Autumn blooms

Well it's almost Happy New Year!  And I've not posted in a while again, so just a quick update on a few orchids that bloomed this past fall.

I'll start with two Paphs.

Paphiopedilum fairrieanum, first bloom.  The shape could improve a bit, but considering my history with Paphs, I'm still pretty happy about it.

And Paph spicerianum bloomed again this year for me.  I love this one, nice compact plant, shorter spike, and really attractive bloom.

Now, a different type.  Maxillaria splendens.  I bought this one a year ago at the Sarasota Orchid Society show, it has been putting out flowers for a few weeks now, and is just finishing up.  Of course it couldn't wait for the orchid show that is next week.  I found last winter, this plant was temperature sensitive, so I do have to bring it in during the colder months.  It is a larger plant, currently in an 8" pot, kept evenly moist, and shaded light.  But the fragrance is spectacular!

 

 

Now a couple Catasetums that bloomed late fall this year.  The first is Catasetum sanguineum, which I've discussed before.  It gave me 13 flowers on this last spike of the year.

 

 

 

And a close-up of one flower.  This plant has a very nice dark lip.

 

 

 







Catasetum callosum, this is a first time bloom for me, it gave two spikes, with 14 and 16 flowers on them.

 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy!

Hoya memoria

Hoya memoria  Kloppenb.

Fraterna 17(4): 2 (1-3; photogrs.). 2004 [Dec 2004]

17(4): 2 ( 2004

According to theplantlist.org, H. memoria is unresolved. Although only described in 2004, this species apparently was available previously under a different name, H.gracilis.  Also, there is some mention by experts that H. memoria may have been previously described under another name.

Hoya memoria is a relatively small growing Hoya that prefers to grow down, and does not vine well. I received a cutting of H. memoria in April of 2012 in a trade with another Hoya grower.  It rooted quite easily for me, and in my conditions is an average grower. It first bloomed for me the summer of 2013, about a year and a half from starting it.

 

 

Picture of whole plant, it is normally suspended to allow vines to grow down.

 

Culture:

Potting: I have grown this both in S/H and potted traditionally in a Turface/Perlite mixture.  Both performed well.

 

Light levels: I grow this plant under shaded conditions, or at least as shaded as I can currently provide, in my outside growing area.

 

Watering: H. memoria prefers to be evenly moist in my conditions.  Although a complete drying out of the potting media for a short time does not seem to cause permanent damage, it does appear to grow and bloom better when that situation is avoided.

 

Temperature: I left H. memoria outside through winter for the first time this past year.  No damage occurred to the plant.

Here is a quick glance at the temperatures in my region for January and August, the coldest and warmest months.

January 2014 lows	January 2014 highs
5 nights in the 60Fs	2 days in the 80Fs
10 nights in the 50Fs	11 days in the 70Fs
10 nights in the 40Fs	14 days in the 60Fs
6 nights in the 30Fs	4 days in the 50Fs
Lowest recorded temperature – 35F
August 2013 lows	August 2013 highs
2 nights in the 80Fs	26 days in the 90Fs
29 nights in the 70Fs	5 days in the 80Fs
Highest temperature recorded 94F

 

Blooming: The blooming season of my plant (only two seasons so far) is from mid-summer through early winter.  Peduncles are retained after bloom, and do rebloom. Typically a peduncle will have roughly 25 – 35 buds at a time, flowers last only a couple days.  During the day the flowers have a sweet caramel scent, but at night a musty scent develops. A moderate amount of nectar is produced.  I did have one seed pod that developed autumn of 2013, seeds were potted and did germinate.  But unfortunately the seedlings were wiped out completely by snails/slugs.

 

 Buds a couple days from opening.

 

 Flowers in the process of opening



Flowers completely open, notice severe reflexing of petals





Close-up of open flower



Back of flowers, notice this is the 4th blooming on this peduncle

Roots: Some roots are produced around the nodes in high humidity.  But these roots shrivel and die back quickly when the humidity drops.  Compared to other Hoyas in my collection though, H. memoria has significantly less roots along the stem than average.

Leaves: Leaves are of variable size on my plant, but all are sharply pointed at the apex, and splotched  and smooth on the top surface. The undersides are a pale green and smooth.  New leaves have a slight reddish color to them until they mature. There are two leaves per node, rarely three. 

 

Typical mature leaves 

 

 New leaves developing in the center, notice reddish cast

Hoya rotundiflora

This Hoya may be the sweetest one I have.  The leaves are very interesting, with an unusual shape and the flowers are unusual as well. I once saw them described on a Hoya forum as fluffy pillows, which is a perfect description.  I grow this one shaded, and moist.  Last winter it remained outside, with winter night lows regularly in the mid to high 40s during January, and every so often in the high 30s. But the days usually warm up at least 15 degrees. A colder winter didn't seem to hurt the plant at all, although I do keep it a bit drier when it's cold out. It is in a 6 inch pot, filled with Turface/perlite mixture that I use.

Edit: 9/14/14 - I see my photo link has been broken, attaching different photos.

 

 





 







First time blooming Hoyas

And I'll finish up writing today about some odd and end Hoyas, all first time bloomings this past summer.

Hoya davidcummingii - Not very big yet, but now has 5 penduncles, growing in S/H, shaded and warm.  Has been blooming off and on over the last month now and it definitely is one of the cuter Hoyas.  Also, it really likes to root along it's stem, you can see in the whole plant picture.

