It's fun to get an "id" but you can rarely be certain of the id. Check out this old article to see why we have some many Bert/orlandiana like things floating around. Aechmea âÂÂPickaninnyâ and Its Family William C. Frase Mr. Foster gave me plants of Aechmea âÂÂBertâÂÂ, Ae. fosteriana, and one or two of his original stock of collected Ae. orlandiana. The first year that all of the plants bloomed (1959), I pollinated all of them using the pollen from each. Every flower available was made to bear seed, the idea being to increase my stock of these pretty bromeliads. A large number of seedlings resulted. When they were big enough, I potted them singly in clay pots in crumbled osmunda fiber. The plants grew well and by the fall of 1960 a few showed color although most were ordinary. I kept three very dark seedlings and sold or threw out all others. These three were very attractive to me so I gave them names. The darkest and smallest suggested the name "Pickaninny." Another, having good green and black contrast, but more the size of Mr. FosterâÂÂs "Bert," I named "Black Marble." The last and lightest showing some tendency toward purpling, I named "Shadow." None of these named selections was registered. I believe that registering bromeliad hybrids and their names and pedigrees was not being done then. The identities of "Pickaninny," "Black Marble," and "Shadow" were retained and the three separate stocks were propagated vegetatively. Concurrently, selected plants from these three groups were crossed back and forth and the seed planted. At this time, a collected plant of Aechmea orlandiana was obtained from the late Mr. Wyndham Hayward of Winter Park [Florida]. Mr. Hayward got his more perfect, larger, and stronger plant from the Plant Introduction Board. That plant was then substituted for the original orlandiana because of its better characteristics for subsequent cross-pollenization of the products of the other four, that is Ae. âÂÂBertâÂÂ, Ae. âÂÂBlack MarbleâÂÂ, Ae. âÂÂPickaninnyâÂÂ, and Ae. âÂÂShadowâÂÂ. These stocks were, and still are, kept separate and propagated vegetatively. Specimens of each were all crossed back and forth with each other each blooming season. Only the darkest and most unusual were kept and the rogues thrown out. From 1962 until 1978, 16 generations of mixed and selected stocks have resulted in a tribe of very beautiful plants. Some have purple, rose, or bronze backgrounds. Most have either black bands or checks, or chestnut-red banding, but some have none. The mixed plants have numbers only, and of course, as offsets occur, they get the number of the parent. Thus, the Ae. âÂÂPickaninnyâ you see today was propagated from the plant known as Ae. âÂÂPickaninnyâ in 1960.

Oh, schoolhouse, I feel for you sister, but you will have that moisture for your spring flowers, so it is such a blessing that you are getting it now, although I don't envy you the dreary winter days that comes with it. valree3, in Oklahoma, we have spells of warm and then cold and then warm and cold all winter. You never know what the weather will be from minute to minute. Will Rogers once said, "If you don't like the weather in Oklahoma, wait a minute and it will change for you." That is totally accurate. The changing weather can be nice in winter, but for gardeners and farmers, it can be dangerous and damaging to trees and plants. We might have a long spell of warm weather and everything starts to leaf out and starts budding, and then here comes a cold spell, which kills all that tender growth. For spring-flowering plants, that can mean no flowers or ones that are severely damaged. It can also mean no fruit on the trees. If we make it through March and April, then in May we have Tornado Season. Ugh! I just finished planting my tulip bulbs and some fancy daffodil bulbs. Dug a bucket of wood ashes from the burn pile and sprinkle them liberally all over the holes and watered it all in good. If all goes well, and the spring late freezes don;t ruin the flowers, it should be a very colorful area in April and May. There are lots and lots of irises, alliums, and of course, my roses. Lavender, sage, and rosemary too. I am going to the Herb Fest in April to load up on some new herb plants. The drought we had in 2005-2006 wiped out so many of mine, about 98%, so have to start over. I will on the scout for some new roses, too (wink wink). In Oklahoma, everything is severe - severe cold, severe heat, severe winds, severe thunderstorms, severe tornadoes, severe flooding, severe droughts. The weather radio always says, "Here's your Severe Weather Report for Today", and they ain't kidding! As most of you know, but the Newbies don't know, my property is all hill and the soil is very sandy, so it dries out quickly. That makes it nice for winter gardening and I can get out in the spring garden earlier, but it also makes it a pain once it gets hot and when we have dry spells. You win some you lose some. Right now, we are in drought since last June, and coming out of a two year drought, we only had a few years of light rain fall amounts before this one hit. Established trees and plants are still stressed and struggling, so I have had to water every day. Even now, I have to water twice a month or more just so the plant's and tree's roots don't freeze dry. I will go take some pictures and if they turn out okay, will post a few for you to see. Not much to look at now with everything dormant and brown, but you can see the bare-bones structure. I really love my new arch. It really sets off the garden having that tall element at the back. With my property on a slope, the back of the rose garden is up hill from the front of the garden, so it needed a tall structure. The American Rose that is growing back there by the gate on the west side will now have something to clamber up on, if the voles will just leave her alone (darn varmints!). Last fall, I trimmed back the Plum tree that grows over the henhouse on the east side and shades part of the garden on that side too. That should give the American rose more sunshine. It looks pretty with the plum tree hanging down on the one side. Will be lovely this spring when it is covered in snowy white flowers. TTYL

How nice of Lars! I also send some of my lemons to friends, as we have too much to use even though I freeze a lot of juice. It's funny how we always think of citrus, and especially lemons, as summertime indulgences. They're winter fruits, the heaviest harvest is...right....now. The oldest and biggest of our three Meyers: The second: The third - I had to prune off a third of the tree as it was leaning too far into the walkway, so I lost some of what would have been harvested: Every Meyer, properly fed and watered, will give from between 50-100 lbs. of fruit, especially if the weather cooperates. One of the newer contributors to the Citrus forum is Johnmerr of Guatemala, who is attempting to develop a high quality production orchard of Meyers for export. You can see the first fruits of his efforts at the link below, if you're interested. Here is a link that might be useful: Johnmerr's Meyer Lemons for the Show

Now that's a thought, it's the neighbors carport I'm sure he wouldn't mind. The only thing is it would hinder anyone getting out of that side of a vehicle, narrow driveway. On the other hand most of the time that would be me, I'll definitely give this some thought :). Annette