Maybe pushing it by a few hours...here is H. wallichii and there are 4 umbels on the plant, all in bloom.
January Blooms
And here is H. pusilla. Yes...the flowers look like H. lacunosa and are just as fragrant..different fragrance but good!!!
And H. imperialis...only 2 sets of leaves on this little plant...but two nice blooms.
H. sp. kunming kina
And H. cominsii. Almost every plant in the tray is blooming!
H. cv. Iris Marie outside...
H. sp. Tanna Island
Beautiful! I love the blooms on H. sp. Tanna Island.
This message was edited Dec 31, 2007 8:27 PM
That's why I WANT a H imperialis!!!! Never heard of the Tanna Island- WOW
Lucky lucky you...
I love that one, Diane and i really like the H pulsilla! i am big on pinks and fragrance combined!
A fellow pink lover- I knew I liked you Gail!!
Was so awed with the other two I didn't look closely at that one- it's gorgeous too!!! My lacunosa I got from Logee's died so I'm lacunosa-less again. It was a puny little thing anyway. May have to have that one instead since it's pink!!
I am loving them all! Beautiful Blooms Carol! I really like the looks of the H. wallichii bloom.
LOL Diane & Gail ... Pink is my favorite color too ... in fabric, clothes and flowers. But, I love the Hoyas no matter what the color of the bloom, and especially if they are fragrant! And, I love some of the interesting foliage on some as much as the blooms. I would love to have a greenhouse full of nothing but hoya's! Can you imagine? hmmm ... I bet a few folks on this forum have one!
Youu know, Lin, I bet you're right!! hehe
Unfortunately it's not me! YET
I like pink everything, too!!!
Some people think it doesn't belong on the color wheel! Shame on them *lol*
I asked my granddaughter what she wanted me to bring her from Hawaii. Her answer?
PINK.
lol such a girlie girl.
LOL ... I Love It! I was a Girlie Girl a very long time ago! I will soon be 60 and still love pink!
That is the most precious story, Carol! I would wear nothing but pink if I could find the pale pink in clothes! Plus, at 65 that would just create more stories about 'ditzy' Nana!
I have pink walls, pink in my floral couch, pink carpet, ...yea I think I still like pink! LOL I have pink in all shades in almost every room of my house! All the way to burgandy - mixed with other colors of course !
And......I don't have any pink in my house (boo hoo). Just pink in a lot of flowers and my clothes..
Carol, gorgeous blooms! I'm amazed that you only have 2 sets of leaves on that imperialis and it's already blooming. Is it usually known as an early bloomer? Mine is a very fast grower (it tripled in size in just a few months), but no blooms yet.
Gabi
Just beautiful Carol, all flowers are gorgeous
Carol, I thought I was in heaven when we moved to Florida. All my houseplants grow beautifully outside. Now that I'm addicted to Hoya and Orchids, I think I should have moved to Hawaii instead. LOL
I just love all your hoya pics. I really enjoyed IslandShari's fabulous pictorial tour of your gardens.
I'm soooo jealous. I wish, I wish, I wish. One of these days maybe my little hoya newbies will bloom for me. It seems that only the carnosa are quick to bloom. Oh well, one of these days...........
Imadigger...you are lucky...most H. carnosas are very stingy with their blooms....!!!! We all have good sides and bad....
Thanks for the compliments...
Carol
Carol, I so want to move to Hawaii after seeing those photos. You are a very lucky woman. Right now here in VT the wind is howling out of the North with blowing snow and it is 10 degrees.
Doug
Oooh, can someone give the link to where IslandShari posted the pictorial of Carol's gardens? I would love to see those pic's!
I think after tonight I might want to move farther South myself! I would say Hawaii but I can't imagine being on an airplane that long! We are having the coldest weather in more than 5 years here in Central Florida. It was 39 here last night with high winds which put the wind chill down in the low 30's! It's supposed to be 27 tonight but not windy. We will probably see frost in the morning! My yard and deck looks a bit like Halloween with all the plants covered in old sheets and blankets! I moved tons of plants inside but my house is small so there are space limitations. Everything out on the pool deck and covered deck got shoved up against the south side of the house and covered in old blankets. My florida room is so cram packed with plants and stuff including glass table tops. Many years ago it got so cold the glass tables on the deck and one window in the Florida room shattered from the freezing temps. I just hope we don't have a hard freeze because some of my plants would not survive.
