Bromelcairns

Bimonthly Newsletter of Cairns Bromeliad Societ Inc. 2014 # 2 P.O. Box 28 Cairns Queensland 4870 Austalia

President Bob Hudson 0740533913 V-President Brendan Leishman 0740578604 Secretary Dave Weston 0740578604 Treasurer Lesley Hepburn 0488788892 Librarian Steven French 0740322283 Editor Lynn Hudson 0740533913 Editor Assist. Gail Taifalos 0740392787 Member Concierge Nalda Wilson 0740544825 Pop. Vote Steward Lynn Hudson 0740533913 OIC Raffles Karen Stevens 0740361086 Honorary Life Member - Grace Goode O.A.M. Honorary Life Member - Kay Edington Life Member - Lynn Hudson Life Member - Robert (Bob) Hudson ******************************************************************** Aims of the Society Promote and Develop Interest in Bromeliads through Friendship To Co-operate with similar Clubs throughout the World ******************************************************************** Membership Fee: $15 Single, $25 Family, Country Member $25. $7.50 junior (if not in family membership) Meetings start at 1.pm sharp first Saturday of the month. Please bring a cup and a chair. Library: All books & magazines borrowed are to be returned in good order to the following meeting. If not on wait list, they may be rebooked. Display/Sales: To participate, a member must be financial and circumstances permitting, have attended at least three meetings in the past six months. Where the society is charged a stall fee - 20% of sales are deducted for club funds. No charge venue & meetings - 10% of sales is deducted. All to be clean, free of disease, named and price tagged. Show Plants: Must be the property of and in the custody of the entrant for the past three months. For Society Shows the entrant must be financial and have attended at least three meetings during the past six months. Pens, Plant Tags & Pots: available at each meeting. If reprinting article, wholly or in part, please acknowledge Author & Newsletter. Any article &/or Bromelcairns will be Emailed on request to [email protected] Previous issues are on my website www.bromeliadsdownunder.wordpress.com 2

Club Actvites & Around te Members MARCH: We have four new members. Welcome back Brett Stone after a 15 year break! Welcome to Cathy Graham [introduced by Karen Stevens] plus Jodie Smith and Matt Wilson who have recently moved to our beautiful area. We know you each will enjoy our company and learn heaps. Notes from Frances: Our meeting was very well attended on a rainy Saturday afternoon. We were lucky to have Alan Phythian as guest speaker and it was good to meet the ever happy Dorothy. Alans’ very interesting talk and slide show was on hybridising vriesias. More on page 3. The Popular Vote choices were so very difficult to decide. The quality of the bromeliads, and in particular the cryptanthus, was most impressive and the show of flowering plants was stunning. From the large and beautiful such as the jalisco monticola and Tillandsia fasciculata hybrid, both of which were very large well-formed grey plants with tall pink flower spikes. At the other end of the scale were the very small-flowered plants such as Fosterella villosula, with its unusual fine red multi-branched stalk with minute white flowers along the branches; Tillandsia complanata with 4-5 small red flower spears emerging on fine stems from separate leaf axils, and the tiny perfect aromatic yellow flower of Tillandsia crocata, Gail had cutely tagged “Smell Me”. Members were obedient - it must have been sniffed out by 4pm! Paul Venturi’s very healthy Orthophytum “Warren Loose” in a ceramic vase was also a standout with two flowering inflorescences. * Frances showed a pot of Tillandsia cyanea with four pink paddles and purple flowers. * It was excellent to have Novice entries, keep it up Janie and Cathy.

