Wow...Absolutely Gorgeous pictures David! They're all so beautiful I can't seem to pick a favorite, but that first one is really pretty, love the colors. Your praetorii is a show stopper, LOVE it! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Pug!!!!

I really like the balaensis too. I meant to smell it to see if it had any fragrance but forgot. If the blooms are still open tomorrow and I can remember to do it,i'll smell them !!!

I got the praetorii from Christine Burton a month or so ago and it's growing well. She's apparently had really good luck rooting cuttings from her plant because she's listed it a number of time on Ebay this year and currently has an auction for it up and running.

Soooo beautiful. I love the praetorii. I have one too, almost lost it, it bloomed and fell off , maybe it did not like the heat and humid in NC.
How did you grow it David?
sue

Well really David, my bloomers - snicker, snicker.

I love that balaensis - I have one with this label but it has not bloomed as of yet, but is getting rather large. Hopefully mine will look like this one too.

And of course this mindorensis - love the various colors it produces - mine now has 3 peduncles and today I noticed it has buds - yippee!!

Dee

Very nice David.I love Balaensis.I have one but it has not grown one bit in the 2 years that I have had it.This summer I changed it over to S/H and I hope this kick starts it into growing.

Cindy

Love the praetorii! Do you also grow lasiantha and if so, how do they differ for you?

Lisa

Sue, it's just as hot and humid here as it is at your place!!!! I only live about a mile inland from the ocean so you know how hot it gets here!!! The humidity this time of year runs between 80-100% almost daily.

I grow praetorii in bright indirect light and during the winter it stays in the gh with the other hoyas at around 45-50F. This past winter was very cold though and it just couldn't take it. I think maybe this winter I will bring some of the more sensitive plants inside my house to overwinter.

Dee, I wonder how many heads that one went over!!!! The second variety of balanesis that I grow is the one from Sukirin Narathivat and the flowers are a different color. A picture of both can be sen at Epiphytica.com.

Cindy my balaensis sat for a log time before it started to grow but once it did it seems to be a moderatley fast grower.

Lisa I do have lasiantha as well. it has not bloomed for me yet but as far as the actual plant itself goes it looks pretty identical to praetorii to me.From what i've seen of the flowers online,they also look very similar to those of praetorii with one noticeable exception. That being the corona of the lasiantha flowers is a creamy color rather than purple like those of praetorii.

David.. as a newcomer...I am so incredibly impressed...the pictures are fabulous... the blossoms do indeed look like porcelain (sp?)... amazing and beautiful shots... the mindorensis.. my favorites.. thank you for sharing those shots (they could be in a book...)

David - probably to many younger folks that might not know what bloomers are, LOL.

anyway can you post a picture of the leaves of your balanesis? I got mine from Apodogis a couple years ago when he was selling alot.

Thanks,

Dee

Dee and David, it didn't go over my head but I didn't have any pics I wanted to share ;)

For those who don't the official definition of bloomers is:::
baggy trousers gathered at the knee once worn by woman for athletics.

Dee, I got both of my balaensis plants from Apodagis so you probably have the same. I will get a pic tomorrow to share but can tell you that the leaves are medium in size ( i'm just guessing here but maybe (2 1/2" wide X 3" long) and heart shaped.

David, as usual, your bloomers are outstanding. I turn green with envy, not at your photos but your hoya blooms. They are magnificent. As a matter of fact, my gym uniform was a jumper type with bloomers. That was in 1950.
As Eileen44 said, your photos could be in a book. That's an idea for you. You should publish a book with all your pictures with a description of each hoya. There are not enough books out there for us. Just a thought for you in your 'spare' time. LOL

David, do you leave near Myrtle beach? I just went there 2 weeks ago for 4 days vacation. We go there often in summer, I wish I can visit you, it took me 3h 30 to Myrtle beach. To live near the beach is my dream, you're lucky David.
sue

Sorry for my punctuation. David, I mean ' do you live near Myrtle beach'? lol.

OMG David...your pictures are just stunning. You must have a very good macro lens. I set my camera on macro and don't get anywhere near the beautiful detail you do.
Great pics, great blooms. I never even heard of that first hoya. Ha. or...Apodagis either. Is that an Ebay seller or what?
Oh...and I DID get the bloomers joke too. Since I am old enough to know what they are. Ha.

