Absolutely incredibly beautiful, and yes, you do give us northerners hope!!
Christine
February Blooms
WELL DONE!!!!
Thanks Carol!
Doug... it is worth every extra penny on that electric bill!
Dawn,
I think it was worth it too. I actually have an electrician coming out next week to look at upgrading my electrical to make sure I don't burn the place down with all my plant lights.
Doug
Good for you!
Doug, I know what you mean about the scent of macgillivrayi. It smells "like" it should smell good, if you know what I mean, but there is a really unpleasant note to it as well, as if it were a synthetic chemical perfume which someone left the top off of.
Beautiful plant AND flowers.
Thanks Mark, and that is a good description of the smell. I'm usually the first to say "oh that smells like butterscotch, or chocolate, or cinnamon," but I just can't do it with this flower. I was sitting in the living room last night, which is at least 25 feet from the plant, and I kept getting these weird whiffs of something very strange. It is definitely not a pretty smell like lacunosa.
Doug
It'd be worth it if it smelled like poop! I have looked at that pick 10 times today. It is very pretty. You should be very proud to have grown it.
d
Well, these are pitiful compared to Doug's blooming mac, but I figured I'd post them anyway since this is the first time my obscura bloomed.
They smell delicious!
That is Beautiful, Gabi! Oh I would love to have that one too! These plants are so addictive! I want almost every one I see!
The only Hoya I have in bloom right now is Lacunosa ... three measly flowers but oh the aroma! I love it!
I moved everything back inside yesterday after that cold night of 36 degrees and cold day yesterday that didn't make it out of the 50's all day! Now it's going to be mid 70's tomorrow and low 80's on Sunday! Everything is covered in pollen so in the next day or two I am moving everything back out so I can give them a good shower with the hose!
Not a great photo but here's H. lacunosa blooms:
Doug, that plant and the flowers are awesome. Also Gabi, I love those little obscura flowers. I'm waiting anxiously for my multiflora peduncle to finally open. It's been teasing me for a few weeks. I thought by today that the buds would open, but no such luck. As soons as it does, I will post a picture. Right now that is the only hoya I have that has buds. I feel so neglected. I guess I shouldn't complain because most of them are new cuttings, just a few months old. I keep telling myself: Patience, patience, patience.
Doug, you have D-mail.
Gabi, great job with that obscura. That is one I definitely don't seem to be able to grow. What is your secret? Lin, it sure is hard to be the smell of lacunosa. I'm pretty happy that mine is starting to form peduncles again. It wasn't doing very well for quite a while after I repotted it a couple of months ago.
Doug
Doug, my lacunosa sulked for a long time too after repotting it. I just noticed some new peduncles on it finally and I repotted mine about 4 months ago. It hasn't bloomed since.
Pretty pictures everyone!
Jen
Thanks Lin, Doug, and Imadigger.
I agree that lacunosa is hard to beat in the fragrance department! Even though obscura has a wonderful smell, it's still not quite as good (to me) as lacunosa.
Doug, I treat obscura like most of my hoyas - eastern exposure, water when dry. That one hasn't been getting artificial light. I've been watering it once a week in the winter.
Gabi
Thanks Gabi, It just puzzles me why some of my Hoyas do so well and some do so poorly. I've decided to get a kit to check the pH of my water. I'm on a spring fed system that services around 30 houses in my town, and I just have a suspicion that my water is too acidic for some of my plants. I think the nutrients may be getting "locked up" from an improper pH. We shall soon see.
Doug
Doug...for a fee you can have your soil (medium) and/or your water tested by the University Extension Service....as it is spring fed, there 'may' be too much calcium or some other nutrient in it...ours is rainwater so it is very neutral. The NPK, calcium and magnesium are what they generally test for...and then you can fertilize accordingly....
HTH
Thanks Carol, I think I will give that a try. It would probably be more accurate that way.
