More about plants

Hoya fuscomarginata is one that is difficult to get to put on new leaves.  Kind of like meliflua used to be fore me, it shoots out long vines then promptly drops the leaf buds as they come on.  So I was constantly whacking back leafless vines.  This summer, it finally put on a couple new leaves, which are just beautiful:

Big, shiny, a few nice silver splotches...makes the old leaves look rather tired.  But maybe this is a signal to the end of the leaf bud dropping.  I hope so!  Meliflua quit doing it after I put it outside last summer.  Left it in this summer and it put out all kinds of new growth with no leaf bud drop...

This year, I'm growing australis ssp tenuipes on the bottom shelf of the shelf that has a trellis attached to it in hopes it will start to grow up the trellis.  If it does, I'll probably have to put a sheer curtain in front of it next summer to keep the leaves from burning, but I think it will be worth it.  It could look pretty spectacular that way!  Here's a shot of it from above:

I'd sure like to see it bloom again - it's been a few years, since before I whacked it back.  It's large enough and got enough sun this season, I would think it should set buds.  It seems to go into bud in October or so, so it could still happen, I guess.

Hoya pubera (formerly picta... not sure why they changed the name because pubera, to me, implies hairy but this one is NOT...) has done very well.  It looked a little "iffy" in early spring, but then took off and grew well and is looking fabulous:

 Those itty-bitty leaves are fantastically succulent.  It's a little sweetheart!  But now it's time for it to bloom!

H. pubicalyx 'Pink Silver' continues to grow like a weed, yet it didn't bloom this summer.  I seem to recall that very early in the spring, one peduncle did bud up and open, but then nothing the rest of the summer.  It's just not fair...  It's been a long time since PS has bloomed for me and I think I'm way past due!

This next one is H. subquintuplinervus from Gardino's.  I also have one I got from Ted Green many years ago and they are very different.  The one I got from Ted looks more like pottsii - wider leaves, more succulent.  Here is the Gardino's clone:

 I moved it up to a bigger pot a few weeks ago, so I'm betting once it's settled in, it will really grow!  Though I have to admit, it WAS a good year for this one!

And I wanted to mention the rooting cuttings in my humidity dome:

 

From lower left clockwise, Hoya tsangii, 2 in the 2nd pot... weebella and a Kalanchoe (from Claude), glabra (the big leaved one... yay!), pub Black Dragon and hueschkeliana.  All but the two from Claude are from Kathy in Colorado and all the but Black Dragon are replacing some I've lost in the last year or two.  Now that my hip is going to be better, I should have no excuse for losing more!

More later! 

 
 

10 days after surgery...

It's been a little rougher than I anticipated.  The first several days were utter misery.  But it's been gradually better each day for the last few.  Yesterday, I actually said that I can see me graduating to the cane in the not-to-distant future.  Today... well, that doesn't seem as close as it did yesterday, let's just say.  But I was pretty active yesterday, so maybe I'm paying the price today.

I've been diligent about doing my exercises.  A few of them are tough.  I assume they'll get easier as I heal.  And that's about all I have to say about it at this point.  I'll be more "yacky" about it when I have good things to report!

Of course, my best distraction is sitting in the GH (or sunroom) looking around at my plants.  So I snapped a few pics this morning to give me something to blog about.

A few weekends ago, I helped Claude out for a few hours at his estate sale, just to be there for plant-related questions.  I got a couple plants from him, and one of them was a plant that someone didn't want - she wanted to buy the pot it was in but had no interest in the plant.  It's a Rhipsalis I don't have, which is Rhipsalis baccifera ssp. horrida:

It needs a little TLC, but I think it could turn into a nice plant in a few years.  

Another one I got from Claude, but back during the June meeting in the raffle, is one of little artistic bonsai style plantings.  It's a Dorstenia foetida with some sweet little Peperomia prostatus as a ground cover:

I think that might be a BJ pot... BJ was a friend in the club some years back who passed away from cancer.  I have several of her pots, all of which I treasure... Anyway, it has an interesting rock behind the Dorstenia.  The Dorstenia was a big leggy.  I've never whacked a Dorstenia before and asked around about whacking it and no one seemed to have any experience doing so.  So I took a chance and whacked it back and very quickly, some cute little leaves started sprouting all around the top.  And how it's blooming already:

I think by next year, it could be a pretty fabulous looking plant!  

From the Des Moines show, I got a Dioscorea elephantipes that's cute as a bug's ear:

It has lots of vining, delicate foliage that will likely drop this winter.  If I can keep it alive over the winter, next spring, I'll put it outside in a bigger pot and hope for some serious growth of the caudex!d

I whacked back my Crassula ovata Hobbit this spring - I mean, really whacked it back!  I got a couple dozen little starts, but this is what the new growth looks like:

Nice compact new growth.  Another year or two and this may be a show-worthy plant.  This is one that has some pretty spectacular Haworthias as ground cover:

(Notice there is one little mini-Jade growing in there... not sure how that got started!)  In spring, I plan to move this up to the snazzy teal bowl/pot on the front porch.

Haemanthus albifloss decided to shoot a bloom when it came inside.  Too bad it got an ugly sunburned leaf!

It has been an outstanding year for most of my plants, but it's been spectacular for both of my verticillata albomarginatas!  I actually had THREE in early spring, but one started to quickly decline, so I chopped it up and made potted cuttings, all of which took and I've sold.  The other two pots grew nicely and look just amazing:

This is the one in the GH growing in hydroton.  It's happy as a clam and has put on all kinds of new vines and leaves.  I don't think it bloomed this year, but it could still bloom this fall.

Hoya pusilla is one I got from Chuck.  It's been looking a little washed-out, but it was quite large, so I decided to whack it back and restart it.  I kept the mother pot, leaving a little foliage and vines and it's coming back nicely.  I'm keeping the biggest of the pots I made and have a few to sell.  Here's the one I kept:

You can see 4 or 5 of the "washed out" looking leaves, which I will probably trim off if they don't green up like the rest of it.  It seems pretty happy otherwise!

More tomorrow...