MINI SHOW – Flowering !! ! ! 1st Tillandsia fasciculata var. densispica – Dave Weston > 2nd Tillandsia jalisco-monticola – Marguerite Sexton 3rd. ‘Captain Moxley’ - Steven French POPULAR VOTE: NOVICE Bromeliad 1st Neoregelia ‘De Rolf’- Janie O’Brien 2nd. hybrid – Cathy Graham OPEN - Bromeliad 1st Neoregelia ‘Leopard’– Darryl Lister 2nd. Neoregelia ‘Captain Moxley’ - Steven French 3rd. Orthophytum ‘Warren Loose’ – Paul Venturi Cryptanthus 1st Cryptanthus ‘Strawberries Flambe’ – John Mark 2nd Cryptanthus ‘San Juan’– Lynn Hudson 3rd Cryptanthus zonatus – Marguerite Sexton Tillandsia 1st Tillandsia jalisco-monticola – Marguerite Sexton 2nd..Tillandsia fasciculata hybrid - Dave Weston 3rd. Tillandsia cyanea – Frances Boyd Tillandsia cyanea 3 More from Frances Boyd: I answered wrongly when asked how much sun my Tillandsia cyanea is receiving. At this time of the year with the midday sun overhead, it is getting very little direct sun because it is under extremely high tree ferns, it receives dappled sun at summer midday. [Ed. Placing our plants to suit summertime is a good idea - as we are closer to the equator the sun rises more north easterly in summer. Another advantage of growing them in pots is that we can easily move them around.] 1st of March means summer is over! Hooray. I think we all agree that it hasn’t been too bad this year, some days boiling hot and very humid, but overall cooler. Time now to get down to the weeding, pruning, and plant separating despite the showers and the mosquitoes. [Frances, in November every year, I remind you all of what John Catlan said, “When it is raining and humid it is good rooting weather”. Ed.] There are valuable lessons to be learned from Lynn, who judges the mini shows: * Do not overpot. Plants that are over potted first expend their energy trying to attach roots to the sides of the pot before they start to grow. * Position the plant high in the pot to allow them to aerate well as this helps prevent rot. For the same reason remove dead leaves. Comments on Guest Speaker’s presentation: Alan said his initial desire was to create “white” vriesias. He favoured Vriesias fosteriana, ‘Red Chestnut’, ‘Angela’, ‘Snows of Mauna Kea’ and ‘Squiggles’ as parents, with singular success. The audience Oh’d and Ah’d as they saw slides of plants Alan has bred. It showed Alan’s breakthrough into a series of phenomenally beautiful pink plants, some infused with lime or cream. Many are named, you will be able to tell which are his progeny as in most he has prefixed the hybrid name with ‘Maroochy’, for example Vriesia ‘Maroochy Mother of Pearl’. Alan warned that full colour does not develop until the plant is more mature. He laughs at himself for including a seedling of Vriesia ‘Maroochy Inferno’ with each Ebay sale - they grew to a gloriously darker and stronger pink plant than he expected! He is also philosophical and kind-hearted about being persuaded to sell a plant with hair pups to a customer who promised to return a pup if he could grow them. The customer returned a pup - charging Alan $15. [I have heard of this happening locally at a much higher charge! Ed] The customer subsequently sold a plant for over $900 and another for $300. Alan covered pollination, discussing all-night vigils as plants become receptive anywhere between 8pm and 3am. A mate said, “Why don’t ya put them in a dark shed?” - lo and behold it worked, making life much easier for Alan. Alan also uses a straw that he slips over the stigma to avoid contamination by unwanted pollen. Alan brought up some of plants for sale, and very kindly donated several for our raffle. This was a very much appreciated. Interesting information and tips emerged during question time: * The term “RHS” in some crosses means Royal Hawaiian Series: the mix of seed as a result of a paper bag of seed stored for over six months, by a Hawaiian friend, exploding. * Alan sprinkles ground cinnamon into cleaned cups of plants affected by Phytophora cinnamomi fungal rot. * Fertilising brings plants into flower. * Alan uses a plant mix of fly ash, pine bark and crumbled Styrofoam. * Removal of the flower spike will encourage extra pup production from the plant, particularly if done at the start of flowering (heart rending). The plant then secretes a hormone that triggers offset growth. !!!!!!! 4 Vr. ʻMaroochy Infernoʻ Vr. ʻMaroochy Superb Pinkʼ

