Tuesday

As of last evening, there are 155 cases of coronavirus in Nebraska and we've had a 3rd death. That makes the death toll 1.9% at this point. Compare that to the 66,500 cases they've had in New York with 965 deaths as of last night! I know that sounds like a lot, but a couple of points... First, think of New York's concentration of population compared to ours. New York's population was estimated in 2019 at 19.4 million, and Nebraska was estimated at 1.9 million, so they have 10 times as many people in New York as we do. So if you take the number of cases we've had times 10, you're still only looking at 1500 people! I think that says a lot... There's far more traveling in New York City especially, and the close proximity of the residents has to make a difference as well. On the other hand, their percentage is only 1.4%.

But they've been saying in the news recently that they believe we could have 100,000 to 200,000 deaths in the US because of coronavirus. I extrapolated that out using 2% and that means that they believe that between 10 million and 20 million Americans will have it eventually. That means that they believe 8 to 16% of us are going to be confirmed to have coronavirus before it's all over. And I think they must be deriving that number from the flu virus, because I see that between 5 and 20% of Americans typically get that each year. However, you have to take into account that a lot of people are vaccinated for the flu virus... I can't imagine that they didn't take that into consideration when crunching the numbers which tells me one of two things. Either it's not as contagious as they say it is, or the flu vaccine does not work as well as they say it does. Some interesting things to consider...hmmm!

Back to the plants... Yesterday I took pictures but didn't get any blogging done. So I'll go over those first. Fourth shelf has a lot of stuff that needs work on it. My 'Chicken Farm', which used to be so pretty, has mostly aging leaves that are starting to look a little rough. I'm trying to decide if I prefer to move it up into a larger pot size to get it to grow or whack it up and restart the whole thing. I may just take some cuttings and start them, move the main plant up and then add the cuttings to it once they're rooted...

Next is fuscomarginata. This is one of those pain in the ass species for me. When it produces a leaf, it's absolutely gorgeous with black edges. But the leaves want to drop when they're very young! So I don't get very many. I think I need to move it to a spot where it will never be disturbed, and that might help. Melliflua is like that, and it seems to work to put it outside in the summer, so I might just give that a try.

Hoya australis IML 006 is one that's looking pretty good. This one seems to be a bit of a climber, light green and fuzzy like australis ssp australis. Leaves are narrower and more pointed, and a little smaller. The climbing part is a little more reminiscent of ssp tenuipes.

Hoya anottiana is one I got from Gardino's several years back. As is typical with rooted plans, it didn't grow for me for a couple of years. It grows nicely now, but it does need moved up to a bigger pot this year.

And just a couple more in the sunroom... My largest macrophylla has at least been growing for the last 4 weeks. I suspect the one new leaf is done growing, not as large as the largest ones but pretty impressive!

Hoya lucardensiana has a single umbel of blooms...

And my star magnolia in the front yard is starting to pop blooms. Here's a single bloom...

Tomorrow will probably be the day that it's loaded with blooms, so I'll post a picture of the full bush tomorrow. It always gets loaded with flowers for a day or two, then when the flowers are spent is when the leaves come on.

Sunday

As of Sat. night, there were 109 cases of coronavirus in Nebraska. They're saying that big jump was due to increased testing, so I imagine the numbers will go up significantly over the next few days. I don't see anything that brings the number up today. Maybe I'll hear more about it later today.

Getting back to the plants, I'm working on the fourth shelf now. There were other things on that third shelf, but nothing worth talking about at this point. Perhaps I'll have more to say about some of those other plants when they have time to grow out this spring.

Many of my Gasterias and Haworthias are looking a little rough, so I'm not going to post photos until later this summer. But I will show the Hoyas that are on shelf number 4.  But before I show the Hoyas, this is a start of Cissus rotundifolia, a crazy growing vine that's taking over my greenhouse. 

The second photo is it growing across the top of the greenhouse. My plan is to whack it up this spring and start a whole bunch of pots to sell and restart the main plant. I do like it, but it does go wild!

Below, first is pubicalyx 'Pink Dragon' and then pubicalyx 'Black Dragon'...

