January has absolutely flown by!! I can't believe it's already the 26th! Yesterday, it was nearly 60 degrees, and today is supposed to be about the same. This has been such a mild January - makes you wonder what we can expect for February...

I've been compiling my "plants to go" list - the list of plants I plan to get rid of this spring to give me more room in the GH. I've commited some to Yale Sedman, and a lady from PT. I'm trying to be very honest with myself about what I really, REALLY want to keep and what I can live without...

Now, some plants I've been looking over lately. This little Aloinopsis was blooming day before yesterday. It's a very pretty little flower, especially since the plant itself isn't exactly beautiful! I keep it on my south windowsill where it gets lots of sun, otherwise I doubt it would bloom. I've got another Aloinopsis that I keep in the GH where it doesn't get as many hours of sun and it hasn't bloomed for me yet this year.

Another one I was looking over yesterday is Aloe descoingsii. I've gotten two different clones from Arid Lands, the first one about a year or 18 months ago (the one on the right...) The other one, Chuck brought for the "free plant" back in Oct. or Nov. Notice how different they look. The older one is solitary, more open and star-shaped. The newer one is more chunky, more toothy, and already has some offsets...



And speaking of clones being different, I got a new Dischidia a couple of weeks ago. I found it at, of all places, Walmart! Well, in the process of trying to find an ID, I "spoke" (via e-mail) to a professor who has quite a bit of expertise with Dischidias (thanks to Yale for putting me in contact with her...) I sent her a pic of the new Dischidia and of one I got last summer that is an unknown...















The one on the left is the one I got last
summer, the one on the right is the Walmart plant. As it turns out, these are both the same species. This is what Dr. Tatyana Livshultz had to say: "Both of the pictures you sent look like Dischidia nummularia R. Br. "R. Br." stands for Robert Brown, the author of this species name. This is a very widespread and variable species, ranging from southern China to north Australia. You just have two different clones, one is more xeromorphic (more succulent and waxy) than the other. However the vegetative morphology can vary quite a bit with environmental conditions. The flowers and fruits of the two should be identical." Of course, the one on the left is a variegated form, but the leaf difference is what really amazes me. The one on the left has leaves that are bigger but less succulent, flatter. The one on the right has smaller very succulent leaves that feel concave on the bottom. Very interesting that they are the same species, likely just from different areas....

It's been two weeks since my last post... Mark got laid off a couple of days before Christmas and it's been hard to get my interest in posting revved up. But now he's going back to work next week, this time in Vermillion, SD. It's a little closer than Spirit Lake, IA, and it's straight up the interstate instead off "off the beaten path." So he'll be able to drive up Monday mornings instead of Sunday night. It's a relief that his layoff didn't last long this time because we were just getting things in good shape financially, plus we bought the new truck (an '04 Ford Lariat) in November so that he would have 4 wheel drive for those more northern areas and we need income to help make that payment...

Yesteray, I took a serious "inventory" of how my Hoyas are progressing. The days are getting longer now, which triggers new growth. As of Jan. 5, here are the Hoyas that are showing signs of new growth and some notes:

H. nicholsonii - I got this one last summer at the RCCSS club show/sale from Shoal Creek Succulents. It's putting on new growth and has it's first peduncle forming (YEE-HAW!!)
H. obscura - I've had this one for a few years and it's had its ups and downs, but it's been doing well over the last year. There's new growth and the older leaves are taking on that beautiful red hue from being on the top shelf in the GH. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be seeing blooms soon.
H. serpens - This is one I've tried growing in the past without much success, so I was a little reluctant to buy it when I saw it at Crump's table at the club show/sale last summer. But, hallelujah!!, it's showing signs of new growth and has a little peduncle forming!
H. obovata - This is one of my old big ones and it's got a few new growing tips.
H. picta - I have two of these. I got one as a cutting from a fellow Hoya enthusiast last summer and that one is doing great, putting on new growth. The other I got this fall from Shoal Creek (wanting to fill out the other one a little faster...) I didn't plant them together because the one from SCS looks so different from the other (narrower, pointer leaves.) That one is maintaining but has no signs of new growth yet.
H. cummingiana - This is an old one for me, but one that has never bloomed. I started a new one from the old one this summer and both are showing new growth at the tips.
H. kerrii (reverse variegated) - There is a small nub about 2" long that looks like new growth. No new leaves yet, though.
H. kerrii (my original green one) - Definitely has some new leaves forming. I hope to see signs of flowers on the old peduncles soon.
H. macrophylla - The original plant has some signs of new growth, but my rooted cutting from last year still seems to be dormant. I expected that one to start growing first because it grew so vigorously last year and the main one seemed inactive, but maybe that's WHY it's holding out.
H. burtoniae - Or is it another tsangii?? I just don't know. It finally got its first flower and the flowers looks like tsangii. The only noticable difference between the plants is the one I thought was burtoniae has slightly longer leaves. I notice on Bob Smoley's site that he has no tsangii listed, but has one listed as "H. burtoniae aff. (tsangii)." Maybe they're one and the same. Anyway, the larger one is absolutely exploding with new growth, and the littlest one that I keep in my kitchen north window also shows lots of new growth. The medium one is just finishing up with a serious bout of flowering but not much in the way of new growth. I think the fact that it was putting all its energy into the flowering probably explaines why it's not putting out new leaves.

No signs of new growth on curtisii, my new veined kerrii, longifolia, globosa, or fungii. All of these are new ones I ordered from SCS this fall and may still be "settling in." A few others I got at the same time, meliflua, conspicuans and a hairy clone of kerrii, are doing poorly. I guess it'll be a waiting game to see if they make it. Maybe the fact that we're going into spring will help them make a comeback...

Other Hoyas that didn't go dormant are still growing, but at the slow winter rate right now. This includes australis (I have three varieties that all seem to stay active), all my carnosas, lacunosa, pubicalyx, wayettii, brevialata. These tend to only slow in their growth, then really explode into new growth when spring is more evident - around March.

Well, that's about it for this post....