Update about the Hoya cuttings I got from Gerrit van der Zee

 

 

It's about 4 weeks ago that the postman( always rings twice:-))* delivered the cuttings all the way
from Friesland(a province in the North of Holland).
It's really exciting for me to try to root these Hoya's, I made a lot of cuttings of other plants in my
life,with more or less succes,and I also rooted a Hoya carnosa on water a year ago,but I learned (thanks Gerrit!!) that most Hoya cuttings do much better when you put them in soil and cover
 them up in a plastic bag or- just like me now- in a greenhouse or an aquarium.
This is how the greenhouse looked after a week( I made the picture through the glass)

There are already air roots growing.

Now,after 4 weeks,the Hoya australis ssp australis still looks the same, he seems to be happy,but
the H.polyneura is growing!!

I am blessed with a lot of fantasy, and that is probably the reason why I see a Cormorant in
the new growth, drying his wings in the sun:-)

Inside the greenhouse there is also growing to be seen:

On top new leaves on Hoya wayetii.

The picture above shows growth on the H.serpens

And this is one of the 3(!!!!) umbels on H.australis.

They are all so happy in their cozy glass womb,but I decided that the time has come for them to meet the cold Dutch outside world, so today I opened the greenhouse an inch, and in the next days I am planning to open it more and more.

* - 'the Postman always rings twice' is a movie made in 1981,featuring Jack Nicholson as the
      postman- I am a big fan of Jack!:-)

Chlorophytum amaniense

 

 

I saw this plant for the first time many years ago,and although I thought it looked lovely,I had the
feeling that it probably was a 'one day fly' because it looked fragile.
Big mistake!!By the time I read about it on the internet ( and we were about the last one's to get a
computer, 3 or 4 years ago- we thought it was a lot of modern crap:-)) it was to late,and amaniense
was no-where to get here in the Netherlands.
I just thought about ordering seed from overseas,when I saw an advertisement on Marktplaats,( that
is a kind of E-bay for the Netherlands), someone offered 3 pots with chlorophytum amaniense!!
I  directly mailed to her. She had no idea that these plants were no longer available and she was
pleased that I was such a lover, so a deal was made.

It's a low light plant,don't like intense light levels or sun.
It's also extremely sensitive for insecticides,chemicals and pesticides. The soil should be kept
fairly moist but not overwatered. During hot and dry weather it like's to be sprayed with water.
It like's also to be feed once a month with a liquid fertilizer at half strenght,always on the soil,
never on the leaves.

New Paul Shirley cuttings(rooted)

 

I got the next 4 cuttings about a week ago.

Above Hoya Sumatra GPS 1775

Hoya mini-belle GPS 03531
(This is most likely a cross between Hoya carnosa and Hoya shepherdii )

Hoya pubicalyx 'Pink Silver'

Hoya nicholsoniae

A bit earlier I got this Hoya macgillivrayi from Fer & Urs Jansen,Wouw

  I also got a Hoya vitellinoides from them,but that one was very dehydrated and I haven't
  made a picture yet,because I have no idea if that cutting is gonna make it.

"Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men".  ~Chinese Proverb

 

 

 After an unusual warm december and first half of january,just when we thought spring was already started,(not only we,but the plants outside were also in the mood),King Winter decided to end our dream with a couple of very cold weeks.

   


A lot of plants were damaged and we have to wait  and see which one's didn't survive it.
It seems that my Laurel (Laurus nobilis) that I had for 15 years,didn't make it,his bark is 
torn and the leaves are brown.There are also a couple of Buddleja davidii and Phormiums
that looks terminal.


Today, I discovered the first blossom on a prunus,and it seems that spring is now definitely
here!:-)The garden is still very 'bald' , but there is enough to see already.

The bird in the pond is Daffy Duck,one of our Indian Runner Ducks, I hope to write about them  another time.
Next picture is a crocus.

A bee on the Bergenia.

The prunus blossom.

I made the next picture last evening,the un-opened blossom of an Amelanchier lamarckii.

Some kind of -beautiful!- fly on Caltha palustris.