Yes, that's a yellowing leaf on the pink Dragon. It's not as bad as it looks in the photo, which is why I left it on. I think it might just be adjusting or may have been overwatered a bit. I'm hoping it'll change back to green, but if it doesn't, it's okay. I cut off a long stem that had three leaves on it, each leaf at a separate node. I cut those three nodes apart and put it in water to wait for some pots that I ordered on Amazon. I ordered 60 pots, 2.5 in, that come with three trays. As soon as it warms up enough to keep them outside, or to get succulents outside to make room for them in the greenhouse, I'll take a lot of cuttings. Anyway, the pink dragon has the longest peduncles I have ever seen on any Hoya!

Next is Hoya subquintinervis, the one I got from Gardino's several years ago. I have another one that I got several years before that as a cutting from Ted Green. They are very different. Kind of makes me think of the difference between the wide leaf macrophylla and the narrow leaf macrophylla. The markings are pretty much the same, but the size and shape of the leaf are very different. I really kind of prefer this one, probably because it's been more trouble free than the other one. Nicer growth habit to!

I got this Hoya shepherdii last summer at Mulhall's Nursery here in town. It had a lot of damage to it, some of which you can still see. As it grows, I remove the damaged leaves. But it was so healthy otherwise, I decided it was worth the money. I have a very small start besides this one, and this summer I'll probably put them both together and hope for lots of new growth.

I took down my Hoya parasitica Lau 2 that was in the dining room and snapped a picture of it when I realized it had new growth on it. The leaf with the reflection is a large new leaf, and there was one other leaf that was new. It seems to love the bright indirect reflected light of the dining room. Now if it would just flower for me!

Wednesday and Shelf 2...

As of about an hour and a half ago, the coronavirus cases in Nebraska are now 66. I called Mom today to check in on her, and sounds like she's feeling fine. I told her I don't think I'm going to come down this week, to which she said  it's probably just as well given he circumstances. Besides, she said, people at the Cassco Arms get a little nervous when there's a stranger in their midst!

As for shelf 2 in the greenhouse, there's a lot there that needs to be cleaned up! Again, that one sits in the corner facing both south and east, so it contains mostly succulents. On the top shelf is one of my Hoya nicholsoniae, and up there as well is Hoya  kerrii albomarginata. I got a pic of the kerrii...

Being on the top shelf all winter helped it keep its variegation on last year's new leaves, but the older leaves faded to a pale green that I'm not particularly fond of.

Another plant that is on the top shelf is a jungle cactus commonly called Drunkards Dream. The botanical name is Hatiora salicornioides. I just love it in this pot!

It seems to be budding up as well!

On the next shelf down, I have two Echeveria agavoides cv. Lipstick...

Those red edges you see get very deep red in the summer, and the red brim gets wider as well.

Adenia glauca is putting on new leaves. I'm hoping this one will grow more for me this year as it hasn't been a big grower or so far...

Echeveria purposorum is a new one that I grew several years ago. I got it at that nice greenhouse in Des Moines a week and a half ago. It has two flower spikes on it!

I've had this Peperomia 'Hope' for several years. It doesn't seem to grow very fast for me. I'm thinking about moving it up to a bigger pot this year. I do love the fat leaves on it!

This Haemanthus albiflos is the largest of the South African bulbs I grow. It blooms the prettiest bloom every winter!

(I didn't get this published so i't going to be out of order...)

Friday

As of earlier today, we now have 81 cases of coronavirus in Nebraska, 13 over yesterday. There's a lot of misinformation going on about it. One of Mark's cousins sent me an audio link today that claimed that Ibuprofen intensifies the effects of coronavirus causing more death or permanent damage. When I researched it, it was absolutely false. It's scary to think that people are passing this false information around!

As for the greenhouse today, I have a big Thai Crown of Thorns hybrid that looks wonderful. It managed to keep all of its leaves through the winter and it's even blooming...

 Close up of the flowers...

And there's a tiny plant growing in the bottom... Not sure what it is, could just be a weed that sprouted from being outside last year. But it's cute enough that I'm going to let it grow and see what it is...

Check out these 3 Haworthias. First we have a truncacta, which is a species I have a hard time passing up because each is so different...

H. Reticulata var. subregularis...

And a hybrid of cymbiformis...

Hoya sp. 97005 has big roundish leaves...

Another couple of Haworthias, first an unknown species...

 I couldn't find anything that even came close to looking like this when I Googled Haworthia, so I'm wondering if it could be a hybrid between Haworthia and Aloe.

And another Haworthia truncata, a smaller clone... As I said, I have trouble resisting the species... also truncata crossed with maughanii, so I have a lot of them!

