Congrats, David! Post pictures if you can when they start to bloom! Funny you should list red mindorensis, fungii and RHP (I got these from you). I think I see very tiny buds appearing on my red mindorensis. Fungii grew a new leaf and I saw two new vines emerging on it. RHP is getting new leaves. It should smell good in your gh pretty soon!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

When there are lots of blooms at once in your greenhouse does it still smell good or are there too many conflicting odors?

Tammy, this is probably the first time that I have had buds on this many hoyas at the same time while still in the gh. I normally don't get this much going on this early in the season,the vast majority of flowers for me comes once I get them all moved outside under the shade house. When there does happen to be several varieties open at once in the gh at once I haven't noticed the scents conflicting with one another. I can always tell when the acuta's are in bloom though as they tend to be VERY strongly scented and fill the entire gh.

David ,The plants I got from you last year are all doing amazing..

I have blooms on Royal Flush, and buds on RHP and KP. I think I'll get more and more as the plants can stay outside for longer periods. This time of year is frustrating; I'm always moving things outside because it's gorgeous and then moving them all back inside because it got cold again.

That's a lot of blooms! Can't wait to start seeing your photographs again. I think your plants just figure they need to put out a little more to lure you back into their sphere.

Looking forward to your Blooms and pics David. Any progress?

All of my plants have been inside all Winter. Currently in bud or bloom here are Javanica, all 4 of my Lacunosas, Davidcummingii, Carnosa 'Krimson Queen', Carnosa 'Krimson Princess', DS-70, Incurvula, an EA Noid, and possibly Serpens.

The Lacunosas are about to be relocated or spread out through my house. Four in one room is overpowering at night when I have insomnia. Davidcummingii fragrance has been described as smelling like candy, only time will tell what I think. Too bad the penducle and buds will touch the soil when developed due to the position of it.

I am excited getting ready for spring. I built several flower boxes to plant seeds in. I feel they will look better that I just moved my first potted plant which is T.fortunei seedlings outside for the year. They are suited for temps just below freezing at this size in a pot. Last night was 29 F and they looked fine this morning covered in frost. And this afternoon I will be bringing out my Brugmansia, Cacti, and Succulents since the 10 day forcast shows no sign of any frost.

-David

David,

Can you post some pictures, of your flowers please?

I love to see the pictures!

Thanks

Mitzi

Mitzi -

BTW - do not learn your English from me. I just read what I wrote and it is missing a portion of a sentence. I will start a thread showing some of my pics when I get home.

*I am excited getting ready for spring. I built several flower boxes to plant seeds in. I feel they will look better than the plastic trays that breakdown. I just moved my first potted plant which is T.fortunei seedlings outside for the year. They are suited for temps just below freezing at this size in a pot. Last night was 29 F and they looked fine this morning covered in frost. And this afternoon I will be bringing out my Brugmansia, Cacti, and Succulents since the 10 day forcast shows no sign of any frost.

TTYL
David

Though there are buds forming all over the place in the gh there really isn't much to speak of that is actually open. We really unseasonably warm temps for most of the month of Feb. and into the first few days of this month but the nights over the past several weeks have cooled down a bit and that seems to have slowed down the progress of the bud development somewhat. I have had the heat to the gh shut off for almost a month now that's how warm it's been which is quite unusual. This morning though there was just a bit of frost on my truck but nothing on the ground and the temps was only around 39F.

As the flowers open i'll start taking pics to post on here but probably won't post them until I get 8 or 10 different ones to share.

i've noticed since I first started this thread that quite a few more have buds forming. It looks as though this may end up being a very good year for hoya flowers!!!! I've got some fairly new Thai things ( unidentified from the Thai jungle) with buds forming for the first time and I can't wait to see the in bloom.

david

LOL

What means BTW?

As I said before, I don't understand every word, but I understand the context, if some words are missing or wrong it won't be a problem LOL, I won't notice anyway, because I always miss a portion of the sentence... and after posting when I read what I wrote I see a lot of mistakes but it is too late to correct them.

And the carnival in Brazil is over!

BTW means 'by the way'

Thanks

Here are some pics. Maybe I can tempt dmichael to post some of his blooms.

Javanica might open soon. There are two more penducles that have buds forming. I can't wait to compare the flower to the different varieties on growinghoyas.

One of the Carnosa is forming bud near a western window. I have been growing some of my Hoyas pretty dry over the winter.

