Hoya trellis art?

13 years ago

As many of you know, my first love is orchids, but honestly, they.. how do I say this... aren't the most attractive plants. So when I stumbled across Hoyas a few years ago, I found a genus who has stunning flowers, while being very attractive plants.

Now, I travel for work a lot, and sometimes when I have an hour or two to kill, I'll look for a Hobby Lobby in the area and go browsing. Recently, while browsing I had an idea. I found some garden accessories that were on clearance (less than 10 bucks) and thought what if I used these as trellises?

So, a little imagination needed here, think about what these could be in a year from now.

Right now the pots aren't attractive, but I'm hoping as the plant fills in, it'll cover it up, and I know it's going to be a you know what when it comes time to repot, but......

So what do you think?

Renee

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rennfl
Original Author

12 years ago

It's been about 10 months now, I thought I'd show an update. First of all the buotii isn't suitable in the container I showed above. It just doesn't want to vine around. It is still in it, but is going to be removed hopefully today.

But here is an update on the other two.

Now, we moved to coastal SW Florida last summer, and since the chance of freeze is greatly reduced, I decided to use some of my Hoyas in the landscaping. I've moved my Hoyas and Orchids a few times, and each time, it requires relearning the specific microclimate, and I of course ended up with some sunburn. As well, as although I knew there was a winter dry season, I wasn't quite prepared for how dry it was going to be :)

First, last summer/fall I found some trellises on amazon that were reasonable, so I bought some and have some Hoyas winding around them. For example, here is one of my limoniacas, picture taken this morning. Please ignore the weeds, I have got to get out there soon and cut everything back.

And then I decided to try and attempt to make a privacy fence out of the cold tolerant Hoyas. I did this one last July, it sulked after the repotting for a while, but is now settling in. I'm hoping in a couple years, I will have a wall of Hoya fungii. The trellis is 6 ft, and sunk in 50 lbs of concrete to keep it, if not hurricane proof, at least really bad Florida summer storm proof.

And then since after quite a few really bad Florida summer storms last summer, it seemed to survive, two weeks ago my hubby was kind enough to help me build what I hope will be a more complete Hoya privacy fence on the other side of our house, we have a nice sized side lot that I eventually plan to landscape, so I wanted something nice to hide it from the road. 6 - 6ft trellises, each again sunk in 50 lbs of concrete.

Now for these last two "fences" the Hoyas are still in pots, with a base to them, so they won't root directly into the ground. The last picture is from left to right, dasyantha, publicalyx, limoniaca, carnosa, tannaensis, imperialis. I'm picturing a complete cover of flowering Hoyas in a couple years.

Well, I've been busy, how about you all?

Renee

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Comments (11)

emt23
13 years ago
Oh Hobby Lobby is a fantasy land in my book! I like the idea's you put together. Very creative and rustic. ~ Mary
teisa
13 years ago
I love your idea! Those are really pretty!! Thank you so much for sharing. I'm heading to Hobby Lobby :)!!
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Klea
13 years ago
Looks good! In a year they are going to be very beautiful! Love the shabby, rusty look - it really compliments the emerald green leaves of your hoyas.
greedygh0st
13 years ago
No imagination required. They look lovely already.

I especially like the birdcage one. There's something so charming about plants in birdcages, since they are designed to restrict and contain birds, but can only serve to highlight the mobile advantages of plant life. :P
puglvr1
12 years ago
Looks great Renee! That is such a Cool idea...Thanks for the pictures...
teisa
12 years ago
Wow! I really like what you have done! Those trellis are very pretty! And it is going to be breath taking once the hoyas fill the trellis in! Thank you for sharing!
teisa
12 years ago
Wow! I really like what you have done! Those trellis are very pretty! And it is going to be breath taking once the hoyas fill the trellis in! Thank you for sharing!
sunnysa
12 years ago
That sounds like a great idea.... the Hoya fences. Just the visual thought of it is so pretty. I have a trellis in the back yard and I considered put them out there, but I was worried about what to do if we had a rainy spell. Would too much rain hurt the Hoyas? Yours have grown a lot since the first pics. You did a great job there!
rennfl
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks everyone.

Sunnysa - the everyday ( or almost everyday) rains here are mostly in the summer when it's hot and the water in the trays seem to evaporate pretty quickly. When it is cooler here, it doesn't rain as much. I started using the trays last summer for most of my Hoyas because I couldn't keep up with watering them.

Also, since I use only inorganic media to pot them in, rot from being kept wet isn't so much of an issue.

Renee
sunnysa
12 years ago
Renee, they are lovely. You have given me some great ideas for my own Hoyas. My dh had mentioned that when I brought up the question of rain. He said that you probably had them in a well draining medium. Every time it rains, I'm scurrying to bring the Hoyas indoors. Please keep us posted as they fill up the fences. Thanks.