In Focus: Hoya diversifolia on Trees

Hoya diversifolia being endemic to the Philippines, love the climate of the country. That is a given and just like any other plant when given the conditions it needs will flourish and give the collector endless joys and satisfaction. I have read many times in Facebook posts some collectors and hobbyists'  experiences about Hoya diversifolia. My curiosity was triggered when someone said that her plant has been with her for 25 years, but has not rewarded her with flowers. I was not only curious, i was intrigued. And i almost pity the collector for tending the plant for that long without any results, and daily she was just waiting. Being impatient, i guess that will not happen with me! I've said many times that i am patient only inside the doctor's clinic, where probably the word patient originated. I never mind that virtue, not one of my stronger virtues anyway.

Another fact about my Hoya diversifolia that makes it more interesting at least for me, is that it was my first hoya given by no other than the former hoya authority in the country, Dr. Monina Siar. She was a friend in the university, became a hoya collector and responsible for naming most of the hoyas endemic here. She even had a hoya named after her, Hoya siariae, but she died of cancer a few years ago in her 40s. So you will understand my predicament with this hoya species, and my need for it to flower earlier than what others experienced.

I grow the small plant given to me in a pot, let it hanging as most hobbyists do. I took a cutting and planted in the 2nd pot. After one year I was already jittery, as it is growing well with very long internodes, but no trace of peduncles at all. I told you i am impatient. I let the 2nd plant climb the lanzones tree in front of the house, as it is not giving us good fruits anyway, because of bark borers. It looked so happy climbing vigorously untill some stems reached the top and sunny side of the tree. I realized it wanted direct sunlight from sunrise to sunset. So i just let it be, doing what it wants. I never give it any fertilizers nor watering during the dry months. Leaves just yellowed and a bit shrunken but recover fast when the rainy months came. After two years on the tree it gave a lot of flowers, this year is its 4th year on the tree. The pictures will tell you a lot of information, no need for me to talk anymore.

This tree is taller than the roof of the 2nd floor. The bottom part of the picture is at level of the 1st floor roof. Beside it is the hoya house where all my hoyas are kept as hanging plants. 

Thank you so much for your patronage of my In Focus on hoyas. 

Our World Tuesday

October 2019 Blooms

My last month's promise of posting more has not been fulfilled. I am so sorry for that. My consciousness just get more busy at the middle of the month for the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  The rest of the months i just do my usual garden chores, photo editing for FB and of course chatting with friends. Chatting with garden friends by creating articles have been shelved for new means of social media. But i am by habit still here for the monthly GBBD.

We are so thankful this year that no very strong typhoons are passing by our country's Area of Responsibility. Some were affected by the strong rains that come with typhoons at the Pacific, but at least they did not come directly to us, just like the previous years. So our plants and domestic crops are spared, and we have our household vegetable gardens giving us harvests. We cannot even finish the fruits of our few plants like okra, ampalaya, malunggay and sweet potato tops. My hoya plants are also not suffering setbacks due to strong winds from the strong typhoons.

Our area is not flat, so this area we put some blocks to contain the soil at the other side. I purposely did not put cement finish to that short wall because the green moss during the rainy season is a pleasant scene to see. That length is normally fully green this time of the year. I only planted a few Portulaca oleraceae for contrast.

Flowers of the orange Portulaca change hues from opening to senescense, which is only a full day.

 the reproductive parts of the cosmos flower

My red cosmos is still from a friend from the southern part of the country. I guess this color is common abroad in colder countries but not here. It could have been brought by friends from abroad, and i asked some seeds from her garden. The usual colors here in the country are the yellows and orange. But this red is truly a lovely addition to any garden, besides it is also loved by butterflies. 

the inflorescence is still lovely at the end of its blooming period

back shot of a cosmos flower

 the developing seeds are in those spindles

 We have a big plant of this Queen of the Night, Epiphyllum oxipetalum. The first big batch of flowers opened at the same time when i was not at home in August. I was so disappointed i did not see them opening simultaneously in one night. I can also just imagine the fragrance permeating the atmosphere that night, as they normally start producing scent at about 7 pm until the flowers close after midnight.  This month, as if to assuage my curiosity, a lone flower emerged. I waited till the flower fully opened just to take photos, and my waiting was rewarded.

 Queen of the Night fully open

 close-up of the reproductive parts that give its sweet scent

 Another plant that is plenty under some trees near the edge of our house is this Crossandra infundibuliformis. It also has a yellow form. They do not fully die during the dry season, because they have enlarged storage roots that keep them alive, and will emerge alive again come rainy months. That ensures its continuity nearing invasiveness. They are difficult to kill because of the dense storage roots.

