Hoyas!

I water the outdoor plants about once a week. It's been super rainy here (apparently the wettest June in recorded history), but when it isn't raining, it's HOT. HAWT. God, it's hot.

The Hoyas are doing really well! Putting them outside was worth the hair-pulling at the beginning of the season. After they stopped getting sunburned, they all started growing like mad. Too bad the mosquitoes get me SO bad out there...

I've been really focused on my other blog about weight loss (come visit!), but my plants are still doing well. I haven't bought a plant in weeks. Wedding > plants right now.

I hope everyone is well! :)

Let's Go.

I'm still here. Been battling sunburn on the outdoor plants. The indoor plants are happy as clams.

I've been working on my other blog, so I'm sorry I'm neglecting this one. :(

Fancy footwork.

So, I've been dealing with plants that have gotten sunburned. It's horrible.

Also, I've been trying to lose weight. It's going well so far. It's just made me extremely busy.

P.S. - ants are fucking horrible.

Just one thing.

H. elliptica EPC-641 and H. sp 97005 rooted immediately and grew immediately. I've never seen that before. They usually need a little time before they grow! I'm so happy about this.

I've seen some mealies, but that's not new for my Hoyas. I deal with it.

More stuff after the audit Friday. Ho hum.

Burned out.

I came home last night, ate dinner and fell asleep until 10PM. Then I didn't get back to bed until 1AM.

Ugh.

Anyway, it looks like ALL of the Hoyas will root successfully. They all have roots down below...they just need to fill the pot. Now it remains to be seen if the virus will spread. Eep!

Now for the bad news:

Somehow - someway - root mealybugs found at least two of my Hoyas. I found them 2 days ago and immediately went to deal with it. I filled a bucket with lukewarm water, took the Hoyas out of their pots, removed as much of the soil as possible and then went crazy and just cut the whole (nice, white) rootball away. I took cuttings and they're sitting in a bucket full of water and a little Superthrive.

Ugh.

I then went to check everything else in a clear pot. Nothing else looked affected, but now I'm going to be super vigilant. Just because you don't see anything doesn't mean nothing is there. Root mealybugs move fast and they can easily move when you water in the same saucer or share runoff after watering.

Guilty as charged. When you have almost 100 plants, shit happens.

I was wondering HOW those two, who did not spend the winter together until maybe a week ago, got the affliction. Then I remembered the runoff. Bleh. I'll be sure to water separately now. I'm just bummed because both of them had months worth of root growth. Good thing hoyas as tough as they come. That also explains why both plants had either stalled growth or started aborting leaves. I made sure another other plant showing similar signs was checked.

Surprisingly, I didn't get upset. I hate bugs. I just got my hands dirty and did what I had to do!

Oh well. I'll have to check the plants in non-clear pots, too. I might have to invest in some BATS. I hate systemics because of what they do to pollinators, but most of these will either be A) covered while outside completely (greenhouse) or B) stay inside year-round.

'Til next time.

Update!

Green = doing swell/tons of aerial roots
Black = what what what are you doing?
Red = oh lord jesus it's a fire...and you are dying

H. bhutanica
H. carnosa 'Chelsea'
H. sp 97005
H. sp orange acanthostemma
H. elliptica EPC-641
H. imperialis 'Mosaic' (thrown away)
H. deykeae
H. sp Ban Ngon Ngoy
H. aff. parasitica 'Lao 2'

Awesome! Everything looks good.

On the other hand, D. surculosa shot out some buds! :) Pics tomorrow (or something).

The rooting begins...

Green = doing swell/tons of aerial roots
Black = what what what are you doing?
Red = oh lord jesus it's a fire...and you are dying

H. bhutanica
H. carnosa 'Chelsea'
H. sp 97005
H. sp orange acanthostemma
H. elliptica EPC-641
H. imperialis 'Mosaic' (thrown away)
H. deykeae
H. sp Ban Ngon Ngoy
H. aff. parasitica 'Lao 2'

Plant events + new Hoyas!