You'll notice there's a bunch of those baby Schizobasis bulbs growing in there! I'll have to remove those the spring.

Peperomia kimnachii is a really cool one, grows in an interesting fashion. I took two photos, one from the side and one from above to show how interesting it is...

This is another one I'm going to move up into a larger pot this spring in hopes that it puts on some spectacular growth. Maybe I can even get some of those weird peperomia flowers.

And here's another South African bulb, Rauhii peruviana. I was really shocked at how pretty it was when I pulled it out, and I'm glad I did because it was in dire need of water. I seem to recall that they rarely put on more than two leaves a season, so this may be it unless I'm wrong about that.

Two more photos and I'm done for today. First is my Dischidia nr. Burma, my BIG one...

It's growing in a nice sized plastic pot inside of a really pretty ceramic pot in hydroton. It travels all over the shelf and it's massive and beautiful!

And last photo today is a Hoya that I'm not 100% sure of the identity.

 I put a photo on gardenweb in hopes that someone will know its identity.  UPDATE:  It was suggested that it is H. erythrina, which I did have at one time, so I'm assuming that is correct!

Thursday...

Well, as of today according to the internet we have 74 cases of coronavirus in Nebraska. That's three more over the end of yesterday. They talked about testing on the news...they get 100 tests a day and some brilliant scientist at the Med Center came up with the idea to test 4 swabs at a time. When they found two positive tests, they simply retested the 8 swabs in those two tests to determine who was positive. This means the can test up to 400 people a day instead of 100!

So...back to the greenhouse. Still working on the second set of shelves... There are a lot of plants on me this one. I have two Desert Roses on this shelf. One of is the new one I got last year that's supposed to have black flowers. It bloomed a couple times in the fall and they are not black. They are a dark dark red. This one made it through the winter and actually has some little buds on it. I whacked off a couple of the stems that had gotten a little long and actually had some scale on them, but I left the one that had buds and cleaned all the leaves really well.

Then we have my big old Desert Rose that I've had for several years. It actually has buds on it as well and is putting on new leaves. I didn't have to do any whacking on it at all.

And I have a couple of more Jade sports on the shelf as well. I have another of the 'Skinny Fingers', which I got a couple of years ago in a raffle at our Cactus Club meeting...another one with a nice trunk, and this one's fuller than the other one, so I won't have to whack it back in the spring.

And my only 'Gollum'. 'Gollum' has a particularly gnarly trunk, not smooth like the others.

Pachypodium griquense is another interesting fat plant that gets a nice fat, oblong caudex. Starting to sprout leaves and it even has a flower on it today!

My Euphorbia lactea variegata crest that is grafted is looking beautiful. It's a good thing I put it in this heavy stoneware pot as it's getting quite top heavy! It gets such beautiful red tones in this summer, and seems to keep them for the most part sitting in this South window through the winter...

Kalanchoe tomentosa, otherwise known as the Panda Plant, and some call this dark form Chocolate Soldier,  is blooming. The flower stalk is about two and a half feet tall!

I have a really nice Crown of Thorns on this shelf, and though it's lost a lot of leaves, it's got buds coming on. I'll be sure to take a picture this summer after it's filled in with leaves as it's quite beautiful.

Dioscorea elephantipes is a weird but loveable plant. I spent a boatload on a big one from Chaos Cactus that was, I'm convinced, dead. I spent half a buttload on this little one that is for sure alive! The adorable, very dainty vine that emerges from it is uncharacteristic of typical succulents. As the caudex grows, it splits creating a pattern reminiscent of a turtle. 

I got this as a sedum, but I think it's a Sedeveria, and the cultivar is 'Estrella'.

Finally a Hoya...aff clandestine. One of the few that I got from Joni that survived. Took a long time to start growing, but now it looks great.

And another Hoya, kerrii variegata. I actually have two of these and this is the smallest and oldest believe it or not! They growth slow, and they tend to grow gnarly leaves. In fact I chopped two of them off before I took this picture.

Hoya loyceandrewsiana is thought to be the same as latifolia. They do look identical to me. I think I'm going to move this one up to a bigger pot this year  and probably in with the one I got from Marco in hopes that it will grow.

And two more for today... first an unknown Aloe, perhaps wilkensii (suggested on GW) with Drimia bulbs in the base.

And finally, my favorite Haworthia, 'Lime Green'.

This one grows SO nicely, I have several in with other succulents besides this one.