 Another very prominent foliage plant in dry climates is this Sanchezia speciosa. They have tubular small flowers, but i prefer the beauty of their leaves. A dead spot in a garden can be enlivened by this plant. In mine, i planted it at the bottom of a jackfruit tree to cover the sickly trunk attacked by bark borers. That tree i used as a live trellis for the garlic vine. With this foliage the area looks lively and healthy despite the dying tree.

One of the most conspicuous flowering plant in October is this Hoya diversifolia, which i allowed to climb an almost dying lanzones tree. It has been there for 4 years and the most prolific flowering is now. I need to climb the roof of the first floor to get the pictures but i managed, i just go out of the window at the 2nd floor.  Some nodes are even bearing 2 or 3 umbels, and that is amazing for a hoya. I guess i am the only one in the country who has this kind of growth for this species. A full post will be done next time only for this hoya on the lanzones tree. 

GBBD

Nature Notes

Thru My Lens

Blooms in September 2019

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Our archipelagic tropical country is at the middle of our rainy season. Our plants are more lush and our gardens are usually full, if not of ornamental plants, then probably with weeds. Maybe that is talking from experience, because even if i am trying to have a decent garden i cannot cope with the growth of weeds. So be that as it may, i just change my perspective and hope that weeds protect the soil from erosion, provide food for whatever biological entity need it for existence. So, another perspective is that i allow more food available to support the food chain. That is to assuage my feeling of inadequacy in maintaining a neat garden.

Another fact that these period of climate change is giving us is the limited amount of rain even while in the rainy season. So we only get them together with typhoons! It might be an advantage that we get more than the letters of the English alphabet every year for the typhoons, meaning rains will be available for our vegetation.

Available only during the wet season - Chrysothemis pulchella

Pentas lanceolata (red)

Ixora javanica becomes a tall bush. It is planted under some trees also as nectar plants for the butterflies. It stays as a perennial, but flowers most profusely during the rainy season. 

the profusely flowering Ixora javanica does not receive any cultural management

Garlic vine, Pachyptera aliacea, is planted only to maximize the value of the jackfruit tree which is not fruiting anymore due to probably some disease. It now serves as a live trellis to the garlic vine

red Cosmos bipinnatus, is planted specifically as butterfly nectar plants

Cosmos is a photoperiodic plant where internodes elongate during the long days.

All year round semi-terete Vanda, also self supporting 

Asystasia intrusa, as the name implies is invasive. We just try to cut or pull the plant with the roots to lessen its growth, but it is beautiful.

its nector is loved by this male butterfly, Wanderer, Parantica boebera boebera

one clump of Asystasia intrusa that was constantly pruned

a beautiful foliage of Song of India, Dracaena reflexa

an old caladium variety providing life to dull corners, also favorite of hawkmoths

Hoya carnnosa (red)

Hoyas receive more special attention in my garden, it has a hoya house and watered daily when it does not rain, sometime even twice a day when needed.

Hoya 'Viola', a well sought after hoya by the butterflies. Despite many species blooming simultaneously, the butterflies converge here. ...and i have a lot more hoya for more future posts. 

GBBD

Weeklong Fireballs

Blood Lily, football lily, or Scadoxus multiflorus is a common sight in the tropics a few weeks after the first heavy rains following the long dry season. Our local term for it is lakongha or sometimes others call it lapongha. It actually is a bulb plant that belongs to the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae.  They are native of Africa and Sahara. Here in our country, it seems to be naturalized since we don't know when. 

It is not very famous because they are all green leaves the whole year round. Their leaves dry during the dry season that nothing can be seen of them on the ground.  I have a few mounds planted to them in the backyard, but last March when some friends asked for some bulbs, i can't easily locate them. I actually had difficulty getting some bulbs without hitting and cutting some. When the first heavy rains come, all of them sprouted. The nice thing about them is that the scapes of the flowers emerge first before the leaves. The red spheres stay upright for a whole week, before the leaves start to emerge. Then the whole full year will be devoted for the leaves accumulating energies from photosynthesizing, to nurture the next season batch of the fireballs.

bulbs sprouting after the first heavy rains. 

the umbels starting to show the red heads

the fully blooming umbels

just to show another mound blooming at the back


the tips of each slender filaments are the anthers containing the pollen

a few nectaring visitors, a butterfly


those little black dots are actually stingless bees also nectaring on them


the red color now starting to be pale after 5 days of blooming


they are now starting to dehisce, and the green leaves are growing taller

At the moment they are already fully green leaves, lovely foliage luxuriantly enriching themselves.  They look so vigorous seemingly palatable as salads, oh if only they can be used in green salads! But no, they will just suffice to enliven a dull corner in the garden. The more they grow leaves, the more beautiful their flowers next year will become. 

luxuriously growing blood lily foliage, enlivened by caladiums

GBBD