Bromelcairns Bimonthly Newsletter of Cairns Bromeliad Societ Inc. 2015 # 1 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. Jodie Smith 0405022155 Member Concierge Sharon Miller 0740322283 Pop. Vote Steward Lynn Hudson 0740533913 OIC Pots Frances Boyd 0740552550 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] or [email protected] c

Presidents Report for 2014 Here we are at another AGM for our great little Society which is envied by many. We gained five new members and I do hope they are enjoying our meetings. Our new meeting venue is proving to be an advantage as we have seen interesting slide shows on different topics. It is good to see the topics as well as talking about them. Our many learning segments are proving to be rewarding to you our members and it shows in the plants you are grow and bring to our meetings and shows. I would like to thank the committee for their hard work during the past year. I thank all who entered plants in the Mini Shows and Popular Vote sections of the meetings and congratulations to the winners. I would like to see more members contribute. By showing your plants other members learn - not only the plant beauty, but also your cultivation methods and some of the available plants from the vast range of the bromeliad family. The raffle table just keeps getting bigger as you as members are bringing in great prizes. The Blooming Broms weekend was a great success and I do hope you all support and enjoy the next one in June. With your support this year will be better than the last. Bob Hudson President ****************************************************************************************

Tank You Nalda for being our Concierge for te past four years. You have done a good job and at tmes I know you were far fom wel. Tank You Gail for being a wonderfl help t me as Assist. Editr. We do appreciat te efforts of our volunters, witout whom we would have no societ. Welcome t new commitee members - Sharron as Concierge Jodie as Assit. Editr and Frances as ‘Pot Lady’. Tank You for Ae. vallerandii Ae.’King Brown’ voluntering t do tese dutes I am sure you wil each enjoy your roles. Dave & Brendan have contnued t arrive early and start seting up, Bren has been our photgrapher, providing pictures of your plants t show te world. Steven has lugged te Library Books in each meetng - how many did you take out last year? Karen is stl adept at seling raffle tckets and Bob can stl lift heavy tings and tt te never ending. Tank You t Each of You fom Al of Us. Lynn. 3 Club Actvites & Around te Members FEBRUARY: The AGM went smoothly with Sharron acting as President for the election of committee. All present agree she did an excellent job but she refused to be our permanent President. Numbers were down as it was very wet *New Members: Jo & Glenn attended their first meeting and went home with new plants. Welcome to our happy clan, we know you will enjoy learning with us. * From Jodie: Bob said he would show the members gardens at the March meeting. He said the pictures would demonstrate the range of challenges we each face as collectors/gardeners and how we deal with them. It is not a competition but a learning experience where we can all benefit from others successes/failures

* There were dyckia, neoregelias and entered in the mini show.

MINI SHOW - Favourite Bromeliad 1st Dyckia goehringii - Dave Weston >>>> 2nd. Neo ‘Painted Magnificence’ - Steven French 3rd. jalisco-monticola - Paul Venturi POPULAR VOTE: NOVICE - Bromeliad 1st Vriesea ‘Precious Pearls’- Janie O’Brien 2nd.. Neoregelia ‘Magali’- Janie O’Brien OPEN - Bromeliad 1st.Neo. ‘Bill Morris’ - Darryl Lister 2nd.Neo. ‘Painted Magnificence’ - Steven French > 2nd. Dyckia goehringii - Dave Weston Cryptanthus 1st Cryptanthus NOID - Dave Weston 2nd Cryptanthus beuckeri - Lynn Hudson 3rd Cryptanthus ‘Anne Collings’ - Lynn Hudson Tillandsia 1st Tillandsia jalisco-monticola - Paul Venturi 2nd. Till. jalisco-monticola hybrid - Marguerite Sexton 2nd. Tillandsia crocata - Dave Weston

