BromeliAdvisory June 2013 Tillandsia victoriana – Photo by Robert Meyer In this Issue President’s Message . 2 In Case You Missed It. 2 Garden Notes. 2-5 Upcoming Events . 6 Murder in Corbin A . 6-7 BromeliAdvisory May 2013 JUNE 18, 2013 7:30 PM WEBPAGE: http://www.bssf-miami.org/ SPEAKER:Alan Herndon http://www.facebook.com/groups/BromeliadS RAFFLE TABLE: Miguel Nicolas SF/?bookmark_t=group FOOD: Usual Suspects http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bromeliad-S ociety-of-South-Florida/84661684279 President Barbara Partagas VP: Lenny Goldstein Treasurer: Alan Herndon Speaker Secretary: Peggy Fisher Our own Alan Herndon will deliver a speech he recently _________________ created. Hybridizing bromeliads. Many of you interested in DIRECTORS the matter will learn the Past Pres.: Carl Bauer basics of how to create Directors: more bromeliads than your Urszula Dudek ‘12-‘13 yard can ever withstand. Maureen Adelman ‘13-‘14 Really interested? Then Joy Parrish ‘13-‘14 brush up with some classic Lori Weyrick ‘13-‘14 article. In 1996 Mulford Foster wrote “Pollination and Hybridication” which y o u c a n f u n d a t Editor http://fcbs.org/articles/fost Robert C Meyer er.htm. BSI members can go online and pull down another article in the Journal of the Bromeliad Society’s Vol. 58 Issue 4, p172 – Jul/Aug2008. Door Prize: Alan Herndon Education: Nat DeLeon Hospitality: Elaine Mills Library: Skye Palmer Membership: Melody Ray Mem. Plant Sales: Antonio Arbelaez Raffle: Mike Michalski Refreshments: Sandy Roth What Who Sales Antonio Arbelaez Table June 2013 page 2 President’s Message a red inflorescence, followed by Tillandsia by Barbara Partagas balbisiana, Tillandsia xsmalliana (cross of fasciculata and bulbisiana), Tillandsia variabilis, In South Florida we are blessed with a year round Tillandsia simulata (a skinny fasciluata), Tillandsia growing season. Our Northern relatives lament about bartramii (similar to setacea), Tillandsia how short their growing season is and how they can’t paucifolia (Key Largo favorite), Tillandsia flexuosa wait to set seeds in the Spring. (the zig zag of inflorescence), Tillandsia recurvata, Tillandsia usneoides (Spanish Moss), Tillandsia Although we have to be vigilant in winter and avoid utriculata (That thing growing high in the oaks), and freezes and winds, we have mild enough winters to Tillandsia mystery. work with our bromeliads. Then comes the hurricane season with its set of challenges. We have a plan for Catopsis followed with slides of Catopsis our homes and families. So should we prepare our berteroniana, Catopsis floribunda, and Catopsis plants. If the majority of the plants are in the ground, nutans. they will “weather” the storm. Those of us who have our collections in pots or on patios or hanging must Guzmania shown included Guzmania monostachia decide which plants to bring in and which to (a/k/a monostachya). sequester or leave to face the elements. If interested in seeing these natives, make a trip to Take some time this hurricane season to make a list, Fahkahatchee Strand. prioritizing your most prized and valuable plants. It will make it easier to decide well in advance of bad weather what needs to be done. Once heavy rains Garden notes April 2013 cease, remember to dump out the excess water in the by Alan Herndon cups of bromeliads to prevent rot. Let’s hope for no land bound hurricanes this year. Be prepared and The first day of the new month brought a welcome stay safe. rain. We had over an inch of water deposited on our plants _ the first decent watering they have had in Barbara Partagas about a month. In the meantime, daytime temperatures have, with increasing frequency, been In Case You Missed It reaching highs near those seen during the summer, by Robert Meyer but nighttime temperatures were still slightly cool at the end of the month. Chuck McCartney, a fourth generation Floridian, We actually had light rain several times during the came to enlighten our crowd about the 16 native month that, according to recent history, should be bromeliads which he has seen over the years with positively arid. Several large late-winter (and visits to swamps and similarly enchanting venues in spring) storms were large enough to push cool the Sunshine State. Each had a picture – Chuck is a fronts, with their accompanying rains, through our relic slide machine man whose use of the slides region. Near Homestead, we actually got mostly pre- proved the age of some of the pictures. At least he frontal rains. The rain band along the main front used a carousel machine as opposed to the straight was usually breaking up by the time it reached us. line 50-slide holder which preceded its use. Those of you further north, near Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, probably received twice as much Most of the native Florida Bromeliads can be found rainfall. in the Fahkahatchee Strand – 84,000 acres of swamp made up of multiple sloughs and ponds. Ever more plants are coming into bloom as the sun and temperatures continue to