Need ID on an unusual bloom

I messed up my camera so I can't show you up close that big big bloom at the top of this plant. Do you recognize from the size of the bloom or the foliage of this hoya what she is. Thanks so much!

It looks to me like it could be a H. imperialis. Good goin' in getting it to bloom. Mine is huge but no blooms.

I bought them in 4" containers last summer and put them together in this basket. She told me the blooms would be red, but have you ever seen a hoya bloom that looks like this one.......meaning the size of each 'pod' or whatever you call it.

I love those leaves!!!

I am with Ric...looks like imperialis. You haven't seen anything yet...those buds will get about twice as big!!! A flowering H. imperialis is a joy to watch!!!

Way to grow, Gail! It's a beautiful pot of plants.

Thanks, everyone! Now I have to get ready for the show.........verry excited. If I find anymore 4" pots at that place in Seguin I will get them. For some reason every hoya out in the trees is blooming away right now.

Great growing, as usual Gail! You can grow anything! I can't wait to see those blooms. The H. imperialis you sent me has a lot of new growth but no sign of bloom spurs yet. That is a great looking plant!

Gail...since you have such a husky imperialis...they are heavy feeders, they DO like a bit bigger pot with some wiggle room around their roots and they don't do cold really well. You are going to have a ball with that one!!!

Thanks for the advice. All my hoyas I put in a pot less than a year ago and they have all outgrown the pots. I don't even know where to get bigger pots (hanging baskets) or do you just divide yours with a knife in hand.

I fed all mine with 1/2 cup epsom salt at the beginning of the summer and since then, they get a good heavy feeding at least once a month or twice a month......of 12-36-14...........I know nothing about them......just love them........

I have one on my front porch sitting on a big stool as it got so heavy (it has 9 different hoyas in it) it fell to the ground......I don't even begin to know how to take it all apart.....

I wrapped my front porch this past winter in 6 ml. poly and kept heaters on the porch to keep the temps from getting below 48-50 degrees.

That is a hoya? Whoa!

Okay, the need is gotten in gear. I NEED one of those plants. BAD.

I am going to be on the lookout for 4" containers as I know where I bought these that started this basket last summer.............my best bet will be in October and November at this nursery and then early March....................people don't like buying anything before winter and having to winter them over..............

OK...here is a photo of your flowers to come -

Oh my gosh! The lady who sold it to me told me the bloom would be red, but I never imagined anything this beautiful! Thanks so much for showing me.

That is so beyond beautiful I don't even have words for it! I really truly NEED one! LOL

And they can be ALMOST 3" across!! it is, without a doubt, my favorite hoya. Here is a photo of Dorothy Green, in Borneo with an umbel we had just pulled out of a tree (it was no wise to stay in the mess around the tree because 2 cobras lived there!!!)

Well, I can see that number 1, I need to find more of them...........and number 2 I need to take good care of mine and start new cuttings after it blooms.......

gessiegail: if you find any 4" plants, I will pay for them and the shipping! IF that's what the blooms are like, I gottagetah.imperialis! :-))

I have told everyone that every time I go to my daughter's house I pass the GreenGate Nursery in Seguin and she is the lady who always propagates them..............you all just have to be responsible for checking back with me........say a month and I know I will be up there and look.......

Groovy gessiegail. I am marking my calendar.....:-)))))

By the way, you all would be wasting your time if you called the nursery because they are super nice people but have no idea the name of anything.........including the hoyas......

The solo one bud opened this morning (but there are buds all over this plant ready to pop open)

Beautiful! Tell us how and where you grow it, GG... I am lucky here in the bush...but others will be inspired by your blooming that 'in captivity'....

Carol

Yes Gail ... is that one of the ones you have hanging out in the trees? I potted my imperialis in a small pot with a trellis. I kinda think I might like it better in a hanging basket in the tree!

Lin...they LOVE it climbing in trees...and warm!

LOL, they have no choice but warm/hot here! We've had a very hot humid year. I know it would help if I would feed mine once in awhile.

Sure wish I had some big oak trees to hang a bunch of hoyas in. My dear hubby butchered the Schefflera tree that was shading the pool area! (It's where I had a bunch of orchids hanging in the shade too!) Arrrgh! I asked him to trim a few branches away from the top of the screen to keep the squirrels from running across the screen. That poor tree is so ugly right now! I had to move a lot of the hoyas and plants from that side of the pool enclosure because they were getting sunburned from the late afternoon sun! The screen filters out some of the sun but not much.

Sigh.... This is another one I have that just grows and grows but no peduncles. Good Growing there Gail, please do tell us your secret. Lord knows I have the heat for this one.

