It's Sunday (after a double-weekend) and I'm feeling a little tired, but otherwise pretty darned good. So I got up about 8:30 (thank you Lucy for letting me sleep that late!) and I decided to do some watering. The sun is out today, so it feels great in the GH! I got almost one whole shelf done and a lot of foliar feeding and wanted to take a break, so thought I'd jot down some observations here...

H. fischeriana is starting to grow in several spots! I put it at the top of the GH a few weeks ago hoping it would help get it going and it seems to have worked. It has the potential to be a beautiful plant. It reminds me a lot of hellwigiana, one I got a few years ago from Carol that bloomed quickly for me, then proceeded to die. What I really loved about it were the beautiful leaves, though the flowers, too, are quite impressive. Check out the leaves (above left) and the flowers after they're completely reflexed (right). Pretty cool! Anyway, fischeriana reminds me a LOT of hellwigiana. I did manage to get another little cutting of hellwigiana from David Liddle last summer, but proceeded to lose most of it. Right now, I just have a small, one leaf cutting that's rooted and hanging on. I keep my fingers crossed that it will take off this spring!


Macgillivrayii had more yellow leaves, and the leaves above it were starting to feel a little spongy, so I decided I'd better take cuttings to ensure it goes on in case there's a root issue causing these problems. High up, the foliage felt fine, but if you wait too long, you're screwed, and with that plant, I don't want to take ANY chance at all of losing it! So I took a bunch of cuttings and left quite a bit left to watch. If it continues to decline, I'll do what I did with my imperialis - cut it clear back to leafless stems and keep the pot, put it out when it warms up and see if it will come back from the "stump." If it's like imperialis, it'll root quickly and I'll be fast on my way to a whole new potfull of it.

After repotting vanuatuensis (which I originally got as diptera, but after a little research on Hoyor.net, I realize it was mislabeled...), it seems to have fattened up a bit. But it's still guzzling water like crazy - I may have to move it to an even larger pot before summer's end. It doesn't seem to have affected blooming, though. It continues to pump out those beautiful, butter-yellow flowers (left). According Hoyor.net, vanuatuensis' flowers are solid yellow whereas diptera's flowers have a red center. Anyway, the plant was horribly potbound and starting to dehydrate a bit because I couldn't seem to keep it watered often enough. I also repotted the one I thought was vantuatuensis (and may actually be diptera...) I got a cutting of each from Kelly on GW (then got the established plant labeled diptera from Gardino's.) Anyway, the one I thought was vanuatuensis has been in a small decorative pot in my bedroom for a year or so and was pretty potbound, so I moved it to one of those small hanging pots and put it in the GH. Van & dip look so much alike, that's what prompted my research that made me decide I had the two species turned around. And that's, of course, if the second one turns out to be diptera. I might just have two vanuatuensis' - I won't know until the 2nd one blooms. If it turns out to be another van, I'll sell it...

And speaking of dehydrated water guzzlers, obovata x. carnosa is looking awsome again, but it does seem to go dry pretty fast, so I obviously need to keep a close eye on it.

I also repotted carnosa ssp. carnosa into a very large pot. I had a little pot of it I had rooted last year (I think) when I thought the mother plant was looking a little sad, and the mother plant which had become pretty potbound and put them together in a big pot. It has produced a couple peduncles and I'd like to see it bloom - I hope the up-potting didn't delay it, but if it does, it's ok. I'd rather the plant be strong and growing than get flowers on an unhappy plant.

I moved things around a bit in the sunroom. That climbing onion had gotten so big that I moved it over to sit on top of the old radio, and put the 'Krimson Queen' on the shelves. It made it a little more spacious and airy-feeling over on the dresser. I pulled everything off and did some cleaning before I put them all back. It gave me a chance to look closely at my macrophylla and kerrii which have both gotten so large there that I don't mess with them much. I had a chance to carefully examine (and "ooo and awww" over) the extraordinarily huge leaves (2) on the mac. WOW! The biggest one is as big as my hand with my figers stretched out! I guess it must like that spot...