Lacunosa - All four are in bloom - Here is the current lineup - These can definately handle drought

Here is the Davidcummingii. I liked the sun in the background. The penducle is near the soil and not visible here.

I look forward to seeing others buds and blooms as well.

-David

David,

I love the lacunosa. Beautiful picture, you said that this is an old picture, how is it now? I wish I could touch the picture and get a cut from it! LOL

As promised here are the first hoya flower pics I have taken for the 2011 growing season!!! I have had a number of them in bloom already but have been quite lazy with the camera and many of the ones that were in bloom have lost the flowers already.

This is H. davidcummingii,a hoya that i've been growing now for probably 7 years or so. The plant will grow nicely into a very mature specimen and then suddenly go int decline for no apparent reason. I have had a plant in a 6" basket that was well over 4 feet long to just begin to die. IN all the years i've had this hoya I know i've had to restart it at least a dozen times. I now have it growing in a pot of nothing but hydroton and it seems to like it very much. These flowers opened today and they smell like popcorn to me!!

This is the every reliable H. cinnimomifolia which is almost never without buds or blooms!!! I love the apple green and maroon color combination!!

Great photos David, especially the cinnimomifolia. I got a cutting of cinnimomifolia last fall and it came with a peduncle so I hope it blooms for me soon.
I have had my davidcummingii for several years and it's not a very reliable grower. I am happy that my plant seems to be growing now without constantly dieing back but blooms seem too much to ask for at this point. Do you try to keep this one moist while it is in hytdrotron? I have to water my plant carefully because it hates being too wet but drying out also causes it's share of problems.

Mike

Interesting observations on the davidcummingii. Mine died back on me this winter, but I didn't realize it was fussy.

This sounds like a horrible thing to say, but I always feel relieved when someone like you experiences the inexplicable decline. Then, maybe I can feel like less of a reject the next time I am stupidly watching one of my plants flip from the pink of health to a dead sulk.

Very nice blooms David as always...you must have a bunch ready to open soon...can't wait to see what's next. Thanks for sharing!

I got a few more nice flower photos today. This is H.lacunosa "Royal Flush" The plant has a tremendous amount of the dark purlple growth on it but unfortunately I cut it all out in this pic. Notice the outer ring of flowers is pin while the inner ring is all white.

This is one of many clones of H. pottsii that I grow. This is a first time bloomer and I love the soft green color of the flowers. This is H. Pottsii "Cameron Highlands" IML 1394

another shot of the same cluster.

Do you have a favorite pottsii, David? (Or anyone else!) I just love this species and am always tempted to buy more varieties, so if you have a recommendation, I'd love it. (I currently have IML 0022.)

While we're on the subject (kind of) can anyone tell me what the distinguishing characteristics are between pottsii and nicholsonae?

Gorgeous David! Your pottsii blooms are do different than mine...can't believe how many different clones there are out there...amazing!

Hi GG, I have both Pottsii(from a trade) and Nicholsoniae (from Gardino's). The biggest difference in mine is the leaves thickness...and so is the texture as well...my pottsii has much thicker more succulent leaves than my nicholsoniae which are thinner. My blooms are different too.

H. pottsii...has buds

Pottsii blooms from(last year)

H. nicholsoniae

Nicholsoniae blooms from (last year)

I do know that growing conditions have a lot to do with the difference in bloom colors and sometimes leaves differences too...

Beautiful plants David. The light green of those pottsii flowers is very nice. :)

Pug your plants are gorgeous!!!

GG the difference is that Hoya nicholsoniae is only found in the Mcllraith and Iron ranges of Queensland Australia, rain forest habitat in the Cape York region of the continent.
Hoya pottsii has a much larger range and can be found as far as Thailand. The forms that are from seasonally dry areas like Chieng Mai in Northern Thailand have much more succulent leaves vs the rain forest plants that get water all year long. Hoya pottsii is also found in Australia but I would have to take a look at both plant descriptions to see what the other differences are. I think that Hoya nicholsoniae has officially been sunken into synonymy with pottsii but that you still see both names floating around. There may not be full acceptance of the new name status and many price lists show both names.

Mike

Thanks Mike!! I was excited to see those blooms on my Pottsii...just noticed them when I went to water it. I don't have too many blooms on my hoyas yet...hopefully, that will change now that Spring is here. Appreciate the explanation of the differences between them too.