Imadigger: I will be curious to hear what the temps get to in your area too! Weather reports have been predicting very cold temp's for the Northern part of your county but I don't know if you ever get frost in that area.
We feel for you guys!!! I can't fathom living in a cold climate again...altho;' for US it has been cold here! 5 straight weeks (non stop) of rain and no temps above 70deg. What that translates into is: ground is saturated and very much like a mud pond in the flats; everything in the house smells mildewy...all leather is green...and we are COLD.
But i guess no one is crying... :>((
Lin...the tour Shari photographed is on the Tropical Gardening forum.. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/799671/
Carol
This message was edited Jan 2, 2008 7:46 AM
Carol, I am crying for you! Below 70s for 5 weeks- Not what I picture or imagine when I think about paradise! And all the moisture with things floating in muck cannot be fun. Is this usually the coldest time of year for you?
YES....it is...and the rainiest altho with 130" per year it is a tossup.
Sun today... My eyes hurt!!
Lin
I'm south of you just past Melbourne, in Brevard County. I think we have about the same temps. I just walked the dog and he couldn't wait to get back in the house. He was cold too. Right now it's about 40deg. but the winds are still blowing and it feels like 20. My orchids, approx. 60, are all under quilted mattress covers outside around pool. I brought in all the hoya. Most of them are new cuttings. It's a good thing that I have two bathtubs. Thats where they are. In the tubs and hanging on the one shower rod.
I have quite a few plumeria around the outside of the pool enclosure and I cover them with old sleeves from hospital gowns. My hubby thought I was nuts to save them from when my grandson Anthony was born. He was 3 months early and weighed 1 lb. He was in hosp. for three months, so we collected a lot of those gowns.
The sleeves come in handy to cover the stems of the plumies. It stops the tips from freezing.
Now, please God , bring back the warm temps. I promise I won't complain that it's too hot!!!!! LOL
Imadigger: It's 38 degrees here in Daytona Beach right now! The weather reported a slight chance of Snow Flurries for us tonight and our low is supposed to be 26 or 27!! Can you believe it? My sister and her husband live in Fort Lauderdale and they are supposed to get down to 38 tonight ... must be a record or close to it for that far south!
Wow! 60 Orchids?? And, you leave them outside? I thought orchids didn't like below 55 degrees? I don't know a lot about Orchids but have about @15. I've always brought them inside when temps get down to 50. I have 6 or so Plumies that I got in a trade here on DG this last year and they are inside now too.
It's supposed to be back up to near 80 by next week. I'm glad we are only going to have two nights of cold but it's a shame we are going to have a freeze. My two Schefflera's in the ground (one huge one) are going to be mush as well as the huge split leaf philodendrons. They always come back in spring but I just hate it when they are a mushy mess!
Oh my ... your grandson Anthony was a little guy! Only1 lb? Amazing! How old is he now? All babies are miracles but he was certainly a special one!
Well, we are off to a Basketball game at the University where hubby teaches, so I'm outta here.
Stay Warm Everyone!
Hi Lin,
Anthony is now six yrs. old. He's been staying with Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas vacation. He went home last night to Ft. Lauderdale. We enjoyed having him here. Now we're pooped and we need a vacation LOL!!!!!
We used to bring the orchids into the garage, but this time, we're taking a chance and leaving them outside. Hopefully, they'll survive.
Lin...we had 3 nights in a row of below 30 last winter here in S. Calif, and I had to also cover all the plants I left outside with burlap and blankets pinned with clothspins around them. My whole house had plants sitting everywhere (we just walked around them..ha ha). Everything I covered survived, so have faith. I feel your frustration. I just left the covers on even during the daytime when it warmed up. Fortunately it only lasted 3 nights.
Temps here have been ranging around 40 at night lately. Everything outside looks to be OK. However it does warm up to the 60s during the day. (what little of a day there IS at this time of year. Ha.) We have a huge rainstorm about to hit tonight & last through Monday. Gad. I will be busy dumping saucers. Ha.
