Bromelcairns Bimonthly Newsletter of Cairns Bromeliad Societ Inc. 2011 # 2 P.O. Box 28 Cairns Queensland 4870 Austalia

President Dave Weston 0740578604 V-President Karen Stevens 0740361086 Secretary Lynn Hudson 0740533913 Treasurer Monica Stapleton 0740331330 Librarian Maria Grant 0740370161 Editor Lynn Hudson 0740533913 Editor Assist. Moyneen Charlton 0740337390 Member Concierge Nalda Wilson 0740544825 Popular Vote Steward Brendan Leishman 0740578604 OIC Raffles Karen Stevens 0740361086 *Honorary Life Member - Grace Goode O.A.M.* 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 will be Emailed on request to [email protected] 2 Club Actvites & Around te Members March: This month we met at Whitfield Retirement Village, where we can once again enjoy the hall, air conditioning and the beautiful garden. It is a credit to Mary & Barry to have achieved so much for everyone’s enjoyment. * Whilst the never ending rain gave everything a good drink, the pool filled and the gunge from the bottom floated to the top. Barry thought it was a good chance to get it out - Mary donned her togs and sent it to the edge where Barry found he was retrieving icky smelly stuff and decided maybe it was not such a good idea!! It is gone now Barry - until next time! * Members enjoyed Brendan’s interesting talk on Pitcairnias (see page 4). My Macbook would not turn on so he could not give his prepared powerpoint presentation. Sorry Bren, next time. MINI SHOW – Flowering Bromeliad, any genera 1st. ionantha ! Bob Hudson 2nd Tillandsia ionantha ! Marguerite Sexton! 3rd Tillandsia streptophylla! Judith Walsh

POPULAR VOTE: NOVICE: Bromeliad!! ! ! ! ! 1st Neoregelia chlorosticta F2!! Bernice Mark 2nd. Neoregelia ‘Amazing Grace’! John Mark 3rd. Neoregelia ‘Purple Star’!! John Mark Cryptanthus - nil entries Tillandsia

1st. Tillandsia streptophylla!! Judith Walsh 2nd. Tillandsia cyanea!! ! Frances Boyd OPEN: Bromeliad 1st. Neoregelia ‘Enchanment’ ! Beryl Watson 2nd Hohenbergia leopoldo horstii !Maria Grant! ! 3rd. Canistrum fosterianum !! Maria Grant Cryptanthus !! ! ! 1st. Cryptanthus ‘Ruby‘ ! Marguerite Sexton! 2nd. Cryptanthus ’San Juan’ !! Lynn Hudson

3rd. Cryptanthus Hybrid!! ! Karen Cross

Tillandsia 1st. Tillandsia ionantha ‘Fuego’ Marguerite Sexton 2nd. Tillandsia ‘Fuego’! ! Bob Hudson 3rd. Tillandsia ‘Druid‘ ! Lynn Hudson !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3

Club Actvites & Around te Members APRIL: We drove up the Kuranda Range then to Biboohra to Bernice & John Mark’s property. All the way was lush and green, as was their property. I could fully understand why Bernice says she just hates leaving the place. It is quiet and tranquil, they should set it up as a B&B, it would be wonderful to recouperate there. If you got bored you could wander over to the shade houses where you would be enthralled by the bromeliads. They are a mass of colour and the picture of perfection, just beautiful. Member numbers were down to 18 as for varied reasons, some could not make the trip. Those who attended really appreciated the outing. * Dave spoke on variegations and showed some of the plants he imported from WBC19. I bet he got some good offers as they were pretty spekky. *Rob Giddins showed some of his billbergia hybrids, noting the many differences in the markings and colour from the same grex.

