Wednesday ramblings...

I pulled the noID Hoya out yesterday to be watered - I knew it had started growing, but I was SO excited when I saw FOUR new growth points!  WOW!  It's looking so great, I snapped this photo...

...and sent it off to Kathy in Colorado, the lady who sent it to me, to see if she's identified it yet.  It has quickly become one of my favorites of the veined Hoyas.  The leaves are very flat and very shiny.  It's going to grow like gangbusters this year - I can tell!

When I watered sp. Kunming Kina yesterday, I found the tiniest new shoot, perfectly located in the node closest to the soil!!  Check it out...

Now Kunming Kina has been - well, not exactly tempermental for me, but it did have me worried for awhile.  I actually got it from Dee in the fall of 2011, and it grew for me a bit at first.  However, at some point, must have been last year sometime, I lost a couple leaves.  Being a cutting with LONG leaf nodes and few, but big, interesting succulent leaves, one really can't afford to lose "a couple" leaves when they're small.  But it kept the older leaves and stabilized, but didn't grow any more after that.  I watched it with baited breath - I like it SO much for it's shear heavy succulence, I did NOT want to lose it.  I only prayed for continued health, I didn't dare wish for new growth.  So it came through the winter with flying colors - no signs of difficulty, so which I have been expressing thankfulness.  So now to see new growth just thrills me to death!  I hope this is the year it really grows for me. I've heard it can get huge fast, but I've heard that from the Florida growers - this is Nebraska, the land of EXTREMES!  Anyway, so here's a photo of the big-honkin' leaves...

I know in this photo, they don't look big-honkin', but they actually measure 6" long and about 1.5" wide - pretty darn big!

Recently, I talked about the new growth on my subglabra.  It had two new vines emerging from the same node.  Well, the first two leaves of one of those vines aborted, but it looks like that vine might keep trying to grow.  The other vine is growing nicely, it's new leaves showing those beautiful colors I remember from when it grew a couple years ago...

It's not the best photo I've ever taken, but you can see the two particularly veined leaves and the little new vine with two new leaves on the end.  Seems like once this one gets new leaves, they grow pretty fast, which is good since they're so touchy when young.  A passing kitty cat is enough to damage new emerging leaves, making them drop.

H. naumanii has two tiny leaves popping at the node closest to the soil.  (That's always my favorite "new growth" spot...)  Naumanii has been a problem child for me - does ok for awhile, then gets tempermental, back and forth.  I thought I'd lost it and restarted a piece and it's back to doing ok again. 

I mentioned the tiny new leaves of magnifica, which I thought was a goner as it lost ALL it's leaves.  One of the two leaves has grown some, the other is lagging behind.  I can't tell if it's going to make it, but at least it's a move in the right direction.

I do really have to be more diligent about watering, though.  With everything I'm try to do to get ready for this bathroom remodel, I'm being a little negligent with my plants.  I need to spend more time every day watering and grooming.

Well, off to do more watering!