And on the subject of of macrophylla, it seems they're putting on new growth - all of them. I've got the small one I'll be selling this spring which showed first signs. The biggest on has a new vine, and the one in the hanging pot has growth "buds." I also notice that arnottiana has a nice long new vine. Cv. 'Jennifer' also has some growth buds. It's haning on a shelf in the south window, so it should take off soon. Latifolia has that long leafless vine I almost cut off this spring, but it has an old peduncle that never bloomed at the end of it that I thought I should leave on just a bit longer. Well, it appears to be budding up now. When it formed originally, it tried to bloom a couple of times, dropped the buds and never tried again. It looks so gnarly, I was sure it was dormant and it must have been pure luck that I decided not to whack it off. I guess we'll see what happens.

Variegated macrophylla, which I moved to a larger pot last summer, is putting on new growth but it's weird. Kind of deformed. I'm not sure why. I probably need to pull it down and look at it carefully. I keep finding some scale on a plant here, a plant there, so maybe that's what's going on... It also has growth that is trying to revert back to green. I cut off one of the all-green shoots and am rooting it now. I guess it's ok since it's a narrower version of my original mac. I think the wide-leaf one is more sought after, but I do like the look of the narrower leaf, too...

I notice my larger Sans pearsonii (the one I plan to sell) has a pup coming on. I haven't checked real close on the one I'm keeping, but most of my other Sans seem to be putting on new growth right now, too. The one called 'J2922' put out a long runner with a pup that was coming off another pup, so I had to cut it off because it was getting terribly side-heavy. It's callousing over and I'll pot it up in a week or so and hopefully have another one to sell at the show.

My Dischidia ramosii is blooming and now I'm wondering if the ID is correct (in spite of it coming from the "horse's mouth" - Tanya Livschultz...) The flowers on ramosii are supposedly red and these are white. I'm waiting to see if maybe they turn red as they age. Unlikely, I'd guess. Probably more likely that it's a misID. Well, it doesn't matter - I really like it a lot! I have such a time getting Dischidias started, so it makes them all really special when one gets going and then actually blooms! I've got two right now that are struggling - one is griffithii, which I've tried and tried to root. I've got a small pot with two cuttings that I think will be ok - I say that cautiously because you never know with Dischidias! I've got another pot with several cuttings that are "iffy" that I got from Tom back in Dec. We'll see how they do... Then there's that one with the heart shaped leaves. I think it's this one (from Antone's site...) http://www.dischidia.com/dischidia_94007.htm If this one ever really takes off for me, it would be in my top 5 favorites! It's really neat. My CBFM ovata continues to do well, but I struggle with the other clones. The one in the little tiny pot in the sunroom has done amazingly well this year - it bloomed for the first time and continues to do so. I love the fat leaves on that one... But the almost round fat leaves of the clone I got from Tanya's collection just doesn't want to "take" for me. I have some in a pot that maintain, but just don't "feel" quite right yet. Maybe with spring, it will do better. Then I have a small-leaved clone from Gardino's that I've lost some of but part of it seems to be ok at this point. They're really a challenge!

On a sad note, BJ, a member of our cactus club and a fellow Hoya lover, passed away in late Jan. I'm glad we got a chance to spend some time together in the company of Hoyas and Dischidias (and succs) at the UNO greenhouse last year. I really liked BJ... The last time I saw her, though, she looked SO weak, I had a feeling this was coming soon. She was a nice lady and she'll be missed by many, I'm sure. I have a lot of her pots, and starts of some of her plants and I bought a few of her plants that her daughter let the club sell. There are so many in my collection that make me think of her every time I water or primp... I hope she "hangs" with me in the GH sometimes. I think she "gets" my eccentricity about my plants...

And that's about enough rambling for now!