Guzmania 'Orangeade'

Our guest for the June meeting will be George Aldrich from Ocala. We have enjoyed George's programs in the past, and this time he will present a slide show on a recent bromeliad-collecting trip to Peru. This is an unusual part of the world with extremes in climate which makes for some unusual bromeliads.

George will have some unusual and beautiful plants for sale from his bromeliad nursery in Ocala.

The May meeting was our annual auction for 2003, and it was a big success. There were plenty of donated plants on hand. Almost $1,100 was raised. The board has voted to donate $500 of that money to the Bromeliad Identification Center headed by Harry Luther, and make a donation to the BSI color fund.

We want to thank everyone who helped to make this event a success. Especially Wilma Murphy and Helen Streck who handled the bid recording and collecting the funds. Also the auctioneers and of course everyone who brought plants, and let's not forget those who bought plants.

The Refreshment committee wants to thank Adelle Blackman, Fay O'Rourke, the Boyntons, and others for bringing the refreshments to last month's meeting.

No one signed up to bringing refreshments for the June meeting. So we will have to rely on the items that individuals have been bringing to share. Sara would prefer to have individuals signing up in advance, so that she knows that something will be there. It makes her more comfortable, but plenty of goodies have been showing up on their own. Remember to stop by the front desk when you bring food to pick up your extra raffle ticket. You will also find the sign-up sheet at this desk.

FWCBS had a special trip to Michael's Bromeliads in Venice. Michael and Donna have a beautiful place with a pond and lots of nice plants. There are 5 or 6 excellent greenhouses full of plants.

We want to thank the Kiehl's for their hospitality.

It is with great sadness that I report the death of Audrey McCrory who owned Boggy Creek Bromeliads with her husband Bill in Kissimmee, Florida. Audrey also was a Life Member of the Bromeliad Society of Central Florida and a long time member of the BSI.

Audrey and Bill have come to the FWCBS several times in the past to present programs on mounting bromeliads.

Boggy Creek was known as a collector's bromeliad nursery. The McCrory's were recently forced to sell off all of the plants and close the nursery recently due to Audrey and Bill's declining health.

In the spirit of the 4^th of July we plan to have a giant show and tell program and a picnic (inside of course). So start preparing your favorite, problem, mystery or unique plants for the program.

Everyone will be asked to bring something to share for the picnic. As with any picnic we want people to invite family and friends to attend and help us celebrate the fourth of July on the first of July.

This is from a commercial site http://www.bromeliads.co.nz/ offering bromeliads for sale, but I doubt if anyone would want to order at those prices and add shipping, but it is always nice to see what is out there.

• Some are not suited to the light levels intended. The other day I went through a McDonalds drive through. I was delighted to see Bromeliads had been extensively used in the planting, but I was horrified to see shade lovers side by side with sun lovers. The shade lovers, such as Aechmea gamesopela were badly scorched and it was still early spring. Not the best advertisement for Bromeliads! Another classic example is when highly colored Neoregelia are planted in the shade. Within weeks all the color fades and they look just like any other green leafed plant (just a lot more expensive!).
• Some have been flowered too young. This is a common problem in this country. Nearly all commercial nurseries use a product which produces ethylene in the vase of the Bromeliads to induce them to flower. Used correctly, this has no long term effect on the plant. However it is tempting for growers to induce flowering quickly, to increase turnover in the greenhouse. The problem with this is that the plants are often too small to support the large flower. As a result they will usually grow poorly, be more susceptible to disease and produce very few if any pups.
• Some have been poorly grown. We see many examples of plants being sold that are underfed, damaged, diseased or even old mother plants that have had their pups removed! Fortunately, with care the first three of these problems can be overcome, although sometimes it is only the pups that come right.
• Some are sold at exorbitant prices. In the past year, we have noticed more and more relatively common Bromeliads being sold at very high prices. While Bromeliads are slow growing compared to many other plants, unless a Bromeliad is very large/slow/rare/new or otherwise very highly sought after, there is no reason to be paying exorbitant prices. As an example, we recently saw some common Neoregelia concentrica hybrids promoted for $45.00 each! Another example was mediocre quality Canistropsis billbergioides 'Persimmon' (formerly known as Nidularium billbergioides), retailing for $21.95!

Editorial Note:

I do not think that too many of our members are having these problems as we usually buy our bromeliads at the meetings or at recognized nurseries. I doubt if very many of our members are buying plants over the internet, and if they do they are buying pups, so that probably avoids a couple of the problems that are listed in this article. This article is just intended to be food for thought and a word to the wise.