - sounds like your computer guy is a real gem. Service like that is hard to find.

We're in for a cold weekend - the closer spring gets the nastier the weather seems to be.

Take care all
Teresa

Hi Everyone!

Well a big week over and done with thank goodness and the intentions I had to pop in during the week and chat with you all went out the window because I was just too tired by the time I got home and the last thing I wanted to look at was the computer as my eyes have been very blurry from looking at the screen so much, I do lots of eye exercises during the day to give my eye’s a bit of a rest from the screen but it did not make a lot of difference this week because of how busy my week was, but I was very pleased with what I achieved and hopefully next week will be less stressful.

Hi Nev firstly I want to say a HUGE THANKS for the beautiful seeds we received in the mail today, it really perked me up when I walked in the door and like I child I sat still in my uniform and carefully opened the envelope after shaking it first gently to listen to the noise the beautiful seeds made; thank you so much for going to all the trouble to package them all for Mum and I, it must have taken you a good while to get this lovely envelope organised for us and I can’t thank you enough and can guarantee that both Mum and I are going to thoroughly enjoy sowing the beautiful seed and reporting back to you how we are both going and what has germinated or not; thanks once again Nev, sincerely can’t thank you enough.

Nev your weather sounds way too cold for my liking and I am disappointed to hear some of your broms got cold damage, I appreciate that these plants will still pup and the damage is only cosmetic but if there are any you may look at replacing with a new plant please let me know which ones and I will see if I have any spare plants here I would be more than happy to send you. In the interim I am going to check out your “Wish List” plants over the weekend and let you know if I have any pups ready and when the weather warms up and when you are ready I should hopefully be able to get a parcel in the mail to you sometime.

Thanks Nev this is the first time I have seen your article on Preparing your Plants for Weather Extremes – March 2013, I am really looking forward to reading it over the weekend and printing a copy off to place in a folder I made up that has a copies of all the wonderful information you have shared with us all these years that I also like to share with my Mum who has her own folder made up like I have that lives in our bookshelves.

Great pictures you posted of some of the different types of Aechmea fasciatas are lovely and I especially liked the look of Pic. 2 - Ae. fasciata var. purpurea because of the beautiful contrast between the leaf colour and flower colour that really makes it stand out and grab my attention. Shame the variegated pups in Pic. 5 lost their pink colouring, maybe they might just surprise you when they mature and the pink colouring might come back in force, one just never knows.

Nev would be great to hear feedback on the Masters product Searles 5 in 1 Organic Plant Food when it’s not sold out; we will be getting a Masters here too next to our local Bunnings so if you do happen to get great results from the product would be great to know and trial here. That’s disappointing to hear Masters prices were dearer than Bunnings but I have always liked the Bunnings stores here and the staff and have really gotten to know everyone in the garden section so it would be hard for me to change shops no matter what the savings and they do have a good range to choose from and the shelves are always fully stocked.

Hi Teresa so pleased to hear you are really enjoying your new job, the head spinning part is normal as there is always so much to take in with any new job but how great that you are fitting in and you really sound like you are settling in well and soon the spinning will stop, it’s probably just that you want to be good at everything straight away as we all tend to try doing with any new job because we want to prove ourselves and not let anyone down but it takes time to absorb it all and hard to find thinking time to piece how everything comes together when you are getting trained by someone. The lady I am currently training at work I threw in the deep end and trained her on one set thing at a time for a couple of days then left her alone to read her own notes and fine tune them and do some of the work herself rather than someone there always watching over them, it gave her time to think about what she was doing, some head space time out and ask questions along the way when she needed to and she got things down pat very quickly after that and then we moved onto the next part of the training. There is always a set of procedures to follow but you can’t beat following your own notes as sometime if it does not break any of the procedures as they don’t tell you how many buttons to press to get where you need to be.

The new bus trip sounds better too as every little bit helps when trying to get home sooner.

Pleased to hear you liked the look of Manoa Beauty, she colours up great when given good light and you don’t over feed her.

I hope Sugar’s on the mend soon the poor darling, she must have felt bad peeing inside but got that you are keeping a close eye on her to check she is ok and the problem does not persist.

Hi Jean I hope your keeping snug and warm. Your garden sounds like it’s doing fantastic with all the new buds and growth, imagine when everything opens; there will be a parade of colour around you to admire that will be lovely. Maybe you could give some of the old brom mums to friends you know that want to get starting in growing broms or already have some; the pups you take off should prosper well with room to grow up to be strong and beautiful like there mother.

He he we can only dream of roofing off our entire yards Mum & I to keep more broms, but then I would miss all the wildlife that comes in and enjoys the garden with us and I would not be happy without the wildlife having somewhere to come and enjoy.

Our weather got down to about 7 degrees today, we are both sitting on the couch wrapped in bunny rugs and the Girls have their own ones too LOL,

Can’t wait to see pics of the new Teddy Bear, sure it will look a treat.

Great to hear you have better service with your computer, there is nothing worse when gadgets play up and having to explain it to someone that seems to not really care on the other end of the line or understand, sometimes I just hang up on them and ring again to try and talk to another person that is easier to deal with.

Nice pics you posted too, I especially liked the purple/pink in Maroon Shadow and Plantation Pride.

Time to head off as watching a movie with Joe tonight for a change; will post pics tomorrow promise.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone – I think it’s getting colder down here, I’ve never known it so cold or maybe it’s just the old bones are feeling it more, but then so are the brom’s and they are really starting to suffer. I’m going to hit them all with another dose of Seasol this morning to try an minimise the cold damage.

Teresa – I guess you could say the accident your work mate had was pretty nasty, but on the positive side it could have been much worse and if he had been an older person he could have even broken his hip. It seems a little thing like a string line wasn’t considered dangerous by the person who put it there, but just imagine if this was America, the solicitors would be going at it hammer and tong with a million dollar law suit in the pipeline by now. Ha! Ha!

Trish – You mention all the computer work makes your eyes tired; I had a similar problem when I worked in the control room at work and spent a lot of time in front of a computer. I saw an optometrist to see if something could be done to make things easier on my eyes and he suggested putting an “anti-glare” finish on the lenses of my glasses, it didn’t cost very much and it worked a treat and I never had sore eyes from excessive computer work again.

As for the Ae. fasciatas, they are great plants and there are quite a few different types around when you go looking, and at one time I considered starting a collection of all the different ones I could find, however now I’m glad I didn’t as the cold weather is really knocking them around and they don’t like it at all.