Vr. Maroochy ʻWinter Snowʻ MY THOUGHTS ON HYBRIDISING VRIESEAS by Alan Phythian In 1996 I self-pollinated a Vr. ‘Red Chestnut’ as I had a brainwave to try to reverse the colouring in it and this started my interest in hybridising vrieseas. Previously I had some success with Cattleya Orchids. At the 2006 Tillnut Conference Peter Tristram gave a talk on the losses he experienced in quarantine when importing plants into Australia. I suggested we should try to create hybrids here in Australia. Olive Trevor and Cheryl Basic were there and they both said I could use their plants if I wished to try it, then Bob Larnach and Jack Koning were also a great help. I have never believed that you should cross two plants together just because they are both out in flower - you should set yourself a target of what you want to achieve and work towards that. Study photos of the hybrids and what is more important, their breeding, that will give you some idea of what plants are dominant and which are recessive. My early pitfall was with Vr. hieroglyphica the plant I tried to use first. Although a beautiful plant it was not fertile this I believe was a result of the Europeans crossing diploid plants with tetraploid plants as is done with most guzmanias. Diploid or 2n plants have 2 sets of chromosomes which determine the characteristics of plants and any future progeny and is the normal setup with plants found in the wild. Tetraploid or 4n have 4 sets of chromosomes and because of their doubled number they assert double the influence that a normal diploid plant would. They give larger flowers and wider leaves but in most cases are slower growers. Tetraploidy can occur in tissue cultured plants or seed and seedlings that have been treated with a chemical called Colchicine. Triploid or 3n is the result of crossing a diploid plant with a tetraploid plant and in most cases the resulting plants are sterile but generally they flower better and grow faster After selecting the parents you want to use you then get begin the cross pollination. This is another area on which I have strong views. Vrieseas flower mostly at night some early some late, I always cover the stigma with a short piece of drinking straw (about 3cm) when the flowers first open and remove the 6 pollen anthers while the pollen is still wet. This helps stop any unwanted pollen getting on to the stigma. I always try to use older pollen, so I have a pollen bank that I store in the bottom of the fridge. This insures that the pollen is good and dry to use when the stigma is ready to accept it. It then travels down from the stigma to the ovary via the three styles which contains the pollen tubes - though the three styles might only measure about 1mm across they contain about 50 pollen tubes this is why you can get about 50 seeds in each of the 3 sections of the seed pod! !!!!!!! 5 This seems like lots of trouble to go to but it insures that you are using the pollen you want to use. I have been told on many occasions “Oh I get up early in the morning and the flowers are still open so I do it then.” To my way of thinking how do you know that an has not pollinated it during the night or the pollen tubes have been damaged, thus you do not know for sure what the true pollen parent is if you do get seed. The seed pod will mature in about 9 to12 months you can tell when it is ready, it starts to split and it is best to gather it then because if you leave it go till it split right open the seed will blow everywhere. For those of you who wish to try to grow seedlings an easy method is to use the tall round plastic takeaway container fill to about 30 to 35cm with fine coconut peat. Sterilise it with boiling water when cool spread seed on top. I then spray the seed with a mixture of 1 Milton tablet to 1 litre of water, pour off excess water and put on the lid. If a fungus appears just spray it with the Milton mix and pour off the excess water. The seed should germinate in 3 to 4 weeks and then it will take about 12months to get to about 20mm high and you can then transplant them into community pots. (See ‘Bromelcairns’ 2012#4 Page 8 ‘Red Chestnut’ by Alan Phythian)

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Club Actvites & Around te Members APRIL: Bob was in Darwin for a society learning weekend - Brendan was Vice President, President and still remembered to take plant pictures! Lesley was sick so Dave wore two hats, Secretary & Treasurer. They did an excellent job, the meeting flowed without hitch. * Dave also gave us an interesting data presentation on landscaping, notes on p.8. * We have another new member who has been steadily collecting bromeliads - welcome Paulette Threadingham and congratulations on your first Novice entry and win! * We had two visitors, maybe they will again join us in May, we hope so. * , vriesea and guzmania were the Mini Show, wow! Talk about soul food and green eyes!! What we lacked in number, we certainly made up for in quality! The large var. seideliana, Werauhia kupperiana and Vriesea ‘Galaxy’ had no grasshopper holes! Darryl showed the tall flamboyant Guzmania wittmackii and his hybrid Vriesea (intermedia x ‘Purple Cockatoo’). Darryl also entered the tiny Werauhia marnier-lapostollei, showing the differing size range in the genera. * There was one beautiful fat Tillandsia ehlersiana, grey and scurfy - what a standout! Well done Sharron, it will only get better & we want to see it again. MINI SHOW Guzmania wittmackii - Darryl Lister Vriesea 1st. Vriesea gigantea var seideliana – Brendan Leishman 2nd. Vriesea ‘Galaxy’ - Steven French > > > > > 3rd. Vriesea’ (intermedia x ‘Purple Cockatoo’) Werauhia 1st. Werauhia kupperiana – Dave Weston 2nd Werauhia marnier-lapostelli - Darryl Lister POPULAR VOTE: NOVICE Bromeliad 1st Billbergia hybrid – Paulette Threadingham 2nd Neoregelia cruenta green form - Cathy Graham OPEN - Bromeliad 1st Werauhia kupperiana – Dave Weston 2nd. Neoregelia ‘De Rolf’ - Steven French 3rd. Vriesea gigantea var seideliana – Brendan Leishman Cryptanthus 1st Cryptanthus ‘Larry Giroux’ – Lynn Hudson 2nd Cryptanthus ‘Volcano’ – Dave Weston 3rd Cryptanthus ‘Imposter Red’ – Sharron Miller 3rd. Cryptanthus acaulis variegated - Brendan Leishman Tillandsia 1st Tillandsia ehlersiana – Sharron Miller > > > > > 2nd..Tillandsia fasciculata var. densispica - Dave Weston rd 3 . Tillandsia ionantha ‘Tall Velvet’ – Brendan Leishman

