I've just been perusing my blog - checking out all the tabs and came across the "comments" tab.  I thought I was supposed to get notifications when I got "comments", but apparently that hasn't been happening.  I appreciate those of you who are following...  You must be plant lovers, 'cuz my posts would be pretty boring to anyone who isn't!!  And please don't think I don't appreciate the comments.  I'd try to respond, but there's nothing there that gives me a way to respond.

So I'm finally getting around to taking some new photos of my Hoyas.  Since I can't afford to add any new ones this year due to our financial situation, my plan is to thoroughly document the state of the ones I'm growing this year.  I'm just not as diligent as I'd like to be about doing that, especially when we're in the throws of spring and summer. This one above is H. callistrophylla.  I got it 2 years ago from Gardino's.  It was a nice-sized plant when I got it, but boy has it grown!!  Notice those three giant leaves in the center - they were new last summer and they are HUGE!  I absolutely love the pattern on the leaves of this one!  It tried to bloom from a single peduncle buried almost at the soil line last year, but it aborted.  But this is one that I really don't care if it blooms or not because I have a feeling the blooms will pale by comparison to the leaves.

(I'm going to interject here that I am VERY pleased that Blogger finally made it so that photos are placed where your cursor was last - before, all photos were put at the top and had to be "dragged" into place, screwing up the text which then had to be moved to look right...  Yay, Blogger!  Now, will you please work on the fact that it always changes my font when I add a photo?)  This one above is samoensis.  This was one in my first order from David Liddle in June 09.  You can see it's grown a LOT, considering it was only a cutting when I got it.  I think there's a good chance it will bloom this year.

H. thompsonii is a sweet plant!  It's been a slow grower so far, but I love the silvery splotched leaves.  But what you can't tell from the photo is they're very pubescent - downright fuzzy, I'd say!  Almost petable!  I can't wait for it to get large.  If I do some trading this year, I may be requesting more of this one.

H. siariae is a small somewhat thin-leaved species.  I got this cutting from Dee in Florida last year.  It hasn't grown a lot, but I think I'll like it as it grows.  The leaves are vaguely patterned and it looks like it will be a bit of a viner.

This is H. finlaysonii, the rippled leaf form.  I've tried growing regular fin with no success.  This one came from Gardino's in July 09.  It's gorgeous like callistrophylla.  I've got it growing on a trellis right now.  I have a feeling it's going to take off this year!

And this is the last one I'm going to "show & tell" about today (I have to get some stuff done around here!)  This is H. dasyantha.  I got it from Kelly on GW a year ago.  It was already rooted.  I seem to recall that she decided it was enough like another species that she wanted to let it go to make room for something else and was kind enough to offer it to me in a trade.  I love the leaves - they're reminiscent of plain old carnosa, but the veining makes me think of fungii.  And it has grown pretty good so far, and looks like this is going to be a good year for this one, too.

I will mention, quickly, that I have flowers on incurvula/brevialata (in spite of the plant itself looking like shit!)  I've whacked most of it up, leaving behind only the best growth, and am trying to root all the cuttings.  Worked with the first batch I tried, so I'm hoping to sell some of it this spring.  Also blooming is inconspicua.  Budding up is longifolia, which is just a cutting from Liddle last year!  And almost everything is growing, so I'm going to concentrate this year on simply enjoying what I already have rather than frantically trying to add to my collection!