Marcy

Beautiful pictures!... you are so talented with the camera.. I love those blossoms.. I mean "bloomers".. Yes, I too am old enough to know what they "were"... but daresay.. not so old to have worn them!..LOL.. thanks for inspiring us newbies! Eileen

David your Hoya balaensis is beautiful. This species always reminds me a little of Hoya glabra, are the leaves similar to Hoya glabras?

I have that aff mindorensis as well and it's turning into a beautiful plant. I don't think I will be seeing flowers for a while yet but at least we know it flowers regularly if it's happy.

My Hoya praetorii is finally putting out another peduncle. I find praetorii to be a slower grower and more shy to bloom than lasiantha but that could just be my plant. My lasiantha is maturing two peduncles worth of buds right not so hopefully I can add some photos to this thread. The blooms of lasiantha are quite a bit larger than praetorii and there is the colour difference that was mentioned.

Mike

Thanks everyone for the nice comments on the photos!!

I agree with everyone that YES we do need a new hoya book on the market. If someone's willing to write the book,i'll take the pics!!!! I can't find time enough in the day as it is to do all that needs to be done around here so writing a book may take a very long time if it's left up to me!!!

Sue, yes I do live near Myrtle Beach,in fact just about 20-25 minutes South of there.

Marcy, I think I forgot to welcome you back to the world of hoyas!!!! SO WELCOME BACK!!!! Can you remember back to the old days of DG and recall what my pictures used to look like!!!If anyone went back and looked at them today,i'd be embarrassed to admit that I took them!!

Apodagis is an online website (Apodagis.com) with some killer hoyas to look at (and buy)!!!!!

As far as the pictures goes, I use a Kodak Easy Share Z700 camera. I have no idea as to what any of the camera terminology means so macro to me is like rocket science!!! When taking pictures of the hoya flowers I just set up the tripod if i'm gonna use one, turn the dial on the camera top to the little flower icon and SHOOT!!! I usually just cross my fingers that the picture will come out good and in most cases it does but if not I try and try again until I get it!!!

Eillen, being born and raised here in the South, the old folks always called undergarments be they men or woman's "bloomers". I can remember my grandma ( she died when I was 9 and i'm now 44)telling us to go "tell you mama to put some clean bloomers on ya"

Mike now that you mention it yes the leaves on balaensis do favor those of glabra somewhat. I don't think the glabra leaves are quite as heart shaped as the balaensis ones though which are almost perfect heart shaped.

Do yo find your praetorii and lasiantha to be fussy when about to bloom?? I found particularly with praetorii that when it starts developing buds,you can't touch the plant ,rotate the pot or anything or they drop!!! I had buds on the old plant that got as far along as to actually begin to pop open and I turned the pot for a better view and the next morning they were on the ground!! I can't say if lasiantha will be so picky or not as I haven't had any buds on it yet because my plant is still fairly small.

/David.

That balaensis 'Betong Yala' is just so spectacular - what a delicious palette. I received 'Sukirin Narathivat' from you, so I can follow the discussion about the heart shaped leaves a bit and I have to agree that these are just gorgeous. Even as a small plant it puts my heart in my throat all the time. It seems that the blooms of 'Sukirin Narathivat' look lighter/brighter in photographs. I can't wait to find out (hopefully) what the verdict is in your greenhouse.

I just came into work today to find that my lasiantha seems to be aborting its buds, the little stinker. I didn't move it, but I may have been overcompensating with its watering schedule. Or maybe it just decided it wasn't ready yet. I haven't owned it long enough to make any assumptions. Just thought I'd take this opportunity to gripe a little, since we were on the subject.

Hoya lasiantha teasing me:

Ohhhh GG!! Congrats and how cute are they? LOVE them...keeping fingers crossed you will see them fully open. Good luck and please keep us posted!

David, best of luck with Hurricane Irene! I sure hope you're far away from the path and hoping the same for us here in FL!

GG, congrats on the lasiantha buds but I have to tell you if it's anything at all like praetorii,you better not even look at it wrong or they'll fall off!!!

Nancy,how far are you from the coast??? I myself am just about 1 1/2 miles inland. I can drive and be ocean front in under 10 minutes. If it stays on the projected path it looks like by late Friday night or early Saturday morning, the S@#T could be getting deep around here as a CAT 3 possibly!!!

