NEWS East London LETTER

Bromeliad Society November 2017 South Africa Established: 25 July 2009

Our aim is to promote and encourage awareness and interest in Bromeliads in East London and all of South Africa!

ELBS is an Affiliated Society of Bromeliad Society International

A super October meeting was held at the home of Val Nel and her daughter Caryn Dunlop in Vincent Heights. We had 28 members and 3 visitors join us to see Val’s lovely landscaped gardens at the front of the house and the back garden has loads of lovely bromeliads and interesting features while Caryn’s garden is more of a traditional garden with lovely lavenders, roses and creeper growing over an arch. Dr Pete Pfister did the honours of running the meeting this month as Dudley was not feeling well so he had a chance to chirp from the back benches for a change! Lyn Wegner also did a short talk on a bromeliad, which the committee would like to include as a topic in the meeting from time to time. There is always something new to learn.

Blooming Bromeliads Here are some of the super bromeliads Just part of the front of Val’s lovely Val Nel and her daughter Caryn Dunlop brought along to the October meeting by landscaped garden. who were our super hosts for the afternoon! Dr Pete Pfister, Brenda Wegner, Lyn Wegner and Dr Boots Horsfall, all showing off colour and form, plenty to discuss. It was pointed out for our newer members that it is a common misunderstanding that the entire spike that emerges from a bromeliad is thought to be the flower. The 'stalk' is referred to as the scape, or central stem, and it is the flowerless segment of the inflorescence. The attractive part is called the inflorescence and the actual flowers which are usually very small , sometimes insignificant, emerge from within the flower bracts at the top part of the

inflorescence.

Pete showed 3 stunning broms, Guzmania ‘Triumph’ which he got from Amalinda Nursery in March 2013. A lovely, big, red inflorescence. It took 4 years to flower… worth waiting for! To show a variation Pete’s Guzmania Theresa, left and Guzmania ‘Triumph’ Next Meeting: Annual Bring and Braai, BBB Surprise and Auction hosted by Bryan and Brenda Wegner on Sunday, 26 October at 19 Putney Ave, Nahoon Valley at 12.00 am.

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in size, next up was his Guzmania ‘Theresa’. A small, dainty Guzmania with an attractive small inflorescence. Pete also brought this stunning Aechmea left, the photo does not do it justice. Aechmea fendleri Red form DJC Caripe Venezuela '99. This is a big suitable for landscaping, it needs lots of space. I have 3 pups and 2 are blooming now. I now have 5 new pups! Very different colour leaves to the green form of Aechmea fendleri. Comment from Dennis Cathcart : This form of Ae. fendleri, was one that I, (DJC) collected near Caripe in the state of Monagas, Venezuela some years ago. This is the area famous for the large caves that are home to the Guacharos or Oil Birds. Lots of interesting there and this reddish leaved form of Ae. fendleri stood out so I collected a piece of it. Probably in the '90s.

Pete’s Aechmea fendleri Red form DJC Caripe ex Venezuela.

Brenda brought this lovely example of Nidularium innocentii var innocentii showing its white This stunning, unnamed Guzmania was flowers in the very centre of the shown by Brenda, also acquired from inflorescence. Amalinda Nursery a while back.

Lyn showed Goudaea (previously referred to as Vriesea) ospinae var gruberi ‘Smudge pattern’, above. This is one of my favourites! The foliage is so magnificent that I don’t need the flower, a branched yellow inflorescence. I have it grouped with all my Goudaea ospinae varieties in bright light. It gets no special attention, and is an easy grower. Lyn also showed Billbergia ‘Titan’, right. I bought this plant many years ago from Bird Rock Tropicals. I Googled it and found there are 2 forms. Mine is B. ‘Windii’ x brasiliensis , a Baker hybrid. The foliage colour is not very exciting but the large form and inflorescence make it an attractive billbergia. ‘Mora’ above right, a pretty dainty plant, a form of T. leiboldiana which was developed by Corn Bak of the Netherlands and registered in 2005. Mine has been rather neglected so I am pleased it is doing so well. It likes moisture so although it can be mounted (grown epiphytically) I prefer mine to be potted and grown in a shady spot. Boots brought along 3 of his . Boot’s Tillandsia blooming Tillandsia The always straminea showing the lovely Tillandsia straminea, with inflorescence and the its beautifully scented flowers, a tiny scented flowers.

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nice example of Tillandsia butzii and Tillandsia schiedeana , which can grow into a lovely ball. I think it looks like a ball of firecrackers at blooming time!

What Species is That? - Lyn Wegner I chose to talk about Goudaea ospinae var. ospinae which I thought was appropriate as we had a blooming Goudaea ospinae var. gruberi ‘Smudge Pattern’ at the meeting. (Photo on previous page.)

