Tag: Bromeliads

Badly behaving bamboo …

Published on by FJB4 Comments

Even the best behaved bamboo can get a bit out of control if you turn your back on it.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a “before” photo, so when I say that this is a Slender Weaver’s Bamboo after I cut down 56 monstrous canes ( yes, I counted) you’ll get an idea of just how enthusiastically it was growing.

More than 3 stories high!
More than 3 stories high!

Most of them were pruned with my trusty Fiskars loppers (the Finns certainly know how to make strong, quality cutting tools) but some of the internal canes were so compacted that I had to attack them with an electric grinder! This left the base looking somewhat unattractive.

The ugly result of pruning
The ugly result of pruning

I’ve mentioned before that I have become rather fond of bromeliads, and here’s another reason why …

Looking better with bromeliads
Happy Buddha ?
View from balcony

All I had to do was chop some bromeliads out of an overgrown clump and rescue a rather dejected looking Buddha from under a tree, and voila, no more ugly stumps.

Don’t bad-mouth a bromeliad …

Published on by FJB1 Comment

Favourite Bromeliad

Bromeliads used to be on my list of ugly scruffy plants, to be politely rejected if offered as a gift.  But I’ve changed my mind.  I now realise that they were just un-loved or in the wrong spot.

In the interests of economy, I’ve rescued them from a friend’s skip, dug up a weed choked clump at the back of my property and picked them up from the roadside where they have been discarded by other gardeners.  Given water, early morning sun and food, they have rewarded me with pups and in many cases surprised me with beautiful technicolour flowers.  Some have even flowered in winter bringing a touch of colour to an otherwise dreary garden and, dare I say, rescuing me from a touch of post Sri-Lanka holiday depression!

Little Wattlebird
Little Wattlebird

And if that wasn’t enough, frogs hide and breed in the pools of water between their leaves, and honey eating birds drink from the flowers.  I’ll never say another bad word about bromeliads.

I’m hooked…