The days are definitely longer, but geezy-peezy, it's still so damn COLD!!!!!  Yesterday, the high was 3 degrees.  It's supposed to be in the 40's by now.  It SUCKS to say the least.  Usually by now I'm getting the back deck cleaned off and ready for plants to go out.  I mean, it's still 6-8 weeks away, but usually it's getting warm enough that I'm getting the itch and do a lot of "plant play."  I can't seem to get in the mode, I think because it still feels like winter.  

But my plants are showing signs of spring.  I'm starting to see new growth on quite a few, and a few are budding up.  So here's some notes:

Hoya crassicaulis - I'm growing two of these now.  A year or two ago, the plant took a downturn and I was afraid I was going to lose it.  It was growing in my bedroom and it looked like it had become dehydrated.  So I took cuttings and I put the mother plant in the rooting aquarium.  Well, the cuttings rooted nicely and I planted them in a nice pot and the mother plant recovered and continues to grow in the bedroom.  Now I've got the other pot in the sunroom, and that one is actually bigger and looks nicer than the mother plant - so it really took off once it rooted.  The one in the bedroom has a new leaf, and the one in the sunroom has a couple "growth nubbins" starting.  Here's what it's looking like today:

Hoya mitrata - I've got two of these as well.  The one in my bedroom is showing signs of budding up, though I don't see any signs of new growth.  It's probably going to wait until after it blooms to grow.  

Hoya pubicalyx 'Bright One' - It's been putting on new growth for a couple weeks now.  And I see a new peduncle.  I can't remember the last time this one bloomed - in fact, I'm not sure it's bloomed at all!  I can't find a photo of a 'Bright One' flower, so I'm thinking it probably hasn't, which is amazing.  It's very large - from pot to longest vine, it's probably 4'...

'Dee's Big One' is another one that started to falter a couple years ago and I took cuttings, so now I have two.  They're about the same size, and they both have the same new growth.  But what's interesting is they both have a new vine that started last fall, then stopped growing.  Both have teeny-tiny new leaves on the vines that didn't develop past the baby stage, so I'm wondering if they will develop or if they will drop.  The vines look perfectly healthy, as if they just grew yesterday, and the baby leaves don't look damaged in any way.  One grows in the bathroom and the other in the kitchen above the sink.  I have to assume the leaves on this one are pretty darn tough because the one in the kitchen gets a lot of kitty activity - you know, swatting, brushing against it, etc.  And the leaves have remained intact.  So many Hoyas are SOOO sensitive, that barely touching them will damage the new leaves causing them to drop.  I have several species I have to be so careful around when they're growing new leaves... Anyway, I'm hoping this will be the year 'Dee' blooms for me.  I love the largesque leaves, though I notice the one in the bathroom, where it gets incredibly bright (though reflected) light, the newer leaves are much smaller...

Hoya fischeriana - I don't see clear signs of growth, however one of its peduncles is "fuzzing up", and there are several others, so I can probably expect it to go into a bloom cycle soon. It's funny how some of them sprout out new growth in the spring and others bloom, then grow after they're done blooming.  

Hoya heuschkeliana - This is one of the cutest little Hoyas out there!  A very petite little thing, it can be grown in the cutest of containers.  I'm growing 3 right now - two of them are the standard heuschkeliana, which bloom a dark pink, balloon-type flower.  Here they are in their cute little pots:

The middle photo is of my original - it's in a little stone (maybe soapstone?) pitcher, like maybe what was once a creamer pitcher.  I found it at Goodwill several years ago and drilled a hole in the bottom.  Heuschkeliana grows slow enough that it can stay in the same small pot for years.  The top photo was cuttings I took off the original, and that little pot was won in a raffle at a cactus club meeting a few years ago.  Again, I drilled a hole in the bottom, but it's so tiny, I didn't think there was much I could grow in it.  The middle part, behind the bird, is probably not even 1" in diameter.  But it's been growing in this for a couple years now.  And the third photo is one of those rare occasions when heuschkeliana bloomed for me.  I also got a clone of heuschkeliana ssp. heuschkeliana from Joni last year - it's supposed to bloom yellow flowers.  The leaves on that one are rounder than those of my old clone.

Hoya lobbii - My mother plant is in the greenhouse and it's LARGE.  Well, periodically, I whack it back (I'm trying to get it more bushy and less, well YIKES-ALL-OVER-THE-PLACE wild!)  I start the cuttings to sell, but I have this one that I started in hydroton.  Check it out...

Look at the roots on that thing!  I should probably move it up to a larger pot this spring, but I think I'll have to cut the net pot off of it to avoid damaging the roots.  Anyway, I haven't checked my mother plant yet, but this one is definitely growing.