I know that this posting is a few hours early, but the picture was taken this morning, and I will be off line all day tomorrow. It will be a January flower for sure unless the house burns down this afternoon. I know everyone is probably sick to death of my Big Mac photos, and I promise the next one will be the last for a long time.
Doug
The entire plant on New Years Eve Day. I want to take this opportunity to wish everyone here on the forum a very happy New Year. 2009 was the most rewarding one ever for me as a gardener, and I hope 2010 brings more of the same for me and everyone on the forum.
Doug
Doug, I never get tired of looking at your "big Mac". I dream of the day that mine gets that big, at least it is growing good.
Hope you have a safe and Happy New Year's Eve.
That goes for everyone. If you get together with friends, be careful going home. This will be a night for craziness compounded by a full moon.
Dee
No worries Doug, I keep taking your photosout to my Mac and keep asking it "Now why can't you do this?"
I've only got my NOID formerly H. golamcoana "Los Banos" still flowering from December. H. "Kapit Borneo" is setting itself up for flowering in about a week or so from now. The monsoon has moved in now so it's likely we'll have more regular heavy rain rather than just the isolated storms for a while. Most of the Hoyas are really liking this and responding with new growth.
Happy New Year everyone.
Doug: Ditto to what everyone else is saying ... I could never get tired of the pictures of that Big Mac! It is really Gorgeous!
I have no hoyas blooming right now ... mine are all resting until March I think, LOL. Our high today was 78º and tonight's low will be upper 50's but the next 5 nights we are predicted to be low and mid 30's! Brrrr ... I need a winter coat!
Hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year's eve! We never seem to be able to stay awake to watch the ball drop in Times Square. We will try again this year but I bet we will be zzzzzzing long before midnight with the television still on. ^_^ If anyone is imbibing I hope you have a designated driver or taxi ride home. I saw on our Orlando news channel tonight that AAA is again offering free tows home for anyone! It's their eleventh year of their "Tow to Go" program: http://www.wesh.com/news/22098800/detail.html Kudo's to AAA for initiating such a wonderful program!
Wishing you all a Safe & Happy New Years Eve and Many Blessings in 2010.
Happy New Year to all my Hoya friends!!!
Doug, bic mac envy here!!!
I have DS 70, Heuskeliana in bloom.
Jan
Well, in my book, 'Hoochie' is one of the BEST!!!! Love that plant!
H. bordenii....
H. mindorensis. I had let it get really really dry (not on purpose) and then with a hit of water it is covered with buds...
Carol: Those are both lovely! Nice to see that some folks have Hoyas blooming in January!
Those of us here in Florida are unfortunately having the coldest weather we've seen in ten years. It was 30º last night and we are expected to have a hard freeze tonight tomorrow night as well with possibly record breaking temps. It's been 20-23º below normal. Yesterday we didn't get out of the 40's all day and it's still only 49º out right now ... gee, I almost feel like I'm living way up north. I guess I should be thankful that the sun is shining!
This is supposed to be an extended cold spell for us, lasting maybe ten days. The freezing and below freezing temperatures are going to last for quite a few hours which means citrus and other crops, as well as the general landscape plants are going to take a huge hit!
OH Lin...that is so sad to hear.! The weather IS going all funny/wierd and my personal take is that there is not one cause...but many...and one is too many beings producing too much 'stuff'. We are having a dry spell...no rain in 3 weeks after 40" per month... go figger!
Carol, it is sad. I'm pretty sure we will lose some things with the prolonged cold but hopefully my Tree Philo's that have been in the yard for 35+ years will not succumb totally. They have been through many frosts and the occasional freeze over the years but nothing like what is expected for extended periods in the next ten days! I have a huge Schefflera tree just outside of the screened Lanai and it won't bother me a bit if that one doesn't make it ... I could kick myself for ever planting it so close to the pool area because that massive root system made huge cracks in the pool deck. We had the pool and deck area resurfaced a year ago so I'd like to not see huge cracks again from that tree!
The real sad part (in my opinion) is we humans have had a hand in causing so many problems with nature and now we are paying for it with all these unusual weather conditions around the planet.
I have my unheated Florida room (enclosed porch) crammed full of plants to hopefully protect them somewhat from the cold temp's.
This is what the wood deck looks like right now. My husband helped me move all the larger plants/trees from around the pool to underneath the covered deck. He hung a heavy tarp from the north side to keep out wind and cold and also another tarp on the pool side and I covered the plants with blankets in hopes it will help too. Tonight I will put blankets over all of the plants in the porch area too.
I have a Dracaena marginata in the ground up against the south side of the house so it is all wrapped in a blanket and there are a couple of large potted plants under the trees on the south side of the house, a Philodendron, Epiphyllum, Monstera ... all wrapped in blankets. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest night yet at 25º and then 27 a couple of nights and 25 again! Yikes, Florida is not supposed to get this cold! I know my sister and family in the Fort Lauderdale area are not happy. They are going to have a couple of nights @ 36º ... very usual for points that far south!
Good luck!
Lin, I hope the freeze is not as bad as they are predicting! I know it must be really hard dealing with something like that when temperatures such as those are not suppose to hit a warm place like your area of Florida. I just shoveled 18 inches of snow off from my roof, but I expect such things as a matter of course in VT. Once again good luck with all of your tropicals!
Photo from my front porch this morning.
Doug
Now that is a beautiful picture! I can't imagine living someplace that gets so much snow! LOL, I've heard of folks having to shovel their driveway but I never even thought about the roof ... guess it's a must so that you don't have a cave in from so much snow piling up!
