(...........................................................................................) What you see here is me... speechless!
Marcy girl... Wow! ! !
Barb
Moving Hoyas Inside
After looking at the above I know I've got to temper this obsession (or get rid of my 6' huge brugmansias ;). And you live in California Marcy???
Pam
This message was edited Oct 21, 2005 9:01 PM
Marcy, your plants are beautiful!!! Now, if you ever run out of room.........!! LOL Karen
I think we need to do more wet noodle slapping around here. I wish my DH would allow me to make holes in our ceilings....not!
:) Donna
That's why the hoya gods made spackle!!!
LOL...Yes, I live where you can leave a lot of plants outside all winter. In fact, I still have my olive tree full of plants. I leave all the carnosa and pubicalyx cvs outside plus obovata, kerrii, serpens, compactas, globulosa, certain australises (not anything variegated), cembra, paziae, and a few others I can't even remember right now. Plus I have lots of other plants outside, like epis, rat tail cactus, ripsallis, various other succulents, hibiscus, palms, etc, etc, etc. Pam mentioned brugmansias..... my neighbor has about 8 of them growing along his fence that are about 8 ft. tall & almost as wide. Ha.
The ones I brought in are just the ones I figured wouldn't be happy under 50 to 60 degrees as that is what it is starting to get down to now. Before winter is over it often ranges in the low 40s and sometimes high 30s at night. The first year I had hoyas, I left a lacunosa and brevialota (sp) outside & lost them both. Now if I am in doubt, I bring it in. Then of course there is always the possibility of frost or even a big ol freeze. they usually will predict these things and most everything has to be covered with burlap or some type of cover or brought in. It can be mass panic trying to get plants under wraps in these cases. The orange groves, etc, even have heat pots they light in these cases. Fortunately they don't happen often.
Every year I have ended up having more to bring in though, so I don't know what will happen if I don't stop this maddness. I guess that is why people end up with greenhouses. Ha.
Marcy
Wow....I love all the set-ups. What beautiful plants you all have. I feel myself going down that slippery slope.....I just added a couple more hooks in my bay window. I tried to add some in my east facing bedroom but I hit air with the drill. Rats!! and I just finished painting that room. I guess now I get to learn how to do touch-ups. Now that I see your poles Marcy, I think that might be the answer. How have you got them hung and what are they made of?
Sandy
Your plants look fabulous, Marcy! The fun part of collecting hoyas is the creativity required to display the plants. Greenhouse or not, I do not think there is an exotic plant collector who does not run out of space.
You can use dowl just as you have in your closet to hang clothes...also you can screw eye hooks in dowl to hang plants ......very easy.
Sorry ....I did not mean to post 3 times ..I hate comp.
Marcy~
Oh my GOSH! What you have is FABULOUS!!! So many plants and windows and...and....it's like dangling candy in front of a baby to me! No waaaay would my DH agree to holes in the ceiling. Closest I've come is taking down these ugly valances on our heavy drapes in the unused "formal dining room" (which I'm sloooowly but surely converting into a "plant room!!) and hanging some hoyas from the curtain rod. But to live where you can leave some of your hoyas out hanging under a tree is THE BOMB! (as my kids would say!) *sigh*
Speaking of hanging hoyas.....where did you get all those white hanging pots? I am hopeful that I will need several of those once my cuttings root and I can move them to pots. Seems all I can find in the stores around here are big huge honkin' 8-10" baskets and I like the smaller ones.
B
Good question, Betsy. I was wondering that myownself. I believe Awanda has some a bit larger, but I was looking for the smaller sizes also. I grazed the garden centers of every super WalMart in town (7 of them) and found these. They are 4" pots but have no hanger holes. I plan to dig out my trusty Dremel and remedy that, though, then hang them with chain and S-hook setups. Best part was that they were only 88¢ each. I like spk's idea of the dowel too. I would use large cup hooks instead.
Barb
Awanda has 4.5 and 6 inch pots available on her Dave's Garden store:-). http://266.scifstore.com/module/store/
Blessings,
Awanda
This message was edited Oct 22, 2005 7:20 AM
....aaaaand....how does one find that?? =0)
THANKS!
This message was edited Oct 22, 2005 9:40 AM
You got the right idea, Barb! On those plants that are too small for Awandas 4.5" pots, you can make your own wires after drilling 3 holes in the pots. I use 20 gauge copper wire folded 6 times into equal parts. Then, twist and bend the top 6 wires make a loop to hang the pot. From the top of the loop, I twist 2 wires at a time until I have a wire hanger that looks like those you buy with larger hanging baskets. If I am feeling festive, I add glass beads as I twist the wires. You can even find 4" pots like Barb pictured at the dollar store or Big Lots for 4/ $1.00 in the spring. (Did I see Awanda perk up when I said Big Lots???)
