A difficult Brom

This was a very hard bromeliad to get a good photograph of. I was trying to show the length of the flower stem and at the same time the colours of the leaves. Tried all sorts of angles and lighting but none seemed to work well and this was probably the best of a bad bunch. The brown bits on the leaves are burn marks as a result of our 45deg day back in January. In case you are interested, the brom is Werauhia Sanguinolenta Rubra - one of the less common varieties.

[Sam]

Looks like a very large brom - very healthy in a pot!

[sally agnew]

Wow, the flower stem is so long, even the leaves are pretty impressive:-)

[Rick Schies]

I like its long leaves, and color too.

[Islandgirl]

Wow......large exotic plant.

[Diane]

You got the most important parts in the photo! I only have one bromeliad but I think I will get some more they have wonderful flowers that flower a long time and the foliage is nice too!

[Denis]

Nice shot Poppo, very tropical.

[Kane Arlow]

Great colour in the plant. I love it how things are always green in QLD. The garden looks great.

[Tracey]

Beautiful capture and a lovely garden as well

[Candace]

Lovely texture in the plant, is there a reason it is still potted?

[Poppo Livy]

@gigiflower @ribbet9 Hi Sam and Candace, Thanks for your comments. In their natural habitat, broms are largely epiphytic, that is they live in trees and also in rock grevices etc. (Remember Sean Connery up in the trees in Medicine Man collecting his samples from the broms?). As a result they like a very open, free draining "soil". I use a Cymbidium orchid mix which is largely pine bark with some other stuff mixed with it. Where we live it is very heavy and clayey so I leave all my broms in pots and just place the pots in the garden. Makes it very easy to rearrange the garden as plants die and new pups are produced or new broms acquired also. Many other brom growers do this. You may not be aware that a brom only ever produces one flower and then slowly dies. It may produce many pups.

[Tony]

Nicely captured and great growing tips.

[Milanie]

Interesting history about broms. Sounds like a great way to grow them - was surprised at how big they get. You've had some very nice shots of them.

[Denise (lyndemc)]

Very interesting share, Professor Brom. I didn't know these plants only bloom one time. That's good to know or otherwise I would've likely assumed I'd done something wrong and killed it. That's an impressive plant you've featured in the photo. And might I say, your yard is gorgeous.

[Poppo Livy]

@lyndemc @milaniet @tonydebont @tracelee @karlow75 @landownunder @dianeburns @radiogirl @digitalrn @gigiflower @hermann Thank you everyone for your comments. As I warned Lyndemc the other day, be careful about getting involved with broms. They can become very addictive - a bit like 365 or genealogy.

[Terrie]

Hey poppo, that is a beautiful garden you have growing. Lush and tropical. I have a long term plan to grow a tropicalish garden in Melbourne. What are the chances? I think I will just have to research the plants well :-)

[Poppo Livy]

@teodw A tropical garden in Melbourne. Now that would be a challenge. As you say, selection of the plants and the placement of the garden would be critical. It is not just the cold winters you guys have, but also the very hot days with very low humidity that you get in summer. We had one day this summer of 45deg at home here and it wrecked so many plants in the garden - even though they were largely in the shade. Having said all that, you would still be able to select from a pretty large range of broms. They are a very tough plant and don't need much for them to survive. But there is a difference between surviving and thriving. I'm sure there would be a Vic Brom Soc that you could get advice from.