Page 1 East London Bromeliad Society South Africa February 2019 East London Bromeliad Society South Africa Established: 25 July 2009 NEWS LETTER February 2019 Our aim is to promote and encourage awareness and interest in Bromeliads in East London and all of South Africa! ELBSSA is an Affiliated Society of Bromeliad Society International January Meeting We kicked off the year with a fabulous first meeting held at the home of Kobus and Annetjie Venter in Berea. 30 members and 9 visitors enjoyed a feast of succulents, cacti, orchids and of course Blooming Bromeliads and Tillandsia. Our chairman Dudley Reynolds welcomed everyone back after the long holiday break. Kobus is the orchid collector. He started collecting around 1972. He told us that it starts with one, then you collect more and more. When they went on their travels around South Africa, Annetjie started noticing the beautiful succulents and started collecting them as well. She is well known around East London as the creator of mini succulent gardens in bowls, which she makes from scratch herself. Nowadays they don’t miss a nursery where there might be a chance of buying more succulents, from Uppington all the way to Richards Bay! Kobus is scaling back his orchid collection and Annetjie already has her eye on the space to make a bigger succulent and cacti garden! Their garden was a very popular entry in the Pam Golding Show Gardens of East London last year, it is a stunning collection of succulents, cacti, and a few bromeliads too, then t h e r e i s K o b u s ’ s shadehouse with all his orchids plus quite a large amount of Tillandsia as well. Thank you so much Kobus and Annetjie for welcoming us into your home and garden and sharing your incredible passion for plants with all of us. Kobus and Annetjie Venter and some views of their amazing garden and plants! Below a hanging planter made out of 2 old fan covers! Next Meeting: Sunday 24th February at 2.00 for 2.30pm. To be hosted by Gale Kockjeu at 3 Greenan Street, Berea. Bring your mug, chair and a Tillandsia to show at the meeting.
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Page 1 East London Bromeliad Society South Africa February 2019
East London Bromeliad Society South Africa Established: 25 July 2009
NEWS LETTER February
2019
Our aim is to promote and encourage awareness and interest in Bromeliads in East London and all of South Africa!
ELBSSA is an Affiliated Society of Bromeliad Society International
January Meeting
We kicked off the year with a fabulous first meeting held
at the home of Kobus and Annetjie Venter in Berea. 30
members and 9 visitors enjoyed a feast of succulents,
cacti, orchids and of course Blooming Bromeliads and
Tillandsia. Our chairman Dudley Reynolds welcomed
everyone back after the long holiday break.
Kobus is the orchid collector. He started collecting
around 1972. He told us that it starts with one, then you
collect more and more. When they went on their travels
around South Africa, Annetjie started noticing the
beautiful succulents and started collecting them as well.
She is well known around East London as the creator of
mini succulent gardens in bowls, which she makes from
scratch herself. Nowadays they don’t miss a nursery where
there might be a chance of buying more succulents, from
Uppington all the way to Richards Bay! Kobus is scaling back
his orchid collection and Annetjie already has her eye on the
space to make a bigger
succulent and cacti
garden! Their garden was
a very popular entry in
the Pam Golding Show
Gardens of East London
last year, it is a stunning
collection of succulents,
cacti, and a few
bromeliads too, then
t h e r e i s K o b u s ’ s
shadehouse with all his
orchids plus quite a large
amount of Tillandsia as
well. Thank you so much
Kobus and Annetjie for
welcoming us into your
home and garden and sharing your incredible passion for plants with all of us.
Kobus and Annetjie Venter
and some views of their
amazing garden and plants!
Below a hanging planter
made out of 2 old fan covers!
Next Meeting: Sunday 24th February at 2.00 for 2.30pm. To be hosted by Gale Kockjeu at 3 Greenan Street, Berea. Bring your mug, chair and a Tillandsia to show at the meeting.
Page 2 East London Bromeliad Society South Africa February 2019
Blooming Bromeliads
We had a good showing for this topic with members bringing some stunning
plants to show and discuss. We will highlight a few of them below.
Michael McClaren brought his huge, stunning Hohenbergia burle-marxii to
show us. This species is found in Brazil. The Hohenbergia genus consists of
about 55 species. The bluish green,
simple leaves are basal. They are
linear and sessile with serrate
margins and parallel venation. It
produces spikes of white tubular
flowers. The flowers eventually
produce berries. They prefer a sunny
to half-shady situation in fresh to
moist soil. Mike grows this plant in
morning sun.