That’s it for today and I’ll finish again with a few more of the not so common brom’s. Pic.1 is Quesnelia arvensis. Pic.2 is Bromelia penguin, Pic.3 is xNeophytum ‘Galactic Warrior’, Pic.4 is Acanthostachys pitcairnioides and Pic.5 is xNeophytum ‘Ralph Davis’.

All the best, Nev.

Hello everyone.
Nev, its very cold down here too and I heard from someone the other day that we are in for even more cold.

As Teresa said, it does seem as if the closer Spring gets, the colder it becomes.
Old man Winter does not want to leave.
I have just done the last bit of pruning on my roses. Not much to do a stheya re all in pots and still on the small side, but a trim will make them bushier.

I was also looking at my brugmansias because they do lose a lot of leaves through winter and by the time spring arrives, they are all bare sticks.
I was very surprised to see some are still getting buds and still have a lot of upper leaves.
Amazing things, plants. They never do what you expect.
I suppose my idea of tough love at the old house has made them all a bit tougher than they would be in warmer places.

I have lots of pretty flowers coming out so the warmer weather when it arrives will really get the rest going.
My small daisies have never stopped flowering the entire year.
They form a lovely mound about 12" high and spread out to about 18" wide.
One of the first plants I put in the front garden bed and they repay with all the flowers.
Being perennial, they also keep any weeds down .

Nev , I love all the broms in your pics . All so pretty.
I did giggle a bit at you mentioning about fertiliser strength.
I am so used to cooking and never measuring ingredients because I have become very good at doing it by eye and have become proficient in getting the measurements pretty right.

I just continued doing the same thing with fertilisers and so far over the years, seem to have got it right too.
I find that I am not getting any of the pests that used to inhabit the old place. I have not seen any spider mites , aphids etc, since I sprayed everything just after I moved here. There were a few here and there , probably hitched a ride form the old place, but once I sprayed the rose spray around , they vanished.
Hopefully they will stay vanished.

Better go and put all the old rose bits out . The nice chaps who do all the lawns and maintenance here, take all the garden waste away for everyone.

Trish, I can hear you and your mum chortling with glee over those seeds. I hope they grow well for you.

No brom pics today, but you can see a pic of Mr Ted and his friends.
He has already gone to his new home, as the lady who runs the hospital group fell in love with him yesterday and took him home.

Keep warm
Jean.

This message was edited Aug 8, 2015 9:51 AM

we had snow overnight!
I didn't see it, but put Miss Sugar out when she woke me up in the middle of the night - when she came back I patted her & could feel icy spots on her back.
I never put the light on so wasn't sure it it was starting to rain or what was going on outside.
Hubby was up at 5am to go to work & found snow on the car. It was all gone by the time I got up but it's certainly chilly outdoors.

Miss Sugar is beside me on the couch, on her back, back paws up in the air & her head almost hanging off the edge of the couch, she gets into some odd positions & I sometimes wonder how on earth she can sleep like that.

Nev - nice collection of plants, the flower on the Bromelia penguin is lovely & I particularly like the colours on xNeophytum 'Galactic Warrior'.
You are right about the lawyers in the US - I think they would have made a meal of the accident my work mate had as it was certainly caused by someone disregarding health & safety rules, his wife would have been able to claim for the distress caused by seeing her hubby come home covered in blood as well.

Trish - you sound like the kind of trainer I like, I'm lucky my new boss is similar, he likes to show me how it's done while I take notes, then talk me through doing it myself, he will watch me do a couple in case I have questions & then leave me with my notes to get on with it.
Sugar seems to be her usual self but I am watching her for any sign that she is out of sorts.
It might just be that she never completely understood toilet training as she was a combination house/kennel dog until we got her & because I take her outside frequently she's never felt the need to go inside.

Jean - cute toys, I can see why Mr Ted found a new home so quickly.
You know if you have a dog pattern you could do it in white & sew black spots on it, Dalmatians are always popular with children :)
They would make a good item for a fundraising stall.

Sounds like your new garden has advantages over the old one despite the smaller size.
Look forward to seeing photos of all your brugs in bloom.
I was looking at the edge of the terrace & realised that despite the freezing cold I have a nasturtium still growing against the house. As they are frost sensitive that spot must be completely sheltered.
You mentioning daisies reminded me I used to have a lovely little blue one that I took some cuttings from as it looked so pretty growing over the edge of the garden I wanted to have a couple more spaced down the raised bed.
I offered some to my SIL as well, when I took cuttings for her they didn't take, then I noticed the ones that looked so pretty in my garden had vanished - I have no idea what killed them but it was so disappointing to lose the lot.
A little odd as well, I would have expected at least one to survive & could have built up my stock from cuttings again.

anyway take care everyone, stay warm & dry if you can
cheers - Teresa

Hi all,

Went down to the local Aldi store to get a lawn mower they had on sale yesterday morning and there must have been 50 people waiting in line. It was weird, when they opened the doors they all rushed inside to grab the items they were after and then were trying to stuff all these huge boxes into their cars, strange place.

Nev, we also have a Masters hardware up here as well as the Bunnings store and while they sell a lot of extra things like whitegoods the car park never seems full. The Bunnings car park is always full. Maybe price is a factor, and I thinks people become familiar with the store layout and brand names.
I hope you are getting around a bit easier and you don't get too much damage to your plants from the cold. I also have a few showing the effects of the cold weather but have been surprised with others that you think would have a problem but haven't.
Hold on to that computer guy, $60 p/h less pensioner rate sounds good to me.
I like the colouring of the Neophytum 'Galactic Warrior' in your last post.

Teresa , glad to hear you are enjoying your new job. I think the checkout operator at the large supermarkets would be a hard job. I don't think I would last one shift without abusing someone, especially having to stand there with a bloody smile on your face as well.
I hope all is well with Sugar.

Trish, Manoa Beauty is a nice looking plant. 7 degrees is getting down there for Nth Qld, does anyone even own a heater up that way. This winter must be a cold one if you and your girls are sitting there in bunny rugs in Townsville.

Jean, the Vr. Maroon Shadow is a nicely coloured plant. It would be good to see some pics of your other variety of plants once everything warms up.

Anyway, the sun is up so better be off and do some things.

