Blooms Despite the Long Dry Season

I am already late posting this for GBBD in June, i have the risk that only very few will open my link! But i warn you, all of this you will miss if you will ignore my lateness, haha! Come and let's join appreciating my addiction that someone refers to as a disease. Can you imagine that....a disease! And i can relate to its being very contagious. This disease is very virulent. I warned you, huh!

These are some of my hoya collection. Some are already ongoing bloomers, but most are first timers. So they are really mostly expected and it indeed is very exciting for the buds to bloom. Remember i am living in the big city and go home only about 2 weekends a month, so it is timely if i can see them still open, or already open.

 This is one of my two Hoya obscura. This one is more reddish than the other one. Even at this still bud stage, it is already enticing, don't you think so?

This is just partially open flowers of the top plant. They are so lovely indeed. However, i was not able to wait for them to fully open. I hope i can see that stage next time.

This is my second Hoya obscura. The flowers are more yellow-orange than red compared to the first plant. It is a very prolific bloomer with a lot of umbels per plant. The scent is also overwhelmingly loud, not bad but if lessened a bit will be more irrepressible. 

 This is the fully open flowers of the 2nd Hoya obscura. Don't you think it's perfect!

 This Hoya incrassata/crassicaulis has been blooming intermittently for the last 2 years. The umbels are mostly so thick that the habit of the flowers to reflex cannot happen anymore. Those colored corollas remains open showing the brightly colored edges, that make them more amazing and beautiful.

 An amazing serendipity also occurred with my 2nd plant of Hoya incrassata/crassicaulis. You might not believe this, but the above plant came from the same mother plant as the former Hoya incrassata/crassicaulis. The latter is purely yellow without the brownish corolla edges. If you ask me why, i can just surmise that this is one of the cases for chimera. It rarely happens, but in ornamentals it is very much favored. Anything unusual or not following the normal patterns are more favored in flowers.

 Hoya meliflua is into its first blooming, but there are several umbels that opened either simultaneously or staggeredly. The above one is at the optimum stage of blooming, while that below is already at the more advanced stage.

 This is more dull and with less nectar than the previous photo. Insects sipping the nectar are absent also. In 2-3 days the flowers will already abscise.

 Above is Hoya pubicalyx. it also has very big umbels compact umbels. Unfortunate of most unfortunates, they are either still closed or already spent when i go home. The lovely thing though is that my niece and nephew send me the blooming photo whenever they open. How wonderful serendipity that can be, and the sent photo to me is below.

This is the Hoya pubicalyx when fully in bloom. I have at 5 plants like this but only 3 are growing peduncles and buds at present. It might already be very common, but its beauty cannot be lessened with that.

 This last 3 photos are of Hoya fungii, the two are still closed and the last one already at the height of its fullness. This is the biggest umbel among my blooming hoyas at present. The open stage is around 11 cm.

It doesn't look so big in diameter in this photo, but it left only a small space open  near the stem.

Bees and ants are its common visitors. They cannot resist the fragrance, and when they tasted the nectar, they just opted to stay there. Can you blame them!

 Hoya 'Iris Marie', in its 2nd umbel bloom. The first time aborted most of the flowers leaving only two in the umbel. I was not able to see that previous 2 flower blooms, but they sent me the photos. This time it opened exactly the afternoon i just arrived. It was a grand consolation to appease my tiring trip home. And when you come closer, the scent is comparable to a very subtle ladies' perfume, but don't ask me which one, as i think there is none concocted from it yet. I am sure you will love it the moment you smell that fragrance. I assure you, trust me!

There goes my Hoya parade. I hope you can still open my link at GBBD. Please see other posts in that site by Carol at Maydream's Garden.

NF-Blo-Ma

Floral Friday Fotos

Fertilizer Friday