Nancy

Your plants really are spectacular, Pug. I wish mine turned that radiant. They do get red in the summer, but not THAT red! I, on the other hand, do.... >_>

<_>I did recall reading that pottsii and nicholsonae were perhaps synonymous, so I am glad to understand where they stand officially and the logic behind the previous distinctions. (Thanks, Mike! You're an angel!) My pottsii and nicholsonae are both thin leaved, so they really do look quite quite similar.

I suspect people's resistance to lumping two species has to come (1) part from savoring the diversity of two different names in their collection, (2) part from nervousness about taking a courageous leap away from the weighty authority of the 'purchase name', and (3) only a teeny part from actual disagreement with the lumping. It's a shame that there is this immobility because it really does extend the period of misunderstanding ridiculously.

I just love the colour of the foliage..... really nice, where did you buy them?

Thanks GG...both plants have been outside under some Palm trees most of the year bringing them inside only when temps were forecasted to go below 40 degrees...so I think its the combination of filtered sun and colder night temps that helped with the color.

Mitzi...thanks! I got my Pottsii on a trade and the Nicholsoniae came from Gardino's.

Pug,

Interesting that your nicholsoniae foliage has a beautiful red colour but the same species at aleya garden has a different colour foliage. Should be due to low temperatures? I noticed that obscura from Paul Shirley had such a nice colour like your nicholsoniae and the same plant from Joni had a very green foliage, might be that in low temperatures the foliage turns in that beautiful red colour like other plants. But I really fell in love for the nicholsoniae you posted. Will look for it right now!
Thanks for the wonderful pictures.

Mitzi

Nancy,

Your leaves are soooooo beautiful! Thank you for posting!!

Lisa

Mitzi the leaves of these plants are usually green but when under stress such as bright sun or lack of water many Hoyas develop colourful leaves. It all depends on how you grow your plants.

Mike

Mike,

So what should I do to stress my plant??? I love that colour!
Should I keep it in the freezer or should I forget to give water? LOL.
I want to grow my plants in order to get those beuatiful colour!

Does anyone could tell me were Galdino is located? By area code 888 I didn't find the US city.

Mitzicos, it should be easy for you to get red leaves. You live in a good location for it, especially if you put them outdoors in the shade of a tree, which I believe is how many of the FL growers such as Pug, do it.

Do you mean Gardino Nursery? It is in Delray Beach, FL.

GG,

Thank you very much! Interesting most of the hoya's nursery in US is at Florida, maybe the weather.

Thanks Lisa!

Mitzi, just a suggestion so you don't sunburn your plants. Please make sure you do it very slooowly when you put your plants outside. I put my hoyas starting in the fall/winter during the day...when our sun is not as strong and intense as they are in the spring and summer. I definitely would put them under a shade tree or palm trees like GG mentioned. Don't put in in full sun or your plants will sunburn. Also too much sun will "wash" out the leaves...makes it very pale and yellowish looking. In the Spring and Summer I make sure my hoyas gets a lot less light and a lot more shade especially since my sun is SO intense and strong.

Good luck!

Is Nicholsoniae a slow grower mine only grew one leaf this year it also started new growth then the new growth died? Its Autumn here now i was wondering if i could put my hoyas with my other plants on the windowsill we do get decent frosts in the winter not all the time though.

Hi cyclonenat...for me I found Nicholsoniae to be a pretty good grower...I purchased it in Nov. 08., but not the best bloomer. I've only had two blooms since I had it...hopefully I'll see more this year. I do have several hoyas that are sooo slow to grow that sometimes I think its plastic,lol...I have a few that hasn't grown a leaf in almost a year! Others have grown much faster thank goodness.

Is there a way you can put your hoyas a few inches away from the windowsill? Sometimes the window can get pretty hot and might burn the leaves...especially if they're not used to direct sun. I would acclimate them slowly and see how they do. Most hoyas can't handle direct sun...most of them do well with bright light and some prefer less light depending on varieties.

I used to have my nicholsoniae sitting right up against the glass of a bright eastern window and it didn't seem to mind. Pug's advice is solid, though. Because boy do I regret it when I have to look at a sun scarred leaf for the next decade.

Nicholsoniae has been a moderate grower for me. I haven't had it that long and it hasn't exactly shouldered aside the publicalyx or anything, but it's definitely not one of the plastic ones ^_~.