All is growing...

...Well, ALMOST all.  My very stubborn H. sigillatis is still showing no signs of growth.  I mist it daily and encourage it, and though it feels fat and happy, no growth.  

Hoya parasitica 'Lau 2', which I've apparently had 5 years, has a new shoot.  Now this one did well for me for awhile, then it went into decline.  It got down to only 3 leaves.  I seem to recall I put it in my humidity dome for a period of time.  That might have been last summer.  It stabilized and looked healthy other than only having 3 leaves this last winter.  Well, I was starting to wonder if it would ever grow and lo and behold, I found a new shoot a week or so ago.  I'm anxious for it to fill in again!  It has such pretty splotchy leaves... here's a photo from when it was full and nice:

Next to it on the shelves in the GH is H. sp. 22 'Khao Yai' - I got a cutting of that from Kathy, then one from Ric as well.  It's looking freakin' fantastic this year and growing like a weed!  I'm not sure how long ago I got it...

 

Not a great pic, but it shows all the new vines and tiny leaves.  The leaves are super-pretty on this one... similar to macrophylla only smaller...

 

Then above that is bicknellii, which I got as a cutting from Dee in Florida in 2011.  It's turned into quite a gorgeous plant!

 

It's been growing in that same spot for at least 2 years without being turned, so all the leaves are facing the window.  I need to turn it around to give it more uniformity.  I'll do that in a bit and take another pic.  I like this one because it's very succulent.  I bet Dee's is a monster by now!!

I restarted my diversifolia this spring.  The whole plant took a dump over the winter.  I think the soil it's in is rock solid, and the whole thing got very dehydrated, to the point I didn't think I could salvage it.  But I never give up without at least trying and just put the best stems in water and waited.  It took it a long time over the winter and early spring, but it grew roots and rehydrated.  I planted it upprobably 3 months ago and it just took off like a rocket! Here's what it looks like today:

 

Unbelievable!  And there's lots of new points of growth, like this...

  Also growing well is my Dischidia parasitica:

 

I also started a small one off of this that's now growing in the sunroom.  Though it's a bit fussy, this is one of my favorite Dischidias...

Memoria has turned into one crazy big plant, especially considering it's a small-leaved Hoya and in only a 5" pot. Here is a pic of the whole plant:

 

And it's been budding and blooming like crazy - here are two photos...

 

 

These two were taken a week or 10 days ago, before they blooms started opening.  Here's what the open flowers look like:

 I must be doing something right!  

Lastly, I wanted to show the new growth on 'Michelle', which has barely grown for me until this year.  The new growth is just outstanding.  I took two photos, one with flash and one without:

 And that's it for today!  

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

There is something very wrong in our country...

I had GMA on this morning and they were talking about the CEO (?) of Papa Johns  who used the "N" word, and now all the sponsors are pulling ads, he's been run off the board of the company (in spite of being 51% shareholder).  Mind you, he didn't used the word in a public forum, but during a marketing meeting.  Are we really getting so crazy-sensitive that we can't just turn around and say, "Well, that was certainly uncalled for!" or "You're an asshole for using that word!"  No, someone has to go on a rampage and ruin an entire company who employs a lot of people.  Not only that, but it's a BIG company whose stock is probably going to shit over this, which means many in the stock market will suffer losses.  No, no one has all their eggs in one basket, but why would there be such a fuss over ONE FUCKING WORD?  Yes, I hate the word.  I don't want to hear it.  But I won't fall apart if I hear it.  

People say things they regret... it happens.  Every single one of us has done it.  I remember when I was a kid, it wasn't uncommon for one kid to say to another, "What, are you a retard?"  Well, once in a blue moon, I'll see someone do something really stupid and I'll catch myself saying that and grimace as it comes out of my mouth.  Why?  Because it's now socially unacceptable to say it.  One might say it should have ALWAYS been socially unacceptable to use a word or phrase, and that's probably true, but you don't bring down companies or send someone off to shame prison because they slipped up and said something stupid or inappropriate.  

Our country has gone mad.  That is the only explanation for all this weirdness that's going on now.  We have to weigh every word we say.  Men have to be careful not to offend a woman in any way, shape or form (because, I guess, we're so fragile).  If a cop tries to defend himself or get control of a situation, they scream "police brutality" and all these videos show up - videos that, by the way, didn't start until AFTER whatever instigated the officer's reaction...  But we leap to judge that HE was out of place.  Yes, even cops fuck up and do the the wrong thing - they're human, too.  We make mistakes.  We say or do things we shouldn't say or do.  There is only ONE mistake that can never be remedied, and that's DEATH.  All other mistakes can be fixed.  And in the case of inappropriate language or words, can't we just be momentarily appalled and then MOVE ON WITH OUR LIVES? 

