Here we are, heading into April - a "down" month at work.  April is always slow, but wow, our only job cancelled and all we have (at this point) is the Lion's club.  I did have a guy at a function last night ask me about doing a birthday part for his wife in April - I hope that pans out...

But either way, we'll get by.  And it will give me a chance to do some serious cleaning around my house (boy, does it need it!) and get my plants in order and ready to go outside.  Since we've had such an awful, cold, long winter, I think I'll "order" an early warmup!  LOL!  If only it worked that way, huh?

With spring comes a lot to report about the plants.  This morning, I took H. globulosa off the shelf and whacked it back.  It lost a lot of leaves in the last year.  When all was said and done, I have one long stem left that has some new growth on it and (what looks like) a peduncle forming at the end.  I got it allcleaned up, some cuttings planted in with my rooted fuscomarginata, and put it back on the shelf.  I'm hoping this will be a good year for it and it will sprout new growth near the base.  It's a Hoya whose form I truly appreciate, but it can be temperamental!!  Here's how it looked at its best:

The leaves are just gorgeous!  But even prettier is a very close species - villosa. I got a nice one from Dee a few years ago and it was every bit as temperamental as globulosa and I eventually lost it.  However, I got a cutting from Joni last year and it seems to be doing well so far (knock on wood!)  In fact, this nicely rooted cutting actually has FIVE peduncles - it looks like it might typically have double peduncles at the stem joints!  WOW.

To describe the difference between globulosa and villosa, I would say that globulosa's leaves have the distinctly dark vein "ribs", but villosa's leaves additionally have some depth, which makes the veining look even more distinct.  In other words, the "ribs" are a bit raised.  The leaves do get a bit larger on villosa, and they're a little less tapered at the tips.  Both are very attractive!

But boy did I get excited on Saturday when I was watering and I discovered one of my caudata's has a budding peduncle!!  I just feel lucky that the two clones I got last summer are both doing so well - I certainly wasn't expecting flowers so soon!  Check it out (it's not a terribly clear photo, but as it develops, clearer photos will be forthcoming!)...

Besides this caudata, I have two others.  This one and the above one I got from Nancy (Pug) last August.  Because they were SO different, I assumed she sent me two different clones, so I potted them separately.  As it turns out, however, they are from the same plant and the leaves are apparently just extremely variable.  Check out the bigger leaves...

This leaf is massively bigger than the other, the splotching totally different, and it's surface is more course (less smooth) than the other.  That's a lot of differences!!  I plan to keep growing them separately for this reason.  And the third one I got from Joni last year.  It rooted fine but has not grown even an iota...

This one reminds me more of the bigger one, in splotching and texture, though certainly not in size.  I think I'll put it in with the bigger one.  I need to separate the bigger one from the lucardensiana I rooted it with.  It's a beauty in its own right...

Can you tell how much I like textured leaves?  This one is going to be quite a viner, I can tell!

I'm taking cuttings of certain species - some because they need to be restarted, others because they're big... Here are some I'm just getting started...  

H. 'Minibelle' (2)
H. cardiophylla 
H. carnosa 'Krimson Princess'
H. carnosa 'Krimson Queen'

And I have a lot of well established rooted cuttings, off the top of my head...

H. macgillivrayii
H. onychoides (I think I'm keeping this one to put back in w/the mother plant)
H. obovata x. carnosa (good sized!)
H. macrophylla (I think I have two of these)
H. lobbii (I plant to start more of these)
H. australis ssp. australis 
H. australis ssp. tenuipes (a few of these)
H. davidcummingii
H. diversifolia (w/a slip of 'Iris Marie' in with it)
H. pubicalyx 'Royal Hawaiian Purple' (nice sized!)
H. 'Dee's Big One'