Feel free to upload your new blooms right here!

Hi bemedel...you took the words right out of my mouth. For a dollar more per plant and much less in shipping charges, why would anyone want pitiful ugly matchbook sized plants with their leaves chopped off when you can have something nice that's not an eyesore but rather a very nice plant in a 4" pot?

(Princess_1....Lyon's doesn't sell hoyas.)

Thanks for posting your photos. So nice to see them. Hard to tell sometimes from the vendors pics. That Chelsea is neat! Dimpled with heart shaped leaves. I got H.fungii also and there is something about it I like very much. Maybe by spring, we can all do some trading. I have a few I can start on taking cuttings and rooting them. Will be a fun project over the winter.

Here is pentadenia orientandina showing it's little 1" yellow blossoms that form on the backside of the leaf stems.

Snwrose I had to go google pentadenia orientandina :)) and I really like the red that you see on the back of the leaves! So will these yellow flowers then progress on to become the berries that were shown in some of the pictures I saw? Very cool plant!

I too am planning on trying my hand at more hoya cuttings this winter so that I can share and trade in the spring! I am still working with the H aff finlaysonii leaf cuttings I did. I've started more than a couple of nice plants with my no id's by just taking one leaf and leaving a bit of stem on either side. This finalysonii is the slowest to take so far but I'm finally seeing some progress with it. Gail hit the nail on the head with this one when she asked me if I had it under glass?? The cutting came from HI and it was used to more humidity so even though the larger starts that I did took right off these smaller ones have been pokey!!

But I made a new purchase for this winter.....the top shelf will get lots of natural sunlight from a west facing window and I have lights to set up on the bottom shelves. There is also a heat mat that I have added. It's going to be fun having a mini greenhouse in the house!

I have cuttings headed my way from the hoya round robin and I'm all ready for them! Here is a picture of the h aff finalysoni that is starting to show some progress, I just love these leaves.

~Brenda

After having my semi mini violets go through the doldrums of summer some of them are starting to bloom again. Here is Thunder Surprise.

And Lucky Ladybug...

Beacon Trail...

Ramblin' Spots...

As for streps they have done pretty well all summer but are starting to do even better now. This is Hot Ticket in the center with Party Girl to the right and Stepahnie to the left.....

My ever faithful King of Kings where it has taken up residence on the fireplace mantel so that the leaves have plenty of room :))) This is the first time with four blooms at once....

Another ever faithful beautiful bloomer for me is Maasen's White.

I'm going to have a lot of babies of this one to share come the spring as it is also a very strong reproducer, no matter which method I've tried the Maasen's White always comes through!

My Ruby isn't as big and pretty as Gail's yet but she's on her way...

Guess I better get a little work done this morning, like the lights installed in that new little greenhouse, enjoyable work!

~Brenda

gee, bmedel..............lots of pretty pretty pictures.................I love your new greenhouse............I have a cover for two of mine..................can't decide if i want to use one whole stand with the cover just for propagation and get rid of so many bio domes...............

thanks for the pics and ideas...............

Mornin' Gail, here is the stand that I did from your wonderful instructions! Right now it only has grow lights on the bottom two shelves but I have more to install on it.

As you can see it's kind of a big mish mash of things right now but I sure love it! Such a great idea.

I was able to direct a woman from the hoya forum to your thread on the homemade light stands and she was thrilled with them too!

~Brenda



This message was edited Sep 22, 2007 8:24 AM

Yes, if pollinated, the pentadenia orientandina will make berries. Mine never have so far. I like this plant so much for it's foliage alone as the flowers while cute, don't add a tremendous amount to the overall beauty.

Love your new stand/greenhouse.. I am trying heel cuttings on a few hoya leaves also. No new shoots yet, but the leaves are rooted.Time will tell. Yours leaves look good. If all produce shoots, you will have a nice full pot.

Strep Space Dust is so pretty with it's fantasy bloom and healthy as are all your violets. You grow them beautifully. Question for you. Has your plant collection increased much since joining DG? I know, silly question.

Chirita 'Vertigo'...

Good morning, Gail. I agree that little greenhouse could come in real handy. I posted before I saw Maasen's White. Good one. Love that, bemedel. It is a sport of strep Constant Nymph. Please put me down for one of those this spring, okay?

Ok Snowrose a Maasen's White for you! Here is a picture of the biggest of the Maasen's White babies right now. As you can see several of the little pots have more than one in them as I transplanted them when they were so small but they are doing good now. And they aren't yellow, that's my camera!

~Brenda

Ok, I had to laugh at your question about my plant collection increasing since joining DG! You know the answer but I think pictures are worth a thousand words so I'll show you! :0)

Last winter I found two of the tables you see in this pictures at a thrift store. I have two big windows in the front of my house and I placed a table in front of each one. My husband added the bottom shelf for me and also a grow light under there. Those two tables held my entire collection of AV's and Streps with the bottom shelves being used with the grow lights for leaves I had put down.

