Hearts' Month of February, when the wind here with us in the province is a bit colder, courtesy of the Easterly winds coming from those northern countries with deep winter. I hope the colder winds will not stop soon, as animals, humans and plants all love this weather.
I had a 2 week -vacation at home to savor our still fresh air, to replenish my bad breathing air in the big city where i live for work. Allergic asthma got me in the hospital for 4 days, so i needed a fresher environment. Since Monday/yesterday i am again in the city, returned for work and breathing the bad air again. I miss our air in the province, the birds, the bees, butterflies, and my plants. I am showing some of them here for GBBD. They kept me company during my recuperation/ staycation for 2 weeks.
For those of you still in winter, i hope i can give you some warmth with my photos.
Mother's garden of annuals
Impatiens balsamina, violets, whites and pinks
Top and bottom: red Plumbago
Caesalpinia pulcherrima and
Pentas lanceolata
bougainvilla flowers
Heliconia rostrata starting to produce individual bright flowers. In April-March, a lot of them will be hanging from each plant. Right: Alternanthera variegated.
...and my hoyas!
Top & Bottom: Hoya pubicorolla formerly Hoya pubicalyx 'Black Dragon'. Is previous flowers are more black and lessened hue in succeeding blooming.
I have 2 mother plants, above has 3 umbels while the other has 2 umbels.
This
Hoya diversifolia is hanging from the lanzones trees. Above the tree are lots of umbels like this in succession.
At left is
Hoya valmayoriana, my first time to see it blooming. At the right is
Hoya siariae. It is nice to know that the persons they are named after are my former professor and my friend, respectively.
Hoya halconensis produced 2 umbels which bloomed consecutively. It started with a greenish hue at the corolla which later on changed to dark yellow. It remained open for 4 days.
My old Hoya crassicaulis is back to its blooming characteristics, with corolla not able to reflex because the flowers are very compact within the umbel. It stopped blooming for a while because i put it in ICU and had intensive rehabilitation management. Now it is back to its former glory.
Hoya obscura with simultaneous buds is so lovely to see, but when they all open at the same time, the sweet scent pervades the air around through our terrace. How nice to have coffee there in the afternoon, when they are in full bloom.