Mel ~~ THANKS for the great idea! The beads are a nice touch!
I didn't make ANY holes in the ceiling. In fact, the ceiling in the family room where most of those are is some foam-stucco looking stuff that is blown on the ceiling and if you mess with it, it crumbles up & looks awful. I hate that stuff. You can't even wash it.
Anyway, what I did in there was to add poles (small curtain rods) across the indent of the window ledges at the top. I just screwed in these little plastic coated hooks I found at the plant section in Home Depot and set the rods in them.
Then this year, I needed more room so I added 2 more curtain rod hangers up ABOVE the regular curtain and put a rod across that. Nothing interfers with closing the curtains (except the plants or vines get in your way sometimes. Ha. However, I don't even close them anymore cause it is just the backyard out there anyway. But I didn't want to hang the plants from the regular curtain rods (wasn't sure of the strength anyway).
I since found better rods in the section of HD and Lowes where they have all that closet organizing stuff. They have dandy big long rods that are hollow so they are lightweight and you just add rubber tips to the ends when you get the length you want. Then in the plant section, there are all sorts and lengths of those hangers to hang the rods from. (see my picture of the office...altho I got black ones when I should have used white). You just screw them into the wall above the window. I used big long ones & actually got a second pole that I put up on that one using zip ties.
I also DID have trouble finding the studs to affix them too, and I wanted them IN the stud so they would be super strong. As Carol said...thank the hoya Gods for spackel. Ha Ha. I made lots of nail holes and one BIG hole looking for those darn studs. Finally Paul went out & got a lazer stud finder for me, so I won't have that trouble should I decide to put up any more things. Ha.
The little pots are those ones I originally got from Gemila & then ended up ordering a whole box of them from the co. I was going to sell them on Ebay, but have used most of them myself plus selling them to friends & relatives I have here. Ha. However AWANDA has them now too. They are perfect for the small plants that have outgrown their nursery pots. However, to be sure you don't overpot, you can just set the 4" nursery pots inside them for a time, or you can put hydroton, leca, or large stones in the bottom 1/4.
One of the mistakes I made when starting out with hoyas was to be too impatient to "move up" plants into larger pots. Then they spend all their energy trying to fill the pot with roots and don't put out any plant growth, or worse yet, die from overwatering. These hoyas like t o be crowded in their pots before they decide to grow.
Hope this helps.
Marcy
Did someone mention Biglots? (Awanda looking around with wild glassy eyes). I LOVE that store. I tell everyone my backyard is furnished in "early Biglots". The sad thing is they don't have any garden supplies now....but come January they will.
Blessings,
Awanda
I swear I do not pass a Big Lots that I don't think of Awanda! Yep, I crown Awanda the Big Lots Queen!!!
Awanda, would you believe I just discovered Big Lots? My goodness but they DO have a lot of "stuff". One thing I learned right off was that if you see it and want it... GET IT, because it most likely won't be there when or if you go back. That's not true in all cases, of course. I found 14" wire hanging baskets with coconut fiber liners for $3. I'll need those come Spring. :-)
Barb
Big Lots synonomous Awanda! LOL!!! She introduced me to this store, an I'll never forgive her. Closest one is 17 miles from me, in traffic! J/k I love Awanda, and Biglots!!
Heather
Marcy,
It's time for me to bring my houseplants inside, and I'm going to use your idea. I showed your pictures to my husband, and he read your post for how you achieved that look. We're going to measure for our poles today. I only have 4 hoyas in hanging baskets, but I have lots of houseplants, and we were not exited about putting so many plant hooks in the ceiling. You helped us solve that problem.
Thanks,
Jennifer
Here's an image of my plant collection,
Stunning!!!
I am just learning how to post pictures ...I will have many more to post.....
Hey, Sodapopkid111! You got's beooooootiful plants! Show us more!
Ann
David...YAY!!! Why don't you start a new thread and post your photos!!!
(pppsssssssssssssssssst, this guy really grows great hoyas ... in Massa freezingcold chusetts!!!
Carol
Oh, yeah. I think we can view two of Sodapopkid111's pictures on Carol's website at http://www.bigislandgrowers.com/ghp/AHmiszk.php
Ann
Your plants look really lovely and healthy.....very impressive.
Sandy
Wowie, Sodapopkid!!!! Another teaser amongst our midst!! Thanks for posting the link, Ann. Very impressive!
:) Donna
Sodapopkid - I checked out the link, and HOLY COW!!! Your hoyas are magnificent!! Karen
Sodapopkid/David........HOLY GUACAMOLIE! ~~ I just looked at the pictures of your plants on Carol's website and I can't belieeeve what my eyes are seeing! That is absolutely AMAZING! I'm toootally impressed and humbly bow in your presence. "You Dah MAN".....the HOYA man!
Betsy
David, awesome plants. Can't wait to see more pictures!!
Heather