New Month - time to start a new thread. All of the energy stored up over the summer spent in the greenhouse has produced an abundance of flowers on H. imperialis. There are four open umbels, and I could only get three in the photo. Also, here is H. retusa a first time bloomer for me that only happened after I got it cool enough.
I LOVE that imperialis! Mine has never bloomed. Still have hopes for next year after my different fertilizing.
I may put my retusa back outside. We have been having a really mild fall so far. How cool did you let yours get to, Doug? I know you didn't stick it out in the Vermont snow.
Very cool Doug, I'd been looking at the retusa as I love anything with "weird" foliage. But so far haven't bit the bullet with it as I was wondering if I could keep it cool enough. I'd have to keep it inside during the summer, which is what I did with linearis ( aka "the weed growing out of the basket as my S.O. calls it) and it's forming umbels now so hopefully I'll get blooms.
And I hope I don't jinx myself here....but I believe I have buds on this umbel on H. imperialis var rauchii, got kinda cool in the greenhouse a couple nights ago so I hope they don't blast. keeping fingers crossed...
Thanks everyone for the compliments on my imperialis; I have to say that it is pretty impressive to see in person. I have a kind of embarassing video tour of it on my site that is way too long. MJ, nice looking plant, it looks like your plant either bloomed before or blasted its buds in the past - Fingers crossed that it blooms for you this time. My plant is continually kept in the mid to low 70's for temperature. What is wonderful about this plant is that it is not really sensitive to low humidity, and seems to thrive most anywhere if kept warm enough.
My retusa was covered in buds when I moved it inside from the greenhouse, which all promptly fell off because of the heat of the grow tent. As the basement cooled off, it has rebudded. Right now the day time temps reach around 73°, and the nighttime temps drop to 53° with high humidity. It has never looked better.
Hey Doug, can you get a shot of the peducle from your retusa. I have a good size retuse but has never sprouted a peducle. I would like to see what they look like.
Love your imperialis hope to see mine bloom one day.
Doug, yes was a a rooted cutting I got from Carole last spring. I just didn't think it would start this early, figured I'd have to wait at least until Summer to let the plant get bigger before it would grace me with a bloom. I'm still learning so it's cool to hear that it's not that fussy. I was worried about being able to keep it warm enough at night. Most nights here for the last month or so have been in the 60's, and recently down into the 40's/50's..so the greenhouse has been ranging mid 50's during these cooler nights to 60 at night. Humidity hasn't been a problem.
So I won't take retusa off the list yet...might be the perfect one here for winter blooms. And hang out in the bathroom in the summer.
I think my bad experience with polyneura backed me off the cool growers a bit.
Doug: That is one beautiful imperalis! I had imperialis that I rec'd in a trade as a small plant and it grew to be a very large plant but I never got it to bloom. It's one of the large Hoyas that I lost to last winter's freezing temp's. I like the looks of that retusa but if it's a hoya that prefers cooler temperatures I'm not even going to try that one.
mj: Congrats on your impeails buds! By the way, I sitll have the Hoya cummingiana for you. I think I still have your address around here somewhere so I'll probably end up mailing it to you, which I should have done months ago. I know I won't have time to get over your way anytime soon. I apologize for the delay but for the past 7 months I've been dealing with some major life changes and it's been pretty hectic for me. I moved two weeks ago and I'm trying to get settled into my new place. I've been slowly moving plants from the old house and just putting them in the garage and a back bedroom until I can figure out where I want to place them.
Well, I currently don't have much in the way of blooms to share but my old faithful Hoya australis subsp. tenuipes was blooming it's head off last month and the fragrance was heavenly:
Wow Lin, your australis sp.tenuipes is amazing !! Let's me know what I have to look forward to with mine. Does it bloom in the spring too ? I figured you were "Shifting gears"...
Let me know the postage on the cummingiana I'll be glad to pay the postage. Glad your getting to move your plants with you too !!!
Thanks for the good luck wishes Laura...I'm surprised as I thought it would be next summer...but I'm keeping my fingers crossed and I hope I didn't jinx it.
Name: Laura Gardiner Manitoba, Canada You can't 'un-ring' a bell.
I'm waiting on bella @ the moment. Had many false starts with that one.
So I know the anticipation. Blasted buds make me sad....
But then I realize it means good things yet to come!
"When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other."
- Chinese Proverb
