It's been a great spring for my plants. With the exception of a few, my Hoyas have been growing like gangbusters, and many have been blooming - lots of first timers! H. pubicalyx 'Royal Hawaiian Purple' finally had it's first opening, and here it is (left). There are lots of peduncles budding up, though it seems to be one of the slowest from bud formation to opening I've seen so far. It's amazing to me how different 'RHP' is from 'Pink Silver.' Leaves are much smaller, darker and it seems like there's more space between the leaf nodes. It also doesn't vine upward like 'PS.'

But the most exciting one is archboldiana. It produced a budding peduncle earlier this spring, and I broke the vine before it developed. I was SO upset! But then a new peduncle started to bud up and I was so excited! As it developed, the individual buds turned into little balloons about the size of a large marble...

SO cool! Then, the first one finally opened and OMG, it was so huge and cool...

These flowers are at least 1" across! And it ended up with 8 altogether. (It dropped a few of the newest ones before they developed...) I can detect only a faint scent. Here's a sideview... They opened on the 4th and they're still in great shape. But I think it's putting so much energy into the flowers that it's not growing much. It's grown a lot of runners, but hasn't put much energy into producing leaves yet.

Macgillivrayii hasn't started growing yet, but I remember last year, it didn't get going until about July. I guess it must just be characteristic of it. It has tried to bud up on one of it's peduncles, but it keeps blasting them before they get very far along. I repotted it into a larger pot this spring hoping that will stimulate some growth...

I discovered the Hoya I got from CBFM as limoniaca is really a clone of verticillata. When I posted a photo of the blooms on GW, I was told that the flowers being reflexed indicates vertcillata. And, sure enough, my variegated verticillata finally started blooming and they look just the same... The one on the left is the one I thought was limoniaca, and the one on the right is my H. verticillata albomarginata...

I also have another I got from CBFM that came to me as verticillata, and I'm pretty sure it probably IS another clone of it. I also found out that my pallida is probably just another clone of verticillata! Now that one I never would have guessed, because it's so different. Much smaller, more succulent leaves, with very distinct raised veins. I really, REALLY like that one! I'll probably continue to call it pallida, myself... I should put a photo here of the new growth on the variegated verticillata that's pure white. I'm sure I should probably cut it off, but it's just too beautiful to remove. I'm sure in time, I'll have to, but I'll enjoy it for awhile...

Well, it's definitely been a great spring! I'm thinking I'm going to have TONS of great plants to show at the club show in late June. I could probably come up with 3 dozen or so that are "show-worthy." I've started my list... Echeveria elegans and agavoides cv. 'Lipstick'; Crassula 'Break Dancer' and 'Skinny Fingers' (I have two that look GREAT!); Aloe karasbergensis (I think this is a hybrid...) and brevifolia (I might have a couple other Aloes...); I think my "Moonstones" is good enough to show; I've got 6 Gasterias worth showing; I might show Sinningia leucotricha if it's still blooming; maybe Adromischus herrei and Bowiea volubilis (if it still looks good); I'd like to show Cissus quadranularis if it's practical; Dischidia ovata and maybe acuminata; Drimiopsis maculata; and hopefully one of my Crown of Thorns will have lots of blooms. And Hoyas will be dependent on what's blooming and what looks best...

Well, off to get some stuff done!