MINI SHOW –Tillandsia !! ! 1st. ! Karen Stevens 2nd Tillandsia tectorum ! Bob Hudson! 3rd Tillandsia gardneri! Dave Weston Flowering Tillandsia 1st. Tillandsia ‘Bahia’ ! Bob Hudson 2nd Tillandsia ‘Roma’! Karen Stevens! 3rd Tillandsia cyanea! Marie Giddins

POPULAR VOTE: NOVICE: Bromeliad 1st Aechmea ‘Samurai’ - John Mark Cryptanthus - nil entries Tillandsia – nil entries OPEN: Bromeliad 1st. Dyckia ‘Yellow Glow’ - Dave Weston 2nd Neoregelia ‘Red Tiger’ - Rob Giddins 3rd. Billbergia (‘Don Beadle’ x ‘Hoelscheriana’) - Rob Giddins! ! Cryptanthus !! ! ! ! 1st.. Cryptanthus ‘Florence Wasley’ - Lynn Hudson 2nd. Cryptanthus ‘Elaine’ -! Karen Stevens Tillandsia 1st. Tillandsia ‘Bahia‘ - Bob Hudson 2nd. Tillandsia ‘Victoria‘ - Bob Hudson 2nd. Tillandsia cyanea - Marie Giddins 4 March meeting from Moyneen A feature of our March meeting was a Brendan who took us on a trip to the dark side with his strange grass collection - only joking! He showed us a range from about a metre high to P. smithiorum that was about 30cms with very attractive orange flower bracts and yellow flowers. Another one attracting a lot of attention had lovely dark maroon stalks. He said they are at their best in swampy conditions like river banks with dappled light to shade. A downside is that sometimes the longer leaves tend to bend and spoil the effect. We were a little put off to hear about the spikes at the base of the plants. We thank him for a very informative talk and for bringing plants in for us to see.

P. undulata P. andreana P. flammea P. tabuliformis

Pitcairnias an overview of talk presented by Brendan Leishman

I have always likes Pitcairnias and over the years have collected several and cultivars. I think I find them so appealing because they are so different in their shape, form and inflorescence than other bromeliads. In the family of the Pitcairnia fall under the subfamily of Pitcairnioideae so are related to the other pitcairnioideae genera such as the Dyckia, Hechtia, Navia, Fosterella and Puya. The name ‘Pitcairnia’ was named for Dr William Pitcairn, an English physician who lived during 1711 – 1791 and was an avid gardener and collector of exotic and special plants. There are many species in the Pitcairnia totalling almost 400, plus the genus Pepinia. Primarily pitcairnia are terrestrial growers ie they grow in the ground. However there are always exceptions to the rules - at the recent Australian Bromeliad Conference in Darwin, Dennis Cathcart showed a photo of a Pitcairnia microcalyx, a species happily living and flourishing on the branch of a tree in a South American Cloud forest in Venezuela. A plant needs the appropriate food and sunlight to grow and it was able to achieve this up in a tree - amazing! Pitcairnia have a highly developed root system which they use for the uptake of nutrient and water. In the wild they live happily on rocky cliffs, along creeks and other places where they can send out roots to collect what they need to survive. Unlike other bromeliads that have trichomes on their leaves to assist in water & nutrient absorption, pitcairnia have few and therefore need to be grown with regular watering and slow release fertilizing. As well their leaves do not form a cup, for example like Neoregelia, that hold water to help keep > Pitcairnias continued ..!! ! ! 5 the plants going dry spells. Leaf blades narrow don’t collect water. The leaves are described as being dimorphic - meaning ‘variable in shape & form’. If you look closely at the base of some pitcairnia you will sometimes notice short & spiky leaves. Most leaves are long and grass like, some wide then narrowing, mostly green but some are reddish in colour, some discoloured. ! The flowers of pitcairnia are usually bright and colourful with petals of white, yellow, green & red/purple. They can be well used in landscaping in well drained positions and suit shaded positions with filtered light. They have a clumping habit and will happily spread by rhizomes and will eventually easily fill a space. There are some species such as Pitcairnia wendlandii that grow well in full sun when the conditions are right. As mentioned above for best results with pitcairnia give them a regular feeding and watering and they will reward you with a great display of foliage and flowers. In our back yards and shade houses we need to grow pitcairnia in a soft mix that we also use for other soft leaf broms such as vrieseas and guzmainias. I find that you really need to keep the water up to these plants. Due to their highly developed root system they appreciate being potted on into larger containers and once a clump gets big enough can be divided to propagate in smaller pots. Soft scale can be a problem with pitcairnia and will easily mark the leaves. Grasshoppers too will also make a meal of the leaves but only when they have a head.

