Fall Flowers--hoya blooms/October 2009

[David Elliott]

Yes the hoyas are still going strong here even though the temps took a
sharp dive last week!!! We didn't get as cold as many of you did but it
did go from being in the high 70's at night down into the low 50's for a
good solid week and at least one night got down to 49. That's a big drop
for us. Sara i've been keeping up with the weather channel, so I know
how cold you guys got in Montana and I just want to tell you to keep
over that way,we don't need it here in the South!!!

Many of my hoyas are still in bloom and quite a few that will be first
time bloomers have buds in various stages of development. I can't recall
all of the names right off the top of my head but H. linearis,H. sp.
Kumning Kina and H. sp. Flat stem are all about to bloom for the first
time. The species flat stem has got to be one of THEE slowest growing
hoyas in the world,or so it seems to me. I have had the plant now for
well over a year and so far this year it has put on 3 new sets of
leaves. It only had 3 sets when I got it so now over 1 year later we're
finally up to 6 nodes! WOW!!! Good thing it it seems to be one of those
hoyas like praetorii and lasiantha,making a peduncle at almost every
node. At the rate it is growing though I may be able to share it with
all of those who have asked about getting a cutting from me,by the year
2020!!!!

I also noticed that my fall blooming hoyas like retusa and
nummularioides are loaded with buds now.These seem to be the only 2 fall
bloomers that I know of as far as hoyas go.

I have been patiently waiting for the plant that I have labeled as hoya
eitapensis to bloom so I could see if it actually was that species. I
received a number of hoyas from a well known U.S. vendor which turned
out to be mislabeled after they bloomed. This hoya was part of that lot.
It has now bloomed and I can say with some degree of certainty that it
is hoya eitapensis. The first 2 pictures are of this plant.

The next 3 pics are of hoya buotii. This was always one of my top 10
favorites even before I saw it bloom for the first time a few weeks ago!
The flowers look like little teddy bears they are so fuzzy.Shanna had
asked earlier on another thread if they had a fragrance,yes they do but
I can't put my finger on what it is and it's very lite. Sorry for the
shots of my hand. I always hate taking pictures of my flowers with my
hands in them. Especially if my hands happen to be dirty,you can see the
soil caked into all the little cracks and crevasses in your hands!!! I
hate for people to see me with dirty hands!!!

The last 2 pictures are of hoya excavata IML 1007. This is the first
time this hoya has bloomed and i've been growing it for about 5 years
now!!! It's in teh diversifolia complex of hoyas and the flowers are
very similar. They also somewhat resemble the flowers of hoya meliflua.
The leaves are very large and paddle shaped. These flowers have been
open now for over a week and I should have gotten a picture before today
because they have darkened up a bit and look like they are almost ready
to drop.

[sara]

Wow David, I am positively loving the buotii, and the eitapensis
flowers look really waxlike. I can't believe that you still have your
hoyas outside. You are freaking me out a little bit. I live in the
land of 70 to 10 with no notice, sometimes in the middle of the day.
We have had snow and ice storms in the middle of summer. I guess I
will never be an outdoor grower, but that is ok, because I have
decided that if I get the growth that all of you have I wouldn't be
able to keep all of my hoyas inside. Ha.

S

[David Elliott]

I've got a few more late bloomers to share with you all!!!

#1--H. nummularioides--the flowers are just beginning to open on this
hoya. It has so many clusters of buds that if they were to all open at
one time I probably wouldn't be able to see the plant!!!
#2--H. mindorensis
#3--H. heuschkeliana yellow form
#4--H. Sulawesii--GPS??? forgot the #
#5--H. lobbii orange flowering form

[Esma Bike]

Hi all,
Why is everybody is so quite lately? David, aren't there any blooms
you wanna share with us? I always love to get messages from this
group. By the way, my calycina is forming buds all over, so happy!
Cheers,
Bike

[Diane Best]

It has been quiet lately. I bought one of David's heuschkeliana when he did the fall sale on here.  It has 5 blooms coming in different stages...I can't wait. Diane       --- On Mon, 10/26/09, Esma Bike <esma...@gmail.com> wrote:

[jennifer]

This australis is one of the first hoyas I acquired, grown from a cutting Chris Burton sent me when I joined her forum.  It is FINALLY blooming, though last year it did get halfway there - all the buds blasted.  (I really don't think it was ever getting enough light) It was in full bud a few weeks ago, and I had to move it inside for fear of frost....I was so afraid that it would blast again from the change, but within a few days all the flowers opened at the same time.  The picture doesn't do it justice.

 

I also have a death to report, my beautiful vitellinioides.  =(  I think I let it sit dry for too long, then when I finally watered, root death.

 

Hope everyone is well, I haven't been around and don't even recognise all the new members, all I have time for these days is studying.  I finish school in less than 6 months, can't believe it is almost over.  I am just praying for the strength to get thru the last few months. 
Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

[Tami Caldwell]

Jennifer,

   That looks great. Mine have never bloomed. To have blooms all over like that is awesome.

   I just had to fit all my hoya’s in the sunroom last week. It was getting colder the 50’s and I got a little worried so I put them up for the winter. Because of all the hoya purchases this year I think its all I’m gonna fit in the sunroom. The other tropical’s are gonna have to go into the new greenhouse we still need to put up and the Plumeria’s are going into the old greenhouse. Lots of work to do here before the end of November. I thought Allen would be upset after he saw how crowded the sunroom was but he wasn’t. He just said “Look you still have room on the floor” LOL  He brought back around 50 Plumeria cuttings in his carry on from Hawaii this year too. Just a bad time to get cuttings (when they are going dormant) I had several Hoya’s we found while hiking in Hawaii, in my carry on. Several have rooted already. Just don’t know what they are yet.

   It was great to see you post and I enjoyed the pictures.

 

Tami

[David Elliott]

hi everyone,sorry I haven't been around a lot lately. Things are busy
here and getting quite a bit cooler!!! i have recently had to move all
of the hoyas,all 300+ that were outside back into the gh and some of
them are throwing a tantrum over it!!! I go through this each year when
I move them back inside. Regardless of how well I grow them they still
give me a fit when I relocate them. I now have lots of yellowing,falling
leaves and that will go on until they readjust to being back inside for
the winter.It took me over 3 1/2 hours to get them all moved back in and
finding a place for them all was a job to say the least!!! Well over 100
more went back in as what came out in the spring!!!

Not much going on right ow as far as flowers go but I have had 3 first
time bloomers to open recently.

#1--H. thomsonii
#2--H. linearis
#3--H. sp. Kumning Kina

[Billy DeVille]

I have so very few hoya compared to you ,but I have the same problem of
yellowing leaves and so forth. David, what temperature do you keep your
hoyas at in the winter?
Billy Deville

[dmichael]

Billy, I keep the heater on the lowest factory setting. I'm not
exactly sure what it is but I know the heater seems to cycle on as
soon as the temps drop to around 49-50F.. I do not try to keep it warm
in the gh either,just so it hovers around 45-50F i'm satisfied. I've
haven't lost a plant to the cold yet by doing it this way. On the rare
occasion that it's going to get into the 20's for any period of
time,then i'll adjust the heat a little bit to keep it slightly
warmer.

david

[Esma Bike Karakaş]

My dearest hoya calycina has bloomed, it smells like a French parfume.
Cheers,
Bike

[Diane Best]

Very beautiful! Diane