Goudaea ospinae Tillandsia schiedeana and right, T. butzii. var. ospinae was named by Harry Luther in 1983 in honour of Berta Ospina, a Columbian collector and horticulturist. They are found in the rain forest of Columbia, growing in semi-shade in clumps amongst rocks and boulders. They like shady humid conditions. The foliage improves with brighter light. They have a yellow flower spike and it is one of the few stem forming bromeliads. I find they get rather untidy as they can grow up to 1 meter, forming ‘branches’ along the stem and reach about 40cm in diameter. I remove these ‘branches’ by carefully pulling or cutting them from the main stem and then I pot them up. This form is smaller than the Goudaea ospinae var. gruberi Goudaea ospinae var. ospinae variety. The BSI Journal, Volume 66(2), which Brenda has in our library, has an excellent article on these Goudaea Goudaea ospinae var gruberi. by Peter Tristram from Australia. I was very lucky to hear this first hand as a presentation at the Sunnybroms Conference held in Australia in March this year.

Member News

• Welcome to our newest local members, Gordon and Vilma Murray and country member from Krugersdorp, Danie de Wit. May you all enjoy many years of fun and rewarding bromeliad times with the society! • Congratulations to our members, Larraine Parathyras, Dudley Reynolds and Elna Smit for opening their wonderful gardens for the Pam Golding Gardens of East London Garden Show this month. Well done to all three of you!

Thanks • Val Nel and Caryn Dunlop for hosting the October meeting at their home. • Val Nel, Betty Heunis, Irene Manthe and Maureen and Andre Eybers for eats for tea time. Nice to see Odette Degenaar at the • Lyn Wegner and Lynn Odendaal for Lucky Draw plants. meeting with Irene Manthe. • Dudley Reynolds for beautiful Cattleya blooms off one of his orchids as Lucky Draw items. • Pete Pfister for bringing a pile of Tillandsia give-aways for members to help themselves.

Congratulations to the October Raffle Winners • Malcolm Stoltz chose Neoregelia 'Candy Apple'. • Sue Pema chose Neoregelia ‘Lambert’s Pride’. • Eddie Black chose Neoregelia carcharodon ‘Silver’. • Pam Stoltz chose Neoregelia carolinae concentrica Eddie Black and Sue Pema Malcolm and Pam Stoltz

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'Blue Navy Blue'. • Christo van Wijk chose to have a discount on an order. • Norman and Hantie Weitz from Pretoria are still to choose their raffle plant. • Danie Taljaard from Cape Town is still to make his choice. • Deon Barnes from Randburg chose Aechmea orlandiana var. orlandiana x Canistrum seidelianum kindly donated by Richard King, one of his own hybrid creations.

From the Committee • After much discussion on the topic of supplying eats for tea time at the meetings, the committee has taken into consideration all the ideas that came forward from the floor at the last meeting. We have decided that as from January, tea will be R10.00 per person. Larraine Parathyras will purchase savoury and sweet items for eats. (By popular demand, what would life be without tea time!!!!!) Xenia Winther will collect the money for tea at the beginning of the meetings. So when you buy your raffle tickets from Lyn O, pay Xenia for tea too. Larraine will still send out a tea duty roster and those on duty are expected to assist with setting up the tea requirements, filling urn etc, cleaning away afterwards so that we leave our hosts home in some sort of order. • Don’t forget to prepare a bromeliad for your BBB (Black Bag Brom Surprise) for the end of year function which is a couple of weeks away! You can jolly it up a bit if you like!

Upcoming Society Events 26th November: SAVE THE DATE!!! You are invited to our annual social day and the last time we meet for the year. This function is for members and their partners and children. Hosted by Brenda and Bryan Wegner at 19 Putney Ave Nahoon Valley • We will have a Bring and Braai and meet at 12 o’clock, not our usual 2pm. • PLEASE BRING: A chair/s, your meat, braai tongs, plates, pudding bowls, cutlery, glasses and your drinks. The fires, paper plates (if you require them), salads, rolls and fun will be provided. • There will be the traditional BBB Surprise Lucky Dip!! (Black Bag Brom Surprise). In order to participate, you need to bring a bromeliad wrapped in a black bag, so it cannot be seen, they will all be put together and you will have a chance to choose a lucky BBB Surprise and go home with a bromeliad for your garden. • There will also be a fun auction, so bring plants or anything garden related you wish to donate to put up for auction to raise funds towards the purchase of a projector to use at the meetings. This is always loads of fun!

January 2018: Our first meeting for the new year will be hosted by Elna Smit at 15 Hart Street, in Gonubie at 2 pm. Don’t forget to bring your chair if you want a seat. This will be one of the open gardens on the Pam Golding Gardens of East London Show. February: Esther Botha, Elna’s twin sister who lives on a farm, Adelsicht Farm 1337 Schafli road Chintsa. March: Elna Smit’s farm garden, Kransig Farm Upper Kwelega. April : A visit and presentation by David Fell from Hawaii! Still to be confirmed.

