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Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Hoya meliflua is my Ruby Today!

I am looking for any structure for Ruby Tuesday. But my files are all mostly full of my hoyas! I cannot search in my other external drive as i normally leave that old one at home. So a newly photographed Hoya meliflua is handy for this meme. I hope you will enjoy this as not many garden bloggers are familiar with hoyas.

 Hoya meliflua is native to the Philippines, a prolific bloomer and not really very difficult to grow. It normally flowers during our hot dry season, which enduce it to produce lots of umbels. This is the 3rd year that my plant is blooming.

The red color is actually the stain of the nectar flowing on the velvety corolla. Upon opening the color is a bit pale, but immediately produce the red color a few hours after as nectar production is immediate. Of course, insects love sipping the nectar too. The above bee cannot easily leave because of the lure of the nectar. 

I stayed a few minutes taking a lot of shots of the bee. I am not disappointed in my purpose, as i am trying to find an insect with hoya pollinarium carried by their feet. This bee accidentally got the pollinarium because its feet has small hooks that stepped on the spot where the pollinaria are located. There are always 2 pollinaria in one socket, and this bee got one. If ever it injected the pollinarium to the stigma of another flower, cross pollination happens and will produce a natural hybrid. That is a wonderful outcome for a hoya grower if that happens. I hope this bee alights on more flowers of another species, to possibly pollinate them. Oh how i wish, i will say a few prayers! LOL.



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14 comments:

  1. Gillena CoxMay 10, 2016 at 1:01 PM

    Very lovely blooms

    much love...

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 10, 2016 at 1:33 PM

    Gorgeous captures!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lady FiMay 10, 2016 at 5:30 PM

    Fabulous ruby jewels!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Photo CacheMay 10, 2016 at 11:38 PM

    You are always showing the hoya in macro, may I request to see the plant in its full glory and not just the flower? I'm very curious, thanks.

    Emma and Buster

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    Replies
    1. AndreaMay 11, 2016 at 9:15 AM

      Hello Maria, i've tagged you in my whole hoya plant posts in FB. If you are still curious, message me and i will give you all the details, hahaha. Beware of being curious with hoya, we all started that way.

      Delete
  5. RohrerbotMay 11, 2016 at 2:32 AM

    Hello there Andrea. The flowers on that plants look like juicy morsels for these guys. Really sweet macros of the flower and bee today. Hope you are well:) Kreesh:)

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    Replies
    1. AndreaMay 11, 2016 at 9:13 AM

      Thanks so much Kreesh, am great! I always smile seeing that spelling, think its a sweet name endearment, but already forgot when that first happened. I only remember you mentioned it in one of your posts years ago, don't remember why or how. But it stuck and the feeling with it seems fun and positive. Happy birding.

      Delete
  6. NCSueMay 12, 2016 at 4:29 PM

    These are so interesting - I don't believe I've ever seen them even in botanical gardens or greenhouses. I'd love to have one - we try to plant things that will attract bees.
    Thank you for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-cats-of-san-juan.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Екатерина БалагуроваMay 13, 2016 at 3:05 AM

    So beautiful flowers!! They look like candies)) I'm not a bee, but I want to lick it too))

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cindy CarlssonMay 13, 2016 at 8:51 AM

    What a lovely flower - I've not seen hoyas that are so red. (Your macro work is pretty wonderful too.)

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  9. JulieMay 13, 2016 at 9:44 AM

    I have not seen hoyas for years! My folks used to grow them in our family home. Just beautiful.

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  10. DonnaMay 16, 2016 at 3:03 AM

    I really love the red of this plant almost like a juicy fruit.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Melbourne Australia PhotosMay 19, 2016 at 10:05 AM

    Wow! That is a beautiful hoya, Andrea!
    Many thanks for linking up with the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

    ReplyDelete
  12. UnknownMay 20, 2016 at 5:20 PM

    Nice information about load bank testing & used generator sales.

    load bank hire & generator maintenance

    ReplyDelete

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