Pics are a of the shade house up the back that I started again yesterday, hopefully will get it levelled off and cloth on this week. Some daylight after work would be handy.

not the nicest weather but they predicted it would be fine till after lunch which suited me as dog club is 8.30am-12pm.
Except they were a little bit out, it started to cloud over & just as I went into the ring for my competition round it started to spit, it felt very icy & before I had gone 4 metres it was snowing!
Sugar kept working so I kept going on the course... we were doing really well until the very last obstacle, we made a total hash of it & ended up on 86/100. I should have slowed down but Sugar was getting twitchy & i wanted to get finished & out of the snow.

Oh well next month should be better.

take care all - Teresa
ps the snow didn't last but it's very cold, wet & grey outside.

Hi everyone - Just a quick visit today as I have to go out and help with the shopping this morning. I’ve just about finished dividing ad re-potting all of my Ae. recurvata types now with just a few of the larger ones to do. I didn’t think they were looking as well as they usually do and when I looked at the name tags, some hadn’t had any attention since 2010, so that explains it.

Jean – Is there no end to your talents, now you’re into the Teddy Bear production, what will it be next?

What you say about your fertilising is just what a friend of mine does, she grew orchids for many years and now brom’s and she has her fertilising programme down to a fine art with no measuring implements in sight and her plants are beautiful. I usually just write down the quantities for people (myself included) who don’t have the skill to accurately apply the correct quantities without the need to measure.

Speaking of pests, I haven’t seen any in my yard this year either and I don’t use insecticides, maybe it’s been too cold for them.

Teresa – Snow? Definitely not a place I would live; I saw snow once and that was enough for me and I’m quite happy to give my share to anyone who wants it.

xNeophytum ‘Galactic Warrior’ seems to be everyone’s favourite and it’s interesting to remember that it originally came as a sport from xNeophytum ‘Ralf Davis’
See: http://registry.bsi.org/?genus=xNEOPHYTUM&id=9462#9462

My dear friend who recently passed away had won a prize with her plants of this particular brom every year since I joined the society and said she didn’t do anything special to them except have a chat with them each day; draw your own conclusions, but I've seen the results..

Brian – From what I saw of Masters (and I only went to the garden section), I don’t think they’ll win me over from Bunnings. It just seemed to be a giant “cold” shop with no heart whereas Bunning always seems warm and friendly. There was once a saying “A house is not a home” and I would liken Bunnings to a "home" and Masters to a "house" (albeit a big cold one).

Since I had the knee injection I am getting around a bit better (touch wood) so while it lasts I’m getting into all the overdue re-potting.

Your shade house is starting look good; I’ll bet you can’t wait until you move the plants in. Like everyone else, I expect you’ll post some pic’s of the finished object and then we can all have a drool.

I’ll finish with the pictures of the proposed new show “flyers” and would be appreciative of your comments.

All the best, Nev.

Hello everyone.. I have just spent a frustrating half hour try to load paper into the new printer.
Its a good printer 9 HP) which brand I had before for many years until it started to fade from old age.
Its just that these days you are expected to grasp the workings of these devices with not much instruction.
I am not dumb by any means but I do like a proper instruction book.
I love the way some devices have instructions to check on the net, but what if you cant get on the net.....lol

Anyway, I eventually sussed it out with the help of the pretty little pics on the printer itself.
I have never seen a printer where the paper goes in at the same place the printed paper comes out.
You learn something new every day..
Anyway its working properly now.

Nev, I cannot just sit around and watch TV without doing something with my hands, hence the new hobby of making all the felt toys etc.
The teddy was an experiment as I had to adapt a sewing machine pattern to hand sewing .

I have been asked to make a tea cosy in felt for one of the ladies at my group.
I went over to Hamilton to get the right color felt . It has been showery all korning too.
No snow and even with the rain, still a bit warmer than it has been.
Teresa, please keep your snow.
I saw plenty when I lived up at Bright , at the foot of Mt Buffalo.
It often got cold enough to snow in town. Very pretty to see on the mountain tops, but not so nice to be in it.

Nev, my favorite of your posters for the show is pic 1. It is so pretty and shows the part of broms not many notice so much.
Lovely flowers.

Brian, we all on here know what is going to happen at your place...
That shadehouse is going to be so full you will need another.....lol
I was lucky at my old house that there was plenty of room and I had a very patient hubby.
I ended up with 7 in total. Two were over 30 foot long...
I miss them with all the plants, but being sensible, I realise, it was the best thing to do , in selling the old house after my dear hubby died.
I would not have been able to care for such a large area on my own and I would have hated to see it all neglected.

Trish, I just knew you and your mum would be hovering over the post until those seeds arrived.
I can see you both still hovering as you watch them grow.

Better go and make a start on that tea cosy and have a cuppa.
More old pics today.
I did take some but keep forgetting to get the camera from the car where I left it.

some of the nidulariums I had.

Keep warm
Jean

Hi Everyone!

The weekend flew by in a blink of an eye and now hard back at it at work and I have a splitting headache so just a super quick drop in to say hello and I'm off to bed with Jean's beautiful felt teddy bear Mr. Ted & Friends pictured in my eye's, sure to help me go to sleep tonight; what a fantastic job you did with them all Jean, they will bring much joy to someone's life for sure.

I will catch-up with everyone hopefully tomorrow night so forgive me for not reading all the posts.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish :)

Hi everyone - I'm feeling a bit down this morning as I've just been out to get the paper and while there I had a close look at the brom's in the front garden and am shocked to see the extent of the cold damage.

It looks like several plants are completely destroyed and several others will just have a single pup remaining (if I'm lucky). Even the large Ae. blanchetiana types that were almost large enough to flower have several broken leave caused by the wind and now the cold conditions on top of that really make them look quite daggy and nothing like the majestic looking plants they once were.

I'm not even going to attempt to tidy them up until the cold weather is over as even the dead leaves are offering a degree of protection to the pups beneath them, so I'll just have to plan what's to be done and get into it when the warm weathers arrives.

Jean - It's strange just how much our tastes are alike, as my favourite poster was also the first one. What surprised me even more, was when the lady who made them asked me for a few pic's, I put that one in as an afterthought as it is just the flowers of the common Bill. pyramidalis. It just goes to show that even common plants have a degree of beauty when we really have a good look at them.

I totally agree with what you told Brian, "been there and done that" and it all started when I first grew orchids and started with a small bush-house twelve feet wide and sixteen feet long, (two panels of paling fence). The length was determined by the length of the panels of the paling fence (eight feet) and as the collection grew I just added a couple of extra panels until it eventually grew to forty feet long and ultimately I reached the back fence and it ended at eighty feet in length.

