This is my new Hoya Station we built this weekend. I think I finally had a need for a dedicated area. I have more rooting that will need an extension added on here eventually. I'll have to decide how to do that later. As Scarlett O'Hara said 'I'll think about that tomorrow'.
We also added a misting system that you can see.
Does anyone else have any pictures to post of their Hoya areas? If so, I would love to see them.
Pam
Great job Pamela! Do you have a way of protecting them from direct sun?
I wish I had a special "Hoya" area! I keep saying it would be nice to have them all together in one spot instead of spread around mixed in with tons of other plants. I end up misplacing one or two here and there because they end up shoved in a corner behind something else. I just have too many different kinds of plants ... keep saying I'm going to downsize and just concentrate on one type!
My husband constructed something for me last year around the swimming pool area for my hanging plants and I do have a few hoyas hanging out there. He bought long pipes that are used for chain link fencing, painted them brown to match the aluminum screen enclosure and hung some wrought iron plant brackets and put the poles through. I will see if I can find a photo, or go take a picture to post.
Ok, this shows one side of the pool deck ... this hanging plant system runs the length of one side of the pool and across the width.
I have one of the bars hanging under the covered deck area also, for hanging plants that can't take the sun.
Pamela, I keep looking at your picture and that is such a great idea. I've been after my husband for two years to build me a Pergola in the backyard over a flower bed that backs up to a large shed. It's on the SW side of the house and it would be a perfect spot for my hoyas and orchids. because the area is shaded by lots of trees. He just looks at me with glazed eyes because it would be so much work ... it's a very large area. I am going to show him your photo and ask him if he can build me something like that which would be perfect ... (maybe I can talk him into making two!)
Question: Did you anchor those posts in cement? I love the idea of the misting system too!
Hi Linda,
Yes, they are in shade all day. There are trees on the left back side also. That was why I picked this spot. Plus the proximity to the greenhouse also. We sunk the 4x4x8's in 2' holes with one bag of 40lb. cement each. It feels very sturdy. I knew with our winds sometimes, it would have to be sturdy to take it.
I love your areas. The pipes are a great idea. Those kind are sure sturdy enough. My husband helped some, but I started the ball rolling by digging the holes with post hole diggers. With the days so hot, I was melting away. Then I was told one hole needed to be move about 6". Then the other hole had to be moved too. I was sooooo hot and drippy. But now it was worth it. I really like it.
And 2 areas would be so cool!!
I am so happy to see what others are doing with their hoyas. Mine are all on the screened in front porch which means many of them do not get any direct sun. Some could really benefit from a little morning sun.
My friend in Houston went to Lowe's and bought a pergola of steel (nice color) and used shade cloth on the top of it. Her son attached it to the concrete patio floor for hurricane season. She is loving the way you can hang about 20-30 baskets where you wish...........
This isn't a good picture because they are using fabric on this one but it gives you the right idea. The cost was 450.00 and well worth it. The brand was Treasure something.............
http://lowescreativeideas.com/idea-library/projects/Backyard_Pergola_0308.aspx?cm_sp=endeca-_-pergola-_-l
I would love to do what my friend did so I could hang each hoya in the exact right sun.......
Let me see if I can find a picture of my front porch.......maybe a picture from last year so you can't see the hoyas I have acquired since then.......now I have added about 30 heavy screws going into the hardy plank with plywood underneath the ceiling.........to hold my hoyas..
I had mine hanging in the trees last summer and you can see they really got too much sun....Here is the front porch with poly wrapped around it for my hoyas and other plants in the winter time.......had just started bringing the outside plants in.......in this picture.
I like your hoyas on your porch gessiegail. The poly wrapping for winter is a neat idea. I'll have to move mine or come up with another idea for winter protection.
It sounds good, Pamela but it really is a lousy idea because of our high high winds year around. I stay outside in the middle of the night on cold cold night with the electric staple gun trying to keep the porch warm in January and February.
I wish I could think of someway to put the poly on in a way that would allow me to sleep all night when the winter winds are howling out here in the middle of nowhere......smiling........
If you or someone else has a good idea for keeping the poly intact (6 ml. thick) besides a staple gun I would love to know.
Sometimes I think I want exactly what you have and I have the perfect place to put in double bars.......to hang them in the summer........heavy filtered shade I would have from a tree like you said you have..........
Gail, it is a lot of work but I learned a trick that works for poly and screen. Take a 1/2 inch piece of trim the length of one of the sections and roll it up in the poly it a few times then nail the trim in place. It will never let go. Do it for all 4 sides of a window/section. Did that make sense?