Vriesea (intermedia x

! ! ! ! Red ! Cockatoo) >

Guzmania wittmackii v

Neoregelia ʻDe Rolfʼ

Till. ‘Tall Velvet‘ Crypt.acaulis variegated

Werauhia kupperiana Vriesea gigantea var. seideliana These three plants have completely differing textures - kupperiana leaves are mosaic patterned, stiff, laccatus, the sides turn under and the tip becomes apiculate. V. gigantea leaves are lined and checkerboard patterned, is softer, not as shiny & the tip flamboyantly flips up. V. saundersii has recurved leaves that look like dull velvet and feel like cardboard. The leaves have red spottings underneath and carry this to their hybrids. Sharron grew this beauty. The first two grow to a width of over a metre, the last to 30cm across. 8

Landscaping - notes from April Meeting by Dave Weston “Landscape: extensive piece of inland scenery seen from one place.” Collins What is Landscape? It all depends on the scale context and what you want to achieve, it depends on where you stand and how you as the landscaper envisage the end result. For the home gardener, some people will be able to clearly conceptualize how they intend their garden to look when complete, whereas others will need to see the design as a plan or drawing - how the garden will appear when constructed. Others may choose to engage the services of a Landscape Architect. Maintenance - how much time do you have for maintaining the garden? Do you garden because it is something you enjoy? There is little sense in having a high maintenance garden if it is a drudge for you to keep in order. With a new garden there a few points to consider: * Nearly every new garden will have large areas exposed to full sun. It may be necessary to provide temporary shade, such as fast growing sacrificial plantings which can be gradually removed as the main landscape planting develops; or temporary shade structures which can be removed during the cooler part of the year once your plants have had an opportunity to establish and harden up. The same principal applies in cold areas prone to frosts. * Determine the usage, functions or purpose of the various parts of your garden. Outdoor entertainment areas, around the patio / BBQ. Recreation areas, pool surrounds Utility areas, clothes drying, garden compost corner, storage area. Street scape presentation Every landscape should have preset clear objectives Is there a structural component that I want to draw the eye to or accentuate as a feature? Is there some part of the existing landscape that I would prefer people did not see? Do I need to create some privacy or places where I can seek solitude? Do I need to be able to have a view of the pool area from inside the house? Elements of Landscape Design Once you have determined your landscape objectives you can start to think about the landscape elements required to meet those objectives. The elements may be hard structures such as screens, walls, large ornaments and soft elements such as plants. Commonly, a combination of both will be used. Unless you have a penchant for disorder and chaos in your garden it is a good idea to adhere to few basic principles. Use the taller growing plants towards the back and sides of the design and keep feature plants to a few specimens. Keep the design layout simple and avoid trying to incorporate every plant you take a fancy to.

9 BROMELIADS AS LANDSCAPE COMPONENTS As bromeliad growers and fanciers, bromeliads have certain features and characteristics which we may like to incorporate into our landscape designs. Structural form - bromeliads usually form symmetrical rosettes of foliage, and some are tall, others short and therefore can be used to advantage in the landscape. Alcantareas lend themselves to being used as feature plants or to create an avenue effect. They are generally proportionally wider than taller and can provide a look of stability. Singular specimens create a reference point to draw the eye. When used as avenue plants, they emphasize a feature or structural element within the landscape. Billbergias, particularly the larger such as Billbergia brasiliensis can provide a vertical element with their tall tubular form of growth. Bromeliads In The Home Garden The majority of residential homes these days are on relatively small lots, mainly flat and with poor drainage. As we know bromeliads will not tolerate heavy soil and waterlogged conditions, however we can overcome this by providing raised planting areas. While bromeliads do not need a great depth of planting media, we must maintain good drainage. Another advantage in raising the planting level is that it provides us an opportunity to create a sculptured effect with the landscape design. We can incorporate hard elements such as large rocks and weathered timber to provide elements of a natural landscape. Bromeliads such as neoregelia, billbergia and many aechmea are amenable to being left in the pots in which they were acquired. This allows us to easily remove plants from the garden when they are past their best and also facilitates fast garden make overs. Common Limitations on Using Bromeliads in the Landscape Water Availability In Cairns region we usually have water in abundance. In dry periods it is not too onerous to supplement with an irrigation system or for the small domestic garden, by hand watering. Most bromeliads can cope during dry periods with a small amount of water. Light frequent applications will generally suffice for the tank types and the epiphytic ones. The terrestrial types are more drought hardy, deep watering should be applied when these show obvious signs of stress such as foliage wrinkling and shrinkage. Sun Exposure Sun tolerance is much more problematic than the availability of water. Long periods of overcast and wet weather followed by the wrath of clear sunny summer days can wreak disaster upon the foliage of many bromeliads; even those grown all their lives in our all day sun. Trial and error can be heartbreaking and plant wrecking. Place plants out in May to adjust through our winter. Consider the placement of the plant, plus selecting proven and appropriate sun tolerant plants is for the best result.