FACT: All bromeliads are found in the Americas apart from Pitcairnia feliciana which is the only member of the Bromeliaceae family that lives in West Africa.

P. funkiae P. wendlandii P. smithiorum P. maidifolia

PS. I would like to encourage other members to think about doing a short bromeliad presentation about some aspect that they find interesting as researching information the best way to inform yourself so that you can then share it with others. Brendan 6

16th Australian Bromeliad Conference 7-10t h Apr i l 2011 hosted by Northern Territory Bromeliad Society Inc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wow! Wot a brilliant effort - the BEST conference I have attended. Congratulations to the Organizers, your work was thoroughly appreciated and will be the trigger of many happy memories for the Delegates for many years to come. It was great to renew old friendships and make new ones. Sadly Our Grace could not attend due to a sprain of a back muscle - you were missed Grace. I was really proud to see the speakers providing a different approach to presentations - the young uns are maturing!! On the second day Dennis began his talk with ‘I don’t know why they got me over here, these Australian speakers are excellent’. They wrapped good ideas with humour and kept us awake - it was Harry Frakking relating his bromeliad experiences who made us laugh the most. (PS. Harry did not mix the chooky poo with laterite - I found the poor cryptanthus cringing and shrivelling in polystyrene boxes of straight poop!) Harry Luther enjoyed his time with bromeliad fanatics. His job sounds interesting but he said he has felt starved for bromeliad talking since he went to Singapore. I have never seen Harry look so relaxed and talk to so many people - but he can still perfectly ‘suddenly disappear’! Congratulations to the Show winners. I expected more local entries, I even raided their display for some entries as those entered were very good - maybe they just need more confidence. The balance were carried by plane. Nigel Thompson’s Neoregelia ‘Jaws’ was Grand Champion Show Plant with Ross Hutton’s wonderful clump of Tillandsia funckiana was Runner Up. Harvey Ottley entered excellent plants and she will always be remembered as ‘the lady with the donkey’, following the gardens bus trip. They had a popular vote for the show plants and Harry Frakking’s Aechmea tayoensis won easily. It was a beauty, the leaves hadn’t even cracked where they bent. It was all good. I shall leave the rest to other attendees but - John Olsen told my little sister “Tell Lynn to suck it up, you can do it too”. Thanx John, I already knew that, and am very proud not only of sister Olive but also each of the NT Organizers. Even Dennis Cathcart said “You Aussies sure run great conferences. You can teach Americans a lot”. Yep, it was the BEST ever.