rise. This environment, located about 30 miles east of Naples, Florida, is accessible off of Alligator Alley Aechmea chantinii ‘Tarapoto’ is the only clone of on Highway 29. T the species I had in bloom during the month, but buds are appearing on other plants now and I know A long trough cut into the limestone, through which we will soon have many plants from different clones water runs slowly north to south, finally emptying in bloom. Aechmea retusa, a near relative of into the Gulf of Mexico in the Ten Thousand Islands Aechmea chantinii, began to bloom during the final area, this environment offers a great opportunity to week of the month. Also, the less closely related see native bromeliads Aechmea serrata continued to bloom through the month. There was a big show of flowers from Tillandsia fasciculata led off the lecture showing off species of Aechmea subgenus Ortgiesia. These June 2013 page 3 included Aechmea comata, Aechmea kerteziae, eleutheropetala bicolor continued in bloom Aechmea cylindrata, Aechmea organensis and throughout the month. Aechmea gracilis. Rather unexpectedly, two rosettes of Aechmea orlandiana produced blooms this month. Nidularium innocentii continued to flower from last The closely related Aechmea milsteiniana continued month. It was joined by Nidularium rutilans , to bloom from last month. Aechmea germinyana also Nidularium meeanum and Nidularium longiflorum. continued to bloom through the month, but appeared The latter species is very similar to Nidularium to be reaching the end as the month drew to a close. innocentii, down to having clones with both red Aechmea racinae and the large clone of Aechmea leaves and green leaves and the white flowers. victoriana continued to bloom from last month. Aechmea lactifera also continued bloom from last As expected, plenty of Orthophytum species month. Two plants that look quite different, remained in bloom. Orthophytum benzingii and Aechmea warasii with broad leaves and Aechmea Orthophytum alvimii continued to produce new warasii ‘Seidelii’ with narrow leaves bloomed for the generations of flowering stems rapidly enough that second time this year. Both have pendant they never lacked open flowers. Orthophytum nflorescences. Aechmea pubescens and Aechmea lymanianum also remained in flower, but primarily disjuncta (formerly known as Hohenbergia due to the extremely long lived branches of the disjuncta) were also new to the list of blooming inflorescence in this species. Production of new plants. Finally, I have an Aechmea tayoensis in flowering stems took many months, but the old stem bloom for the first time. This plant does not look as remained in flower even longer. Orthophytum good when in flower as it does when it is actively rubiginosum and Orthophytum grossiorum growing. Fortunately, offsets are produced well continued in bloom along with Orthophytum harleyi before blooming, so it is possible to keep a series of and Orthophytum gurkenii. Orthophytum younger plants on hand to replace the old one when grossiorum is another species that keeps in bloom it starts to look too tattered. through the rapid production of new blooming stems. Often, these new generations of stems grow Several Billbergia species also came up with their from offsets formed at the terminal end of the second or third bloom of the season. Different clones previous generation. The same pattern is seen in of Billbergia amoena popped up at several times Orthophytum sucrei on a much larger scale. Here during the month. Flowers were also seen on again, a new generation of stems grows from the Billbergia nana and Billbergia seidelii. terminal ends of the previous generation, but the stems on the new generation are often as long as Fosterella petiolata was the sole species in the genus those on the previous generation. You may end up that remained in bloom during April with five or more generations separating the current flowering plants from the original pot. A single rosette of Neoregelia ‘Marble Throat’ (an Orthophytum lanuginosum, Orthophytum apparently wild-collected miniature species that is magalhaesii and Orthophytum maracasense round not clearly linked to any of the named species found out the species observed in bloom this month. in our collections, so it is best identified by the cultivar name) produced flowers towards the end of Portea petropolitana extensa continued to bloom the month. Other small species in flower included throughout the month, although it appears to be near members of the Neoregelia olens group: Neoregelia the end of its season.. olens (including both red-leaved and green leaved clones), Neoregelia camorimiana and Neoregelia Quesnelia edmundoi has an inflorescence in the eltoniana. Neoregelia burle-marxii meeanum also shape of a tight cone. The white petals of the flower bloomed. Among the intermediate size Neoregelia barely stick our between the ‘scales’ of the clone., species in bloom were Neoregelia guttata, but they were visible enough for me to add the Neoregelia carolinae and Neoregelia magdalena.