BSI Matters - Lyn Wegner The BSI (Bromeliad Society International) Board meets annually and the 2017 Board meeting was held on Saturday 21st October at the Southwest Bromeliad Guild Annual Show and Sale and the Cryptanthus Society Biennial Show which was held in Dallas, Texas. The BSI Journal will have an article and photos on this event in an upcoming issue. I unfortunately was unable to travel to the US for the meeting so Rick Ryals, the Vice President, chaired the meeting in my absence. Six Board members, all unable to be present in Dallas, participated in the meeting via Skype. These members were from Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, US and of course South Africa! It was a constructive meeting with my Skype session starting just before 4 on Saturday afternoon and ending a little after midnight! Skype is truly amazing!

Upcoming International Conferences 2018: World Bromeliad Conference to be held in San Diego, California from 29 May to 3 June 2018. Check out the Conference Corner at bsi.org for more information. This will be the third WBC that will be held in San Diego, California. Registration for the 2018 conference has already begun. If you are interested in going, contact Lyn Wegner for more information.

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2019: ‘Golden Broms’ 17-20 October 2019 Hosted by the Gold Coast Succulent and Bromeliad Society Inc. at the Sea World Resort on the Gold Coast. This will be the 20th Australasian Bromeliad Conference. For contact information go to the conference website at www.goldenbroms.com

2021: The New Zealand Bromeliad Society has recently confirmed that they will be hosting the bi-annual Australasian Bromeliad Conference again in 2021.

From the Members

Left: Japie Esterhuysen from Cape Town: I want to share this impressive Billbergia with its flower with you! First of the helicoid Billbergia that I asked Lyn to import for me. Billbergia stenopetela . B: Stunning Japie!!! Thanks for sharing.

Right: Local member Michael Mclaren with his stunning Neoregelia ‘Bobby Hull’ x ‘Silver’ which he has been nurturing for about 2 years. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade.

Left: on our last visit to Lyn Wegner ’s stunning garden and collection of plants we were blown away by this stunning xVriecantarea ‘Seeger’ in all its glory in the garden. Of course Eddie had to have one! Lyn says this just has to be an ‘oh my gosh’ plant! Super spectacular! I have been watching the flower spike developing with great interest. It’s so exciting when you don’t know what to expect. I purposely don’t look for a picture before my plants bloom as I enjoy the whole process, from the very early stages. It’s amazing how long it takes before actual flowering takes place. The colour contrast of the red scape (stalk) and the bright yellow branched ‘paddles’ (bracts?) are stunning. It has reached 1 meter in height to date. It is growing in a pot, receives some afternoon sun and is doing very well. The foliage is an attractive reddish colour. For more info go into bsi.org and then click on the BCR, Bromeliad Cultivar Register. Scroll down the genera on the left hand side of your screen until you come across xVriecantarea.

Barbs: I am appealing to all those members who received seed that was very kindly sent to us by Rob Murray in Australia in October 2016. As promised, you need to provide some feedback. A year later, how did your seed germinate and get growing, did you experience any problems? We know that the Alcantarea ‘Devine Plum’ did not germinate. Please let me know how it went and send photos so we can give Rob some feedback. I hope it was a learning experience for all of you. Many thanks.

From the Editor What a lovely ‘almost’ end to the year, everything is finally starting to green up for summer. We have lots of Aechmea and especially A. blanchetiana blooming in our garden now. They make stunning landscape plants if you have the space. Neoregelia are colouring up nicely too. The few scorching days have been a bit scary and the lack of rain is becoming a really big concern. Folks are reluctant to water as there are restrictions and punitive tariffs if you go over a certain amount. This is one time I really regret having such a huge garden, the responsibility to keep all the babies hydrated and happy is quite a chore at Getting ready for summer, some of A welcome recent visitor, Dawid the best of times and then there are all the our Aechmea blanchetiana Botha from Port Elizabeth who other shrubs, groundcovers and plants too and blooming for the first time, taken a arrived with his wife and parents-in- we must mention all the hanging baskets as few years. Nice big, colourful, spiky law to see our garden . bromeliads if you have the space.

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well. We may ask ourselves, when is enough…. enough? Well if you have the collectors gene, you are done for, there is never enough. But I do know now, that the longer you have collected bromeliads the more selective you become, you have plants that you really enjoy growing and some just blow you away with their stunning appearance and in some cases, quirky growth habits and you just have to have them! So ours are mostly all happy and ‘blooming wonderful’ and rewarding right now! I am sure yours are too!

