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.

Hoya wayetii bloom.

This is the first Bloom of our Hoya Wayetii just starting to open. It's a very striking little flower, I really like this Hoya even when not flowering, it has such beautiful foliage with dark outline on the edge of the leaves, a great plant for a hanging pot or basket. It's vigilance time at the moment lots of aphids and caterpillars on the prowl, so it's regular inspections before they do to much damage. Just one of the little downsides of growing Hoyas outdoors I suppose.

Another list of Hoyas

My apologies for being a little slack in posting over the last month or so. I'll try and complete my list of hoyas soon.... here's a few more for the time being. I've met some interesting Hoya collectors since I've been doing the markets. One gentleman by the name of Rudy had a collection of 200 species and he used to be in the Australian open garden scheme. I can imagine it would be quite a spectacular display. Then there was someone else who had a collection of a 100 and had sold them all except one. I couldn't resist having a joke with him, asking if he had to go into re-hab. Anyway here's the names of the next nine. I think Hilary will only get2/9 this time

37 H. sipitangensis.
38 H. Imperialis.
39 H. meliflua.
40 H. longifolia.
41 H. acuta.
42 H. longipenduculata. ( unpublished name)
43 H. deykei.
44 H. Aff. vitellina.
45 H. kenjeniana.

Pink silver in the morning sun

Sitting in the garden early morning I spotted this H."pink silver catching the sunlight behind.

H. subquintuplinervis has flowered again.

When I first started growing Hoyas, I can remember reading that one had to be careful not to remove the peduncle because the plant would invariably flower again at the same point. I thought at the time that must mean in the next season. So I've been pleasantly surprised to have three of my Hoyas flower twice on the same peduncle within a month. At the moment H. carnosa is repeat flowering too. It would be great if I could get a seed pod, the two plants are close by so the bees might do a little something.

More Hoyas

28. H. australis ssp. australis.
29. H. australis ssp. tenuipes.
30. H. australis "Brookfield" ( David L. lists this one as the best)
31. H. australis "Bamboo Range" Qld.
32. H. arnottiana.
33. H. picta.
34. H. loherii.
35. H. bhutanica.
36. H. obscura.
For best view click on picture, and then click again for larger still.

More Hoyas again.

19. H. nummularioides.
20. H. limoniaca
21. H. curtisii ( Philippines "small leaf")
22. H. nabuanensis.
23. H. curtisii (Thailand "larger leaf")
24. H. revoluta.
25. H. wayettii.
26. H. eitapensis.
27. H. kanyakumariana.

More Hoyas.

I'll try and fit in little bits of Hoya news in between my effort to catalogue all the Hoyas.
For anyone who was able to read my post "rescued Hoya" I visited the nursery that had the sick hoya. Sadly it has gone..... I hope the man took my advice and took a cutting, but I think that may have been too late. This was definately one hoya that didn't thrive on neglect.
So on to the list... The first two on the collage are the only other ones that have flowered so far. So hopefully lots more to look forward to.

10. H. hueschkeliana. "Pink"
11. H. tsangii.
12. H. serpens.
13. H. magnifica.
14. H. pauciflora.
15. H. odorata.
16. H. naumanii.
17. H. mindorensis.
18. H. Aff. rubida.

All my Hoyas

I really couldn't tell you how many different Hoyas I have in my collection. So I thought over the next few weeks I'd try and post a picture of each one and count them in the process. I'll start with the ones that have flowered, not necessarily in order of flowering or in alphabetical order, I'm not that organised unfortunately. So here we go....... from top left to right. Because they will be in collage nine at a time, you may prefer to click on the picture for a larger view and click again for larger still.
I hope it's not too boring.

1 H. pubicalyx "pink silver."
2 H. gracilis.
3 H. carnosa.
4 H. bella. ( albomarginate form)
5 H. subquintuplinervis.
6 H. C.V. "Minibelle."
7 H. lacunosa.
8 H. Kerrii.
9 H. Pachyclada.