Allan Beard has been a resident of Glenorie all his life apart from his first three years spent in Glossodia. He has seen this rural area change from knowing every kid and farm in the area and the days when Old Northern Road was nothing more than a dirt track that became a boggy mess during the heavy rains.
Following in his father’s footsteps Allan has worked all his life on the land. On his current property he grew peaches, plums and nectarines. People would come from all over Sydney to buy his fruit but with competition from the Supermarkets and the increased cost of pesticides and fertilisers Allan removed all his fruit trees.
Allan’s wife was the first to buy a bromeliad from Hargraves nursery and Allan slowly became fascinated by the unusual nature of bromeliads. But it wasn’t until he attended his first Bromeliad Society of Australia’s show that he was blown away by the outstanding display and ended up buying 15 plants and he couldn’t wait until the next Bromeliad show to buy more.
Now a life member of the BSA and 29 years on Allan has collected hundreds of bromeliads and created the most magical bromeliad garden with interest in every area of his garden, using contrasting colours, different bromeliad sizes, textures and markings, with the occasional garden ornament together with visual interest through the use of hanging baskets, tree stumps and branches.
Allan says there is always so much to learn when growing bromeliads, that you have successes and failures, but hopefully many successes particularly with your rare and special bromeliads.
You can catch up with Allan when the Bromeliad Society of Australia resumes it two annual shows. (Once current COVID restrictions are lifted) He is now one of the stall holders whose bromeliads are always popular as he is a well respected grower within the Bromeliad community.
For further information regarding the Bromeliad Society of Australia please contact the President, Ian Hook on mobile 0408 202 269 or via email: [email protected]
