Hoyas and Friends

You will not be surprised why my posts are mostly of hoyas. Even my FB photos are hoyas too. Maybe it is also a stage in my ornamental hobby escapade. When both blogging and FB were not yet "in", i was into orchids. Or let's say, that time even digital technologies are still being invented. So when the orchids craze left me, and literally they left me too, succumbed to virus, i changed to hoyas. That was only for the last 2-3 years. And space and time hasn't changed yet for me. I am still an absentee gardener, relegating all the maintenance to my sisters and nephew who are left at home where my hoyas are. I am in the big city, trying to be home only on occassional weekends. These past few weeks i try to go home weekly, even at these extreme heat, do you know why? The main reason is to tend to my hoyas and monitor what happens to their growth, observe the conditions most specially the first blooms. A few of them are already showing signs of flower buds, and a few already has blooms.

Of course, i will not let them pass without taking their photos. Even the smallest of buds or shots are recorded. Now, their visitors are recorded too, and i will be sharing them with you.

 First flowering of my Hoya fungii had 3 blooms opening in 3 consecutive days, so i can watch the 3 of them so delightfully. Moreover, the scent in the late afternoon to the early night is too strong that it catches a lot of attention, both humans and insects.

 The above cotton bug, Dysdercus cingulatus, is less than 2 cm in length. It has been there for 2 nights and 2 days. It is still there when i left for the city on Sunday afternoon. I wonder if it is still not drunk yet with all the nectar it has been sipping all those time. Its proboscis is always digging the nectar container.

 This bee also lingered for so long. But unlike the cotton bug, it leaves for a few minutes to go to other flowers. But the lure of the hoya nectar is maybe so overpowering, that it returns again and again.

 This ant maybe has other intentions other than sipping nectar. I guess it is eyeing some prey of smaller ants that frequent the flowers. I just wasn't able to watch them longer, but the dynamics of predatorship in my hoya plants are going on so healthy and active.

Maybe this is a sucker, as it has a long proboscis always pointing to the stem. I just don't want to alter their dynamics, so i let it be. It is less than 1 cm in lenght. This can be a hopper.

I wanted to record more of the residents of the hoya community, but i just have no enough time. I still have to tend to the bigger work of watering, making trellis, getting the long hoya shoots from embracing its neighbors, clipping them to their own pots.  Later on, i will do more of these records, by that time i will share with you more. I hope i can at least give you a few information.

Macro Monday 2

Ruby Tuesday Too

NF Blo-Ma