Lyn Wegner brought two much
a d m i r e d b r o m s : A e c h m e a
‘ F a n t a s i a ’ a n d A e c h m e a
‘Friederike’.
Aechmea ‘Fantasia’: This is a
Patricia Bullis hybrid, registered 18
years ago, and is described as ‘one of our hybrids with green foliage
with gray striation and a very
Hohenbergia burle-marxii
distinctive symmetrical hot pink and
yellow bloom’. According to the
Photo Index at fcbs.org the seed
parent is noted as an Ae. tessmannii
hybrid. Mine is growing in filtered
light, potted and it is exciting to
have it bloom!
A e c h m e a ‘ F r i e d e r i k e ’ : A
spectacular inflorescence! and
beautiful variegated, spineless
foliage! It is a cultivar of Ae. ‘Fascini’
and it is interesting that they both
have the seed parent Ae. chantinii
and Ae. fasciata as the pollen
parent. It is a Corn Bak hybrid
registered in 2000. Mine is potted
and growing in semi-shade.
Dr Pete Pfister brought quite a few
s p e c i e s b r o m e l i a d s . V r i e s e a
lubbersii, Vriesea corcovadensis,
which can easily be mistaken for a
Tillandsia with its growth form and
was a real surprise showing,
Aechmea fasciata, Canistropsis
Yellow rubra foliage which Miriam
Kennard won as a lucky draw plant,
a few examples of Tillandsia
capitata ‘Peach’ and Aechmea
racinae x warasii.
D u d l e y R e y n o l d s b r o u g h t Vrieslutheria ‘Kent’s Sunset’, Lutheria
‘Splenriet’, Aechmea ‘Alvarez’,
Tillandsia ‘Maya’ Redcap, a hybrid
Aechmea ‘Fantasia’
Vriesea corcovadensis
Aechmea racinae x warasii
Aechmea ‘Friederike’
Aechmea lubbersii
Aechmea ‘Alvarez’
Page 3 East London Bromeliad Society South Africa February 2019
T ands a fasc cu ata T op f o a
of Tillandsia ‘Rio Hondo’ x T. capitata Red form.
Aechmea ‘Alvarez’. A variegated plant from Aechmea
leuddemanniana, can tolerate sunny conditions.
Lovely example of variegated Vrieslutheria ‘Kent’s Sunset’, this was
previously known as Vriesea ‘Kent’s Sunset’. A cultivar of Vr. sucrei x
inflorescence this year, we can perhaps look forward to it next summer. It
is from Dennis and Linda Cathcart’s Tropiflora Nursery in Sarasota. It
reaches over 30cm across with a heavy spike of thick red branches that
last in colour for almost a year. The flowers are blue/purple and come out
Tillandsia fasciculata ‘Tropiflora’
of each bract one at a time. I don’t fertilise any of my plants, there are just toooooo many! This is likely a
Page 4 East London Bromeliad Society South Africa February 2019
natural hybrid of T. fasciculata x compressa that Dennis got from Jamaica over 40 years ago. Lyn
commented that Pam Koide-Hyatt mentioned in her talk at the San Diego WBC last year that the T.
fasciculata group of plants needs some attention in terms of classification.
Show and Tell
Lyn Wegner’s Neoregelia ‘Victoria’ with
two ‘heads’ in the cup.
Lyn Wegner: I noticed this by accident
t h at Ne or e ge li a ‘V ict oria ’ h a s
produced 2 ‘heads’ in the cup. I
wonder how unusual this is?
Lyn also brought a Hohenbergia
stellata mother plant with no foliage
and for all purposes looking like it had
no life left in it, lo and behold, two
pups have appeared! So, just a
reminder, if you have that special
Bromeliad, hang on to the old mother
for a while, she just may push out
another pup for you.
Hohenbergia stellata
Species Talk - Lyn Wegner
Lemeltonia (previously Tillandsia) triglochinoides. It grows as an epiphyte,
on trees in the forests in Ecuador and Peru. It likes to be moderately damp
and positioned in semi-shade. I must say mine does pretty well considering
it is grown in a wire hanging basket in a fairly sunny spot and it isn’t
watered too often. I am going to pay it more attention and maybe I will be
rewarded for my efforts! It is wonderfully fragrant in the evening. It’s not
what you would describe as super spectacular but I find it most attractive.