I hope everyone up and down the East coast from FL to N.C. gets lucky and it turns and goes out to sea but we'll have a better idea of what's going on by mid week.

I'm going tomorrow after work and stocking up on cat/dog food,bottle water, dry goods, batteries, candles and kerosene for the lamp!!!

I remember when Hugo came through in Septmeber of 89",, 135 mph winds for hours on end is not fun!!!! We were also without power for 2 weeks and it was VERY hot and humid .

GG Is the photo your showing of the buds the one that you think are about to abort or is photo taken before?
The yellowing is very normal for this hoya its not a sign that they are about to fall.
I have been moving my plant a bit to much and this morning I found it drooped a few of her buds.

This is erythrina "Bajo" blooming today. It was pretty well dark outside when I realized the flowers were open and was lucky to get this photo. There's also a brand new (sp. Tennaru River IML 0407) first time bloomer in the process of opening and I tried to get a few pics of it as well but they just didn't turn out so i'll try again tomorrow!!!

H. erythrina "Bajo"

Awesome pictures, everyone! Do budless peduncles count? I have one on my fungii and three on my carnosa.

GG, congrats on the lasiantha buds! Keeping my fingers crossed they don't blast.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

David...I'm lucky that I'm inland near Orlando now! But I've lived in Miami and the West Coast( Bradenton near Sarasota) so I know what its like to have the "bullseye" pointed directly on me when I lived near the coast. Best of luck and hope it takes a more northerly direction and miss you entirely! Keeping fingers crossed!

Beautiful Cindy! Looks like you're going to see that bloom soon!

David, absolutely gorgeous!! TFS!!

Brad, of course it counts :o)...best of luck and keep us posted!

/Cindy.

Unfortunately that there is the "before" picture LOL. All but a couple are shriveled up now and I'm sure the last two will go the same way. But no worries. This was our first try together, and I'm sure it will go better next time. ^_^

Very fun shot of your buds and bloom!

/David.

I'm so excited that your sp. Tennaru River is blooming. I was just looking for pictures of this one's flowers last night, so hook me up buddy. ^_~ /knocks on wood

GG,

this is sp. Tennaru River IML 0407. Sorry the pics are not perfectly clear but they're good enough to give you an idea of what the flower looks like!!! This is just 1 of 3 different IML's that I have for sp. Tennaru. The foliage looks pretty much identical on all 3 . The IML 0407 is in bloom, the 0453 has peduncles and the 0272 had buds but they fell off before they opened!! I did not detect any fragrance in the flowers.

OMG... such beautiful pictures!... thanks so much for posting!..

I must get sp. Tennaru River IML 0407 one day thanks for sharing.

Cindy

Hi David,

I have no words to describe the beauty of your pictures!!!!

Would love to be a bee just to know your garden and flowers!

Mitzi

Thanks Mitzi!! Wouldn't it be nice if we could morph into anything that we wanted to be even if just for a short time!!!

I'm just drooling at those hoya pics! How do you to take those pics close up?

TammyPie

David, again, great pictures and beautiful blooms. You brighten my day when I see your bloomers. LOL

LOL Mitzi. If we had the ability to temporarily transform into bees, our significant others would probably lose us for days at a time.

/David.

Great photo! I just love pictures like this where a bud hasn't quite finished unfolding and you really get to see the deep pile fuzziness of the petals. ^_^

I'm so happy to get a glimpse of these blooms because I was really curious after seeing the ebay listing. They are just too cute!

I was not overwhelmingly pleased with how the pics I posted yesterday of the sp. Tennaru River IML 0407 turned out so I took more today!!! These 2 pics are from a second cluster that has more flowers and are fully opened. There is a very slight fragrance to them but so faint that it's almost undetectable. I love the color of these flowers and I think i'll add this one to my faves list!!!! From what I have read in the Liddle's catalog the flower colors from the other 2 IMl #'s that I have of Sp. Tennaru River they are also in the golden/yellow range. It'll be interesting to see once they bloom what the color variations are between the 3

H. obscura with some sort of critter. I don't know what kind of bug this is but they are always on my hoyas. They don't seem to do the plants any harm and appear to only be after the flower nectar.