Crypt. noid Till. jalisco-monticola hybrid Till. crocata Neo. ‘Palmares’ 4

Show Entries: As I told you at the beginning of the meeting I am going to be really harsh when judging. You know the required standard - clean plant & pot, dead leaves removed, damaged leaves trimmed, name tag written properly etc. If not to standard > removed Lyn More from Jodie, our new Assistant Editor - Show Plants Dyckia goehringii - Dave said it was the first offset from the plant he imported from the New Orleans World Bromeliad Conference. As it matures this dyckia grows a stem that will become bare the older it gets, so this specimen is currently at it's optimum growth. This plant offsets high in the foliage producing offsets on long stolons. Dave said it is an easy plant to grow as long as you don't stress it. Neoregelia ‘Painted Magnificence’ (‘Painted Lady’ x ‘Magnifica’) Steven chose it as a small offset from the raffle table. What a large beauty it has become and with unique colour. Good grower our Steven! Tillandsia jalisco-monticola grown by Paul was in spike, not yet in flower, we hope to see it again. Popular Vote: It was excellent to see Janie enter two plants in Novice section, Vriesea ‘Precious Pearls’ and Neoregelia ‘Magali’. The vriesea is one of a group “bought from Dillings at the height of my patterned Vriesea wants”. Janie said she has had a lot of luck with patterned bromeliads, location seems to play a role in her success, being at the back of Edmonton near the hills and and professes to never fertilise. Janie doesn't experience any burning issues and has 70% shade cloth, which Bob pointed out, that if not stretched, probably only rates as 50%. Neoregelia ‘Magali’ was glowing with health, had perfect conformation and colour.

Vr. ‘Precious Pearls’ Neoregelia ‘Magali’ Neoregelia ‘Bill Morris’

Darryl showed Neoregelia ‘Bill Morris’ that he said "started off a normal variegated offset and as it grew the white area got wider and wider”. The marks in the picture are the normal red spotting but they are congregated together. It will be interesting to see how this plant develops as it loses more chlorophyll. Nalda showed a perfect Neoregelia ‘Palmares’ bought as an offset at Bloomin Broms 2012 as she prefers “small patterned things”. She keeps it under 75% shade cloth and is a great specimen, well done Nalda! 5

"In my garden this month….."

Thank You to the Members who have responded to my request for info this section. Ed. Christel [& Paul] Many of our plants did not take too kindly to the intense heat and the very dry conditions over the weeks leading up to Christmas and the New Year. Even the sun tolerant plants did not cope too well, though they had done so the previous year. We ended up having to relocate them. By then the damage had already been done so we will now have to wait for the pups to come up and hope that they will fare better. The bromeliad that has given me the most joy and satisfaction and has proved to be the least troublesome is Neoregelia ‘Hannibal Lector’. It has maintained its colour and lustre even though it is not under shade. We did have a bountiful harvest from the "Mareeba Pineapple" tops that Paul keeps planting. They were sweet and juicy and well worth planting. I recommend that particular variety of pineapple ... and the tops are so easy to grow! The recent rainfall has been a blessing and very, very welcome. It was so heavy the other night that quite a few of Paul's tillandsias were separated from their mount. He has been busy gluing and re-positioning them. Apart from that it is now the season for mowing and pulling out weeds. Does not matter what we do....weeds still get into those pots! ************************************************* Cairns Botanic Gardens - update from JODIE’s Garden Work has well and truly started on the new conservatory, with the concrete being laid for the external paths the first week in February. The recent rain may hold things up now though. I have been slowing working away at potting up the bromeliad collection so that they can be displayed more effectively. ! The change in season has caused some issues with the planted collection as the sun has moved and plants that were in good light are now getting burnt. My plan is to pot up the majority of the collection so that it can adapt to the changing seasons and light intensities. Unfortunately, before I started looking after the collection many of the plant labels were lost or misplaced so identification of the collection is a high priority. If you haven't been to the botanic gardens in awhile or feel like popping in, please look out for Matt or I, we would love to show you all the changes we have made and maybe you might be able to identify a brom for us!! ! ************************************************

