Yeah, that's what you get when you add a failing memory and sub-freezing temps together. The icing on the cake was forgetting to turn the sprinkler system off. My most prolific bloomer! I took a cutting of a huge plant I gave to someone two years ago and it grew and grew... and bloomed and bloomed. :(
Here's hoping I can save the roots and bring her back. Sheesh! Getting old stinks in some ways.
I give you.... Hoya pubicalyx 'Pink Silver' - frozen variety.
Too bad, I do the same thing too. Of all the things I have lost I miss my memory the most! Isn't that an old saying or something? Can't recall! : )
lol! A few years ago I did a counted cross stitch panel of that saying and framed it. I'd put it back up if I could remember where it is. A mind is a terrible thing to lose.
Oh Barb, your poor plant. Maybe it isn't so bad. The leaves are thin but maybe you'll only lose a few leaves. I sure hope it survives.
The sprinkler system might have actually prevented more damage. Keeping fingers crossed for you and your popsicle!
This message was edited Nov 22, 2008 9:04 PM
Wow, what a shame, I'm so sorry this has happened to you Barb. I hope you can bring it back okay.
I must say though, it makes a very striking picture - "Hoya Popsicle: A Side-Effect of Aging in a Sub-Tropical Climate".
I too forgot a hoya outside this year and only noticed it a few days ago still hanging in the tree - a curtisii that's had so many freezes and thaws by now that I think I'll just leave it out there and maybe a bird will build a nice protected nest in it.
Christine
LOL! Christine, you made me smile with the caption for the pic. Sorry about your curtisii. Thanks for the pats on the back, Eileen and pod. It just amazes me that I could walk by that thing a dozen or more times while bringing plants inside and not see it! Ah well. :(
Barb
All might not be lost. In the AZ fruit orchards they would put on the sprinklers on freezing nights. The layer of icing would protect the plants and blooms. Just maybe yours will be all right???
I sure hope so, podster! They used to do that down here in the citrus groves, too, so I am hoping the ice insulated the vines, at least. What I am mainly concerned about is the timing... the sprinklers didn't come on until 3 am and we were already below freezing before midnight. I'll just have to hope for the best.
Barb
Oh Barb - so sorry about that hoya! Maybe something can be salvaged form it?
Karen
Sure hope so, Karen.
Oh gosh, Barb...wjat a jolt you must have had. I still have hope it is OK...the pubicalyx don't mind cool/cold.
BTW My sister in Montana came back from a trip and found her lacunosa covered with snow. She dusted it off and brought it inside ... still lives and blooms today!!! However, kids, i would not try this at home...
Carol
It was that Carol! I just stood there, open-mouthed, trying to accept what my eyes clearly showed me... an icicle in the shape of my hoya! The leaves have an awful, soft, leathery texture to them today. I'm trying as much as possible to NOT fool with it until I see what is mush and what might be salvaged. I feel like that V8 commercial... walking around slapping myself upside the head thinking, "How could I have done that!". Cool story about your sister's lacunosa. Sometimes it just works, eh? ;)
I did hear about a H. carnosa that went thru a freeze outdoors and when the dead looking growth was cut back, it sprouted again!!!
Just one of those 'lessons'... Like a couple of months ago when i made what I thought was going to be a dynomite 'cocktail' for my foliar feeding the garden. 16 gallons of it. Most of the plant affected regained their composure but tons of bromiliads died...they looked OK but when touched they fell apart. Deaded than doornails!!! My beautiful collection!!! of 8 years. Whole beds of expensive beautiful brommies .... such a disappointment. But making lemonade out of those lemons, I have whole new areas to plant now!!!! BTW, the hoyas were not affected by it one bit!!!
Oh wow, Carol! I love bromeliads but for some reason, they intimidate me. I've admired them repeatedly at the nursery or big box store but just never have bitten the bullet. They seem so exotic! Are you going to replant the area with broms or something else?
Did you use your cocktail on your brugs? Sometimes they are a bit fussier than other plants, at least in my experience. I sure do miss growing them, though.
That's so sad to lose all those bromeliads Carol. You must have been devastated. They're such beautiful plants, even without the flowers.
And Barb,Bromies are only a bit fussy; you just have to keep their "well" from drying out. But doing that will ensure that it flowers; an overflowing "well-watering" twice a week works fine.
Christine
That's all there is to it, Christine? Seems like that would be a doable thing. Hmmmm... looks like a bit more research is necessary now to see if they would like north FL outdoors. There just isn't any room inside!
Actually, bromiliads is a name a use to cover all the different 'relatives' as well: Vriesea, Tillandsia, Alcantarea, Hohenbergia....The Bromiliad Neo Regilias don't die...they just keep producing into huge clumps and their colors can be amazing!!! I have learned since NOT to fertilize them at all...they are extremely primitive and don't like it...
HAHAHA fine with me!
I thought you moved from the fridge to the stove.
It is bad to forget things. I was going to cook a turkey when I got home from work today and when I opened the door to get it out of the refrigerator I realized it was still frozen.
Happy Thanksgiving Barb.
Hi Jim! Happy Thanksgiving to you and Bobbie, too!! Sounds like it may not be a "turkey day" at your house unless you do some emergency thawing, huh?
As for moving from the fridge to the stove... I am actually 4 miles from the GA state line, so when I say "north Florida", it's about as 'north' as you can get.
Carol, I've been looking into all those names you listed. Cool plants!! And I figured we just might be able to change a storage shelf on the screened porch into a Bromeliad shelf. Now to see if my sister will go for it..... ;)
Barb
Some of them even look better when you look 'down' at them...the colors like to be in the heart....