This was of course before the days of shade cloth and required the frame to be covered with 2" wire netting with ti-tree brush threaded through it to give the correct amount of shade, (much more labour intensive than building a shade house these days).

Trish - Good to see you can drop in for a quick "Hello" and we look forward to another of your nice long posts in the future.

Seeing Jean mentioned the word Nidulariums, that's what I'll select for my pictures today. In my opinion, they are a very much underrated bromeliad which for some reason have never gained the popularity of Neo's and other more commonly grown types. Their big advantage is that they will grow and flower in shady areas where other don't do any good.

Pic.1 is Nid. leprosa, Pic.2 is Nid. procerum, Pic.3 is Nid. 'Nana', Pic.4 is Madonna and Pic.5 is a nice little NOID I once bought at the markets.

All the best, Nev.

I'm tired from work - I am loving it but my brain is spinning...

so I have skimmed through the posts & enjoyed the pics...

Nev - all those flyers are lovely, you know I'm a sucker for purple but I do like 1 & 5.

Jean- I like those Nids, I knew you had a big property but didn't realise how big until you commented on the size of your shade houses.

well my brain won't focus any more so take care all

Teresa

Hi Everyone!

The weekend flew by very quickly as we had friends we needed to catch-up with that we had not seen for a while which chewed up most of Saturday and then Sunday we had someone over to quote on some jobs that need doing around the place as well as we getting a water feature put in with works commencing tomorrow into the rest of the week so I had a few broms to move out of the way (about 60) to make room for the works and looking forward to seeing the end product and the water running, it’s something Joe and I have always wanted in the pool area so we decided to get it done before summer so all plants etc. have got time to acclimatize.

Hi Nev thanks the anti-glare suggestion you mentioned I will have to speak to my optometrist about next time I am due for my next visit, sounds well worth trying out.

Great to hear you got stuck into re-potting your Ae. recurvate types, sure you would have felt good getting them done and in order. Great to hear that your knee is feeling much better after the injection and you are getting a lot of other re-potting done around the garden. Sorry to hear about all the frost damage you are discovering around the garden and wish I could wish it away and send some nice weather your way.

Nev the show flyer I like the most is of Picture 1 because of the detail in the flower that I believe shows a different side of broms, not always about the plant leaf but what about the beautiful flower it produces and it really sets off the writing as well.

I adore ‘Galactic Warrior’, what an impressive plant that one is; they are such hardy plants and grow to such a fantastic size.

Hi Jean I still have to organise sending Mum some of the seed Nev kindly gave us but I just plum ran out of time over the weekend because things were hectic and it was over before we knew it but hopefully this weekend I will get them sorted and posted during the week so Mum has something exciting to wait for in the mail and I will probably send her some extra broms as well for added surprise. Jean luved the Nids pictures you shared with us.

I slept well last night but instead of dreaming about Mr. Ted I dreamed about building water features and pulling them apart and re-building them because I did not like them so I woke up this morning pretty frustrated like I had not achieved anything ha ha.

Hi Teresa it’s snowing now at your place, it would have been nice to see but like you I would have missed it to not lose out on valuable sleep and warmth, but at least your Hubby and Sugar vouched for you that it did in fact snow.

Lucy too sleeps in odd positions like Sugar does; I laugh at her sometimes because she falls off the bed in her sleep and wakes up on the floor all embarrassed like a human would react and I normally give her a cuddle to make her feel better; maybe she falls off the bed in the middle of a dream as she really does look startled when she picks herself up off the ground the poor darl LOL. I hope Sugar’s feeling much better now too.

Pleased to hear your boss is taking the time to train you properly, sometimes you need to use different methods for different people but the biggest thing I find when teaching someone is give them time to think about it and take it all in otherwise some can find it hard to process it all if information in coming in too fast it can be hard to retain all that one has been shown in a certain span of time, so you are better doing it in blocked sections and leaving them on their own to try and think about what they are doing and refer to their notes and ask questions when they need to.

Hi Brian, no we don’t have heaters here living in Townsville but if we lived up further in the Tablelands then we would for sure have a fire place because it gets pretty chilly in the hills when the mist rolls in at about 4pm ish each day; but bunny rugs we always have handy this time of year especially on those really windy days when they are forecasting the lower temps then we really feel the cold but the colds pretty much over now they say as we come into spring.

The shade house is looking fantastic, what a fantastic job you are doing; you must be getting pretty excited about the progress and the cloth going on this week; I can’t wait to see it filled with your beautiful bromeliads. It’s always hard trying to get things done after work, like you I just find there is not enough daylight left by the time I do get home so nothing much gets done outside during the week which is a shame.

Anyway I must head off to bed as it’s getting late and we both have early wake-ups tomorrow.

Hope I have not missed anyone or forgotten to comment on anything, rush, rush, rushed this thread tonight.

Sorry no pics this time around, left my run too late.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

No one here so I will catch you all tomorrow :)

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi wherever you all are.

Just a bit more on the pictures in the flyers; as well as Jean, Teresa, Trish and myself, thirteen out of sixteen other people I asked all liked that No.1 flyer the best. It just goes to show that species still have something to offer and remain to be of interest.

Nothing much to report today except that the cold damage continues and I'm now wondering if this is a sign of future things to come with the changing weather patterns. It seems that someone got something wrong though as it doesn't seem to be a sign of "Global Warming" to me, more like Global Freezing, maybe the start of another "Ice Age"!

Trish - I'll be interested to see how your water feature turns out. That's another thing I was always going to build (but never got around to it). I always thought how relaxing the sound of running water is and at one stage thought about building one in the porch outside our bedroom window so we could go to sleep to the sound of trickling water.

Regarding 'Galactic Warrior', it's always been one of my favourites as well. I read where in America it grows to over two feet in diameter but the ones down here are rarely over one foot across. The article also said they were gross feeders which could account for the large size, either that or maybe it is a larger clone.

I was always going to pot one up and over feed it to see what would happen, but then thought that the extra food would probably rob it of colour so I never went through with it. I did notice the other day though that my plant has three nice big pups on it so when the weather warms up a bit I'll take them off and pot them up and treat two normally and over feed the third so I can compare the result. I could try the same experiment with 'Ralph Davis' also as I have quite a few pups on them that have to be taken off.

