Jack, I also like that fresh green colour! Think how beautifully it will light up a shady corner in the garden under a couple of tree ferns - with some of those pink ones for a real highlight. Or do these guys like lots of light? You make it more and more difficult for me to walk past a Vriesea in flower!

Just out of curiosity, don't you want to show us a group photo of all of the grex - even the 'not so nice' ones (if there are any) so I can get a better idea of what to expect if I do get myself so far as to pick up the tweezers? Have you ever used V. sucrei in one of your grexes? Does it narrow down the leaves conciderable or will there be some that only pick up some of the colour? Or is sucrei not compatible with fosteriana/fenestralis types?

Japie

Hi Japie ,yes i will show some of the others,and the not so nice ,bit later,am a hesitant photographer ,No i do not intent to use Vr Sucrei in my breeding ,i can't see any reason for it ,the leaves get to narrow and thats what i do not want ,it is compatible with most Vrieseas but its not my thing , most of the foliage Vrieseas had narrow leaves that i saw to start with ( to much Gigantea seideliana (Nova ) in them) thats why i started to use the straight Gigantea ,it reduces plant size ( mostly ) but gives big broad leaves ,certainly it does not impart as much colour ,but that can be fixed later.I do hope you will pick up the tweezers Japie , There was a seedling in the cross like the green one but it had the spots of Fenestralis on top of the leaves as well, very pretty plant, but i gave that one to my very beautyfull friend Melissa Dilling ,i'll get a pup one day,we share stuff and she grows wonderfull hybrids as well ,with Fenestralis you need to go further than the first generation ,i expect that plants bred from these and the Vr'Melissa Dilling ' to be far superior ( that plant is out of same F2 batch) thank you for your kind remarks Japie
Jack

Hello Jack,

Your plants still be nice every time you post. I love to see all of your plants. You always push me to this type of broms. Drool!!! Thank for sharing.

Cheers
Yong

Thank you Yong ,its a shame they dont do well in Thailand,but your Neo's are so good and we can't have evrything my friend.
Jack

Hi Jack,

That's a great comparo. Along with Japie I really like the fresh clean colours of 'Kakadu Forest' and I really like the pink of 'Kakadu Sunrise' as well. Individually they are both lovely plants, but seeing them together makes 1+1=5 for me. I just love the subtle variations on a theme.

If you are deliberately torturing me with anticipation, you are succeeding! It's great. Thanks a lot for the info and the inspiration. Both are very much appreciated. Cheers, Paul

Very nice Jack.

Well Thank you my little Frangipani , we / i have'nd heard much from you lately,how's all you seedlings doing ? giving them a bit of fertilizer ? good girl ,I shall do my best to visit you again in January .hope your plants are picking up a bit after all that torrid sun .
Cheers .Jack

Japie, Jack's probably right to avoid putting V. sucrei into the mix. I have an Arden cross which is half sucrei, and it totally dominates. I believe the mother was (fosteriana x platynema), and I'm sure you're imagining nice tesselation and/or striation with a dark purple underside, but apart from the size of the plant, there is no trace of mama. No foliage markings at all, it just looks like a giant sucrei.

I've seen similar results when other purplish-foliaged species are introduced. There is a bleheri x fosteriana cross floating around that does show fosteriana's squiggles on a purple leaf, but it's a narrow leaf. I did a few attempts at crossing that one to other foliage types, but more often than not you get the narrow leaf minus the tesselation. It's a bit like working with zonated Neos, you get better results if you reinforce that trait.

Hi Jack,

I really enjoy seeing your new creations, they have all the quality of creations from other master artists.

Keep up the good work, "Long live the hybridizer"

Jack, I would also appreciate a little of your brom seeds if you can see your way clear, especially Neo Kautskii.

Thanks, all the best, Nev.