This picture doesn't have great lighting so it doesn't show off the streps but you can see I've added some plant stands to accommodate more streps and a couple of pepperomia's too.....but I'm not done yet :)

~Brenda

This message was edited Sep 22, 2007 10:00 AM

Then another thrift store stand allowed me to branch into some kholerias and the one chirita I have right now along with some standard AV's. The afternoon sun was too hot for them thus the curtain attached to it....

bmedel.....................wow you have some pretty streps..................yes, the more I think about it, the more i think that this winter I will put the plastic fitting over one gro light stand and only propagate on the one stand...................

**********edited to say that I have a chirita 'Vertigo' leaf with lots of babies...............your bloom excites me!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This message was edited Sep 22, 2007 10:38 AM

Then after much begging and pleading with my DH he installed some grow lights on the bottom set of shelves that I had used for collecting dishes, I really need to do soemthing about the cords, I don't even notice them until I take a picture! T

This allowed me to move my mini violets to these shelves and to also propagate yet more leaves along with the grow light he installed over my refrigerator which is a great place for baby plants to grow along with my under cabinet lighting which I use too.

~Brenda

All of this shifting and getting lights for the Gessies then allowed that second big window of mine and the second table to then turn into the "Hoya Table"!

This does not include the 6 hanging hoyas I have along with assorted other houseplants and the top of my desk which gets nice light where several young streps are growing.

Now I know all of you understand this and think it is "normal" but my family and friends think I am certifiable with where I have gone with the plants, and they haven't seen the new little greenhouse upstairs yet! ROTFLOL

Nice..they will be big by spring.eerwdd (Becky the dachshund puppy added the last part)

kohleria 'Ampallang' opened this morning. The leaves have a mottled coloration.

Hi Becky! Your mom grows some of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen!

I'm not having any luck getting my kholerias to bloom? They get long afternoons and early evenings of diffused sunshine and are growing well in their self watering pots. ...any advice??

Gail it seems like it would really help you care for everything if you had a cover over one of your stands, you wouldn't have to lift all those lids! I think I'll have to rig some kind of cover for my stand in the laundry room as it gets cool in their in the winter because of the doggy door. Even if I'm not propagating and just have plants they'll need a little extra I think...

Here is a recent picture of that Heartlands Lime Sherbet leaf that had the babies grow piggy back style on it, I took the leave out of the pot as I was dying of curiosity as to why the babies were growing like that and found there was absolutely no leaf stem left at all, just roots growing from the main rib and the babies growing up on the main rib.. don't know what went wrong but it sure is interesting..

~Brenda

Sorry these posts are out of order and don't make sense sometimes. Thanks for sharing your passion for all your lovely plants, bemedel. Very neat and organized. We DO understand.

The dog was on my lap and crawled up on the table and nosed around on the keyboard. That's what my former post was about.


AV 'Cajun Popcorn'...just finishing blooming but I really like the leaves and the large growing size.

what an awesome Kohleria, Snow.................wow................

bmedel................do I worry about cords showing..................let me show you mine...........that is the last thing on my mind............(LOL)

I use those big surger (don't know how to spell it) with about 6-12 plugs in each one..........so that at least they are ugly on the side of every stand........................

I just can't get over everyone's pretty blooms..............
I have to go start potting up plants or the day is going to disappear before my eyes................
Snow, you have a very important dmail (you can tell when i need help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Good morning everyone! Nice photos of beautiful plants by everyone! Thanks, as always, for sharing!

I guess I've been lurking alot lately... just checking in when I can, and then right back out again. As I see that most of my dearest gessie friends are on this thread, I thought I would provide an update... it was a busy and stressful week! Not that my injury and what's going on with that were not enough, my ex-husband sued me on child custody and visitation issues, to take more time away from me with our girls.... my court case for that was Wednesday. Just as this was taking the forefront of my mind... I have no money for a lawyer for this case, so I was preparing to go to court representing myself... my Chief wals in Monday afternoon to tell me, out of the blue, my last day of work would be next Friday, Sept 28th! I had expected to stay on light duty until the end of the year. Now, I will be off work, and on full Worker's Comp status as of Oct 1st. I's very frightening, but I am trying to keep my head up. When you barely get by on 100% of your pay, and they cut it to 2/3, it makes you think you won't be getting by anymore! On a positive note, I did go to court Wed, and I won my case! It lightened my load alot, and gave me a more positive attitude for the rest of the week. Next week will be very sad for me... the Fire Dept was my second family and a dream-come-true job... and now I face starting all over again at 40+! God has something in store for me though! Prayer is a powerful thing... just as I have been praying for Eunice, Jan, Amy, and others in their times of need, I know you have been praying for me... THNAK YOU!!!! It means so much to me to know that. Finding you all and DG was such a blessing to me, and I love it here!