Preparing Plants for a Show - Lyn Wegner
Our very first fun ‘Show’ is scheduled for our March meeting and will be held
at the Little Beacons School in Beacon Bay. Depending on the success and
enthusiasm of our members we hope to make this an annual event.
There will be 4 categories: Blooming Tillandsia, Blooming Bromeliads, Non Blooming Tillandsia and Non Blooming Bromeliads.
∗ You must have owned and grown the plant for more than 6 months.
Judging will be done by the members present. It should be a lot of fun!
Each plant will have a sheet of paper positioned in front of it on which you
will record your score which will be out of a total of 10. You will not score
your own plant.
We have drawn up some guidelines to assist you in preparing your plant
and what you would use to calculate your score when judging a plant on
show:
• Check the pot, it shouldn’t be a fancy pot, it must be clean and in good condition.
• The soil must be weed free, no fancy ground cover is allowed, pebbles or bark is fine.
• The plant mustn’t be ‘buried’ in the pot with the soil level being too high. • It is tempting to plant too deeply so the plant doesn’t topple over. • The plant should be in the centre of the pot and stable, not wobbly. • There should be no dead leaves at the base of the plant or anywhere
else.
• There must be no evidence of scale or other pests/diseases or problem marks.
• The leaves must be trimmed neatly to remove all blemishes. • The plant must be clean in the centre and between the leaves.
Lemeltonia triglochinoides
Lyn, telling us about her species plant,
Lemeltonia triglochinoides, unaware
there were some keen takers for it to be
a give away- plant !!! LOL!!!!!! Needless
to say, after much joking around, she
was not parting with it!
Page 5 East London Bromeliad Society South Africa February 2019
• Debris can be removed with a pair of tweezers. • No artificial leaf cleaner to shine the leaves is allowed. • The plant must have a good form and colour. • A flowering plant must have all dead and dying flowers removed. • If staked this must be neatly done. • Tillandsia, if mounted, must be firmly mounted. They can be potted too. • We will allow plants without name labels this time round but it would be great if you have your plant labelled. • The label must be neat and tidy with ONLY the plants name. • Should you wish to put your name on your plant/pot please ensure it is NOT VISIBLE to the judges ie. all of us!
We will go through all of this again at our February meeting.
It’s a good idea to start looking at your plants now and plan what you could enter in the show, giving them
time to be groomed and looking their best. Hold thumbs they bloom at the right time!
Member News • A very big welcome to new international member Mark Brewer from Zimbabwe, returning country member
Carlo Engelbrecht from Nelspruit and new local member Gail Allner.
• Our winner in the BSI Annual Membership Draw is Avikar Chunilall! a country member from Durban. Congratulations!!
• We are very sorry to learn that our country member John Kloppers from Groblersdal passed away on 19th December. Our thoughts and condolences are with Maryna and the family as they come to terms with their loss.
Thanks • Kobus and Annetjie Venter for hosting our first meeting of 2019! • Members who brought in their magnificent blooming bromeliads, (some rather
large and heavy) for us all to enjoy! • For bringing Lucky Draw plants, Dr Pete Pfister, Lyn Wegner and Barbara Black. • Dr Pete Pfister and Marianne Hillstead for hosting the fabulous end of year Bring
and Braai function. • Everyone who participated in the end of year Auction, donating items and
spending cash, we raised an awesome R1555.00 for the society, well done everyone!
• All the members who brought puddings! • As always, all the folks who pitch in and take their turns helping Marianne Hillstead
with tea and tidying up afterwards at the meeting venues.
Congratulations to the January Raffle Winners! • Gale Kockjeu chose Neoregelia ‘Gold Fever’ x
johannis.
• M i c h a e l M c C l a r e n c h o s e T i l l a n d s i a riohondoensis.
• Pam Stoltz chose Neoregelia ‘Picasso’. • Miriam Kennard chose Nidularium ‘Bahia’ novar. • Philip Visagie from Pretoria chose Tillandsia
balbisiana. • Shaun Hope from Johannesburg chose Billbergia
‘Cherry Cordial’. • Johan Bouwer from Graaff-Reinet chose
Neoregelia ‘Caramac’. • Petro and Callie Erasmus from Levubu chose
Tillandsia balbisiana.