!!!!!!! 10 Some Sun Tolerant Bromeliads For The Cairns Region !! Aechmea Hohenbergia angustifolia, aquilega, extensa castellanosii blanchetiana, callichroma, geniculata catingae & varieties distichantha, eurycorymbus imperialis flava fosteriana & cultivars odorata leopoldo-horsti longifolia, mariae-reginae, vinicolor vestita nudicaulis, phanerophlebia, Androlepsis Neoregelia pineliana, purpureorosea, skinneri & cultivars carcharodon types Billbergia orlandiana & cultivars concentrica recurvata & cultivars brasiliensis, rosea cruenta types, compacta vallerandii (was beeriana) zebrina kautskyi, olens, Portea Canistrum pascoaliana, zonata alatisepala fosterianum & cultivars petropolitana & varieties seidelianum & cultivars Orthophytum Ananas triangulare most species comosus & cultivars Dyckia most Puya Hechtia most most species

**************************************************************************************** Australia’s weather season: Summer: December to February. Autumn: March to May

Winter: June to August. Spring: September to November **************************************************************************************** From Rei

Q. What's the Cuban National Anthem? A. Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Q. Where does an Irish family go on vacation? A.!A different bar. Q. What did a Chinese couple name their tan curly-haired baby? A. Sum Ting Wong!! Q. What do you call it when an Italian has one arm shorter than the other? A. A speech impediment. Q.!Why aren't there any Puerto Ricans on Star Trek ? A.!Because they're not going to work in the future either.

Q.!What's the difference between a southern zoo and a northern zoo? A.!The southern zoo has a description of the animal along with a recipe. Q.!What's the difference between a northern fairytale and a southern fairytale???

A.!Northern fairytale begins, ...'Once upon a time...' !!Southern fairytale begins, ... 'Y'all ain't gonna believe this shit.' Q. Why doesn't Mexico have an Olympic team? A.!Because all the Mexicans who can run, jump or swim are already in the United States. From George Stamatis. How true it is.

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The weight of all ants on Earth is about the same as the combined weight of all humans

!!!!!! TRUTHS * How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet? *Bad decisions make good stories. * I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. * There is great need for a sarcasm font. * Was learning cursive really necessary? * The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important. (Girls.....Quit Laughing) Nothing just happens or just gets done, Someone has to make it happen or do it.

Hudson ’s Bromeliads Down Under Bromeliads & Tilandsias Bob & Lynn Hudson ABN 66 951 932 976 47 Boden St. Edge Hill Cairns Phone: (07) 40533 913 Bob Hudson [email protected] Lynn [email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Bromeliads in Paradise” Honolulu 8-14 Septmber 2014 Information & Registration Form - http://www.bsi.org/events/2014/2014_Registration_Form.pdf Learn from the Best * Enjoy Time with Old Friends * Make New Friends * Buy Amazing Plants ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cairns Lovebirds - bred by Karen Stvens !!!!!!! 6 Alabama Street, Whiterock, Qld 4868 Phone 0419021302 [email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “ Bloomin Broms” 2014 - June 7t & 8t

! Cominos House, cnr. Litle & Greenslopes St., Edge Hil !! Good Company, Intrestng Speakers, Great Plants. Chris Larson of Oakleigh Vic. & Nigel Tomson of Dandaloo Valey Qld. Seminars Saturday & Sales for Registants. Sunday sales t Public.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Bromeliad Cultvaton Nots” by Lynn Hudson A little ‘how to’ book. Cultivation made easy. Basics in language anyone can follow.

“Bromeliads Under te Mango Tree” by John Catlan A ‘must have’ book to help you think and grow your bromeliads better. Both available in bulk at reduced price. Contact Lynn on 07 40533913 or [email protected]