My garden's experience during January/February" - by Frances Boyd You have to really respect the ability of most of our plants to cope with the conditions thrown at them, especially during the last six months. We came back from Spain late 2014 to see Cairns looking the driest we have seen in thirty years, 6 even drier than 2002. Our wonderful house sitter managed to keep the garden alive, which is no mean feat as we live on a bony hillside with thin soils. The dry was not the only difficulty. Our neighbours, looking forward to building, cut down a large swathe of forest letting the full blast of January sun, coupled with very hot conditions, into a garden normally enjoying shade. The result was a sun- yellowed garden and bleached and damaged bromeliads which I have tried to protect with fallen palm and tree fern fronds. Needless to say Nidularium leaves are decorated with burnt patches and brown fringes. Billbergia amonea, Aechmea skotakii and Neoregelias such as 'Pink Leopard', 'Camelot' and 'Aussie Dream' are bleached. Others were very happy with the extra light. Aechmea pineliana almost became pink, Neoregelias 'Milagro' and 'Kileau Fire' stayed the course. Aechmea fulgens discolour produced generous bunches of red berries. It is not only the climatic conditions that the garden must contend with, but the fauna. This year 'Boyo' the male brush turkey, resplendent in his yellow wattle, is keeping those industrious excavators, the scrub fowl, at bay. I was kept awake one night in January by scuffling and snorting and thumping in the rear garden. Despite my yelling they kept returning. I assume it was two male wallabies with unfinished business. In the morning they had battled it out IN my garden bed, leaving trampled bromeliads, upturned pots, birdsnest ferns ripped off rocks and flattened lilies and Orthosiphon ‘Cat's Whiskers’. I felt for them as they must also have landed on the Dyckia 'Silver Sheen' - since moved. The first weekend of February brought 500mm of rain to the garden followed by 170mm the next weekend. Cleaning up the soggy tree fronds I discovered my Hohenbergia correia-araujoi, after what feels like 10 years is finally flowering. It also has three pups! Aechmea 'Valencia' is also coming into flower. I am thrilled that Aechmea 'Fia' has produced a wonderful variegated pup. The Billbergia pyramidalis have produced five bright red candles, I am hoping to make a mass planting of these. If I am more assiduous removing pups I might have ten candles next year! Billbergia 'Kyoto' has also flowered as is the very reliable Aechmea blanchetiana. As the Neoregelia compacta have climbed 7 metres or more up the tree ferns one must wonder at the weight of water being held up by the ferns after such downpours. One of my joys in the garden are the storm lilies or crocus, which, no matter how much water they are given, will only flower after a summer storm - a flush of pink and yellow flowers popped up within days of the rain. A bonus - Ian's cousin visited while accompanying a fungi group from Brisbane. She brought a UV light and after dark we lit up the trunks of some palms and trees. The palm carrying the most bromeliads shone back with iridescent patches of bright golden and light yellows, orange, pastel and rose pinks, lime green and sky blue, reflecting off the different 'flat' lichens. The lichens on the forest trees tended to be blue. Very pretty. During daylight these lichens all appear as greyish or greenish white patches on the trunks. //

A Symphony of Life by Kim Morris

Fellow and AIH Registered Horticulturist Design-Horticulture-Landscape Assessments/Audits/Plans Do you ever get the feeling someone is looking at you in the garden? There are no visible signs of human life, but there is a great presence. Well this may be a figment of imagination or a bit of a “bottom of the garden” fairy story, but some people have a “third eye” or another sense of either presence in different places, times or a sensory stimulation. A great sense of completeness and contentment is how it has been described - but with no relationship to having eaten a narcotic plant or fungi. Apart from hanging around trees, palms and many shrubs, that are 50 to 200 years old [that have witnessed earlier life and others who have worked and lived around them] the story goes that it is the effect of high levels of oxygen. More of it, and because of its volume, it stimulates our senses more acutely. Apart from touching and tasting, smell and sight are the two most-activated garden senses - unless you are standing among vegetable or fruit. Hearing gets a look in too. If you have ever sat quietly with no other interfering noises, such as the drone of far off traffic, and focus your hearing, it is actually possible to listen to a garden… Cicadas, crickets and birds. Wind in the leaves. The drooping sounds of leaves panting and perspiring on a hot day, just as we do. The closing of leaves to reduce their exposure and loss of moisture. In effect these have their own sound. ‘Growing Pains’ as a tree seeks the sun for its photosynthesis fix are real - they have been recorded on time-lapse audio equipment. Just how long the experiment lasts for a tree that might already be 200 years old is anyone’s guess. Likewise, the great native palms such as the 25m high coryphas [above ^] which takes 50 years to grow and when mature, produce over a million flowers to produce 700kg of fruit from one tree, must surely make some sort of noise? If that does not make a noise then the death of the palm after its spectacular flowering would most certainly - as decomposes and crashes to start the process all over again. You can see these at Cairns Botanic Gardens, Centenary Lakes. So the presence of some other force or feeling in a garden is what should be expected from a breathing, living and productive organism, or indeed any components making one. // Thanx Kim.

