Good Show Richard ,your Alc.imperialis x vinicolour is out of same batch as mine and has same lack of colour .the one that Francess has is 'nt much better,but she says that Debra Jones's plant has nice colour ,i suspect that that cross had poor coloured parents to start with,no amount of light made mine any different.For shape (when adult size) i still like the Alc brasiliana best ,your silver plum is shaping up nice to bye mate, Jack

A great way to start a new day, well done Richard!

I also like the brasiliana best and Arno is pretty cool also.

There can never be too many Alcantarea!

More Alcantarea Heaven! For the keen growers who want variety there'll be dozens of new species, cultivars and hybrids coming out over the next few years and no doubt a lot of dodgy ones like that nahoumii which I think is just another extensa type. Real nahoumiis are hard to come by but there are a few forms coming on, mainly from seed from Nahoum's garden. The range of definitive Alcantarea species is set to climb possibly into the hundreds if anyone has time to do the taxonomy and the range of intergrades and natural hybrids will be way beyond that. Time to go back to Brazil before the inselberg's, esp north of Rio where they are isolated from eachother, get chopped up for their granite!
Now to get on with my birthday- adios, hasta luego amigos and amigas.
PS I'm going to write an article about our 'brasiliana', eventually.

Thanks for the delicious alc dessert, Richard! I love all of them. You are growing them very well.

Re the imperialis x vinicolor - I don't think it's a matter of poorly coloured parents. Some from that cross take after their green imperialis parent (but not as large), which has subtle charm to it - like Richard's and our others - but still have more colour to their flower spike (from the vinicolor influence). The more red-leaved ones take after their vinicolor parent eg. 'Tarawera', that magnificent N.Z. cultivar.

Peter - happy birthday! 21 again?? I look forward to all the alc. newbies, but I might need to enlarge the garden boundaries and kick the cows out of their paddocks, in order to accommodate them. So are there alc seedlings of nahoumii from Nahoum's garden coming on, as well as the edmundoi seedlings from Nahoum's garden? I also look forward to reading your article about our brasiliana, when it eventuates. Keep up the great work!

K

Hello Richard and Everybody,

I drool over Alcans. again and again. Nice shot! I like Skotak and Silver Plum. brilliant colors and forms.

As fdnpedro said Nahoumii posted was likely to be Extensa. I grow both species but my Nahoumiis( I got from Biotech lab) are very young to distinguish from Extensas. Does anybody can tell me what different between them? I'm still in learning curve. There is a little source of knowledges about Alcans. in the world of Broms. I should learn from the experts, Pleaseee. ;-b

fdnpedro. I look forward to your article about Brasiliana. Where can I get this from?

Cheers
Yong

Oh, niiiice. More! I haven't seen a picture of the Silver Plum. Very nice. If I was forced to pick only one out of those pictures, the Silver Plum is definitely the most drool-worthy!

Hi Richard,

That's a lot more than two bob's worth! What a great ongoing feast. Lovely plants, and thanks a lot for the pics. Cheers, Paul

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the pic's of your great collection, unfortunately I just haven't the space to grow any but admiring your pic's and the collection that Kerry posted is the next best thing.

Thanks for sharing, all the best, Nev.

Hi all

Kerry, thanks for the b'day wishes! My wife and I celebrated well! It doubled as a retirement celebration as well as I am now officially retired - and a full time nurseryman! The nahoumiis from Brazil seed are propagating nicely and, yes, Nahoum's garden was a good source for a variety of species but, seriously, until they bloom who knows what many will be?

Hi Yong, the article will appear in the Aussie journals hopefully within a year! Biotech's nahoumiis aren't but most of their stuff seems correct. Look up www.fcbs.org or www.bromeliad.org.au for Aussie contentand there is a bit on Alcantareas.

Also re Silver Plum, Dillings sold most before they names it so there are various names around like Discolor and Claret. I have never seen an adventitious pup on one even when tiny plants so it's a seed propagator. Don't worry, more will be around very soon as they have been flowered by a few commercial growers.

Richard, most will grow best in full sun but not necessarily if you get severe frost or over 40C too often. Where are you situated?

Cheers, Pedro

Thank you everyone for your kind and encouraging remarks.

Hey Pedro - we get frosts and over 40c very often.
The hot summers do less damage than the frosts especially on some Alc's.
I am almost half way between Kempsey & Armidale NSW.

Cheers Richard - 0c last night and cold again tonight.