Macleaya cordata is gonna grow.

And nothing to do with spring,but I liked the way this feather was catched by a branch.

Chaenomeles.

And with spring,there is also love in the air!

"Let there be more light" (Pink Floyd)

 

 

When you live in  the middle of no-where it is great to have tree's around the house,so that you
won't be blow away when there is a storm.We are surrounded by tree's,but the last years some of them
grow and grow with the result that the house inside got darker and darker,and the house plants had to
struggle for a bit of light.
The one's close to the house were "scalped" but we still had a big boy standing,here is a picture of
him during winter,it is the one at the right.

 

This is a picture I made in the summer,the back of the house is fully shaded.

  

So,a couple of weeks ago,to bad for the big boy,but great for the houseplants ( they were jumping
in their pots of joy) , he was beaten down.

 

We think it might be a major difference this summer,much more light.

 

Goodnight little house plant song

I found the following songtext on the internet,it belongs to Sheldon Allan "Shel" Silverstein (September 25, 1930 – May 8/9, 1999)

GOODNIGHT LITTLE HOUSEPLANT

Goodnight, little houseplant
Little house plant, good night.
Here's your glass of water.
Should I leave on the light?
Tomorrow in the morning
For breakfast we two
We'll have ham and eggs for me
And nitrogen for you.

Goodnight, little houseplant...
Tucked in your clay pot.
Be careful you don't catch
Huntington's Rot.
Remember, little houseplant
Stay away from those bees.
I've heard they may carry
A social disease.

Goodnight, little houseplant
Asleep on the sill.
I'll pull the shades
So you don't catch a chill.
Tomorrow we'll talk
Of the things that we did.
I love you, little house plant
Who needs women or kids.

About the house, the houseplants & the Hoya's

This is my first post here,never done something like this before so it is a bit creepy.I like to post some pictures from the house and the plants,so I see if I can manage:-)We-Mart and I- live on the countrysite,in a house that was build in 1931 by an ancestor of my husband. It stood in the water during the big flood in 1953,but luckely it didn't collapse. Nowadays we have a humidity inside that is mostly between 60 and 80 % because of the remaining salt in the walls,maybe not the
best for the furniture  but great for the plants!:-)

    These pictures are taken by an aunt of Mart,she lived in this house till she died in 1992.

 And this is how the house look now.

  The next pictures are taken inside.

    This is Bram,one of our 14 cats,behind a Spathyphillum and a Draceana.

 Angel on the other site of the front,with Asperagus,Phoenix,a litte Pachira and a Chameadorea.

I  loved houseplants whole my life,mostly the green one's,but about 10 years ago I bought 2 varieged
Hoya's,because I liked the leaves very much.Recently I discovered that there are a lot of variety's in the Hoya family,so a new interest was born.

In the left corner of the right window is my oldest Hoya Carnosa.

    This is a rooted cutting from Hoya kerrii,I bought it from Paul Shirley.

                      Hoya memoria (gracilis) from Fer and Urs Jansen,Wouw.

    Hoya pauciflora,from EPRIC foundation.

                     In the corner the second of my oldest carnosa's,I think a tricolor.

    Hoya pubicalix GPS 282,rooted cutting from Paul Shirley.

 And this is Hoya diversifolia,also from Paul Shirley.

                     Hoya carnosa from the outside,and below a little window with in the right side
                     of the middle Hoya cummingiana,from EPRIC.

 

Earlier this year I met a Dutch Hoya lover and collector on facebook,Gerrit van 

der Zee,and he was so kind to give me all sorts of information about Hoya's.I got

the next unrooted cuttings from him:

-Hoya wayettii

-Hoya sulawesi

-Hoya kentiana

-Hoya  serpens

-Hoya thompsonii

-Hoya bilobata

-Hoya australis

and 2 rooted Hoya's: australis ssp australis(keysii)& polyneura.

I potted the unrooted cuttings up in a mixture of orchidbark and cactus soil,and put them in

a little greenhouse.I hope they will root!                                                                                 

        So much for the first post,I think it was easier to handle than I thought!:-)