Hi gang!
I received some photos through my website from a very nice lady in my neighbor country Finland. The photos were of her H. australis. When I asked if I could show them to you she didn't just say yes, but she also sent me what it had looked like the past two years.
This first photo shows her plant in 2003.
Christina
This message was edited Sep 25, 2005 11:05 AM
This second one is from 2004.
The third and last one is from today. I will ask if she can send me one when all the buds have opened.
I hope you enjoyed them!
Christina
Ohhhhhhhh!!
What a white dream......
There is something about us scandinavians ...and our hoyas...
Maria ;-)
How beautiful!!! Karen
SOOOOO pretty! Like a sky full of hoyas.
Perfect conditions for H. australis!!!! What a beauty!
OMG, can you just imagine what that will smell like in that room at night? Wow.
Where is she growing that anyway? Is that a greenhouse, or a sunroom or something? I see skylights and plain boards, but then I see glass shelving and nick nacks too. What a neat room that must be.
You must ask her what kind of fertilizer she uses. Ha.
Marcy
I´m speechless, what a beautiful plant. Can´t even start to describe how wonderful it look., She´ll must be so very proud over it! It´s the must beautiful australis I´ll ever seen.
If mine only would start to bloom I´ll would be much happy and content. But I´ll have not seen any buds yet :(
How old was it, when it started to flower?
This message was edited Sep 25, 2005 2:02 PM
Christina,
Thanks so much for sharing those wonderful photos with us. What a treat! You just gave me an idea. I'm trying to figure out something to do in my bathroom that has an opening between the shower and tub. I moved my newly purchased australis to see how it would look in that area. The photo is a "rough draft" as I will figure out a way to enhance it even if it's just hanging it. The bathroom should give it some humidity with the shower and it gets very good indirect light most of the day. What do you think?
Barbara
Barbara!
I´m not Christina ;), but i just want to say that I think it´s gonna like it there. And if it is placed to dark you are going to notice it, by the lack of flowers and then you can move it. But I´ll think that it will work just fine :) Good luck!
/Marie
Christina, thank you for those pics! That is a stunning plant!!
Barbara, I think there is room in there for more than just one australis......
Ann
Hi all
Take a look at picture 3. Look at the angel. The angel like the Hoya too. It is a very big H. australis, it must be old. My oldest plants are 35 years
Take care
Rosita.
I love the way the angel is watching the hoya! I didn't notice it before.
I hear you, Ann, about having room for more! I think you've got it right! The bathrrom is brighter than it appears in the photo. I was taking the photo towards the light so it makes the room appear darker. I think it will work!
Barbara, make sure you send us photos of your newly "decorated" bathroom!
ann
Holy Smokes! That is one huge and beautiful hoya!
:) Donna
What an incredible beautiful plant!! I can just imagine the heavenly scent! Looks like the Finns know how to grow hoyas too!!
Wow, that is beautiful and I can just imagine the wonderful fragrance. I too would be interested in knowing how old the australis is.
Barbara, it looks to me like you have room for 2 or 3 hoyas on the window ledge and room to hang one or two from the top as well. That would look really nice and give you a garden feel in there.
I wrote her and asked. I hope you're all sitting down, because her plant is about 6 years old. She does fertilize it during the summer - every time she waters it and that would be every day when it's hot. The place it's in is her winter garden. It gets really hot in the summer (well, from early spring) and doesn't go below 50 F/10 C during the winter. In the second photo she said there was snow outside!
Christina
Okay, mine started blooming two days ago. Actually, ALL my 3 plants started at the same time!! I took some quick photos this afternoon for you to enjoy.
Christina
And here are some flowers. The fragrance in our living room right now is really strong, but I find it rather nice. My boyfriend escaped the living room only to find another australis with "only" about 10 umbels in his computer room!!
Christina
Oh Christina ~~~ That's SPECTACULAR!!!! I looooove it!!!
You DO grow great hoyas!
Betsy
That australis is beautiful. What a wonderful job you have done growing it!! I can't even imagine what the scent would be like with all those blooms. it has to be incredible.
