My Hoya Serpens is going to flower.

There are two Hoya Carnosa plants flowering at the moment, It's interesting to see the one in the foreground has a white corolla and the other pink. Finally my Hoya Serpens is going to FLOWER.Hurray!!

Hoya pottsii "Chaing Mai"

                                  

  This would have to be one of our favourite Hoyas. 

"Chaing Mai" it has a lovely fragrance.

                                     

Hoya Serpens.

Since we have lived at Tamborine Mountain. we've been unable to grow a lot of the Hoyas we grew outside in Brisbane. So we've taken a leaf out of our European friends book. We have brought into our sunroom (known as a conservatory in England) the species that have suffered in our winter up here. Namely   H.caudata.  H.archiboldiana. H.lacunosa. H.macgillivrayi. H. subquintuplinervis. H. multiflora. H.curtisii. H.Lasiantha.and Hoya serpens.  We had a couple of large glass vases doing nothing. so we have Hoya serpens in each together with various little plants sallagenella and orchids etc. so fingers crossed we'll see how we go.

Hoya australis

Hoya australis is a beautiful hoya for growing on a trellis. It gives a lovely fragrance as we sit having a late afternoon cup of tea in our entertainment area

A few more Hoyas

We are just into our Winter now in Australia, so our Hoyas are into a period of dormancy and there is no flowers to post at present. The top photo is H. obscura and H. lacunosa growing in terracotta pots. They seem quite happy and healthy and should flower in the Spring. Where possible I've been placing Hoyas at the base of potted Fig trees. The one pictured is a Ficus cultivar called "Sultan" I've placed H. "minibelle" on this one because of the leaf similarity and it's just starting to climb nicely.

Hoya macgillivrayi leaf problem.

I have this H.macgillivrayi leaf that has developed a white patch. The other leaves are O.K. and this leaf is still green on the back. I'm not sure if it's fungal or something is attacking it. I've asked the knowledgeable folk on Hoyas'r'us for a possible diagnosis. Click on picture for larger view. Thanks Roy.

Hoya lobbii

This Hoya has an unusual spreading habit, probably a hard one to grow for some one with limited space. It reminds me of a swooping bird. I suppose I'll have to prune it soon.

A few clinging Hoyas

These are a few hoyas that look quite attractive in a hanging basket cascading out. But as you can see that they will also happily cling and climb given a substrate to attatch themselves to to. In this case the the side of our weatherboard building which faces south. We've found this location ideal to grow a lot of Hoyas because it gets bright light but very little direct sun. From the top, Hoya lacunosa. Hoya obscura. Hoya hueschkeliana. Hoya halophila. and Hoya curtisii.

A few more Hoya happenings

Hoya carnosa certainly manages to get through the smallest spaces. Somehow it squeezed through the front beam of our verandah and clinging to the ceiling sent out a bloom. Another Hoya carnosa with a string of blooms on our back fence trellis. Third shot down is Hoya nummularoides probably our last bloom before Winter sets in. Next is Hoya obscura which has been flowering fairly constantly through the Summer. Finally one of our latest purchases from David and Iris Liddle Hoya sp Kalimantan IML 1168 regarded as the very best of the two toned leaf species. This really is a beautiful plant as you can see.

Late summer blooms

From the top. Hoya mindorensis in bud and flowering. I love everything about Hoyas, the leaves, the buds and flowers. Hoya multiflora the flowers on this plant seemed to last for ages.
Hoya padangensis nothing spectacular, but quite attractive poking out of the shadow. Hoya naumanii this is a first time bloomer for us, and possible in our top ten of favourites.

experiments with logs and elkhorns

I love to experiment with the smaller growing Hoyas on some of the logs we have around the garden. The logs make for a nice bromeliad display and most are hollow and have 50mm. dia. holes drilled in them and make a refuge for our frog and skink population. The top photo has Hoya heuschkeliana on the left just beginning to cascade down the log and soon should obscure the frog entrance. This smaller growing Hoya has a small pink urn shaped flower. In the centre log just below and in between the two bromeliads is Hoya lacunosa on the right log is Hoya multiflora which is more of an upright growing hoya, commonly known as the " shooting star" Hoya.
In the centre picture I've wrapped an elkhorn around an 80mm.dia piece of paperbark log and growing epiphyticaly on the top is Hoya serpens and Hoya curtisii.
In the bottom photo on the very top of the elkhorn is Hoya odorata, an upright growing plant more of a shrub than a climber on the left is Hoya obscura which should cascade down from its pocket nicely. In the centre is a small cutting of Hoya lacunosa and a hoya multiflora which I thought I'd lost but is starting to sprout again since I planted it in the elkhorn. Being mostly epiphytes Hoyas don't need a lot of medium thats why it's good to grow some this way. Hopefully I'll post these pics again down the track after we've had some more growth.