I'll start with Hoyas first:

Joni calls this Hoya sp. orange acanthostemma. I cannot find any other information.

H. bhutanica.

H. carnosa 'Chelsea'

H. sp. Ban Ngon Ngoy (!!!)

H. deykeae. (!!!!!)

H. aff. parasitica 'Lao 2'

H. elliptica EPC-641. This is great because I lost this one last year.

H. imperialis 'Mosaic'. I threw this away since there were murmurings of it being virused.

H. sp. 97005. Look at those huge leaves! It's like H. latifolia or H. surigaoensis!

 

 

 

They're all in the rooting aquarium. Here's to another flawless round of rooted Hoyas in there!

As for the other plants, there are some signs of spring:

Baby finally bloomed for me. It was blooming when I got it, but I've never succeeded in having her do so again...until now! Sorry for the dirty windows!

 Proof that Jades are funny plants:

This leaf, left to its own devices, did this by itself. Goes to show that Jades want to live!

I whacked my Jade recently (maybe a week ago) and it's already bouncing back. I was really nervous to do it, thinking I might kill it. HA! Look at it.

H. mindorensis is a fickle plant for me. It's died back majorly twice with me in one year. Under the grow lights, it's doing fantastic! I see 5-6 leaves coming in.

I don't think they'll get to go outside until mid-May. :( Oh well. Until later!

What do you go home to?

I really love the feeling of the changing seasons. Knowing spring is upon this world - with all of the new, promising foliage and warmer weather - makes me feel good inside. I can smell spring coming. It's great.

With that, I just have a few photos:

H. lacunosa 'Thai Clone' has surprised me by shooting out a new vine. I had honestly thought it would go the way of the other lacunosa.

My aloe's pup has come along really nicely. It's pupping again.

Euphorbia x 'Iomi' is blooming out of its mind. I'm so glad it doesn't hate me lol.

The ho of a plant...Ledebouria socialis.

The other one, doing I don't even know what.

That's all I've got.

I bought another greenhouse to replace the last one (long story), and I'm ready for summer growing!

Awakening.

While watering my plants, I have come to one conclusion:

Ledebouria socialis is a ho of a plant.

I'm so serious.

In 6 months, one pot has 4 "pups" and the other had a "child" and that child is busy making it's own "child" of its own. What in the teen pregnancy?

Aha!

I have some annual seeds. I think I need some cute flowers in my life. I've got Cosmos and something else. :)

I'm going to sow soon and keep them under lights.

Power trip.

Blah blah excuses about work and wedding crap blah blah.

Blah blah excuses about gardening blah blah.

I've actually got a lot of plants blooming for me nowadays (you know, considering it's the dead of March). I feel the sun coming back. :)

Not much to say gardening-wise. I'm missing THE Flower Show here in Philadelphia. *sigh* I guess I'd rather get married than collect plants right now, LOL.

Until later!

I'm not dead.

Just proof that I still, in fact, garden. This is Codonanathe x 'Vista'. It took a long time for it to produce blooms, but it's just chugging away now!

I've been awful with remembering anything since my fiance proposed. It's been a whirlwind of wedding crap (invitations, venues, photographers and budgeting - oh my!), work crap, and crap crap. My plant have been (for the most part) very tolerant. Some of my plants are throwing hissies, but I haven't had any casualties. Well, except for my mini Christmas tree...but that's another story. I'm convinced it wasn't sold to last.

Anyway...I'm thinking of using my plants as centerpieces for our wedding. I'll mention more later once I get the idea developed.

On a personal note, I'm doing a voluntary training through the Literacy Commission of Philadelphia with a few coworkers. We're hoping to bring it back to our clients and help them get their GEDs! Very exciting. :)

That's it for now. The plants are growing even with my awful underwatering. Sorry, little ones.

Every single night.

Okay, so now I can (vaguely) discuss what's been eating my brain.

I'm engaged!

A little over 4 years after we met, he proposed where we first met.

Yup. This gardener is getting hitched. YAY.

Until next time. My plants are doing fine for the most part, but it's been a busy few days.