Doug
Congrats, Doug! Good growing! Must be fun to come home to this gorgeous bloom when it's freezing snow outside. My Mac -- which I rec'd as a cutting from Mark last fall (thanks, again, Mark!) has just started sending out new shoots, and the lone peduncle appears reddish on the tip as well...perhaps buds are on the horizon. Vamos a ver.
Julia
Thanks Julia, Today marks the one week anniversary of the bloom, and it still looks as good as it did on day one. I don't know how long it will last, but every time I'm home, I sure do enjoy looking at it. Also, it is still giving off that strong "perfume" smell.
Doug
Here is H. limoniaca...smells wonderful, too....
I wish computers had advanced to the point where you could smell the flower photos. Nice blossom Carol.
Doug
Like scratch-and-sniff for computers! I'm sure they'll have it 10 years down the line, lol. I love the yellow blooms, Carol.
Julia
Are they yellow?? I can't really tell. I have this one coming from somewhere (can't remember if its coming from Bob Smoley or David Liddle) but I thought the blooms were white. I would be so excited... I LOVE the ones that have yellow blooms.
The are kinda cream colored... with more warmth they come out more yellow.
My February blooms, thus far: H. calycina:
and H. mindorensis. Okay, I cheated, it's only half-opened:
Julia...don't you LOVE how H. calycina smells? Beautiful!!!
What does Calycina smell like? I have that one and can't wait for it to bloom?
I can't smell it because I have a bad head cold, lol! Only have the peduncles bloomed, for some reason, however. I can't figure out if I'm over-watering or under-watering....Julia
This is my first time posting a hoya that's bloomed for me! This is my hoya bella that I received from katrun last year:
Nice blooms Julia. I wish my calycina's would bloom! I have 2, and both have TONS of peduncles, but nothing so far. I got the first one last year, and even though it's growing like crazy, no movement on the peduncles. My other calycina is more recent, but it has developed about 10 peduncles in only a couple of months. Hopefully they will bloom soon!
Congrats on everyone's blooms!
Gabi
Congratulations Beccalynns on your first posted bloom! If you weren't addicted to Hoyas before, you will be now.
Doug
Thanks Doug. It's too late for that lol- I'm already hooked! :)
Becca, H. bella it tough to grow - and bloom - for me, anyway. So good job.
Gabi, the calycina always seemed to dry out more than the surrounding hoyas...so maybe make sure it has enough water to fully develop the peduncles? My uneducated guess, anyway....by the way, the H. pottsii you gave me a cutting of some years back is loaded with peduncles at the moment! Thanks again!!! (did you ever find out what strain of pottsii it was?)
Julia
My calycina seems to always need water. I try to limit my water to once a week and everytime I get to that one the pot is very light weight feeling. Never seems to be drooping though. I lvoe the big leaves on this one too.
Julia,
The one calycina I have does have fully developed peduncles (they have bloomed before I got the hoya), and the other calycina has newly formed peduncles. I'll try to keep that one more moist, but I did read that calycina likes to stay dry. I lost my first calycina because I was watering it like most of my hoyas - so now I only water calycina when it is COMPLETELY dry. But now that you mention it, the newer one is in a really fast draining mix, so maybe I need to water it more frequently. Thanks!
Oh, and I'm not sure what you mean about H. pottsii - I never gave a cutting to anyone :)
The only pottsii I have is a 'Budabadoo' which I bought from D. Liddle last year, and I have never cut it. Maybe you're thinking of someone else? Congrats on your peduncles though!!
Gabi
Sorry - I was thinking Gemila! Yes, it depends on your mix. But I heard that as a rule, it's best to keep hoyas moist when they're developing buds, so they don't blast them...Julia
Oh, yes - that I know. But they haven't even developed buds! I just don't get it. Hopefully by me complaining about it, they will start to develop buds - when I complained on this forum about my obscura having peduncles forever but not blooming, it bloomed shortly after! Haha.
Gabi