Hoya babies

When H pachyclada and H. subquintuplinervis flowered together in the same basket (top) I was hopeful that I might get a seedpod on one of them. So I was delighted when each of them produced one. H. pachyclada ( 2nd down) and H.subquintuplinervis (3rd down) They both grew to about 8cm. long, and seemed to be taking ages to mature. When we went away after Christmas we came back to find they had burst open. Fortunately it had only just happened and I was able to plant about 25 of each seed in seed trays with a mix of potting mix and peat moss. After about a week the seedlings started to pop up. I hope they will survive, its very humid at the moment and from what I've read rotting out seems to be the main danger. Anyway it remains to be seen if any cross pollination has taken place. Seedlings of H. subquintuplinervis are (4th down) and H.pachyclada (bottom)

Hoya carnosa on the mountain

We recently bought a little house at Tamborine Mountain which is an hours drive south of Brisbane. Its a retreat we'd like to share with family and friends in the years ahead. To our delight we found this well established Hoya carnosa growing up this large tree fern. It has countless blooms and seems perfectly suited to its host. There are lots of spots where we can grow some of the more cold tolerant Hoyas and we have a greenhouse there to house some of the more tropical ones over winter.

Some more summer blooms

This is our first bloom of Hoya C.V." Krimson Queen" I love the way the new foliage matches the flower. Over on the fence we have two nice little blooms on Hoya C.V. "Minibelle" which seems quite happy in late morning dappled sunlight.

Hoya lacunosa

This Hoya lacunosa has lots of blooms at the moment. Its normal habit is to hang down in the pot, but because its in a wall pot on the side of the house its happily creeping up on the wall (Ivy style.) This flower has a lovely fragrance. It's nice to see three blooms in a row.

Some blooms this Spring

These are my first blooms of Hoya macgillivrayi, I must say I was quite impressed by the size of the flowers. No wonder its a favourite with people. Hoya obscura looks happily at home under the pergola, the flowers are very dainty but attractive. I was glad I placed the Hoya carnosa at the base of our potted fig tree. It think the foliage of the fig makes a nice backdrop for the Carnosa blooms.

Hoya Pottsii Sp. 'Chiang Mai' & Hoya merrillii

Well, Spring is here and Hoya buds are popping up all over. I've posted a bloom of Hoya pottsii "Chaing Mai" the top one is just as the buds were forming and the second one in full bloom. Jennifer a contributer to Dave's Garden had question about the flower and also the possible similarities between the leaves on H.pottsii (3rd down) and H.merrillii (last image) I've found on these two plants of mine the leaves tend to curve the opposite way, and also the leaves of H. merrillii get a reddish tinge in brighter light.

winter leaves

We've had quite a cold winter this year, and we are eagerly looking forward to the Spring. In the absence of Hoya blooms we have been enjoying some nice coloured leaves which are the result of the bright Winter light we get here. From the top left clockwise.... H. pottsii. H. anulata. H. mindorensis. H. camphorifolia.

Latest flowers

This H. pubicalyx "Pink silver" has flowered again on the same peduncle, it seems to get better with each bloom. The top flower is supposed to be H. gracilis, it was one of my first purchases and labelled with this name. I am starting to wonder if it is actually H. davidcummingii. I should post it on one of the forums and get an opinion maybe. These two are worth a click to enlarge.

Little epiphyte ball.

This little ball of green goodies started out as one of those cane balls that Ikea used to sell. Its been stuffed with organic matter and wrapped in old elkhorn leaves. I've added little bits of plants to it over time, Elkhorn ferns , Bromeliads, succulents etc. On the large shot you wouldn't be able to spot the small Hoya cuttings, so I've taken a close up. H. serpens. H. curtisii. H. heuschkeliana. It should be interesting once they start to grow.