There's also good news on the seed front, as all of the seed I planted is showing tiny new growth which proves it's fertile, and as that's the same fresh seed I sent you, your results should even be quicker up there in a warmer climate, although your Mum's will be slower down there in colder Victoria.

I'll post a few pic's of species today and just for a change, see if you can identify them.

All the best, Nev.

hello everyone.
Still showery here, but not as freezing because the wind has dropped.

Nev, sorry to hear about your cold damage problems.
I agree that its not " global warming"
Looking back on the Earths weather history, it has been shown that the planet has had a history of hot & cold times, both lasting millions of years.
I think , because modern man has lived in a rather mild time by "planet standards " , everyone expects that this is the norm .
I bet they would all get a shock to see what has gone on in the early history of the dawn of man.
This has always been a moody planet and will go on being that , despite we tiny things running about on it...lol
If one looks around at the plant growth and soil areas on a large part of the world, its all what has evolved over thousands of years to cope with a hot and dry planet, that can sometimes also freeze.
This world of ours in not a Utopia as many think it was , and they keep saying man has ruined it.
I think more climate "change" happened quite often, long before man was even a dot on the horizen of time.
Enough of my soapbox speech, but it is true , we have caused a bit of damage with our machine age, but who can tell what would have been the climate anyway, if we had never appeared.

Nev, nice to hear that our opinions on the poster pic were so widely agreed with.
Sadly smaller flowers on bright plants get missed, so here is one showing off.

Trish, I see small green things about to spring up all over your place as you get into those seeds.
My broms are still looking okay despite the cold. I hope that the pups will all do well once removed after being sheltered by hteir mums.
Even the couple hanging up are not showing as much sign of the cold as I would have thought.

Teresa you will be interested to know that the hanging basket which cops all the weather , including any frost , is a basket of old faithful nutans ( the variegated one. )
Hardy little devil.
I am very pleased also with bill Hallelujah as even though it has lost all the chocolate color , it is still looking beautiful.

Hello Brian, love the look of the shadehouse, but you had better make a nice area for your better half so she wont object when you start on the next shadehouse, because you will need it....lol

Time I went , so i will leave a pic of my latest " creations" . A lady wanted me to make a tea cosy as she still use a little teapot.

The other 3 pics are of a dykia encholiriodes x brevifolia ( think I have that spelling right )
that I had at the old house. It was a very spiky thing and just grew all by itself with no water etc from me. .
As far as I know its still there as the succulents covered the spot where it was, but the long stem would poke up each year.
Nothing remarkable about dykias except for their spikes.

Take care and keep warm.
Jean.

cute tea cosies Jean.

Nev - global warming has happened when you look at the records.
Strangely the warming trend has also caused more extremes of weather including colder & more unsettled temperatures, but the media latched onto the name "global warming" and used it to refer to all climate change theory & did their usual hype & distortion which has left most people confused & cynical about the whole thing.

Climate change is real, and part of a natural cycle.
Whether mankind is affecting the rate of change is a contentious issue.
But what we should be worried about is the air pollution & degradation of waterways that humans are causing.

These are issues we can do something about but the media prefer to fan the fires & beat up the arguments between those who believe global climate change is real & those who don't...

take care all - Teresa

Hello everyone.
I am just popping in quickly as I have to leave early this morning.
I am off to Hamilton for an appointment.
Yesterday I went over to Mt Gambier , just for the drive as the sun was trying to come out.
Last time I went over, I saw some brolgas, so was looking out for them again.
They are one of our most lovely native birds, but are only seen down here after the rains have come to make the wet areas they like.
The black swans also arrive in large numbers along with the flocks of ibis.
I saw the brolgas again because I was looking out for them and they were right where I had seen them before.
My dear hubby always wanted me to see them , but in all the years of driving over there, there were none to be seen.
I have seen them up north in my travels, but it is so nice to see them coming back where they used to be . Its only for the warm weather as they will disappear again , once the seasons change .
I expect they will nest here then take the young back to the warmer northern parts later.
I did manage to get some pics as I remembered to take the small camera.
They posed nicely only about 10 feet away, then quietly moved back a bit when a large truck went by.
They were so lovely and it is always wonderful when something wild allows to you to be that close.

I hope everyone is enjoying some sunshine .
Better be off.
Jean.

Jean - those are nice photos of the brolgas.
Such graceful birds.

I learned a couple of new things today...
all this learning is making me tired by the end of the day but I am enjoying it.
One thing about working all week is that you really appreciate the weekend.

take care all - Teresa

Hi Everyone!

Logged on late tonight and don't want to keep Joe up while I type as he has gone to bed; just a few quick pics of the Water Feature getting built, it will have 3 x tiers, the first two tiers the water will come through slits in the rock, the last tier will be the waterfall; we are luving the look of it so far and there will be room for some goldfish.

Look forward to chatting with you all tomorrow.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Hi everyone – I can’t stay long today as I have to get breakfast and then pack up my stuff for our workshop. It’s still very cold of a night and early morning here but the sun does warm things up a bit around ten o’clock, but just when it’s nice and warm it starts to cool down again around two o’clock.

Jean – The flowers on your dykia encholirioides x brevifolia are very eye catching with the nice orange colouring, but they still aren’t a brom that has appealed to me; it’s probably all the spikes that turn me away from them. Having said that, there are a couple of growers in our Brom. Society that grow nothing else which illustrates the saying that “there’s a brom for all tastes”.

Thanks so much for sharing the pic’s of the Brolgas. I’ll bet that was a “high point” in your drive over to Mt Gambier. They are truly a such a regal bird and so considerate as well as they posed especially for you.

Teresa – I have to agree with you and Jean, climate change has been going on forever and seems to go through various cycles; like my son says, “don’t worry about something you have no control over”. I do however agree with your comment on the air and waterway pollution, and these are things we can do something about.

To look at a positive though, when I was a kid it wasn’t unusual to regularly see people tossing wrappers and empty cigarette packets out of cars or just dropping them on the ground, but these days it seems quite rare, so the message is getting through, in our area at least.

I have to go so I’ll finish with a couple of unusual pic’s today. Pic.1 is of a Banded Rail which a couple of years back, came into our yard for a few days and shared the food scraps from the bird feeder which twice a day I put on that milk crate.