From Cairns President - Dave Weston ! The 16th Australian Bromeliad Conference held in Darwin without any doubt was the most enjoyable, interesting and well organized conference that I have attended - including those overseas. The organizing committee had really done their homework. The venue was perfect, everything went to schedule, the catering was very good, the bus trips were well planned and we brought home some really nice plants. They even organized the weather which was just like home. " ! The speakers were absolutely first class. Delegates were treated to three lectures from Dennis Cathcart,"each very different, interesting and informative. We were privileged to have Harry Luther attend and share some of his knowledge. Formerly of Selby Gardens, Harry’s talk was a bit broader, comprising an overview of epiphytic plant forms and habitats.! Other speakers were Nigel Thomson whose topic showed results of different fertilizer regimes with various bromeliads; Peter Tristram gave an overview of bromeliad popularity and the pitfalls of importing these plants into Oz; John Olsen showed us how to use the internet to research the origins and climatic conditions from where various bromeliads originate; Len Colgan delivered a very comprehensive talk on the of Bolivia and Stephen Flood gave a really good talk on the genus vriesea. Chris Larson posed some interesting concepts on development and cultivation, particularly considering light and nutrition. Adam Bodzioch gave a presentation on persuading bromeliads to bloom and Harry Frakking spoke on his experience of growing bromeliads in the ‘Top End’. ! The Lord Mayor of Darwin Graeme Sawyer in the unexpected absence of Ian Morris OAM delivered Ian’s very informative lecture on the ecology and climatic systems of the Top End. This talk was the opening "presentation and served to give a sense of place for delegates and to give some insight to the harsh climatic extremes with which the local bromeliad growers deal. ! There were over 170 delegates and I did not hear a single bitch or complaint. Congratulations to the Northern Territory Bromeliad Society organizing committee and the members - they have set a very high benchmark for future conferences. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bob Hudson: It was great to have 5 days in Darwin to attend the 16th Australian Bromeliad Conference.! The venue was great and away from the hustle and bustle of the city - yet close enough to enjoy a night out if we wanted. I enjoyed the show exhibits and some came from 2,000 ks away. The sales room was crammed packed with goodies to buy. The Auction went well with Auctioneer Doug Cross getting the most out of the bidders. The last night Banquet was a hit and everyone was exchanging thoughts and good comments on the past few days. !!!!!!I am sure that this Conference is the best Australian one yet - a tough ask for the NZ Guys to top. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Neville has tried to attend the past 4 conferences. His first disappointment was in 2005, Brisbane - he was in hospital getting a pacemaker! Next was Pt. Macquarie 2007, again he was hospitalized. He came to WBC18 in Cairns 2008, was OK till Thursday, then with grave back pain he returned to his hotel room. Next followed spinal operations etc. Neville lives at Cardwell and in February Cyclone Yasi took his bromeliad collection - to who knows where! He was looking forward to getting away from the wreckage and enjoying lots of eye candy. With the aid of painkillers he attended most functions and talks. Neville Walker: The conference was very well organized and a real credit to the Darwin team. The only disadvantage was the tyranny of distance coupled with our late rains. Less rain would have meant more plants taken by road for display, show and sales. What was there was good - I just wanted more! The presentations and the food were really good. I saw people I knew, and met some I had heard about. I really enjoyed the bus trips to Government House and to the private gardens. Suddenly it was Sunday and the last function, the Banquet - the food was excellent as were the ‘Groovy Grannies’. Their show nearly did me in - I laughed until I cried. We left Darwin with lots of good memories to colour my quiet moments, a flattened skinny frog, a carry bag patterned with Aboriginal paintings, a hand fan, a “Top End Survival Kit” of very strange oddments, plus the Proceedings Book full of information and contact details of my new friends!

!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 9 Brendan Leishman: It is the small details that stand out and make an impression on people and that was what made the ‘Broms on Arafura’! special for me. Everything was well thought out and executed....! It was excellent ... Congratulations to the the team of organisers. You have set a high standard for future acts to follow. A great program of interesting and insightful talks onderful catering; entertainment; interesting tours .. and even the! Mayor of Darwin & Administrator of the Territory as guest speakers. I had the best time. I met new friends!in the Bromeliad World!and caught up with!those I had met before. GO to the next Bromeliad Conference - you won't regret it! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Marguerite & Bill Sexton: We both enjoyed Darwin and the well run conference. Hearing speakers tell of their trips to South America and seeing the climate and how cool it is in the habitant, should make me more careful with the plants that I!acquire. In the competition Neo ‘Red Macaw’ was outstanding so have shifted mine as it is going to spread. I did like Bob’s Tillandsia rothii x abdita and will my Tillandsia funckiana ever get that big? [yes, if you water it]. The Vriesea fenestralis with its curling leaves, will it become as large as the others? [yes, and Nigel hopes it keeps the different markings]. I liked Guzmania zahnii variegated so I bought one; also some tillandsias and I hope they are warm growing.!The auction had some interesting plants but prices went high.! What a difference 25 years makes. !Our last visit we were pushing our boat off sandbars when trying to catch barramundi. This time round we had quiet walks along the path on the lovely Esplanade. Will we get to Auckland? !We hope to. Two years to decide.