Tillandsia usneoides! These last months Tillandsia usneoides have flowered prolifically, visitors to our bromeliad patch have been really surprised when I showed them the flowers. It was not only here, Inez Szemes of Rubyvale posted pics on ‘Bromeliads Australia’ Mark Supple of Hunter District (NSW) and Gary May of Caboolture commented on the Tillnuts Round Robin emails. Thank You to each of these growers for permitting me to show our members. Inez: Out doing my morning cruise thru my gardens when I spot these lovely tills flowering! A wonderful start to my morning! [Great pics too Ed.] Mark: In all my years growing Tillandsia usneoides this is the first time I have ever seen a seed pod. Gary: My usneoides are liberally dotted with seed pods and it might well be because I have several colonies of Blue Banded Bees which seem to like most of the tillandsias. I’ve never really bothered to watch but I do hear the loud buzz of Blue Banded ^Flower Bees quite often around my plants. As I have plenty from Inez of usneoides, I get lots of seed pods. < Seed pod ************************ from Mark v Bees from Gary

Gary does have mobs of usneoides, he told Bob he had so much he was using it for mulch, 10cm thick! Bob told Gary that Bunnings was selling a teacupful for $9! Gary is now looking for new mulch! ****************************************************************** SCIENTIFIC FACT UPROOTED by Mulford B. Foster. For the past 27 years I have literally lived under a canopy of here in Florida. I have used it during these twenty-five years on wire netting to shade my plants. I have pulled tons of it from trees. I have enjoyed the exquisite fragrance of its delicate, transparent green flowers which is released between the hours of eight and twelve on the soft April and May spring nights. I’ve seen the tiny seeds suspended on a silken parachute but I‘ve never planted one of these seeds nor seen the tiny baby plants that emerged from those seeds until a few weeks ago. Yes I was surprised and very much thrilled. It was Easter Sunday morning. In our garden is a very much neglected plant of Ligustrum coriacium. It is a slow 9 cautious growing plant with leaves that appear to be only half developed ... curled up and stiff but, like an old bulldog, its beauty seems to be in its homeliness. This Ligustrum was smothered with Spanish Moss and with Ball Moss (Tillandsia recurvata) and a ‘cat’s claw’ begonia vine. Each of plant seemed bent on strangling and smothering the Ligustrum, so I started tearing out these over ambitious plants, only to find many, many tiny tillandsias clinging to the branches of the Ligustrum, it was virtually an epiphytic plant nursery. And not all of the little plants were those of the recurvata as I at first had thought. I found plants from one to a dozen years of age of Tillandsia usneoides and they had honest to goodness roots!!! Roots that had held on for several years or long enough that they would be long enough to catch on a branch if the wind tore it loose from its birthplace. I found plants, some of them but a half-inch long and others eighteen inches long, still clinging with their little thread-like roots to the bark where the silken threaded seeds lodged during a previous April blow. The most common of all bromeliads, Tillandsia usneoides, Spanish Moss to us in the southern part of the United States, has flown from tree top to tree top for many thousands of years. It has flown and grown in a magic circle down the Atlantic Coast from the southeastern tip of Virginia to five hundred miles south of Buenos Aires, in Argentina, and from Chile, Lower California, in Mexico on the Pacific Coast, thence across Texas to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico over to the Atlantic. And within this circle practically all of the known species of bromeliads are found natively. This queer plant has been and still is, regarded as a parasite by the great majority of people because of its ability to live on the trees without any apparent method of feeding. The Artist and the Poet have pictured its charm in pigment and praise. The Primitive has used it for mattress and the Modern for upholstering.The first white man who landed on the shores of America soon saw this strange plant swaying in the trees. It was a great find for the botanist and he has given it many botanical names - first as a parasite and later upon more careful observation, as an epiphyte. It grows and grows and grows. It can be torn in a thousand pieces and each piece can continue the seeming endless and rootless growth. It is one of the few plants that the botanists have persistently described as one with ‘roots absent’. For some reason or other I have apparently gained a reputation as being one who seems to enjoy breaking down traditions and cherished beliefs, even though the belief may have been one I nursed myself. So, when I state that I have told thousands of people about the rootless bromeliad, Tillandsia usneoides, I have little more than related what I had already read in botanical records regarding this plant. In other words words, it is nearly always a bit easier to take the other fellows word and repeat them without bothering about any personal investigation. And so, one of the most cherished beliefs of the entire bromeliad family - the the weird Spanish Moss with roots ‘absent’ was shattered. Tillandsia usneoides DOES HAVE ROOTS in its early stages just as every other member of the remarkable bromeliad family has, although the roots dry up and are not necessary for it in later years.// From Long Beach-Lakewood Bromeliad Study Group 1985 vol.x no.4 10 Bob’s Slideshow by Jodie & Bob Bob provided another informative slideshow concentrating on how to mount your Tillandsias. Bob used morphology (growth habit) to group the Tillandsias they included - grassy forms, bulbous, pin cushions, caulescent, tubes. Grassy forms: Tillandsias disticha, juncea, juncifolia, remotifolia. These do not form a bulb or stem, the leaves grow from a central cone on the base of the plant. Bulbous: Tillandsias bulbosa, ehlersiana, pruinosa, psuedobaileyi This group has leaves that come away from the build at the base of the plant, they do not hold water and therefore require a little more water than other forms. Pin cushions: Tillandsias ionantha, filifolia, fuschii var. gracilis, stricta. The leaves in this group are wider at the attachment end, then narrow and point straight up, forming a pincushion appearance. Caulescent: Tillandsias araujei, funckiana, tenuifolia, hondurensis, capitata, latifolia, ‘Rio Hondo’. These are like ropes with the leaves along the stem. They vary in length and width and stem/leaf thickness. Tubular: Tillandsias dyeriana, flexuosa ‘Bahamas’, intermedia, These are upright funnel shaped vases that hold water in the centre of the plant. INTERESTING FACT - Tillandsia complanata is the only tillandsia that doesn't die after it flowers.