Before you ask “why the milk crate”, I use that so I can move it easily to a different spot each day so as not to kill he grass. Although these birds are supposed to be common in our area, that’s the first time I ever saw one in over seventy five years living in this area, and as a kid we frequented the bush and swamps all around the area constantly. What’s more I’ve never seen one since this picture was taken. He just appeared one day, stayed for a few days and just disappeared again.

While Jean is on the topic of spikey brom’s, here’s a picture of a magnificent specimen of a Dyckia brevifolia. The container is over two feet across and it was grown by a friend of mine.

Sorry, I have to go so I’ll catch up with the rest of you tomorrow.

All the best, Nev.

Nev - that Dyckia brevifolia is stunning...makes a definite statement.
love the pot it's in, my kind of colour.

Nasty weather here - cold & wet & supposedly going to continue all weekend.
We have cancelled our dog training tomorrow as the grounds are dangerously wet & slippery.

take care all
Teresa

Hi all,

Nice weather here today, been out digging up the grass out the back where the shade house is going. Just a quick question, obviously not going to get all the grass roots out of the ground and don't really want to spray too much/many chemicals around. I am going to lay weed mat down as well. What's the common way of stopping the weeds and grasses coming through.

Thanks

Brian

Hi everyone - Back again. The workshop went well today with about twenty members attending, but the weather wasn't very kind to us and it became uncomfortably cold by two o'clock so we called it a day and all went home.

Teresa - I ran out of time this morning and couldn't comment on your post. You have a couple of positives to come out of your new job besides a regular pay packet; you will sleep well at night and as you say, you really appreciate the weekends. I don't know that Miss Sugar will be all that impressed at not having you home though.

Trish - That's a great looking water feature under construction, what material is under the mesh, is it polystyrene or Hebel blocks?

Please keep the pictures of the progression coming.

Brian - I'm glad your getting nice weather as the weather here today is cold and the word "lousy" comes to mind.

When I built my shade house over what was previously a kikuyu lawn, I dug out what I could and sprayed what was left thoroughly with vinegar (white or brown it doesn't matter) and then covered the lot with black plastic. The vinegar acts as a non-toxic weed killer and the black plastic attracts the heat from the sun which eventually "cooks" everything beneath it. You could do this instead of the weed mat or still put the weed mat over the top of it if you wanted.

All the best, Nev.

well they got the forecast right, rain, drizzle, rain...
good thing I contacted my class to postpone.

We took a quick trip to the mall & I bought two pairs of black pants for work, they came to the princely sum of $36.00 and were a short leg style so I don't have to hem them :)
Hubby was pleased by how painless the process was & now we are enjoying lunch with the fire on & going to watch a movie.

Brian - something else to suppress weeds under weed mate is wet newspaper, a good thick layer seems to halt them in their tracks.
Old carpet or underlay is effective as well.

cheers - Teresa

hello everyone.
The sun is trying to shine through the clouds, but there has been showers during the night after a nice mild day yesterday.
I dont mind the showers at the moment because i just spread a bag of Dynamic Lifter around on all the pots and garden bed.
The rain will help wash it in and take away the smell. I did find some marked as low odour, so the neighboring units wont get that strong smell usually associated with this.
I notice that daffies are popping up in a lot of gardens now and the wattles are all out . They do glow in the sun, but sadly they usually bloom at this time when the rain spoils a lot of them.
My hellebores are all putting out new leaves so I am hoping for a great show as I used to get at the old house.

I am afraid I am one of those who prefers to use good old Roundup on weeds. I am always careful to never spray when there is any breeze about, but I have been using it for a long time and never had any adverse effects. Of course, I always did the garden spraying as my dear hubby was a bit too energetic with ti out in the paddock.

I have used weed mat and also newspaper at times, but i found , for me, Roundup worked best and was the easiest to use. I still use it here to keep the weeds down that persist in coming up in the cracks of the concrete paths.

I was pulling out a few stray nasturtiums yesterday and found a seedling apricot growing for some of the hundreds of seeds below the tree.
I planted it in one of the pots nearby and if it grows, I will give it to my friend who runs the hospital group. She is getting started on a nice orchard.

My broms are looking a bit dull after the wind and rain we have had. They need a good wash, but this water only leaves more spots. They will all get a nice wipe over when the weather is warm enough for me to start removing the pups.
Nothing much going on here and I am off to Hamilton again. I need more of the filling for my little felt toys.

Some more old pics today.
aechmeas...Fosters Favorite climbing up the shed wall, pretty organensis flower, gamosepala, always very pretty.

Take care and keep warm.
Jean.

Hi all,

Nice days here, feels like it's going to get cold tonight though.

Thanks for all the killing weed tips. I laid down some weed mate and will see how it goes. I can remember my father in law insisting on pulling in to some horse stables to pick up a trailer load of horse manure to put on our gardens. For the next 20yrs every bloody weed you could think of sprung up. I cursed him every time they needed taking out.

Looks like the Ae.' DeLeon' I have is dying, must be too cold for it. Any tips on how to resurrect it would be appreciated.

Anyway got to go,

Brian

Hi everyone – I didn’t get anything done in the garden yesterday as I went over to the museum for the day. I haven’t been there as regularly as I previously was as there’s not a lot I can do there now except work in the office, and as the office is being renovated I decided to spend the time at home in the garden instead.

However yesterday wasn’t a very pleasant day here and certainly not suitable for the garden, so I decided to go and see all my old mates at the museum for a change and I really enjoyed it and now realise I should be going more often as I was becoming a bit of a stay at home “garden gnome”.

Teresa – Your weather doesn’t sound very good either. It’s pretty crook here as well with another cold change on the way but thankfully this time they’re forecasting a bit of rain which we really need badly.

Your mention of carpet to supress weeds jogged my memory as I had completely forgotten about that and the newspaper. I used the newspaper once but found that after a year or so it rotted down and I was back to square one. It is however harmless to the environment so that’s got to be a plus.

I’ve never used the carpet myself, but an old friend of mine in the Brom Society got some new carpet in her house and was worried about what she could do with all the old stuff until someone suggested she use it to supress weeds in her brom garden. She got a young bloke in to clean everything up and help her to cover a good part of her back yard with the carpet, and then she positioned all of her potted brom’s on top of it and then filled in between them with mulch. It turned out to be a great weed free answer to her problem and was still going well six years later when she moved into a retirement unit.