Thank you to the committee and ALL of the members who support the society in so many different ways throughout the year, without you it would not be the happy gathering that it is. It is so good to share and learn together and as always, any suggestions about topics for meetings or any ideas that you have for the new year to come, do tell one of the committee members. Maybe you would like to share your bromeliad journey with the members too?? We do want to provide relevant and interesting topics for discussion at meetings.

It has not been an easy year for many of us, I find reflecting on how far you have come really helpful, count your blessings in life and be proactive about what you need to do for yourself to be happy and fulfilled in whatever it is you are seeking. We are all so unique; it will mean something different to each and every one of you.

As this is the last newsletter for 2017 I wish you all a very early Happy Christmas Season, doing what brings you peace, joy and restoration with family and friends who mean the world to you. Be safe and take good care of yourselves and each other. May 2018 be a good year and I hope your endeavours bear fruit and your plans for the future run smoothly. We hope to see you all at the end of year Bring and Braai for some fun and relaxation! Brommy blessings to you all, far and wide!

This is a publication for the East London Bromeliad Society, South Africa for the interest of its members. Articles may be used by non profit societies with acknowledgement to the author where applicable and East London Bromeliad Society South Africa. Please use the photos that accompany the article used. If you require higher resolution photos please request them from the Editor.

Any opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the Society. When submitting items for inclusion in this newsletter, please ensure that all information, including spelling is checked and accurate.

ELBS is an affiliate of the Bromeliad Society International.

ELBS Address: c/o 18 Wentworth Road, Sunnyridge, East London 5201 South Africa, [email protected]

We meet on the last Sunday of every month, January to November, at various venues around East London. We have a topic for each meeting and Show and Tell where members are encouraged to bring along their brag or problem plants. There are member raffles, lucky draws for those present, tea time, library and member plant sales, plus a monthly newsletter sent out via e-mail only. Visitors are always welcome and can attend three meetings before they will need to join the society in order to continue attending. Annual subs are R120.00 for individuals/families and R60 for students.

Committee Members Chairman: Dudley Reynolds 079 488 2360 [email protected] Vice- Chairman: Dr Peter Pfister 082 625 5533 [email protected] PRO & Secretary: Lyn Wegner 043 736 1737 082 970 2293 [email protected] Treasurer: Lynn Friend 043 748 2271 083 318 1179 [email protected] Editor & Publisher: Barbara Black 043 7212775 O72 1787 421 [email protected] Proof Reader: Lyn Wegner 043 736 1737 082 970 2293 [email protected] Raffles: Lyn Odendaal 043 726 1075 083 441 6813 [email protected] Librarian: Brenda Wegner 082 743 2141 [email protected] Catering Co-ordinators: Eddie Black and 043 7212775 082 5505 347 [email protected] Larraine Parathyras 043 726 3167 082 594 4559 [email protected] Events Co-ordinator: Brenda Wegner 082 743 2141 [email protected] Additional member: Betty Heunis 073 226 1610 [email protected]

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Peter Cook from Sunnybroms (Australia) has very kindly created a link to ELBS newsletters on their web page. https://bromeliadnewsletters.wordpress.com/east-london-south-africa/ You can access: • All the back copies of the 2016 and 2017 ELBS Newsletters • The first of the BSI BCR changes and cultivar changes generated via DNA studies complied by Derek Butcher the BSI Cultivar Registrar.

You will find ELBS on Facebook: [email protected] or type ‘East London Bromeliad Society’ into the fb search bar. You can request to join the group and will then be able to upload your photos and comments on the wall. The ELBS SA page and other bromeliad related sites are becoming a useful and informative forum to share and ‘meet up’ with other like-minded bromeliad folks. There are also many other bromeliad related sites that you can join and become part of a world wide online sharing environment.

You can view most of all the bromeliads mentioned in meetings or in the newsletter at the following websites:

The BSI’s official Bromeliad Cultivar Registry www.registry.bsi.org which is maintained by Geoff Lawn, the BSI Cultivar Registrar. Plus other information regarding the Bromeliad Society International is found at bsi.org

Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies: fcbs.org This is a very useful site to reference many bromeliads where you can clarify identification or just trawl through the site and add to your wish list!

Encyclopedia of Bromeliads - http://bromelia.club (Bromeliad Taxonomists and Growers Society) has photographs. It also now has keys for the genera and sub-genera. If you like to be informed what is happening, just follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bromeliadsencyclopedia Just type in ‘Encyclopeadia of Bromeliads’ into the Facebook search bar.

For internet resources you can also go to TAXON (The New Bromeliad List) for the most authoritative and right up to date list of genera and species, accepted and new names and taxonomic keys - http:// botu07.bio.uu.nl/bcg/taxonList.php or just type in ‘ New Bromeliad Taxon List’ , it's much easier!

Photo Credits: Barbara Black, Lyn Wegner, Japie Esterhuysen, Zena McLaren

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