Grassy -T. remota Bulbous - T. ehlersiana Pin Cushion -T. filifolia Caulescent- T. funckiana

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11 . Old age is coming at a really bad time!! . It would be great if we could put ourselves in the dryer for ! ten minutes & come out wrinkle-free and three sizes smaller!! .Last year I joined a support group for procrastinator We haven't met yet!! . I don't trip over things, I do random gravity checks!! . I don't need anger management. I need people to stop annoying me!! . When I was a child I thought Nap Time was a punishment ... Now, as a ! grown up, it just feels like a small vacation!! . The biggest lie I tell myself is ... "I don't need to write that down, I’ll! remember it."! . I don't have grey hair. I have "wisdom highlights"… I'm just very wise.! .My people skills are just fine, it's my tolerance to idiots that needs work.! . If God wanted me to touch my toes, He would've put them on my knees.! . The kids text me ‘pls’ which is shorter than ‘please’… I text back ‘no’! which is shorter than ‘yes’.! . I'm going to retire and live off of my savings. ! Not sure what I'll do the second week.! . I've lost my mind and I'm pretty sure my kids took it!! . Why do I have to press 1 for English when they're just gonna transfer ! me to someone I can't understand anyway?! . Of course I talk to myself… sometimes I need expert advice.! . Oops! Did I roll my eyes out loud?! . At my age ‘getting lucky’ means walking into a room and remembering ! what I came in there for.! . Chocolate comes from cocoa which is a tree ... that makes it a plant, ! which means ... chocolate is Salad.! *************************************************************** Women are like phones: They like to be held, talked to, and touched often. But push the wrong button and your ass is disconnected.

************************************************************************************ 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 email: [email protected] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cairns Lovebirds - bred by Karen Stvens

6 Alabama Street, Whiterock, Qld 4868 Phone 0419021302 [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Bromsmatta” 18th Australian Bromeliad Conference Novotel Paramatta NSW th April , 16-19 2015 Interesting Speakers from USA & Australia Learn from the Best * Enjoy Time with Old Friends Make New Friends * Buy amazing Plants. Info www.bromeliad.org.au phone 040820226 Accomodation: www.accorhotels.com.au phone 02963049999 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

John Catlan’s nots - “Bromeliads Under te Mango Tree” Booklet prepared by Lynn Hudson 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]