As always. I have enjoyed seeing all the beauties you each are growing! My mom sent me some money last weekend, to buy myself something with... and of course, I bought a plant! This is Hoya curtisii, I think... it did not have a tag, but I had seen it posted here before. I had like the variegated foliage so much! I got it at Lowe's... the only one they had... $15.00 I think. I thought it was a very nice specimen!

Bless you all, and to all, a great weekend!

{{{{{Hugs}}}}} to everyone!!!
Karen

The only thing I have blooming that's new is AV 'Vintage Wine'. This is just a baby plant!

Yep, I see all the plants, not the cords! LOL These posts to get out of order when everyone is chatting (and someone is hogging up a bunch of posts with pictures! :) but that's part of the fun!

Do you exhibit your plants at shows Snowrose? They are so big and beautiful and look perfect! Surely they would win! Those leaves on Cajun Popcorn are fabulous!

Here is Heartlands Lime Sherbet from this morning, it's still growing and doing fine. I think I just read int he latest AV magazine that cupped leaves are a sign of stress, must be stressful for them to have grown from the mid rib?? the new smaller leaves are coming in normal though...

My husband is off camping so lots of time to play this morning, I enjoy it!!

~Brenda

This message was edited Sep 22, 2007 10:10 AM

Wow Brenda! I will say your collection is growing by leaps and bounds! I am one who loves finding yard sale and thrift shop finds too! I just wish I had more room in the house for more stands! I really need to do a thorough house cleaning and maybe try to move things around and make more room. LOL.

Last Wednesday I noticed our neighbor two doors down had a table out at the street for the next day trash pick up. I called and asked them if I could have it and they said sure ... I immediately sent my husband over there to pick it up. He is reluctant about doing things like that ... he usually says: "Where are you going to put it"? I told him I could use it in the Florida room for plants. I figured he would say I'll get it later, but he went right down and brought it home. It is actually a dressing table - the top lifts up and there was a mirror that had come unglued. It has two drawers in front too. I think I am going to paint it but haven't decided just yet what to do with it. Hubby put it out in the Florida room and a few bird houses are sitting on it for now:

Wow Rose that is a huge beautiful curtsii, what a bargain! I'm glad it was a nice pick me up for you! And even more pleased to hear you won your case over the children!

I't is so nice to know that this is a place you can come and share your burdens and stresses. Just talking it out can help even if the rest of us can't "do" anything for you but listen! And of course knowing others are thinking about you and wishing you the best!! Sending positive vibes your way and {{{hugs}}} back.

~Brenda

karen, glad there are some positives going for you right now.................and sorry about the 'bad' parts.........................

bmedel..................I will send you some new leaves............I know that is fun but i really want you to have a good leaf and I have some good Russian leaves......................by the way, you can order those plastic fitting covers for your stands from Charlie's Greenhouse.............they are different sizes.........mine was 49.95 ..............someone else found one for 39.00 but I don't remember where..........................

Nice find Lin!! It will work great for plants or birdhouses etc. I think I'm going to start printing out all the pictures you have ever taken of your various rooms filled with plants and show them to my DH! Then he'll know I'm just an amateur!! LOL

~Brenda

i was so busy talking I missed your post, Lin..........................how you love those birdhouses................must remember!!!!!!

bmedel....................just show hubby a few pictures of people whose homes are cram packed tight with plants and he will think he is so lucky to have you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the tip on the fitted covers Gail, that will look much nicer than something I would rig up on my own. Especially since clear plastic garbage bags is what I had in mind. LOL

I'd love to try some Russian AV leaves!!! I'm going to hang a grow light over one section on the top of my desk (it's a big desk) for both a perfect spot to grow some new leaves and also for the wonderful bright ott grow lights I found that will help keep it "sunny" in here this coming long winter...

~Brenda

Oh Brenda my dear, you are NO amateur! You grow Beautiful Plants! I am just older and have had much longer to "collect"! I really, really should clean and organize, it gets worse by the day around here! I've read about crazy cat ladies, old ladies who have 25-30 cats in their house ..... well, my husband thinks I'm the crazy plant lady! Although we do have 4 cats in the house too!

I will promise to do that on Monday.............I have fallen in love with these Russian blooms............hoping to get some more at these upcoming shows...................got to get back to work.............
those covers are great.............they have a full length zipper on either side of the front so..........when you want to work on them...........you just roll the front part up and tie at the top............then lower back down and zip down..............ready to go...............

I was just moving a couple plants around, seeing what needed to be watered...
And this is what I found! I was so surprised I gasped out loud... scared hubby to death! LOL!!!

Episcia 'Ember Lace'...
I had no idea what to expect from the blooms, but they are stunning! The color is unreal!

And of course, a close-up...

WildRose..................what a fabulous plant and bloom...............my Ember Lace was one of the baked ones from Lyndon Lyons........(UPS guy).........I have her still under glass and now I can't wait for her to bloom.................how delightful!!!!!!!!!!!!