David your Hoya erythrina is one of my favorites that you post, stunning flowers.
I have the Hoya sp Tennaru River IML 0453. My plant did very well initially but over last winter it lost many leaves and now I will have to make sure to give it more light than I did, time to use that light meter so I know just what's going on. I love the colour of the blooms, nice plant!

GG I just moved my Hoya lasiantha out to the living room beside my Hoyas in enamelware wall and it has started dropping buds. Hopefully it will mature a few but it's going to look pretty sparse this blooming.

My Hoya coloura which is obviously a Hoya obscura relative (unknown for now) was about to bloom but I let it dry out and the entire peduncle fell off today! I was really bummed out about that/ :(
My Hoya obscura is blooming on a couple peduncles right now although not all of the flowers have opened yet.

I did have a pair of first time bloomers though so that made up for the loss of that peduncle.

Hoya meliflua was one Hoya that gave me trouble as a cutting. After it really started to grow I decided that this one was a keeper. The blooms started opening a day or two ago and today I was able to take a few photos.

Here is a full plant photo with my hand painted Shipibo cloth in the background.

Hoya loheri has been blooming for a week or two but today was the first time I could get to photographing it. The light had faded due to a huge storm moving into the area so the photos are not good quality.

Here is the entire plant on a cork bark mount with sphagnum moss pocket on the back to help retain moisture longer.

Mike

David those new photos are incredible! The Hoya obscura photo is really cute. That critter is commonly called the Milkweed bug and they are mainly seen on Asclepias sp here in North America but I guess a tropical cousin works just as well.

Mike

Mike, its a real bummer when your buds drop. Congratulation on the meliflua flowers.I have a huge plant and still no flowers.

Mike, I have a H. Loherii that sits next to my kitchen sink and I absolutely love her. She bloomed for me this spring, but I don't care if she blooms or not - I love her leaves, those turned-in canoe shaped leaves are gorgeous!

TammyPie

Mike... those pictures are gorgeous, esp the H. Loheri.. the bloom is sumptuous... it looks like tiny bits of strawberry jam running from the center... I will put that on my now growing wish list.. and I have just started this journey!..

Tammy.. in your picture, very bottom left corner a leaf or two of what looks exactly like the plant I just bought at HD... with the variegated leaves, and some pink.. GG said it was a Krimson Queen!... love it! Thanks all for making my morning... now time to get ready for work! UGH...

David, Beautiful pictures as always...cool shot of the bee!

Very Nice Pictures Mike...Congrats on your blooms!! They're both beautiful. Don't you just love Meliflua, its so pretty!

I enjoyed the 'flower show' this morning. David you never disappoint us with your blooms. Mike, your blooms are pretty too. I love the Meliflua. Now I have to go and check my hoya for peduncles. I know my large leaf carnosa has a peduncle, and kerri too, but I think I saw one on the carnosa compacta too. The compacta is suffering. The leaves are so pale. I think I should give it some food, but not sure what. Is it lacking nitrogen?

She decided to open the rest of her flowers.

Thanks for looking.

Cindy

Mike, I like the Shipibo cloth!!! The hoya's nice as well!!! meliflua has really cool flowers. I really like your last shot of loherii!!

Congrats on the lasiantha flowers Cindy!!! I can't wait for mine to bloom.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. Eileen the Hoya with the pink nectar stained flowers is Hoya meliflua, I post the names up above the photos. I wanted to make sure you had the right name to go on your Hoya wish list. :)
Cindy congratulations on the lasiantha blooms, awesome colour!

David I am fascinated with the Shipibo and have the tapestry, pottery and a hand embroidered cloth as well. The Shipibo are the tribal group who utilize the psychoactive admixture called Ayahuasca. I also have some wonderful books filled with Pablo Amaringo's Ayahuasca paintings.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Ayahuasca article by National Geographic

Mike, I find it amazing that people could discover a combination of ingredients that supposedly taste disgusting and have little to no effect when consumed alone. What would possess them to try different combinations?!

Sounds like an interesting experience if you can tolerate it, though. I once heard someone say that some substances used by tribes are not really psychoactive, but achieve a similar effect simply because you are so amazed to still be alive afterward! This doesn't sound entirely like Ayahuasca, but I found it funny nonetheless.

Sorry for the OT. Feel free to continue with the bloomers.