Jean – Wow! A whole bag of Dynamic Lifter; your plants will soon be jumping out of their pots. I personally think Dynamic lifter is a great product which is gentle on the plants and doesn’t cause any salt build up like many fertilisers do. In fact many of the old vege growers still swear by a combination of that plus Blood and Bone over all the other “you beaut fertilisers” and the results speak for themselves. It becomes very confusing these days as there are hundreds of different fertilisers on the market and it’s impossible to know what’s best without trying them all, so it’s often safer to stick to the tried and tested ones.

I did however once have a bad experience with Dynamic Lifter not long after it first came on the market. I put it on my vege garden and within a couple of weeks everything was covered in “chick weed”. I went back to the nursery where I bought it and explained what had happened and was told that I wasn’t the only one as many other gardeners had the same problem. We were told the nursery took it up with the supplier who explained that a particular batch hadn’t gone through the necessary quality control which killed the weed seeds and that was why the production of all the chick weed. Everyone was promised a replacement bag but it never eventuated because not long after, another company bought the business and said it wasn’t their responsibility. I think it was sold to several other businesses and I now think Yates have taken it over. See a brief history at: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/australia_innovates/?behaviour=view_article&Section_id=1000&article_id=10098

I sometimes use the Hortico version of Roundup as it still has the same amount of Glyphosate which is the active ingredient, however I would never buy Roundup; not because it isn’t an excellent product but because I couldn’t possibly support Monsanto (the company who makes it) which is a company which has caused so much harm to farmers around the world with their genetic modified seeds. Companies such as Syngenta, Bayer, Dow, and DuPont are doing similar things but on a much lesser scale. If you wonder what I’m raving on about read the article attached to the following links and you’ll understand: https://www.organicconsumers.org/news/seeds-evil-monsanto-and-genetic-engineering

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/09/monsanto-roundup-herbicide.aspx

The apricot seedling you found growing may just be some new “You Beaut” strain as I’ve read where apricot and peach seeds don’t come true to the parent and can vary greatly. Maybe a new strain of the future “Jean’s Super Apricot”.

You say your brom’s are looking a “a bit dull” after the wind and rain you’ve had, but I’ll bet they’re nothing like mine which have been trashed by the cold and are enough to make me want to give it all up and grow plastic flowers instead.

Brian – I hope your weather has been better than ours has or you might not have sufficient brom’s to fill your new shade house.

It looks like your experience with horse manure was similar to mine with a crook batch of Dynamic Lifter.

I have found quite a few of my Aechmeas have been bowled over by the cold this year, even plants of Ae. fasciata which haven’t been worried in the past. I knew that there are a lot that don’t handle the cold well, such as most plants with Ae. chantinii in the breeding and I’ve always kept clear of them for that reason, but fasciata has usually done well for me.

This could be the reason why your Ae. De Leon has succumbed to the cold also, as it’s a c.v. of Ae fasciata which is given as the seed parent. Don’t cut off any dead leaves just yet as they could give some protection to any new pups which could still emerge, but about the only thing you can do is to move it to a warmer and better protected area and hope it will pup.

That’s it for today

All the best, Nev.

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I have been away a lot of late, I seem to be saying that more than usual of late but it has just been a case of work/life being really busy in general with not much time left to relax in front of the computer in the evenings and on the weekends all I want to do is catch-up with my hubby and the girls and friends when we have the energy and of course also spend time playing in the garden as much as I can to keep all our plants looking happy and healthy.

The construction of our water feature is coming along well but I have not had time to take any new progress pics because it's normally too dark when I leave for work in the morning and same when I get home so I will ask Joe to take some fresh pics tomorrow of how it's progressing along.

I have no time tonight to read all the posts and respond but hope to do so either later in the week or on the weekend when hopefully I have more time up my sleeve.

I rang Mum on the way home from work today and she has the heater going and said it's been too cold to do much outside so she is sorting out all her photo albums at the moment until the weather pics up a bit. Also she asked me to hold off sending her the brom seeds Nev sent us until the weather warms up a bit and to hopefully achieve some better results with germination etc.

Anyway I must head off as have a bit of bookwork to do tonight otherwise I get behind on things which I want to avoid so doing a little every day really helps.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Neo. 'Canefire' - grown into a beautiful big plant.

Hi Everyone!

Just thought I would play catch-up on some missed posts from everyone while I am not too far behind.

Hi Nev nice picture of the Banded Rail, never seen one before but it is a cute little thing and nice that it likes spending time in your garden happily eating by the looks of things. That’s an amazing picture of your friends Dyckia brevifolia very happily growing and a magnificent specimen indeed that one is.

In response to your question about the water feature “what’s under the mesh”, is actually stainless steel reinforced rods and heshin under the chook wire. I will take some more pictures in the morning as since then it has been shock created all over and the pond has been sealed and the rock concrete structure is now underway and looking really good.

Hi Teresa hope your weather is on the improve so you can get out with Sugar and enjoy yourself; also hope your new job’s going well and that you are getting into the swing of things.

Hi Jean I used to luv growing Daffodils and Wattle when we lived in Victoria; your garden must be looking very beautiful with all the sunshine yellow around. You must have heaps in flower at the moment, how are your roses doing with the cold, sure you have them in a nice protected stop.

Hi Brian to suppress weeds my Igloo originally when I was battling but onion grass we dug out as much as we could then let the new shoots come up for a couple of weeks then hit them with roundup, then soon after we put down black plastic used as weed suppressant and then topped with red gravel; since doing so we have only had to spray a handful of new wees coming through but was a year ago and no further issues after that.

Anyway must fly as Joe needs the PC tonight and it’s time to put the kettle on before it gets too late.

Will hopefully finish catching up on missed posts tomorrow night if all goes well.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

it's been strange at work with my boss away sick... I am doing all the things he trained me to do but once I have those things done I am at a loose end.
I wish I could do more but until he gets back & gives me more training there are things piling up - although I suspect those things were piling up before I started as there wasn't anyone available to do them.
So I am sitting at my desk wishing for work to come in from the meter readers or stock transfers or purchase orders to do... and struggling not to fall asleep at my desk.

Nev - I haven't used carpet as a weed suppressant but have seen it used on council plantings along the road.

My Mum swears by a thick layer of wet newspaper.
She put it down under her weed mat & then the bark mulch on top & that garden has been weed free where the garden with just weed mat had couch grass coming up through it.

take care all - Teresa

Hi Everyone!

Yeah finally the weekend so very happy about that and got stuck into the housework when I got home to free up a bit of time over the weekend. Joe's done the mowing and some of the washing so that's great too.