Gail, do you use that Texas fertilizer on the hoyas ... the stuff you gave me for Gessie's?

Let me go take a picture of the tree and how the hoyas grow out there. I still have a lot of hoyas on the front porch but they take longer to bloom. Be right back...........

The winds whip around 40 mph every day out here in the country with no wind breaks. I often find my hoyas on the ground but they don't seem to mind being picked up and hung in the tree again.

I did notice when I first hung them that the hoya imperialis (sp) didn't like as much sun so notice how high she is hanging in the tree. It is a mesquite tree and they are deciduous. I bring most of the hoyas to the front porch in December, January and February and then back out again in March.

Here are a few on one part of the tree. (You can see that the west sun is coming from the other side of the tree)

You can only see a few here but look at the blooming one on the ground!

Oooooh, I want one of those! I got my first hoyas about a month ago and I'm enchanted! But I've never seen anything like that red one! Beautiful! I've never noticed hoyas for sale. Are they all waxy leafed? They smell so good! If anybody has an extra, Id be glad to pay shipping plus for one! My brugs aren't old enough for cuttings to share, yet.

I will do my best to try and remember what I do..............just plant them in Miracle Grow soil...........I am very faithful about fertilizing and I do change my fertilizers often............try to use epsom salts twice a year by just pour the salts on top of the baskets and watering them in. Then I have to water every few days because of our high gusty winds. (Out of the city water ) There are 3 fertilizers that I use on a rotating basis. (Please know that I know nothing about hoyas or other plants either........just use what I have)

I try to use a 20-0-0 twice a year just to green them up a bit. Then I rotate between the African Violet Fertilizer which is a 12-36-14 once a month and then if I happen to have the miracle grow spray bottle full of 15-30-15 I foliar feed when I think about it.

When I do overwinter them on the front porch I use a 6 mil poly to wrap the screened in front porch and keep heaters out there to keep the temperatures above 48 degrees or 50 degrees.

I am going to go take a picture to show you how slow the hoyas on the front porch which get less light are to bloom. I started most of the hoya I have with 3 4" pots that I bought last summer. Some are still pretty sparse but this one I am going to show you is getting ready to bloom. I did find a few that were already planted up as a basket.

The red imperialis did not want to climb at all........nor did she want to hang so I let her blow in the wind......

You have no idea Doe41 how hard I shopped at every nursery I came to...............finding hoyas to start with. Lin can vouch for me. We, on the av forum, got to where were trading cuttings, baskets and everything else.

I won't start looking again until fall. That is the best time to find them here in texas because people don't want to buy plants they have to winter over. So, I wait toward the end of October to get serious. (I still don't have the pretty unusual ones like serious hoya people have) But.........I can see I am starting to get hooked as they bloom.

All I have is Lowe's and Wal*Mart to look at! And if it doesn't say Hoya, I might be getting something else! I have a variegated one. I have a small leaf white one and red. I just received a big leafed one unknown color. Do I need to buy the fiber baskets? Do they like to be root bound? I'm going to Ala. the last of this mo. I'll look for some hoyas there!

You are asking the wrong person (LOL). I think there is a lot of information on the stickys at the top of the hoya forum. Don't forget the Angel Exotica is carried by Lowe's and Walmart. They usually have the wrong names but in early February we get a lot of hoyas from AE.

I have mine in every kind of basket.........????

Ok, so after reading and looking at all of Gessies plants out in the trees, then talking about how slow they grow on the front porch. I took all my hoyas (3) and moved them onto the outside deck.

Maybe I should get them out in the trees for more light, but heck SW exposure outside beats an east window anytime. Its been so darn mild today, 75F right now. Last week we had 3 or 4 days in the 80's with nights in the 60's. I probably should have done this a month ago, but....

Hmm ... I think I want to move to Washington State! Wow! Those temp's sound soooo inviting! We have had a very hot and humid summer. Yeah, I know I'm in Florida but this is the hottest summer I remember in a long time. We've had temp's in the mid to high 90's during the day and last night (well actually it was the wee hours of the a.m.) I checked the outside temp and it was still 78 degrees!

AnalogDog: I think you will find your hoyas will love it out in the trees, even if it's a very short vacation! They will love the fresh air and bright light!

Washington is very nice in the summer for exactly that reason. But be ready to endure rain. 35-50F for 6 months. Rain the whole time. Oh, and the winter solstice, we have an 8 hour day. You drive to work in the dark, and you drive home in the dark.

In a good winter, the clouds break in the freeway passes, and snow is everywhere in the bright sunlight. Its a good thing to be a skier here.

Rob