I got it!!! Thanks threegardeners. You evidently are stapling into several layers of poly this way. My son also put it up the last time this winter and he said to staple with the grain of the wood and it holds much better (and it did)...............
I've been eyeing this gazebo/pergola thing at Home Depot, trying to figure out how I could use it for more plant space. It's $149, which isn't too bad, in the grand scheme of pergolas. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100496894&N=10000003+90401&D=pergola Have any of you seen this or have any thoughts on whether it would work?
It's very pretty. If your winds there are not too bad or you are in a protected area from them, I think it would be great. For us here, (unpredictable hurricanes and tropical storms) I have to go for more sturdy. But it sure looks nice and would definetly increase your plant space. A lot of different things you could do with it and places to put it.
Aww, I wasn't thinking about your winds there. We don't have to deal with that, except with the occasional thunderstorm, of course, and I forget about it. I think you and Lin and Gail all probably have to consider that. Even here, though, it would need to be anchored down. We don't get many of those storms, but when we do, they're doozies! I have to be careful getting too much outside space, though, because come wintertime, whatever is out must come in and I don't have that much room in here!
Do you live in the mountains? SE TN is so pretty!
No, we live at the foot of what we call a "mountain" around here. To people who are used to real mountains, I guess these are just big hills! LOL I have lived in roughly the same area all my life, and I truly do love it here. When we travel, I'm always amazed at how beautiful other parts of the country are, but when we come back home, I'm filled with amazement at how beautiful the view out my back door is, too. LOL I guess I'm just happy wherever I'm at! ^_^
Rain, that looks identical to a Pergola my sister & brother in law down in south Fla had for quite a few years ... they got it from HD! They gave it away last year! They used it out in their yard next to the pool. My BIL had built a wood deck and had the pergola on the deck, must have been attached to the deck because it was very sturdy. Once when we were visiting them I bought my sister two flowering plants in hanging baskets (not hoyas) and they looked so nice hanging from the pergola. They have a very small backyard and the pool took up so much space, they ended up getting rid of the deck and pergola. I wish they had told me, I would have taken it in a heartbeat! I think as long as it's secured in the ground for stabilization, it would hold lots of plants!
If anyone has Big Lots ... check there for Pergola's and Arbor's too ... sometimes they have them. One of my neighbors bought a redwood arbor from Big Lots a few years ago and installed it right outside the door going into their screen porch. They have alamanda vines and passion vines intertwined through it.
I have been trying to talk my DH into building me a large arbor alongside the shed just outside the swimming pool area. It could be attached to the shed which is 24' in length and I'd want it to come out about 6' from the side of the shed. Maybe someday it will get done. I need to clean out the flower bed that's out there ... can't seem to keep the weeds down. There are knock out roses, salvia and other stuff planted in there but lots of weeds too. There's also a post with a birdhouse and wisteria vining up the post of the birdhouse.
LOL, I had to go measure ... reading and thinking about more space to hang plants made me do it! The shed is 24 feet long and the flower bed there is 5 1/2 feet deep so I wouldn't really have to enlarge it ... just need the darned arbor built for hanging stuff! I can picture orchids and hoyas hanging there but wonder about squirrels! We have a problem with squirrels climbing a tree behind the shed, running across the shed roof to the screen roof over the pool, to the other side of the house and down another tree. When I had all my orchids out in one of the trees last year, the squirrels really did a number on them. Some orchids were torn apart, bits and pieces all over the ground under the tree, labels scattered about and a couple of orchids came up totally missing! I feed birds so squirrels aren't going anywhere, LOL. I just wish they would leave my plants alone. I have a couple of hoyas and other plants (no orchids) hanging out in the tree and they don't bother them, they just seem to like the orchids ... or maybe it was the spaghnum moss in the baskets? I guess if I had an arbor alongside the shed I could everything but orchids there.
Boy, these photo's sure make me realize how much that shed needs painting with all the fading, and water stains from the sprinklers. We just painted it year before last! hmm ... maybe I can convince my hubby that if he built an arbor there, the plants would shade the side of the shed and it wouldn't need painting so often? ^_^
Looking at your last picture, you could sink 3 or 4 of the 4x4's for posts and run an 8x2 along the top of the side of your shed, where those short 2x4 boards are up towards the top. Then he could just run the boards all together to make your arbor. Man, that would look so cool. Go for it!!!
LOL, I hadn't even noticed or remembered those 2x4 boards there ... they are left over from when I had a 24'x20' greenhouse in that area back in the 1970's! I will have to tell my husband the arbor is already started for him!