Hi Teresa sounds like you are doing well at work but nothing worse than twiddling your thumbs if you have done all the stuff you have been trained to do and stuff's piling up that you have not received training on. I have been in similar situations before and use the spare time trying to teach myself the stuff I do not know as normally there is enough recent history around to work out the trend of how things got processed and just start with the easy one's that make perfect sense and anything I do not fully comprehend I would then leave to ask questions later; but I suppose that it is not that easy in some jobs. Are there any procedure you can sit and read to assist you in your role as sure that would help considerably?

Anyway just a quick drop in tonight; chat with you all over the weekend.

Take Care & Happy Gardening!

Trish

Pic 1 - Neo. 'Perfection'
Pic 2 - Neo. 'Dirty Gerty'
Pic 3 - Neo. NOID?
Pic 4 - Guzmania NOID? Large Grower?
Pic 5 - Neo. 'Manoa Beauty'

Hi everyone - It's not as cold here today and quite overcast with a forecast of rain for the next few days. After assessing the cold damage to my plants I've come to the conclusion that anything will be better than the cold, but then that's not including the possibility of heat waves which are a real possibility with the hot dry summer which the long range forecaster suggests.

Each winter I usually get the odd garden plant with a bit of cold spotting but this winter (which was the worst I can ever remember) the damage is much worse and I'm attaching a few pic's to show what I mean.

These plants were all under 75% beige shade cloth which I thought would have offered some protection. Even the plants in the garden came out of it better than the ones in the shade house, so I'll have to re-think my cultural methods and just what I'm doing wrong.

I did have one thought though and that is the changes I made to my benches; because a lot of the smaller pots kept toppling over on the mesh benches, I covered the mesh with "mini orb" which is galvanised iron sheeting with small corrugations. This solved the problem of them toppling over, but I'm now wondering if the reduced air circulation may be the cause of the cold damage.

The puzzling thing is though, that I did the same thing in another shade house and the plants there didn't get any cold damage and these shade houses are virtually side by side, so any suggestions are as usual, are gratefully received.

The only "upside" is (and we all know this) that most of these plants will survive by producing some pups, however that means I have longer to wait to get an adult plant.

After looking at my damaged plants I must say I’m feeling a bit “down” today and not really in the mood for a “brom chat” so I’ll just finish by saying thanks to Trish for the great pic’s as they do remind me there is probably still some light at the end of the tunnel.

All the best, Nev.

Hello everyone.
Its a bit overcast here again as we had light showers yesterday. The two days before that were sunny and a lot warmer. It is quite still outside with the wind not arrived yet.
That is what always makes it colder here, so hopefully no wind today at all.
Nev , how awful for oyu to have all that damage.
I am really surprised though , as I am much further south than you and even though my broms are half in the open and half under the eaves, they still get all the cold and frost on their side of the unit.
All the freezing wind comes right on them . so I was expecting to see damage like yours when I moved here.
As I have said, there is only aech La Tigra that has a burnt leaf.
Other bills are hanging with him, but show no damage and the few that sit under him in the open are undamaged too.
It does pose a question as to how conditions can be similar but show such different effects.

I think you may be right about the air circulation around those you had on that tin. It could also hold the cold a bit more around them as that sort of material does keep the cold and heat more concentrated, being a solid and not open substance.

Perhaps you spoil yours a bit more too....lol
Mine have had to contend with awful conditions since I first bought them as pups.
They probably think here is great after their home at the old house.
Maybe the cold is different between here and your area.
I know that will sound silly to some people but there are a lot of degrees of heat and cold , sometimes in the same area.
We used to get the same temps on the hill as were down in the town , but plants were affected differently.
Strange thing, weather....

I hope you can salvage pups from those damaged and later from those without any as yet. ..


Teresa, , nice to hear you are enjoying the new job and have time to acclimatise yourself. It sounds like you are trusted to occupy yourself , being left alone for a while.
Give the boss lady at home a pat from me.

Trish, I hope your Mum is getting a bit of the milder weather I have had here.
I never bother to follow weather elsewhere so have no idea of what it has been where she is.
I saw in the paper the other day about people remembering when it snowed right in Melbourne back in the 50s.
I clearly remember that. At the time I was living with my first husband and children in a block of flats in Flemington. You could see the snow falling and it did get on the ground, but melted quickly.
It was the only time I ever saw it there, but I am sure it has happened before.

Brian, is the shadehouse full yet. ?...lol
I hope your broms are looking okay there.

Busy today so I had better get myself ready to go out.
More old pics again. vrieseas... ensiformis, Bobby, Golden Medusa..

Take care and stay warm
Jean.

Nev - that is a shame about the cold damage to your plants.
I can see how it would be disheartening.

I have daffodils coming up alongside the hellebores & sweet violets carpeting the woodland corner.
Now I just need the temperatures to rise a bit more so I can get stuck in to pulling out the rampant chickweed & other weeds.

take care all
Teresa

Hi all,

Sensational day today, more like summer than the end of winter.

Nev, shame about the plants. I also have some damage and lost a Neo. Midnight and an Ae. DeLeon even though they were stuck in underneath the back of our house. I thought they would lose colour (which they did) but would not be damaged. Strange thing is of all the plants I put straight out into 2 x new gardens that cop all the winds and exposure only one has some spotting.

Teresa, I reckon the weed mat might stop most of the grasses and weeds getting through but the ones that do get through get tangled and it's harder to get them out.

Trish, your water feature looks big enough to convert into a pool. I like the Neo. ' Perfection' and ' Manoa Beauty' in your pics. Hope you enjoy your Sunday.

Jean, yeh I have started putting some plants in the shadehouse today, I thought there would be a lot more room and would struggle to fill it, but I can see it filling in no time. I see why you had 6 of them.

Pic 1. Neo. 'Sexy Pink'
Pic 2 Neo. ' Red River'
Pic 4 Neo. ' Sheba'
Pics 3 and 5 a part finished shadehouse. Better start looking around where to put the next one I suppose.

Brian



This message was edited Aug 22, 2015 11:11 PM

Brian - the weed mat was good on Mum's garden but as you say the weeds that make it though are harder to remove.
The thick layer of wet newspaper has done the trick to stop anything getting through.

Your broms are looking good in your pics.

It's been another lovely day here, finally started out 5 week course with a nice group of dogs & owners.
Looking forward to instructing this group.

take care all
Teresa