April Blooms

H cumingiana, nice spicy scent.

My polyneura is opening today! I didn't even notice till 2 days ago.

I just love the H. polyneura...thanks for sharing boojum!
Maybe I'll be so lucky this time around to see a bloom too!

Joni

Polyneura is a sneaky one when it comes to blooms! Mine has had two umbels bloom and I just happened to stumble on them hiding under the leaves!

Congrats!
Kelly

Congratulations, all your flowers are beautiful.
My H. kerrii

Wonderful flowers everyone! Congratulations!

Joni, does Nong Nooch have a scent? I just had to add it to my DL order when I saw your picture...



Christine

H. doliocosparte...great fragrance...just really sweet.

H. sp. Thai #3...which looks alot like H. rigida...smells great...umbel is HUGE.

H. incrassata. This is one of the parents of cv. Jennifer.

Christine,
Yes it did have a faint fragrance...clean smelling.

Carol,
You sp. Thai #3 bloomed before mine...now we're even.

Hoya juannguoiana

Sweet smelling but blooms last only 2 days :(

Love that one!!

Bought this Dischidia pectinoides today locally.

The store had a macgillivray in bloom.

One bloom.

This is how they hang. It had a seed pod. The owner has had trouble growing from seed. I said I would ask if anyone has had success.

YES!!! The seeds should be fresh.

Lay the seeds, with their parachutes, on top of some potting soil (I use a potting tray which is about 12" x 24". As you lay them down they will want to fly away, so spray water on them as they are falling down. Keep warm (the top of the fridge is a good place) and in a few days you will have sprouts - keep them damp with a spray bottle.... When they have their first set of true leaves, repot.

Or send them to me USPS Priority and I will grow them out and send them to her as seedlings....

Carol

I will let him know, Carol!! Should he wait for the pod to dry and open? Or take them out when the pod is green?

Oh my gosh! What store was this? LOVE the dischida! I've received two as cuttings with NO luck in rooting them!

He should put some scotchtape around the pod and leave it on the vine. The pod will get drier and then will crack and try to open and release the seeds on their fuzzy parachutes. That is the best time to pick the pod, open it and proceed. This time of year I am finding all kinds of fuzzy parachutes floating around!!!! It's fun.

I will let him know, Carol. It's Black Jungle. He sells poison dart frogs and plants for the terrarium. http://www.blackjungle.com/home.html

Great website boojum, thanks for the link! I love planting terrariums ... none of those poison dart frogs though! I see his site sells some nice terrarium plants.

Well, I have nothing that even closely compares to the beautiful blooms everyone has been posting lately and I can't seem to get a really decent photo for the life of me, but I was out back this morning and found a couple of my common Hoyas with blooms.

H. brevialata

H. wayetti with tons of buds

April is such an amazing month for hoya flowers and I'm really enjoying seeing everyones' pictures.

I have quite a few with buds right now, and H lacunosa opened yesterday. Its in my bedroom so my sleep was very sweet smelling last night. The window faces south so the plant gets very bright light and a bit of direct mid-day sun; if you look closely you can see a light shade of pink on some of the flowers.


Christine

And here's Old Faithful, H multiflora, ever blooming. I don't take it for granted though, and it remains my favourite because its the one that ultimately got me hooked on collecting hoyas. But still, I don't often think to take pictures of its flowers.

Christine

Gorgeous blooms everyone. My obscura is in bloom but no photo, my camera is broken.

That linearis is booooootiful next to your weyettii, Lynn... Mine is growing well and putting on new growth...blooms this year? Oooooo i can always dream!!! (thanks Lourdes!!!)

Carol

Carol,

Actually that's not Hoya linearis in that picture ... it's a rhipsalis that I've had for years but I can't remember which one it is. From a distance they sure look alike, but up close there's a very noticeable difference. My H. linearis is just about totally dead, just a couple of thin strands left in the basket, it's not one that has done well for me at all.

Here's a photo of the foliage of the two, side by side.

Rhipsalis on left and H. linearis on the right.

Hello, Everyone.
I had two blooms I want to share. My H. Ruthie bloomed for the 1st time:

cv Ruthie is amazing! Gotta see if that one has been added to my "wish" list yet, if not it's definitely going at the top of the list!

MJ - NICE umbel of cv. Ruthie. I have a cutting of it growing up a tree and it is huge....and she blooms solid yellow... but mostly they are just like yours. Very nice!

Carol, you are welcome, I'm glad it's doing so well and I bet yours will bloom before mine.

MatildeJune, That is a beautiful cv. Ruthie, I'd love for mine to bloom in any shade, just bloom.

Hi All,
Summer is over here, Autumn has begun. We have just had what the TV weather people described as our "first rain event for 2009" about 60mm over the last four days, after less than 50mm total since August last year. I have had no Hoya flowers this summer - I think it has just been too hot for my (mostly) carnosa crew. However I did get one Asclepiad surprise. This plant has been a NOID in my collection for yonks (at least 10 years) and has never flowered. It propagates well enough, but sun, shade, fed, not fed - NO FLOWERS. I have been calling it "The EVIL Stapelia" with many muttered expletives for some time.

Well, I take it ALL back; here is what started happening about three weeks ago, and culminated in this beautiful bloom. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a hearty welcome to Stapelia gigantea! I measured the radius from the centre point to the tip of one petal; it is OVER 16cm, that is about 6.5 inches, which would make the whole flower over a foot across! Whee-Hah! I am a very happy plant mother!

Ciao, KK.

This message was edited Apr 27, 2009 12:32 PM

Also, just for the size comparison, here is a shot of the whole plant. I took this about a week earlier than yesterday's close up, which I have just posted above. You can see the bud that will become the flower above at the lower right side of this photo.

TTFN, KK.

Kaelkitty,

I could be wrong but it looks just like my Stapelia gigantea.

I am so glad for your rain. Only yesterday I corresponded with a
fern grower very near you and he told me the same. And about the
drought you all have had.

In the past year we have overcome what is called a century drought here.
In other words it only happens once in a century. But I still don't think it
was as bad as the one you all have had.

Happy winter and rains!

LOL, Alison, I know that NOW - it was the previous 10 year wait that made me crazy!

Sorry, I should have read closer - you knew that - HA!

Beautiful plant, Kaelkitty!! Mine blooms but it is not so big
and gorgeous as yours....not as old either.

How's the smell???

Hi B,
The smell is un-noticeable at present, but then it has been rained on every day since it opened on Saturday! The flies have found it this morning though, so it must be producing some scent. I'll keep my nose out for it when I go out the back door and let you know. I grow a lot of the 'stinky' aroids as well so it will be interesting to compare the scents.

Ciao, KK.