Flowers today...

We have had days and days of blah, overcast, downright foggy and cold days and the lack of sun is really starting to bum me out.  I'm grateful for all the green around me in the house, but at the same time, nothing is growing, everything is dormant... Oh, there's one Hoya that pretty much blooms all year round that still has flowers on it ('Rebecca'), but even though they're adorable, they are minuscule. So I thought I would cheer myself up with a barrage of flower photos!  I'm not always good about noting the name, but I will make an educated guess if I don't know.

First up is Hoya dasyantha...

I describe this Hoya as looking like carnosa on steroids!  It's leaves are bigger, a little "beefier".  I love how the leaves look when the sun shines through them!

 

This is Hoya sp. Ban Ngong Ngoy.  It's probably one of the pubicalyx vareties.  Mine got pretty overgrown so I took a bunch of cuttings that are rooted in perlite and ready to be potted up.  All I need is a bit of enthusiasm and a place to put them! 

 

This next one was once a Hoya carnosa 'Krimson Princess', the variegated form with the variegation on the inside of the leaf.  It's an unstable cultivar that tends to revert back to all green.  It makes a very nice clone of carnosa and blooms a lot easier than either 'KP' or the original carnosa...

 

This is one of my Hoya kerriis.  I grow 5 different clones - the common clone, a fuzzy clone ("hairy kerrii"), a textured clone (veining is distinct), variegated and reverse variegated.  I'm guessing from the pot this is in that it's the textured clone.  The flowers are surprisingly different from the common clone! Second photo is the common kerrii.

 

This one is a shot in the dark, but I think it's most likely to be Hoya pubicorolla 'Pink Dragon'...

I thought I had both Pink and Black Dragon, but I'm convinced now that both are probably Pink.

This is one of the small Hoyas, H. memoria.  The whole flower umbel is about 1.5" across.  The lower flowers are in the opening process and the upper umble is open and reflexed.  Very adorable flowers and prolific!

 

This is one of the pubicalyx varieties though I have no idea which one:

There are lots of pub varities.  My favorite is probably 'Bright One' for flowers:

It's the one I chose to be on my "business" card.
 

Oh shit... I just realized I changed my email address recently, so now I have about 200 cards left with the wrong email... Grrr. 

Here's 'Rebecca', the constant bloomer.  First photo is it in bud, second is the open flowers:

Another small one is Hoya inconspicua.  And when it's happy, it blooms often.  Mine hasn't been so happy of late, but it's hanging in there!

 This is one I don't grow anymore.  It has SPECTACULAR  flowers, but the way it grows sucks.  I never had more than two good leaves on it at any given time.  It might have a third now and then, but it's like it really couldn't maintain more than two good leaves, so if it had a third, it looked crappy.  If it grew a new leaf, one would die.  I finally just gave it away.  I'm not a fan of the ones that don't look nice when not in bloom. It isn't worth looking at a crappy plant 11.5 months out of the year to get an umbel of pretty flowers!  Anyway, it's Hoya megalaster, photo one is an umbel opening and two is a single open flower.

 

One that looks very different is Hoya sigillatis.  It's one of the smaller Hoyas, very nice leaves.  It never grew very well for me, but I've recently acquired a different clone that seems to be doing ok.  Here is a flower umbel:

 

I grow several clones of Hoya verticillata and the ones that have bloomed for me look the same:

 

 

Hoya aff. vitellina has caramel colored flowers:

And that's it for today.  I think I feel a little cheerier, but please-oh-please, come out soon sunshine!