Neo. ‘Jaws‘ ‘Hitching a Ride to Arafura‘ T. rothii x abdita Vr. sanguinea concolor The Top End Kit contents: Balloon for Big Bang; Bandaid for that little prick; Barley Sugar to suck instead of asking ‘Are we there yet?’; Bat & Ball to polish up your aim; Bubbles to keep things up in the air; Candy Cane walk assist over rough spots; Eraser to rub out those little mistakes; Gummy Lunch, emergency rations; High Bounce Ball to keep the spring in you; Hand & Foot creme to keep you supple; Kleenex for sniffles; Mintie for Moments; Marble in case you lose one of yours; Paper Clip to keep your bits together; Safety Pin for emergency repairs and Vanity set for little touch ups. Emergency Phone Numbers - Ambulance, Fire, Police, Hospital. 10 March meeting from Moyneen The focus of our March meeting was Tillandsias, a big thank you to Greg Oldano. The club enjoyed the spoils of Greg's donated collection; it's with some guilty pleasure (cyclone Yasi) that we now enjoy our increased Tillandsia collections, taking some of us further into an area unknown. We are still mindful of the destruction that occurred at Greg's property and hope for a good recovery (if the rain ever stops!) We hope to one day replicate the happy bus trip we took there last year to see the gardens again in all their splendour. It really was an absolute joy to see such a huge & diversified collection. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ !!!

VARIEGATIONS At the April Meeting Dave gave an interesting talk on variegations and used his well grown bromeliads as illustrations of the various leaf markings that all fall under the description ‘variegated’. ! There are many bromeliad websites and Dave drew our attention to http://www.jacksbromeliads.com/which covers many facets of bromeliad cultivation and worth checking out. As the points covered in Dave’s talk are in ‘Bromelcairns’ 2010#3 and in ‘Cultivation Notes’ I will not repeat them in this issue. If you have neither, let me know and I will arrange a copy for you. Lynn ******************!! ! ******************** Albino plants lack chlorophyll, the green colouring in plants, they usually appear cream but sometimes they are white. In a few cases the chlorophyll could be latent and develop later. Albino plants are dependant on the mother plant to supply food and as they put great strain on the mother plant, it is better to cut them off and allow the mother to give you a normal offset. An albino plant seldom flowers and can weaken and even kill the mother plant. Marginated – margins differing in colour to the main colour of the leaves. Albo marginated leaves have white margins Flavo have yellow Lineated – leaves have thin lengthwise lines covering most of the leaves. Medio-picta – literally means ‘painted centre’ and the centre is usually pink. Tricoloured – leaves have three colours; usually green, cream and rose. Quadricolor – leaves have four colours: white, yellow red and green. Variegate d – leaves have lengthwise lines, which usually are not uniform. 11 From Moyneen - A search on Wikipedia shows us that there are 3170 species of Bromeliad. The smallest is Tillandsia usneioides through to the largest - Puya raimondii. It reaches 3-4metres in height with a 9-10metre flower spike. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LEXIPHILES . . . .

Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end. When she saw her first strands of grey hair, she thought she'd dye To write with a broken pencil is pointless. When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate. A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months. When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , U.C.L.A. The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground. The batteries were given out free of charge. A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail. A will is a dead giveaway. If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed. With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.

Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you A-flat miner. You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it. Local Area Network in Australia : The LAN down under.. A boiled egg is hard to beat. When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall. Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest. Did you hear about the fellow whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now. If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory. A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired. In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes. When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered. He had a photographic memory which was never developed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aging: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it. *The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for. * Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me! I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've traveled a long way and some of the roads weren't paved. * When you are dissatisfied and would like to go back to youth, think of Algebra. * You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks *Ah, being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable. * First you forget names, then you forget faces. Then you forget to pull up your zipper. It's worse when you forget to pull it down. *Lord, Keep your arm around my shoulder, and, your hand over my mouth.

Nothing just happens or just gets done. Somebody has to do it

Megan & John Welch *FERtLIZERS * FUNGICIDES * WATERING SYSTEMS *POLYPIPES * POLY FILMS * * SHADECLOTH * SPRAYING EQUIPMENT * PLANTER BAGS * PLASTIC POTS * Cnr. Brown & Little Spence Sts. Cairns Phone: 07 4035 2670 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Cairns Lovebirds - bred by Karen Stvens 6 Alabama Street, Whiterock, Qld. 4868 Ph 0419021302 [email protected]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Bloomin Broms” 2011 Mark you calendar for this event 2nd - 3rd. July 2011 Speakers Stephen Flood & John Olsen. Saturday will be seminar sessions, Sunday will be workshops & if there is enough interest, a bus trip Registration $25.pp. Forms from Lynn 0740533913 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Books Books Books

“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” Nots by John Catlan, colatd 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]