Gonzer, Michael has gotten at least one or two of all of my registered ones, but as to when he'll have enough of any variety to sell that's up to him. I don't get involved in that at all if I can help it. If he gets requests for certain ones then he'll ask me for more and I'll send him what I can when I can, so if there's something you have your eye on, ask him about it, not me. As to the names, I sent him a shipment of mostly Bills and Neos about a year ago and at that time I agreed to come up with names for all of them before I sent them so that they'd be easier for him to sell. Since there were well over 100 different varieties I was racking my brains! Some things just name themselves and others stubbornly resist any monicker you try to put on them. It's an intensely personal process for me, and often comes down to just "talking" to the plant and asking it what it wants to be called. In the end I was just scrambling to come up with something for some of them. I do like using Hawaiian-themed names for a couple of reasons. First, it establishes a geographical identity for the plants and an awareness of local hybridizers on the global scene. Second, and from a more practical standpoint, it's unlikely they'll be sniped by anyone else, at least the Hawaiian language ones. I know that some of them may be hard for outsiders to pronounce, but that's just too bad! ;-) I do try not to make them too long, though. I've used a lot of different languages in the names, but whatever language I use, it has to be something that means something to me. I've had other people suggest names and it usually doesn't work for me if they don't know my frame of reference. There are a lot of music-related names on my broms because I'm a World Music freak. I have Bills named Keali'i, for local singer/kumu hula Keali'i Reichel, and Bruddah Iz, for the late great singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. Just wait until you see that one, it's HUGE (like the man!). Watermelon Man not only refers to the color of the plant but the old Mongo Santamaria tune. Surfrider is just kind of generic, because it needed a name. It does have somewhat of an island feel, and the plant has a lot of white splash on it, so why not? Midnight Sun, on the other hand, is one that just named itself. It's another DM hybrid so the plant is basically black, but at a certain point in its development the lower half flashes bright creamy white like the sun rising. Very high contrast. Royal Blood, well, it's a deep blood red and just a super little plant, and also it parents were both my hybrids too so that seemed to fit.

Kim, I don't know who besides Michael's has Blushing Tiger. He and David Shiigi are the only people I sold to (outside of regular local retail sales), but it's pretty prolific so I'm sure it'll get spread around. I first released that for auction at the World Conference a few years back, which is kind of what I had in mind for Blueberry Tiger. Bihai, of that list N. angustifolia x pauciflora and Painted Delight x Painted Lady are NOT mine. He has some other things of mine which may not be attributed too. If I had the list I could tell you which ones, but there's some bigenerics, Billbergias, maybe some more Neos, I can't remember now. The only one of those I have a DP of is Ring of Fire. It's a big plant, between 18" and 2 ft. across, maybe even bigger, depending on how you grow it. This would be very good for landscaping: Some of the other ones I have prints of and I could try scanning them, but a lot of my plants look like hell right now (long story), so I don't want to take pics until I get them back into shape. I'm working on it! Briefly, Blueberry Muffin is a small (@6" across), rounded, open, glossy plant loosely covered with purple spots. There are 2 clones of it, I forget which one he got. They're both pretty cool, but you have to grow them kind of hard to get the good form. If it's stretched out it won't look nearly as good. Caviar and Java Plum are siblings; smaller (4"), kind of tubular, and even more covered with purple spots. Java Plum is the darker, blotchier of the two, more purple than green. I kind of like Caviar better, the spots are more distinct. They're smithii x Cheers, so that gives you an idea of the size. Hokule'a is like a small (8-10") red star, a bit reminiscent of Grace Goode's One and Only, but more pointed and somewhat recurved. Nice clean rosette, very flat and open. Popoki was the best selection from the punctatissima rubra x tigrina grex, although Michael wanted the others too. They're all little stoloniferous highly banded plants, some more brownish, others more greenish. I'd stick with Popoki, it's got the best markings. Hope that helps!

Hi all, about time I contributed. I will post a couple of images of N cruenta in Brazil when I figure out how to. Must be something to do with the 'Optional Link URL:' box. (Can anyone help? I'm going to paste the image path here anyway and see what happens - no good). Now that image of N johannis attributed to me is a leftover from when UD was searching for the true species. It came into my collection as N Cockabell ages ago and is stunning as it blooms, going red all over, and keys close to johannis. Just look at the variations of progeny from N correia-araujoi too and the plain ones have a lot of johannis in them (like Red Macaw). The seed probably came from Burle-Marx's garden, sth of Rio, near the entrance, originally from further sth. There are articles about this complex around. Cruenta is variable too as it has a wide habitat. Brazilian Neos (and other genera) also hybridise in the wild so ... that really puts a taxonomic spanner in the works. Pedro

Hi Sander - long live the thread! Pics below of my Halleluja last time it flowered. Sorry about pixellation - from an old phone before I got my digital camera, but hopefully they should show enough. . Looking at these as they have come through photobucket, the colours have lost a little intensity as well (low res before they started), but it looks a lot like the way yours is heading. Have you tried taking a pup off the clump and growing it separately to see if you get a stockier and more coloured plant? I've found with a few different broms that if I leave them in big clumps, it doesn't matter what I do with feeding or light, they stay strappy and only part-coloured. Cheers, Paul