It's been a busy several weeks since I last posted and lots has been happening in the GH and in plant related news.  First, I went through the process of getting an import license so that I can bring plants in from overseas without relying on others to bring them in then send them along to me.  I can be the one who gathers a small group of people to absorb some of the costs to bring them in.

So now I have a shipment of plants that will be leaving Thailand on Saturday.  I have coordinated with Jessica, the local girl from GW, and a lady in Idaho, who just wants a few plants.  It's her first time getting plants from abroad, so I'm sure she's hesitant to "get her feet wet" as I was the first time.  According to Jessica, her last shipment only took 5 days, so I'm looking forward to posting sometime late next week (or probably next weekend, actually) to show my new plants.  I ordered 12, I believe, so it will be a big haul for me!

I wanted to comment about the new plants I got from Gardino's.  First, finlaysonii - there were actually two plants in the pot.  The one that was so LONG when I got it untwined started to dehydrate almost immediately.  At first, I thought maybe during my unpacking, I had simply created a twist or bend that cut off the water supply to the longest part of it, so I cut it up and potted up a few little pots in hydroton and put it in the rooting dome.  Within 2-3 weeks, they firmed back up.  But then I pulled down the plant today to examine it more carefully and see that the entire 2nd plant is very dehyrated whereas the other one is fine, green, healthy and even has some new growth.  So I chopped it on back and created two more pots that I put in the rooting done.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that it isn't too far gone to rehydrate.  I've seen some pretty far gome come back, so I guess we'll see...Once they're all well rooted and fat again, I'll probably put them back in with the mother plant.

Camphorfolia has two new growth points!  Yay!  That's one I've tried before without much success.  I clipped off three single leaves at the ends of three branches and poked the stems back down in the soil in the hopes that they'll root and create a fuller pot.

I moved obscura aff. 'Philip' into the sunroom and put it right in an east window.  In the GH, hanging from the top, it was losing all its pretty red tones.  I thought maybe a move into an east window might help.  But they don't get all THAT much direct light in the sunroom, so I don't know...  Maybe the super-bright relfected light is enough to color it up, maybe not.  Anyway, it's starting to grow like a weed.  My old obscura, which I put outside, has one nice piece that's doing well, so I guess I'll be able to salvage some of that.

Memoria remains unchanged, but it looks fat and fabulous, so I think it's just a matter of time.

On to other plants and comments:

H. sigillatis - OMG, it's finally got some new growth!!  How long have I waited... let's see, two years.  I moved it to the dining room, so maybe that's a better environment for it...

H. macrophylla variegata - The one in the dining room is growing nicely.  New leaves & all.  I'm having trouble with those damn aphids on 3 plants which are in the dining room (including mac), so I "fed" them all some BATS.  It seems to have worked in the GH.  I'm SO tired of those dang things!

H. imperialis - WOW, it is doing nicely!  I think it was 2010 when I whacked it back and restarted it.  Well, I've got a pot of 4 plants...

...that's getting just as full as can be.  If you look at it from the top, you count 8 plants, because every one of the 4 plants have branched.  So it's going to quite a full pot.  And every growth tip is growing - it's going to be a good summer for this one!

H. mitrata - It's finally got some new growth coming on.  Looks like it's viney new growth as opposed to the cluster growth.  That's ok - it's fabulous looking!  Now, if it would just flower!

H. montana - This is one I've had since 2010 (a Liddle plant) and it's done pretty much nothing.  Well, I turned it today and there was a bunch of new gowth!  It's looking great!  You have to practice some serious patience with some of these species!

H. aldrichii is budding up again...

But I've since treated it with BATS - last time it budded, the buds were COVERED with aphids and I could not keep them off.  The only thing that seems to work topically is to consistently spray them with alcohol, and I've found that flower buds ALWAYS abort once they've been sprayed with alcohol.  Anyway, there are TWO budding peduncles this time!

