Very nice canvas you have there paul for your creation

I second HDD's thought - a beautiful setting to create a marvelous display. Specially if that p-c's could get a bit sun to bring out those red tips! Will go wonderful with the marmorata's when they start colouring up.

Japie

Hi Paul - What a great massed display of P.C.'s - It really hits you in the eye. I've only ever seen them in pots before and never thought of putting them in the garden.

I have a friend who had so much trouble with deer that she had to have an electric fence put up. Are you by chance anywhere near Bundeena and the National Park where she lives?

All the best, Nev.

Hi Paul, (*_*) " Great combination ! I really love your "Tree fern" and "Grass tree"

Chanin in 'Xeric Garden'

I love those tree ferns Paul, lucky you. Mine aren't "trees" like yours.

Hi Paul, great photos, I particularly like the first one with the grass tree...they're not often seen over here.

You're right about it being a great year for Vr. p-c...I was thinking about posting a topic myself, but will just add a few pic's to yours. I read somewwhere that they need a cold snap to induce flowering.

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Cheers, Andrew.

Yes, love your tree ferns!!! A garden so serene.

Paul and Andrew,

Great looking Vriesea philippo-coburgii's, I have been on the look out for one after seeing the yellow one in Steen's book Broms for the contemporary garden.

Has anyone cooked one to get that great yellow color?

Do they multiply well, how long does it take to amass a clump like yours?

Thanks,

Rick

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments. Nev, I'm at Maianbar so yes, right next to Bundeena and the National Park, sharing the deer population with your friend.

Andrew - nice display, and complete with fingernails! Mine get them strongly from late winter through spring to summer, then loose them in autumn for some reason I can't fathom. Shame - it would be great to have them with fingernails at the same time as they flower, like yours. Interesting to see your comment about them needing a cold snap to flower. I get a few flower spikes on my clumps each year but it tends to be fairly sporadic, except some years there can be a lot, lot more. Last winter we had the coldest and most prolonged cold periods for several years - quite a few weeks with nights often down to around 6 degC at my place. With 17 flower spikes on one clump and 13 spikes on the other clump, virtually every mature plant in each clump flowered, so it certainly looks like the coldness of the winter could have synchronised the flowering of the whole lot.

Rick, I've not fully cooked any in a position where they get intense sun on all sides so they go yellow all over, but it would be worth a try - mine certainly go yellow on exposed sides without too much encouragement and the only time I've had them burn was on that 45degC New Year's eve we had a few years ago, and even then they didn't burn very much.

With regard to clumping, this would have to be one of the great clumping broms. A happy plant could easily have 4 to 6 pups almost as big as itself by the time it flowers. I haven't kept close track on how long from when a pup starts to form until it is mature enough to flower, but its probably around 2-3 years. To give you some idea, that clump of mine near the front entrance with 17 flower spikes has grown from 3 large pups that I re-planted 7 years ago (after breaking up the previous large clump), and it has had somewhere between 3-8 spikes on it most years over that period.

The clumps will probably have reached the stage next year or the year after when I will break them up again and re-plant to keep them happy and attractive - they eventually end up growing up and over themselves so much that the whole thing becomes unstable and a bit tatty. But if they only need to be re-done every ten years or so, who cares! What a great garden plant!

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Cheers, Paul

Paul,

Thanks for the follow up, that was just the information that I was after.

Cheers,

Rick

Thanks for all the info Paul. Both of you guys have great gardens. Are they sensitive to really low humidity? And do they like to be kept somewhat moist during the growing season?

WOW...what awsome natural display they make...I love them. Sounds like a good landscaping plant for sure...now I need me some of them too....LOL

Just plain awesome Paul! Y'know, venison jerky is really good.
OT but I'd give just about anything for your Xanthorrhoea. We have the Mexican equivalent of your Grass Tree out here but the Aussie species is king.

Hi Paul and Andrew, Just stunning Vr,PC's its one of my most loved broms, makes me want to grow a clump myself, have lots in pots around the garden, but your displays are just magnificent, Well done and thanks for sharing.
Tamera

Hi sdandy, sorry to take so long to reply - just catching up after being away. Re your question on humidity and watering, those current clumps have developed over seven years that have included the longest and most severe drought in our recorded history. Lots of other things in the garden, eg several large, well-established tree ferns, have died off over that period, but the V. p-c's have soldiered on happily with no watering except natural rainfall, which has many times been light and months apart over extended periods of heat and low humidity.

I suspect that just so long as they are a little bit sheltered, they can probably survive just on dew for extended periods. Also, once they get into a bit of a clump, they probably maintain their own little microclimate, with long-term storage of water deep down in the vases. The soil they are growing in is very poor sand that pretty much repels water and what little water there is gets sucked up by the gum trees, so the V. p-c's do it pretty hard, and seem to love it. Hope this helps.

Gonzer, the venison jerky sounds like a great idea. I get venison pies from the local butcher whenever I can. Not the local deer unfortunately, but still very satisfying!

Tamera, really appreciate your comments. I'm looking forward to the time when I've got enough pups to get some of your stunning plants out there where they can really do their thing.

Cheers, Paul

This sp. would be hard to flower here in the tropics .
They grow large and look fantastic , but the temps needed to instigate flowering would have killed off many of my tropical trees .. OH WELL ..mmmmm maybe popping into a coolroom might help ? I have seen them growing well up on the tablelands .

Thanks Paul, excellent and surprising (at least to me!) information. I just imagined and assumed a lot of the vrieseas would be pretty tender to dry air. But I guess I should have thought about the fact that alcantareas were just recently removed from the genus.

So my follow up questions...is Vr. P-C considered a 'foliage' vriesea? And are most "foliage" vrieseas pretty tough like vr. p-c? I (once again) just imagined they would need humidity. I haven't taken the expensive gamble on them without knowing whether they would do well.

And I just have to say it again, your clumps look amazing!
-andy

Hi Andy - don't know if V. p-c would be classed as a "foliage" Vriesea - probably a fairly variable bunch anyway given the large number of species and hybrids it seems to include. I've only had experience out there with one, in pics 2 & 3 at the base of the gum tree on the opposite side to the V. p-cs, and closer-up in the pic below. Its a V. platynema X of some description (looks maybe like X fosteriana) that came from a Sydney brom soc around 20 years ago.

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It clumps up pretty well too, and has been subjected to the same conditions and treated the same way as the clumps of V. p-c over the same period of time. On top of that, it copes with full afternoon sun in summer and only gets the occasional burn on the very hottest days when it gets to around 40degC. So, its pretty tough as well. Not sure about any others, but I've got a few different clones and hybrids of fosteriana waiting to try out there when I get deer-proofed.

Cheers, Paul

My V.p-c is just starting to bloom, and we never have frost here - I doubt that the plant needs much cold to bloom, since mine is starting to do so. It did get down to 6°C one night last December, but that was a fluke.

I do like the photos of the clumps and think I may move mine to the ground in the front yard, as I think it might do better there. Right now I am probably not giving it enough light. I only have one flower stalk now, and I think it will look much better in a clump, although that may take a while with this one. I've had better luck with portea petropolitana extensa, as far as clumps go.

Thanks, Nev! I'll make a point of not removing pups, but I do think I will repot it when it gets root-bound. I do think it may look better in the front yard, however, as it is getting a bit large (with the flower spike) and may want more room.