Well, the bud on Hoya merridithii x. crassicaulis blasted, but I was kind of prepared for that. It's not uncommon on the first try for them to blast. So, since it blasted, I went ahead and repotted the plant into one of those white 5" hanging pots. Although I would love to see a bloom, I'd probably rather see some more growth first. Seems like when they're blooming, they don't grow much - I suppose that blooming takes a lot of energy...

I've been fighting my damn allergies again - got bad and turned into a sinus infection like a couple years ago. I lost my voice completely Sunday morning. My chest and back are sore as hell from all the hacking I've been doing. But the last couple of days (and especially this morning), it seems my coughing is yielding all the yucky stuff that means I'm close to the end of it. I feel fine (other than the exhaustion brought on my constant coughing) - I just sound like shit! But I didn't go to the doc and feel pretty good about the fact that my body is a healing machine and NO!, you don't NEED antibiotics to get over crap like this! I say let your body heal itself and it makes it just that much stronger for the next time something comes on...

Now, it's time to get back in the "vortex" and "pluck" some of that stuff that's waiting there for me! (If you don't follow Abraham, you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about... just some "nutty" new-age stuff I'm into!)

Today's the day I'm going to chop up my Hoya kerrii. My oldest plant has just gotten WAY out of control and it's taking over the north end of my GH. The stiff stems want to ramble everywhere and I'm tired of fighting it when I want to get up on my stool to water or inspect plants on the top shelf on that end. I realize that means I probably won't get much (if any) blooming this year, but I think it will be worth it. Besides - I have a small one I rooted a couple years ago in my sunroom that has peduncles on it, and my hairy kerrii also has peduncles. So I'll have some kerrii blooms this year - just not on my old plant. I plan to root the cuttings, then put them back in with the main plant (and maybe add one or two into the one in the sunroom) to make a fuller plant. Then my intent is to keep it from getting so out-of-control in the future.

... Ok, so I took a break here and did the whacking. I got four big cuttings, two with lots of leaves and peduncles, two with only one leaf and more peduncles. I put a baggie stuffed with wet sphagnum moss over the cut end and sealed them with a little hair clip. (This was brilliant because it will be easy to open and mist the moss - twisties are such a pain!) I set the baggie end on my heat mat. I'm hoping they root quickly so I can get rid of them before my cuttings from Liddle come next month... I took the pot my kerrii is in and scootched it into the corner on that top shelf. It's still going to dominate that shelf, but maybe I can keep it from crawling all over the place. I don't think I'll be putting anything back in with the main plant - it's PLENTY big as it is! I may put one in with the one in the sunroom, though. We'll see...All I need is a second one taking over!

I think I mentioned in the last post that the flowers opened on my littlest new orchid (Tolumnia). Here's a photo of flower and the plant itself, which is in a 1.5" pot!

This photo makes it look much bigger than it is - the whole flower is not more than 1" from top to bottom. I love the colors - golds to a coppery color. Reminds me of fire. The name of this one is Genting Sunshine, which is an appropriate name, I think.

Everything is growing like crazy. Lots of Crown of Thorns are blooming, even the big ones. Also blooming are H. fungii, which has two open and several in various stages of development, H. nicholsonaie, and H. australis ssp. tenuipes has one small cluster open right now. H. pubicalyx 'Royal Hawaiin Purple' has several developing, and one will be opening I'd say in the next week. I can't wait!!

Well, more later!