Well, sorry I haven't replied back, been busy. Anyway, like the plant doesn't have little spiny things on the leaves or anything like that. I did talk to a guy that owns a pretty cool nursery in town and he explained to me how to take care of them. I was surprised to find this nursery which was hidden-away in a forgotten part of town, he had a big greenhouses where he was raising all kinds of tropical plants, including lots of bromeliads and I saw some in the process of making babies and stuff. He even had pineapples, and he told me it was easy to grow them here in Oklahoma (provided they are put in a pot). I'm planning on going back this weekend and buying some plants...i'm plant addicted, my roommates just roll their eyes now. Thanks for everyone's replies

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

I found an old article in the BSI archives (1983). Apparently, Q liboniana is a good choice for crossing with Billbergias. à Billque (Billbergia à Quesnelia) Perringiana (Billbergia nutans à Quesnelia liboniana) Rancougnei (Billbergia sp. à Quesnelia liboniana) Sebastian Laruelle (Billbergia viridiflora à Quesnelia liboniana) But there has been Aechmea crosses with Q marmorata. Quesnelia marmorata à Aechmea chantinii Quesnelia marmorata à Aechmea fasciata: Hans Gulz

Hi everyone. Dianne – I should have stuck to trying to ID bromeliads and left other plants alone. When I first looked at the picture of your garden I noticed the outline of the leaves on those large plants and instead of looking more closely I assumed they were bananas so It looks like I’ve now fallen into the old trap of “assuming”, and we all know what happens when we do this don’t we? The thing is, you’ve now prompted me to look this plant up on the web and find out more about it, and as way of compensation for my mistake, I see it’s commonly known as the “wild banana”, so now I don’t feel so much of a dill. Incidentally, this is part of what Wikipedia had to say about it: Strelitzia nicolai, commonly known as the giant white bird of paradise or wild banana, is a species of banana-like plants with erect woody stems reaching a height of 6 m (20 ft) and the clumps formed can spread as far as 3.5 m (11 ft). The 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) long leaves are grey-green and arranged like a fan at the top of the stems, similar to Ravenala madagascariensis. The inflorescence is composed of a dark blue bract, white sepals and a bluish-purple "tongue". The entire flower can be as much as 18 cm (7.1 in) high by 45 cm (18 in) long and is typically held just above the point where the leaf fan emerges from the stem. Flowers are followed by triangular seed capsules.[2][3] S. nicolai is among the few plants which have been verified to contain the pigment bilirubin, which is usually found in animals.[4] If you want to know more, you can read the whole article at https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Strelitzia_nicolai&action=edit&gettingStartedReturn=true Your mention of Seasol brings up the topic of one of my favourite products which I have used for years on every plant in the yard. It can be used all through the year as technically speaking it isn’t a fertilizer, but more like a “tonic” which strengthens the plant cells and among other things, helps them resist disease and better withstand extremes of hot and cold by (it’s claimed) and extra four degrees each way. I used it after the terrible January heatwave we had a few years back when everything in the garden was pretty well “cooked” and after just a couple of weeks you could see signs of recovery already and ever since them I’ve been a fan of this wonderful product and recommend it to all of my friends. For anyone who doesn’t know about this product, go to: http://www.seasol.com.au/products/61/Seasol and learn all about it. There are other seaweed products on the market which I haven’t tried and may be just as good, but this one has given me the results I want so why would I change it? As someone once said, “If it ain’t broke , don’t fix it”. All the best, Nev.