H. archboldiana - New growth climbing up the trellis!  Will it keep growing?  Seems like this one will put on a little spurt then the tip will dry up and it's done for awhile.  And sometimes, the new growth looks distorted.  So far, it all looks good. 

H. aff. anulata - I thought I'd lost all of it a couple years ago.  But I recently found a cutting I've been nursing for sometime with no label, and the more I look at it, the more I'm convinced it's a piece of that aff. anulata I lost.  I vaguely remember taking a couple cuttings before I gave up and tossed it.  I was sure it was a lost cause, which is probably why I never gave it much more thought and took it off my list.  But I'm going to say I'm 99% sure this is a piece of it.  And I'm happy to report that it's actually growing!  I got the original plant, a BIG plant, from Carol.  It waxed and waned for me, and at one point, I finally put what was left of it in hydroton.  It still wasn't happy.  Well, we'll see how I do with it now!

H. patella - It's a two year old cutting from David Liddle and it's a stubborn bugger!  I don't even remember how big the cutting was to begin with, but it's a short (5") stem with two leaves.  The leaves are nice and taut, very healthy, but I have never seen an iota of growth on this little thing!  I'm frustrated by it, but at the same time, I remain hopeful because of the condition of the cutting.  **Sigh**

H. macrophylla - I took three new cuttings off my plant in the bedroom today.  I don't know - they were leaves that just aren't as deep green, not as firm as the others, so my thought was maybe they were dehydrating, and I've had good luck bringing those back and creating new plants from them if I get them off the mother plant early enough.  I'm sure I could have waited quite a bit longer, but I have so many people wanting pieces of the mac that I thought, let's just do it now.

H. wayetti - I have that one I grow in hydroton in the kitchen that does so well.  It was in a tiny 1.5" clay pot inside of a chinese teacup and has done beatifully.  Well, yesterday I dropped the pot and broke the little inner clay pot.  Irritating, but the root system is pretty intense and I think it's probably for the best as it could use a move up to a bigger pot.  I ended up putting it in a nice sized 4" pot and put it inside of an oriental cachepot.  I have a feeling it's really going to take off with that extra root-room!  The one in the bedroom (my main/first plant that all the others have come off of) plugs away, doing fine, but I can't remember the last time it bloomed!

H. carnosa & multiflora - I switched them around and put carnosa (the one in hydroton) in the spare bedroom and put multiflora in the sunroom.  I don't know, I just felt like they both could use a change of location.  Multiflora does fine in the bedroom, but it's not one of my favorites and it always looks so dusty (the big flat leaves really pick up the dust with the ceiling fan running all the time...)  And since I spend a lot of time in here (when I'm on the computer), I want to be surrounded by some of my favorites.  Not that the carnosa is a top ten or anything - it just "feels" better than the multiflora.  It's got quite a LONG vine on it, I discovered - I'd say about 7' long!

Dischidia nr. Burma - I moved this one to my bedroom a few months ago and I'm so glad I did... If I could figure out how to turn photos, I'd post a photo I just took.  I know I've done it before, but I can't remember how!  Anyway, not only does it seem to love the added light (it was in the north window in the sunroom - this is a west window), but it adds a nice "texture" to the other plants in that window. 

H. verticillata and H. obovata x carnosa - These are two that continue to bloom, and bloom, and bloom.  I don't notice a fragrance on the o x c, but the verticillata has the sweetest fragrance, so perfumey!  I love it! 

H. aff. fisheriana - Back to my bedroom... it's looking very happy and has bloomed this spring.  It has at least two long new vines, twisting around each other. And right now, it's got one little flower pedicel on a peduncle, getting ready to open!  How weird!  Which brings me to...

H. rigida - Wow, has it grown this year!  It's next to fisheriana in the bedroom, so a west window, and it's really doing very well.  Much better than it did in the GH.  New leaves are quite variable in size, but some are pretty darn large!  No signs of peduncles yet, though.

Well, I better stop here and get some stuff done.  It's been intensely hot and finally cooled off last night.  I should water while it's more comfortable!