I'm not really concerned about the freeze here. If plants don't make it, well ... then I guess it was meant to be! I've been talking about downsizing ... mother nature may well do it for me, LOL. It's currently 38º here and I still say if it's got to be this cold we should at least get a little snow! ^_^
(I do remember one year having flurries here in Daytona Beach!) It was kinda neat even though the flakes melted before hitting the ground!
I spent a winter in Austria some years ago. It was a very worthwhile, unique experience. But it will remain unique as I have no plans to ever repeat it, LOL.
LOL, I've seen some beautiful photo's of Austria and they apparently get lots of snow in winter! I've never experienced much snow ... and I think I prefer sitting inside looking out at the white stuff!
All paradises have at least one 'snake'.....
And yet this year we have had a very mild winter. Mins have been around 60º at night, yet not much rain. This time last year we had had a lot of rain and everywhere was covered in wild flowers, I shared some photos last year..this year, first rains 3 weeks ago, and all is going green quickly, but wont be as spectacular as last year as by March it will be burning off again so the flowers will have to be quick, if at all........Normally when Europe gets a cold snap , we get a cooling wind from the north, but this year, whilst its been exceptionally cold in Europe, we have had very mild weather.
Dom
All paradises have at least one 'snake'.....
Good Morning Lin, what is your temp this morning. Mine was 24 when I left the house to come to work. I don't like this cold.
Dee
Lin,
It's -10°F in Mpls right now. 28°F sounds pretty balmy to me! (:o)
Good luck to all of you Floridians; I hope your plants make it through this cold spell unscathed.
Mike
For me, Hawaii's 'snake' is mosquitos! 4 or 5 different kinds. Eau de OFF is my cologne of choice!!!
Our lowest temp was 30º. It's still only 45 right now and I doubt we will be much above 50º today if we even make it that high. The wind overnight and still today has been making it feel a lot colder! I was walking around the yard earlier checking out some of the plants. My very large Snow Queen Hibiscus got hit really hard and I doubt if it will survive. I have a large Philodendron Rojo Congo and it has suffered greatly as well. I had my DH move it to the deck and I will cover it again with a blanket. It will be out of the wind but I'm not sure how much more cold it will take before succumbing. I have a Red Star Cordyline in a container that is suffering as well. I am at the age where I don't let it get me down though. Years ago I may have been devastated at losing plants to unpredictable freezing weather but it doesn't bother me anymore. I don't have any rare plants, just a couple that have sentimental value because I've had them 30+ years and I try to give those as much protection as I can. But life has cycles and if they go, they go. I can always buy more.
To my fellow gardener Floridians this is so unusual. I use Christmas lights for heat and any other material except plastic and the poor plants still suffer. Most of the severe damage won't begin to show up until a week or more after the hardest hit. We don't know how to live in cold weather,except to stay inside.Thankfully I have a fireplace so my cat and I are in the recliner warming up. Just took a walk around the garden to replace and re-attach the row-cover that had blown off. That is the other stuff to deal with:wind when the cold comes and the plants either get cold or wind damage.
I so admire you who put up with this and so much more every winter.Also having to deal with school,work,errands and all those things that you go out of the house to do. You are some tough people. The winter pictures are beautiful though.
Happy New Year to all and good luck with your plants. There will be some new vistas this Spring after the pruning. Maybe places to plant something-else. Catalogs are beginning to arrive with lovely new plants....
This message was edited Jan 7, 2010 3:28 PM
Ha !!, the only 'snakes' we have here are the people who work in government offices...Corruptest place in Spain, and thats official. Last summer we had 100 armed police from Madrid fly over and swoop on the local government offices and arrest countless people in charge of the various planning depts.....all awaiting trial now, and still after nearly 3 years I cant get permission to reform my 300 year old Finca.......Ah, the joys of being honest....:))
Still, least I sleep at night even if half my doors have fallen off and I am not allowed to replace them.!!
Apart from that, the odd mozzy if theres been loads of rain ( hardly ever ), no poisonous insects or horrible critters, never cold, fresh fish and veggies but seemingly impossible to do anything legal...hey ho. No where's perfect eh?
( feel a bit better for that ramble...))
Dom
Dom,
Your island paradise sounds like a really interesting place to live. Three years and you can't get permission to restore or fix up your house is crazy, and I thought we had too many regulations here. I guess every place has it's "snakes."
Doug
Yup...sorry, was a bit of a ramble..:)) incompetence gets to you sometimes..
Can grow Hoyas outside tho all year..... as my plants have grown, I have started off cuttings which are now being planted in the gardens as opposed to being grown under shade cloth...will be exciting to see them grow out of pots/baskets .
Hoya pubicalyx 'Pink Silver' in flower. This is a common plant, but it is special to me for a couple of reasons. I received this as a gift cutting three years ago, and it is the first publicalyx that has bloomed for me; It flowered under 100% artificial light and the light used was LED. LED (Light Emitting Diode) has a long way to go as a plant light, but will be the plant light of the future, and this flower gives me hope the future may be sooner than we think.
Doug
The entire plant.
The Lights.
Hoya brevilata has started flowering again like crazy, and this plant is grown with no artificial light.
Doug
Doug, good growing!
Thanks Jan!
This was quite a shock!!!!
I think that is another seed pod right next to the one that popped.
Hoya australis ssp. australis blasted all it's flowers but three so I finally get to see and smell the blooms.
jerri...is that the H. kerrii?
Hi Carol!!! No that was H. lacunosa. It bloomed all summer and now has blessed me with seed pods. That one is already planted and I'm watching it to death!!! LOL!!!