I have nothing blooming blooming right now except a davidcummingii that is in the house. Dear little thing.
Marcy
Imadigger: I bet Grandma & Grandpa are exhausted after having a 6yr old around! They can wear you out, can't they? I hope your orchids are doing well. I will be curious to hear how they fared with the cold temp's last night! It didn't get quite as cold here as predicted which is great!
Marcy: I had to cover tons of stuff with blankets and sheets and use clothes pins to keep them on too because of the wind. Hubby bought a heavy plastic tarp and hung it on the north side of the screened porch - we had such high winds he had to actually screw it into the aluminum frame of the porch. We have been spoiled here for more than 5 years without any real cold winter temps! We were way past due for this cold spell. Yesterday it never reached 50 degrees - I don't remember that happening before. I've been in Florida for 40 years and when we have cold weather, luckily it never lasts more than a couple of nights at a time, usually in January or February. Amazing that our air conditioning was still on until heat kicked in automatically last night. I checked during the night a couple of times and the thermometer never read below 33 degrees so we didn't get the hard freeze that had been predicted ... Thank goodness!! So, I'm hoping those 30 degree temp's didn't bother my plants too much. I will get out and water again thoroughly later today. It's supposed to be in the mid-high 40's tonight and slowly warm back up. By mid week next week it's back to the 70's.
I sure feel for all you folks who live where the winters are long and cold! I guess being born and living in the South all my life I just can't imagine what it must be like - I know I wouldn't have anywhere near as many plants if I lived up north.
The only hoya I have blooming is DS-70 which doesn't seem to quit ... the fragrance has really grown on me and I like it ... I wish the fragrance were detected in the daytime too! Anyone know the reason behind the fragrance at night vs daytime? I'm assuming it has something to do with attracting pollinators but I don't know a lot about plants in that respect so may be way off there.
Lin- It makes me sick to think of your Philo and Schefflera getting getting turned to mush! But I guess the good news is it'll come back from the roots??!! Please say yes??!!
I would like to hear how the orchids make it outside too and what' the lowest temp. I don't even put mine in my sunroom because of how cool I allow it to get in there. I know some are cooler growing an those I do- like the Cymbidiums. But if I can put more of them in there it would be great! My 'orchid window' runneth over! Probably have 30-40 in there! LOL
What does the Hoya DS-70 smell like?
Yeah, Diane - they always come back in Spring! Thank goodness we didn't have the hard freeze that was predicted last night! The lowest it got here in Daytona was 32! It has been very windy so we didn't have any frost ... just very cold temp's! Cocoa Beach, which is about an hour south of us had the snow flurries but we didn't get any! They showed video on the news tonight and you could definitely see the snow flakes flying ... people were so excited! In a couple of days it's going to be back to 78 during the day and in the low 60's at night! Yippee!! I'm doing the happy dance here!
I guess they would be excited about the snow flurries- I just groan! Glad you didn't get as cold as they thought. We've got the wind here too. The news even said it would last all week and wouldn't even slow down at night. Glad you're warming back up! We're supposed to be close to 70 this weekend- WOOHOO! be feeling balmy here!
Sending :) ***** warm, sunshiny ***** vibes :) to everyone!
I peeked at my orchids this afternoon. It was still quite chilly and very windy. They look OK, but it's hard to know if they received any damage. My three phals and two of my dendrobiums are inside. They have buds and I was afraid they would freeze. Last night I noticed that one of my vandas has a flower stalk starting. I don't have very good luck with them. I think the hoya are much easier to grow. Much nicer looking plants too!
I just had Shanghai out for a walk, and it seems the wind has died down. It didn't feel as cold.
I can't wait for the weekend.
Here's h. obovata - a favorite of mine, and one that I've had since it was a small cutting - with one lonely little bloom (the others blasted). Still thrilled with the one bloom, though!
Karen
OK, visited the tour of Carol's paradise....I'm sitting here in 4 degree weather.....sigh.....so jealous!!! It IS beautiful, Carol!!
Karen