Can we please stop being a whiny, over-sensitive country?  It's embarrassing!

Plants, plants!

Friday 7/13

Almost everything is growing now.  All except my stubborn deykeae.  The little bastard knows very well that it's probably my FAVORITE of all, and it refuses to give me the pleasure of new growth.  I took a deep breath and put it out in the greenhouse.  Let me explain... I got deykeae as a cutting in 2009.  It rooted fast, but didn't grow at all the first year.  The next year, it put on just a bit of new growth... maybe 2 or 3 sets of leaves.  I was thrilled, because by then, I had fallen in LOVE with the gorgeous leaves, and the new ones were spectacular!  Each year, it has only put on a little new growth, and as it branched, I might get 6 new sets of leaves instead of only 3.  But in about year 2 or 3, there was a post on GW about deykeae, and a very experienced grower commented that this was a very difficult species to grow!  OH NO!  Not my favorite Hoya!  I was so afraid that it would all of a sudden die on me that I didn't DARE move it from the spot where it was "thriving".  So in the nine years I've had it, it has always set in the same exact spot on a shelf in my sunroom, facing east.  Now that it's July and still hasn't hinted at growing, I decided to take a leap of faith and put it in the GH where it will get the heat and sun that (maybe) it's craving.  Marco's is growing gangbusters, so maybe that's what it needs...  Added the next day... Guess what?  I see 2, maybe 3 new growth points on my deykeae!  I guess it worked!

I took cuttings of my pubicalyx 'Bright One' and got them potted up to root and eventually sell.  It's gotten so large, and it just doesn't grow as pretty as 'Pink Silver'.  Of course, at least it blooms pretty easy, unlike 'PS'.  Who knows... I may KEEP the rooted cuttings and get rid of the big plant.

And speaking of getting rid of big plants...  I took down both of my nicholsoniaes and cleaned them up.  They both sit on the top shelf in the GH and are a bit difficult to wrestle down, so it doesn't get done very often.  The leaves were SO dusty and I wiped each one individually.  It cleaned up beautifully!  Here's the bigger one:

I found several new baby leaves and growth points.  I gate it a good VF-11 bath and put it back up.  The smaller one has just one point of new growth.  I think I'll either whack it up to sell, or I may take that one to the tri-club meeting in September to put in the auction.  I do NOT plan to put a bunch of smaller ones in the auction because I got royally screwed last year!

On the other hand, I've sent out three boxes of plants so far this year.  I've got a bunch of small plants that will be ready to go a little later this summer.  I decided to let them grow out a bit to make a little more money.  I've got a nice variety though, as usual, nothing rare.  

Off the subject of plants for a minute... I had one of my favorite bracelets break on me a couple weeks ago at work.  I was so upset - it's purple and just really pretty.  Well, I went on Etsy and found someone who makes jewelry and found a bracelet I wanted to buy, and I asked her if she would be willing to repair (if possible) my broken bracelet and sent her a photo. She said she would fix it for $5!  Wow...  Well, I ended up buying two bracelets from her AND she repaired my favorite one.  They came in the mail yesterday and I'm so pleased!  This one is even prettier in person than it was in the photo:

 The other I had her make to my specs from another one.  The one in her photo was a Sagittarius in blue, and I wanted mine (of course) a Scorpio in red...

 She did an excellent job!

Saturday 7/14

This morning, I got up early and potted 4 rooted macrophylla cuttings from a community pot into individual pots so they can get settled in, grow and be ready to sell by fall.  Next on my agenda is to repot the variegated Sanseveria, which has a new shoot on one side of the pot.  I'm going to cut up the one large leaf that's left to make cuttings.  I had some cuttings of another Sans that I rooted last fall, and they sprouted baby Sans from those leaves.  They're so adorable! 
This whole plant isn't more than 1.5 inches across:

I checked the cuttings from the 'Krimson Princess' Marco sent me today.  One had rooted - none of the others are even HINTING at rooting, but they're not totally dehydrated, so I stuck them in water.  The one that rooted I put in with the mama plant and hope it will take off out in the summer heat.  I'm hoping for some new growth on the KP before summer's end.  I know it takes awhile to get settled in to new pot, new (different) soil, and in a new environment.  Fingers crossed that the other 3 cuttings root.  It's possible they were too "pink"... Marco commented that the pink stemmed ones don't like to root.  We'll see.  I seem to have pretty good luck rehydrating wrinkly cuttings in water...

Tomorrow, I'm going to the Des Moines club meeting.  So maybe more another day next week...