 

I

And Hoya ilagiorum (sp?) now.  Although this plant did bloom for me a couple times early this summer, the plant itself doesn't seem very robust.  It just doesn't seem to grow as quickly as the rest of the Hoyas.  Come next spring, I may try converting it to S/H, see if it responds to that.  Right now, I water often, and keep it semi-shaded.

Hoya buottii - A great fuzzy flower, I am growing this one two ways.  One in S/H, the other in my Turface/Perlite mix.  Both are doing very well, and both bloomed for the first time recently.  The first picture below is from this past spring, then a picture from last week, showing how much it has grown this summer.  All of these pictures of are the plant in S/H.

 

And now, Hoya lobbii IML 1427.  I'm not crazy about this plant, it just grows up and up.  While it's outside, that's not a big deal, but as I grow this one warm, when it comes in for the winter, it's difficult to accommodate.  So I pretty much ignore it.  What a surprise when I noticed buds the other day, and then they opened!

 

Also noticed spider mites on this one, guess I'll have to deal with them here soon.

 

Hope you enjoyed!

Hoya publicalyx

Looking back over my posts, I realized I hadn't highlighted Hoya publicalyx.  Kind of surprising because, even though it is so common and even though it's almost impossible not to do well with it, it is my favorite Hoya I have.  I have three different clones.  The third one I received is 'Black Dragon' but as I haven't bloomed it yet, I'm not going to include it here.

The first publicalyx I received was in 2009 from an orchid friend in Washington State.  It didn't come with a cultivar name, so I just call it publicalyx.  This grows so easily.  I give it very bright, to partial direct sun (stronger in winter), let it dry out in between waterings (dry longer in winter), and it stayed outside from the hottest summer gets, down to freezing in winter. So it is pretty much one of the "easiest" plants I have.

Some pictures of this one, although these are from the past spring.

 

The second one I'll write about today, was in my first shipment of Hoya cuttings from Ted Green.  Different clone completely, as the leaves are a paler green, without any speckling at all.  It also has different culture requirements.  Although it too likes to dry out in between waterings, it seems to prefer more shade, and throws a fit if the night temperatures get below 50F.  Also, although I received this cutting back in 2009, it only bloomed for the first time this summer. I now have it growing up a 5 ft obelisk, which it is starting to take over, and has even grown a second punduncle.

 

Even though I know giving it a cultivar name doesn't follow the rules, as I'm not going to register it, I do call it 'Plain Jane' - reference to the plain green leaves.  The first picture here is a bit messy, but I want to highlight how different these leaves are from other typical publicalyxs.  Then picture of the blooms, which in person are a deep pink, kind of like Black Cherry, and the white hairs contrast so prettily.

 

 

 

 



Hoya heuschkeliana

I received both the yellow and the pink form of Hoya heuschkeliana a while ago.  Both seemed to take a while to settle in, and both managed to bloom for the first time this summer. Also, I am growing both in S/H, which they seemed to adjust to very well. I have only had these through one winter, but did grow it warm, and probably will continue to do so.

This is one plant my boys actually like, as the fragrance is just like buttered popcorn.  Stronger at night than the day, my youngest son, asks when it will be in bloom again.

Nice small plants too.

Starting with the yellow form. These pictures are from about 2 or so months ago, and it has been blooming off and on since then.

 

 

 

And now the pink form.  The first picture is the whole plant back in the spring, and the other two pictures are from this week.  It has started to fill in nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm so glad I have both of these, between the small size, cute habit, adorable flowers, and the scent of buttered popcorn, these have become a favorite.

 

 



 

Finally Hoyas

Wow, it's been quite a while since I highlighted any of my Hoyas.  Overall, the Hoyas didn't take the move as well as the orchids, but they seemed to have settled in now.

I'm going to combine three different ones in this post, I don't know if there are closely related, or even in the same Section, but to me they are pretty similar.  They are all relatively smalled leaved, small but easily flowering, and are not climbers. 

Starting with Hoya obscura, from one of the first trades I ever did with Hoyas.  I typically grow this one in pretty high light, which gives a beautiful red shade to the leaves.  Since we moved though I've kept it a bit shaded which it recovered, so in the picture below, the plant is not as red as it usually is.  As for watering, I water well and often, but allow it to almost completely dry out in between waterings.  It is growing in a 4 inch pot, in a Turface/perlite mix.  Flowers often all summer long.

 

 

 

 

And Hoya lacunosa, this is one of two different clones I have.  And unfortunately for both of them I left the big pots when I moved, there just wasn't room for them.  I had started cuttings of each of them in the last year, so these smaller ones came with me.  Here I'm showing a speckled leaf one, it probably has a clonal name, but as I got it at a big box store, I'm not positive which one it is. Grown shaded, moist and warm, it is potted in Turface/perlite mix. Although the flowers are tiny, it also blooms all summer long, and has the strongest fragrance, that to me smells just like carnations.

 

 

 

 

 

And the last one for this post is Hoya memoria, beautiful leaves, tiny but very brightly colored flowers.  I have this growing two ways, in S/H and potted in Turface/perlite.  Both growing well.  Also, I have a seed pod developing on this plant, when the pod is ready, I'll plant the seeds, see if they take.  No idea if it is a selfing, or the pollen came from lacunosa which is right beside it.  Grown moist, shaded and warm.

 

Hope you enjoy!