Tess is such a good rose. It was on the bush 6 days and just kept getting poofier and poofier but held together. Its been a dry heat and in the 90's this past week plus uber smoky from the wildfires and literally 'raining' ash some days. Gotta love Tess! Some others doing well in the wicked heat TIMF Litchfield Angel Jude the Obscure...I swear I couldnt get enough pics of him the other day!! He is sooo ~Dreamy~ I'm obsessed with the way the buds look half open. I could get lost in those buds for hours!

Urgs, I just saw how huge the image was, sorry for that! @lily: I have no idea. Haweha commented my pictures on the german forum and wrote that he too had no idea who the ancestors could have been, the broad stakes are a trade of an big flowering cultivar. So perhaps they crossed a trumpet shaped specie with dutch cultivar? You might be able to find who crossed it. @Alana: Yes, I received seeds from Amputo x Sydney and Sydney x Amputo. I had so many flowers, there where 2 stakes with 3 blooms and 2 from one bulb with 4 each! I used this one for my crosses (even though it might just be a stronger clone from tissue cultivation), but I should have pollinated the other ones just to check what workes. I think I'll try to save pollen and try as much as possible. Ok, any suggestions ... finally: Amputo seems to be a Tetraploid regardless of it's fragrant looks. So it's a perfect candidate for a cross with a big-flowerig dutch hybrid. You should be able to preserve some of the colour scemes of the other parent. White flowers are often connected to a genetic defect where the plant's gene that transcribes pigments can't be read. So the other parent should be able to bring in some colours. What I'd like to try would be Grandeur, if anyone has pollen of these ... perhaps I should ask in another thread. ;)

I got this cutting at the beginning of August, I love it. Hoya Benguetensis - Whole plant Hoya Benguetensis - First new leaf I also got this imperalis cutting in a trade and I really really like it, it seems like a fast rooter/grower, got it a couple months ago at the most. I have another imperalis from the hawaii grower and it hasn't done a thing and got it as a small plant, got it in the spring. I have both in southern light. I frequently have to turn this one b/c of leaning toward the light.... shanna

i would also ask what is the pot made of.. will it crack in the freeze thaw cycle of your area ???? .. if any ... does the tall pot have drainage .... instead of wondering about watering.. have you thought about how to keep moisture out in winter .. if it accumulates inside.. it could freeze into an ice cube ... wonder why the name ida bean popped into my head .... in our type winter.. i would be leery of time release .. we dont want it all juiced up in fall.. instead of slowing down .... i would probably tend toward reduced .. whats the word im looking for.... crikey ... carp... water sol at half or quarter strength ... every other time you water or some such.. ending in late august ... something like that ... just get a gallon milk jug.. or this time of year.. apple cider ... and when this thing needs a shot ... put a 1/4 teaspoon of water sol in it.. fill it up.. and hoik it out to the pot ... easy peasy .... ken