Karen
I will never get over how tamed you keep all your Hoya vines, Christina! Your Hoyas are so well behaved!
Gorgeous Christina, tell your boyfriend if he doesn't like the smell, he could come stay with my hubby for a while. Of course, I will stay with you to keep you company!
Heather
Beautiful, Christina! Ditto what meltn say's - your hoyas are incredibly well behaved.
WOW Christina! Beautiful hoya! Karen
AY...you Vikings do amazing things with hoyas!!!
Carol
Well behaved?!! NO! You should just know what amount of time I spend on untangling new vines from neighbouring hoyas and wrapping them back where they belong. If they escape a second time I tie them down with a soft green string. Here's an example of what it can look like when I haven't done it in a while. Okay, I have to admit that it's kind of relaxing to keep them tamed...
Sorry Heather, but my boyfriend actually admitted that it smelled wonderful when he came downstairs this morning. BUT, we do have a guest room... Blooms will last about a week.
Christina
That's a beautiful hoya Christina. Your plants all look so wonderful and healthy.
Sandy
Gorgeous Hoya Christina.........both you and your friend certainly have the *green thumbs* for growing superb Hoya specimens! Hoya australis was one of the first Hoyas that caught my eye when I joined Daves (then because of the unusual rounder leaves.....at that time I only had H. carnosa) but now it's on the top of my list because of those fantastic flowers & it looks to be very floriferous.
My australis are blooming now too. (Nice to have some fall bloomers to cheer us up as the days grow short. )
I have several kinds, but never have been able to tell which is which. I have one with smooth leaves that are fairly dark green except where the sun hits (those are redish). It is just covered with blooms and hangs out front on my palm tree. I was up on a rock the other day trying to smell them (the top ones bloomed first naturally), and my neighbor was just staring at me. Ha. Must think I am a nut case.
Will put a picture in here. don't be alarmed by the red flowers in with it...I often stick a geranium in with the outside hoyas.
This is one that has light green and fuzzy, felt-like leaves. They are also thicker than all the others. The fuzz is on the stems too. This is the first year I have had one of these bloom. Looks pretty much like the other's flowers except there is less red in the center. Looks almost pure white.
This one I know. It is H. australis cv 'Mrs. G'
....and last, but certainly not least, is H. australis variegated.
I have several of these with various sized leaves, but this is the one that is getting all the white with the new leaves. They are not REAL white like I have seen the variegated carnosas get, but are more of a "French-vanilla" yellow/white. I am not sure if I should leave them on the plant or not, but ...gosh...I hate to cut them off.
LOL.......you're killing me Mairzee!;) I have one hoya that was sold to me as H. australis (it has smaller leaves) and I thought it was labelled incorrectly but now seeing your small one I'm going to see if it also has fuzzy felt-like leaves and stem.
I'm going to try to track down that variegated one!
I got mine from Kartuz's nursery in Vista, but I think Carol has them and you would get them a LOT faster.
Marcy
Thank you! I think customs might eye a package from Hawaii a little more closely so I'll order it from Carol the next time I cross the border (and have it mailed to someone there for pickup). Busy thinking of U.S. relatives now! ;)
Marcy, these are only my guesses. Someone else might have different opinions... That first australis with the geranium would be the australis ssp tenuipes. The one with the fuzzy leaves is australis ssp australis (wrongly sold as 'Keysii'). I'm envious of your flower in the fuzzy one... Mine hasn't flowered in YEARS!! I'm almost ready to throw it out, but then I keep thinking it might flower next fall and the next. I remember the flowers being a little whiter than tenuipes.
Absolutely gorgeous flowers! Just out of curiousity; why do you put a geranium with your hoyas?
Christina
Marcy, the geranium in with the hoya is beautiful. What a brilliant idea!
Now I am going to sound like a true lunatic, but ....
Why not stick some little silk or plastic flowers, during the winter, into our hoya pots so we see a little dash of color?
Has anybody done something like this? Have I truely gone over the edge?
Ann
