Last month Bob Albanese and I ran a test of sending the newsletter online via his E-mail, and it worked just fine. The newsletter is also posted on the internet, so I can add a link to that page for anyone that has difficulty downloading the newsletter. For everyone that would opt for getting the newsletter online the club would save postage and printing costs, which amount to 57 cents a month now or $6.84 a year. Besides saving money the newsletter would arrive quicker. In all the confusion at last month's meeting I did not put out the list for anyone with an e-mail address. I will have that list available at the November meeting. We are not going to force anyone to get the newsletter online, but if you would be willing to give it a try, be ready to sign up at the meeting.

The State Fair is coming

The first two weeks in February will be State Fair time this year. In the recent past we have not participated in the State Fair for lack of interest. Several years ago we did put a display in the fair every year. It is a means of making some money for the club, so it more than pays for itself, but we have had so much difficulty getting a chairperson and other members that have been willing to take everything to the fair and set it up. For that reason we have not participated recently. If anyone is interested in chairing this event and organizing a display, please let Fay know or we will elect not to participate again this year. The dates for setting up a display would be February 1-4^th.

Please remember to bring extra plants for the raffle table

The raffle table helps to add funds to the treasury to pay for the room and the speakers that we enjoy each month. Sharing those extra bromeliads with the raffle table will help. Please make sure that they are clean and labeled.

Following the World Conference in St. Petersburg, I received an e-mail from Derek Butcher in Austrailia. It seems that Derek is now in charge of the bromeliad registration list and he was cross checking the world conference show plants with the list. He indicated that a plant that I had entered in the show was not on the registry, and he wanted additional information on Aechmea 'Can Can'. Derek also put Helga Tarver on the case, and I believe that she finally discovered that it was registered and had accidentally been dropped form the registry list in a manual typing of that list many years ago. So I guess that case is solved.

Then I got another e-mail from Derek indicating that another plant that I had entered had never been registered. It was a Neo. 'Fireball' x wilsoniana. Therefore I was given the opportunity to describe and name the plant. I decided that this sounds like a fun and educational project, so I did a little more corresponding with Derek via the internet.

My first choice for a name was 'Beach Party' to honor the very successful World Conference that we had just hosted, but that name has already been taken. Another choice of 'sara's sunset' was fine, so Neo. 'sara's sunset' it will be. Now I had to get to the paper work. Derek indicated that the registration form was available on line at the BSI website. Finding and downloading the form and printing out the instructions was just the start. I was able to convert the form into a Micro Soft Word document on my computer and then just type he information directly onto the form. Following the instructions that I had printed out, I filled out the form after taking some measurements of the plant and submitted it to Derek for suggestions.

You must also accompany the application with at least 2 or more photographs. Grabbing my digital camera and carrying the plant out to my driveway to get some sun, I made about 6 shots, which I attached to the e-mail to Derek.

To my surprise and delight, my first attempt was acceptable and I was the first one to totally submit an application via the internet.

I am still trying to do some research to discover who made the cross and when. My best guess is that I got the plant from the Wally Berg sale. If anyone has any information on Neo. 'Fireball' x wilsoniana, now known as Neo. 'sara's sunset', please let me know. It would be nice to give the correct hybridizer credit if it is known.

Sunday November 17 the Florida West Coast Bromeliad Society has been invited to visit Michael's new nursery. It is not really a new nursery. It is really Don Beadle's old nursery, but it is relatively new to Michael. It is a bring your own bag lunch affair with Michael and Donna providing drinks.

Michael's nursery is on 937 First Dirt Road in Venice, which is a little south of Sarasota

It is too early for any details, but at the last board meeting a committee was established to start looking into a location to host next years Extravaganza. Of course we will not need the amount of space as we did for the World Conference, so that will make a larger number of sites available to us.

Anyone interested in helping with this initial investigation should let Fay know.

At the November meeting we will have a competition for most beautiful and most bazaar. This will be a usual show and tell program and not a show. There will be a vote taken from the audience and the pots will not be judged. These plants do not have to be perfect or in clean pots, be we ask that they be healthy and free of bugs. Also please make sure that your plant will not make a mess on the floor. If you want to pull it out of the yard make sure that is in some sort of container so that it will contain the mess.

My understanding is that the prizes will be donated plants.