How come this forum doesn't have a "drool" icon? Very good looking plant!
Are those notches cut into the tree trunk to support your Tills avane?

Beautiful plant,Japie.
Remember to show us again when in full bloom.
I like the way the roots have clung to the wood post,like little hands with fingers hanging on for dear life!
Pretty smart plant.
Bob

Gonzer, the tree 'trunks' that you see, are old railway sleepers! Very handy to use in the garden. Some upright, some lying down and they are made of hardwood, so they don't rot easily. The uprights are wonderful for mounting any kind of brom! They are starting to get in short supply, as more and more railway lines are converted to concrete beams under the tracks and most are done!
Bob, I sure will post a picture of the flower! Japie

Gonzer, this is particular for you! Various ways how I use the sleepers in my garden. And the Tills do not seem to mind to sit up there year in and out - even through our wet winters. Low temperatures (down to 5 degrees C), being wet, day and night for days on end and low light conditions.
And I DO have to start with this picture with that (in)famous red billbergia sitting proudly on top (I just wish it will give me a flower!!!):
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And even my infra-red sensor for my garden lights is mounted there (yeah, I know it needs replacement, but it still works!):
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I hope I did not bore you all with tooo many pictures!
Japie

Japie,
love what you have done with those sleepers. Your broms look right at home mounted on them. You can come and landscape my yard anytime.

If I read about someone stealing railway sleepers in Cape Town I won't turn you in.

Japie, you certainly have a garden/collection to be envious of. Everything looks clean and neat which is (as we all know) so hard to do. Must be some new-fangled Garden Maid Service you have right? ;-)
Go right ahead and keep on "boring" us with your pics!

You have done a beautiful job designing your garden Japie.

I am so impressed that I would love your garden maid to come visit me! LOL

More photos please.

Hi Japie, that's quite an amazing garden you have.

Not to be psychadelic here, but the stand of sleepers looks like an old pier, your tillandsias and broms growing like star fish and sponges clinging to pilings :)

What is the really, really bright red one in the first pic?

Also, what are the small green ones with darker lower portion, growing in a clump on the left hand side of that first picture, on the horizontal limb?

I am very impressed by all of it!

Treehaus, I am scared that Gonzer will withdraw everything nice he said if I tell you the really, really red one is Bill amoena Rubra!!

The ones on te left are Vriesea erythrodactylon. I just wish they would flower!

Wonderful garden and photos Japie. Very impressive.
At first,I did not relate to the 'sleepers',as you call them. Over here,we just call them 'railroad ties',and they sell them at some landscaping nurseries. But can't use them as you have,as ours are soaked and coated in creosote (?),a black gooey tar like substance that stays on them for years and years,to prevent rot.
Your garden would make a very nice picturesque photo book on bromeliads and landscaping techniques. Similar photos are in the book 'Bromeliads for the Contemporary Garden',by Andrew Steens
Many thanks for todays tour of a beautiful garden.
Bob

Japie, if you can just talk the rest of the GWers into paying your airfare to come and design their gardens, you could get a world tour out of it!

It really is lovely! Now all you have to do is empty out that pool and put a glass roof over it so you'll have a place to grow out your seedlings. ;-)

Thanks for all the compliments, really appreciated!

Bob, the railway-ties that we get here is made out of hardwood, so they do not rot easily. And if they do weather down, so much better looking. I have even set fire to a pile of them in the past, let them burn a bit and then extiguish the fire - now THAT looked nice!

I was wondering how on earth did you see my pool Lisa, and then I remembered posting that Bobby Dazzler picture! But NO, I need my swim! I'll make another plan for a place for my seedlings!

So, come on, guys and girls, how about that plane ticket!?!

What!?!?!?!?
Boy, I'm really confused now japie. What's the story behind your B. rubra???

Gonzer, please read the link below! It's about a plant that you and Lisa had different views about and then I joined in, unintentionally with my plant looking like Lisa's and you had a label of Seaborn to proof your point! But I still would like to see a picture of a flower of your plant, like I asked for in HDD's Sea Shell thread. I haven't even seen a flower of my plant yet! Japie

Here is a link that might be useful: Bill amoena Rubra

Ever so slowly coming along!:

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How about sending some of that S. African weather out this way. Your plants are in pristine shape!

I dare not placing it upright. It will disintegrate in notime.
Your plant is in exellent form Japie.

Gonzer, at the moment this South African (Western Cape) weather is driving me nuts! The winter rain does not seem to want to stop this year. And I do not understand my Tillandsias - every where you read, and everybody knowing some about tillandsias tell you to keep them dry at night. For the past three months, they had more cold, wet nights than dry ones and they still seem to be ok.

Andy, I did mount that plant with it's base flat on the vertical side of that sleeper (I just put a wedge of wood underneath to help stablize it), but in time it just turned itself upright again! And believe me, there is ALWAYS water inside the bottom leaves of that plant. We live in a very windy place, that might be the key why survive.

Hi all,
I'm not sure of this,so feel free to correct me.
But,from what I've seen from my own plants and weather/temperature effects on them,that most bromeliads will tolorate gradual changes in growing conditions.They seem to suffer when you change their location or growing conditions too suddenly.
As in Japie's case,the Tils were out there for all the seasons,and adapted well to the gradual daily climate changes,and grew accustomed to the cooler wetter conditions of winter,without any adverse results.
Yes? No? Something else?
Bob

Another update. This plant's inflorescence is developing ever soooo slowly!:

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Dang, you take nice photos!

That's a big one! Very nice.

Yet another update but still not a flower! The first flower bud - the one at the back - is sitting there for a week allready but still no further movement. Do they wait for the right climatic conditions - our weather this time of the year is VERY variable - or is seleriana always so slow to develope?
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Japie, I'm not too sure about this but what I find that the developement of flower will be constant and gradual process.
Maybe yours is still in the initial stage (I see the flower is emerging out. It'll be fast once you can see the actual flower petals.

And this is what I was waiting for! It seems that the plant was only waiting for the sun to touch it befor it started showing it's flowers. The plant receives very bright light for most of the year but only direct sun in summer in the afternoon. The part of the inflorescence that is touched by the afternoon sun, developes much faster than the otherside.

Sorry I seem to have a problem uploading to PhotoBuckit. Will post the pictures as soon as possible!
Japie

This morning still in the shade with better all over definition in the picture:
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And this afternoon showing the sun on the plant but very difficult to take a descent picture!:
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Wow, I didn't realize how big it was until that last picture! Very nice!

Who's the guy next to it with the red spike?

Lisa, I do not know. I was waiting for the flowers to open then hopefully Gonzer will be able to identify it for me! It has pure white flowers.
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