Richard,

I love flowering Alcatareas but that Tillandsia imperialis looks pretty impressive too.

Thanks for sharing them with us.

Rick

Hi Richard,

I've just managed to get hold of a Till. deppiana. Now I'll have to get a Till. imperialis as well! It's great to be able to see your plants blooming like that. It really gives me something to look forward to. And the Alc.s! I hope I get some of that purple on my (as yet) little extensa, and that silver barred nahoumii? is a beauty. Jewellery Shop is a great favourite as well. It is always great to see one colouring up nicely. Thanks for showing them. Cheers, Paul

I'm jealous. I can't grow T. imperialis, and deppeana was never happy with me either. I can't look at those photos, however, without thinking about the possibility of a xTillcantarea or two. Hmmmmm........could be spectacular!

Hi Lisa, very interesting!!!!
I have 2yr old Vriecantarea seedlings - (hopefully)
Also germinated several Vrieslandsia's this year.
I had not thought about Tillcantarea's.

I did not have any luck pollinating onto Till deppeana, but did get seed with deppeana onto Vriesea'a.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I am presumng you would need to put Alc onto Till not the other way around?

Cheers & Thanks Richard

Gorgeous plants Richard.Love seeing beautiful healthy plants.Keep them coming.
Thanks Fran

All very nice plants, Richard! That Till imperialis is right on time to be used as a Christmas candle - I so wish I can lay my hands on one!! Imagine crossing that with an Alc imperialis and get a baby with the leaves and size of the Alcantarea and the flower spike of the Till.

Japie

" I can't look at those photos, however, without thinking about the possibility of a xTillcantarea or two. "

Lisa, go take a cold shower!

It's no use, Gonzer, my mind just automatically goes there. ;-)

I don't know what advice I can give, Richard, but because of the relative size of the floral parts I'm fairly sure you'd have to put the Alc pollen onto the Till, which may be a problem as the Tillies appear to be further along. Of course you could always try the little trick of cutting the Alc pistil short with a razor blade and dabbing a bit of stigmatic fluid (that little droplet that forms on the stigma at anthesis) onto it, then pollinating that directly. Never tried it myself, but I am told it sometimes works.

Yes, I'm seeing a giant red T. imperialis spike with branches coming out of it! What Vriesea did you put T. deppeana onto? I look forward to seeing how that will come out.

Meanwhile, I did a xVriecantarea cross many many years ago (like maybe 10 years or more?). One of the seedlings bloomed several years ago and didn't impress me much, in fact I didn't even take a picture of it, so that tells you something. I got rid of it and was thinking of doing the same with its siblings, since they were taking up a lot of space without giving me anything in return. Instead I just tucked them in an out-of-the-way spot and forgot about them. Well, one of them is blooming now and it's absolutely fabulous! So you just never know.....

Hi Lisa,

I have also heard of the cut pistil and I will give it a try (nothing to lose).
I have several other Alc's coming to flower and one flowering now - (imperialis x vinicolor), just waiting for
T. imperialis to flower.

The Vrieslandsia cross I did germinated but have not done so well, compared to vriesea crosses done at the same time.
But hopefully we will get a couple come thru.
The cross's were Vr Natascha x T. Deppeana
& Vr platynema x ( gigantea x gigantea seideliana) x T. deppeana - Why - cause I can!!

I have also put my Vriecantarea in a back corner, but I wont hold my breath - 10yrs!!

Thanks Lisa - your wealth of knowledge is much appreciated - Cheers Richard

Interesting Richard ,I have never had any success using 'Natascha ' and deemed it to be sterile but ? . do like the Till. imperialis ,very nice , much has been said about using Alc. and cutting the stigmatic tube , but it appears not that successfull ,after all how many hybrids are there in existance ? still nothing tried hmmm? but you never know when something works ,i have often tried Till.' Creation ' never did any good but i now have 12 seedlings of it crossed with Vr.splendens 'Major' ,only did that to 1/ see how the flower spike would shape up and 2/ would it take ? the little plants look like Till's but have blotched leaves ,no they wont make a foliage plant ,but will they be fertile when the finally flower ? if so then that opens up a whole new horizon.sometimes we have to do experimental crossings ( but not using Till.uesniodes Ok ?) bad boy .see you .Cheers .Jack

Jack, when I was doing Vrieseas, Elfi/Natascha was one of my favorite parents. No sterility problem at all that I could see! See link below for one particularly successful grex.

Here is a link that might be useful: Color by numbers

Well well Lisa ,that is an eye opener, wonder why i have had no success with the Vr.Natascha ? well ,i will try again ,as i have some flowering ,could it be climatic/cultural ? anyway they are very nice Vrieseas bred from it ,Its strange how plants vary though ,for me vr. splendens is very self fertile ( specially ' Major') and for most people its not ,and it goes this way for lots of Broms in different parts of the world ,I did expect to see pinks in a cross with Vr.'Natascha' due to the fenestralis in it ( wich will breed pinks) Very nice thank you Lisa . Bye Jack

Lovely photos of beautiful broms, Richard. Thanks for sharing.
Gee, your T. imperialis inflo has deepened in colour as it's developed, since we saw it a few weeks ago at your place - fantastic!

Re some broms being more, or less, fertile in different parts of the world, or in different cultivation conditions does seem true - that is, if we have correctly-named plants. Another example - I remember Lisa saying that she has found Vr. simplex to be a consistent selfer, but the plant I grow by that name only sets seed from foreign pollen applied by me. Different clones of same species behaving differently, perhaps?

K

Hi Kez ,yes i think so ,Lisa did say that she can't flower Neo.kautskii and i have people tell me it wont self ,but for Tamera and me you can.t stop it flowering and selfing ,so it my have a lot to do with culture / climate /location . Jack

Nice looking blooms all around Richard. I think I need to start giving my T. imperialis better water, the leaf tips don't look so happy. Has anyone else had success with grass pups on T. imperialis? Mine has one and I can't decide whether to pull it off (next growing season) and take my chances or wait to see if it gets any bigger first. Those emerging Alc blooms are awesome looking. Good luck with the crosses!
-andy

Hi Richard,

Thanks for sharing your great pic's. I like them all, but Jewellery Shop is my still favourite small Neo.

It's amazing how the posting af a few pic's can kick off a great discussion about hybridization, of particular interest is the discussion about bi-generic hybridization.

Lisa, the pic's of your Vriesea seedlings are great. What a kaleidoscope of colour came from that crossing.

Long live the hybridizer.

All the best, Nev.

Hi All and Richard,

Very nice pics. of flowering broms especially Imperialis and deppeana. They both are stunning. I love to see the nice pics. So many people told me that they both were difficult to keep in very hot tropical area. I have no experience about this plants. ;-)

It's a great discussion about bigeneric hybridisation. It's good to learn from the expert. Thank for sharing

Cheers
Yong

Richard, thanks for the photos. I particularly like the Tillandsia imperialis in which I don't have a luck to grow them (after many attempts) as a result of my climate