It was great to welcome a new member at the
meeting, Gale Allner. We
hope you spend many
happy years with all of us.
Lucky Draw Winners: There were quite a lot of
lucky winners! Always good to go home with an
unexpected plant to nurture and grow.
Lucky local raffle winners, Gale Kockjeu, Miriam Kennard, Pam Stoltz
and Michael McClaren.
∗ Please note that the Lucky Draw is not a Raffle, you have to be present to claim your prize!
We welcome plant donations from our members for the Lucky Draws.
Page 6 East London Bromeliad Society South Africa February 2019
From the Chairman - Dudley Reynolds
Greetings to all our Bromeliad enthusiasts. It is with great
anticipation that we await our very first 'Judged Show' at the end
of March. This will initially be a fun event which hopefully will
become a reoccurring annual event, becoming more
comprehensive as we go along. This exercise will be an excellent
learning curve, not only for the newbies, but also for us older
growers to cultivate and display our bromeliads in a correct and
acceptable way.
Thankfully the dry spell has been interrupted with some nice
showers and thunderstorms recently. The grass is certainly looking a
lot greener and the Bromeliads more striking in their vivid array of
colouration.
With our 10th Birthday coming up in July, any suggestions would be
appreciated of how you would like to celebrate this special milestone
Our intrepid chairman Dudley Reynolds with Tracy
and Robert Moss.
in the history of our society. Maybe even a visit from some of our country members would be wonderful, adding to
the festivities of the event. Until next time, everything of the best and HAPPY BROMMING!
From the Committee • Please could members remember to collect your name badge from Betty or the container she keeps them
in when you arrive at the meeting. Some of us are of a certain age….. ummm…. bad at remembering
names and stuff!!!!! We know the faces well, but the names elude us at times! It is also good for us all to
get to know each other, especially for welcoming new members.
• We currently have 144 members, 69 local (East London), 70 country (other parts of South Africa) and 5 international, 1 each from Colorado US, Houston US, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Uganda. We have 11 members
who belong to the BSI. It’s not about membership, these numbers are just for interest sake, it is our love of
these amazing plants that is at the core of our membership, GROW ON!!!!!
• In an effort to cut down on using those horrible styrofoam cups at the meetings, which are not environmentally friendly, we would like to encourage all our members to bring along their own mugs for
tea time. Thank you to those of you who already do!
• We wish Dudley and Albie Reynolds well with the big move to their new home soon. Wow, all those plants to move! But also a wonderful opportunity to recreate a special space to show off all his magnificent
plants to their best advantage.
Upcoming Society Events
24th February: To be hosted by Gale Kockjeu at 3 Greenan Street, Berea. We gather at 2.00 for a prompt start
at 2.30pm. Please remember to bring your mug and a chair if you want a seat. Also we encourage all our
members to bring any interesting Bromeliad/Tillandsia you would like to show off, discuss, have identified or
just share with the members during Show and Tell.
Topic: Tillandsia – Flowering and Form. Members are requested to bring their Tillandsia and tell us a bit about them.
31st March: To be held at Little Beacons Pre-Primary Hall in Beacon Bay. Our first attempt to have a mini
judged show! More about this at the February meeting.
28th April: Hosted by Brian and Bridget Kroger in Beacon Bay. 28th July: ELBSSA 10th Birthday Celebrations!!! At 18 Wentworth Road in Sunnyridge
Upcoming International Conferences (start saving)
2019: ‘Golden Broms’ 17th - 20th October 2019 Hosted by the Gold Coast Succulent and Bromeliad Society
Inc. at the Sea World Resort on the Gold Coast. This will be the 20th Australasian Bromeliad Conference. For
contact information go to the conference website at www.goldenbroms.com
2020: WBC2020 To be held in Sarasota, Florida, USA 9-16 June 2020. Some exciting conference visits planned
to Michael’s Bromeliads, Tropiflora Nursery and Selby Botanical Gardens. Watch this space and the
Conference Corner at bsi.org for more details!
2021: This bi-annual Australasian Bromeliad Conference will again be hosted by The New Zealand Bromeliad