Biggest of my Hoyas

Despite the many hoyas in my collection and the number of flowers blooming at the same time, it seems incomplete without this! If one is different, or getting too much of your time, or taking so much of your patience, it becomes very important. Just like the rose of The Little Prince, this hoya seems to be mine.

Its first blooming was in December when i was out of the country. It gets working at once and produced buds immediately after the first 3 blooms fell. That was the start of my weekly commute for home because these buds might open at my back. Unlike other hoyas in my collection, its progress seems so slow. Maybe that is because the buds are big, so they are very conspicuous. But i really felt more than 2 months from buds is very long enough.

corona of Hoya imperialis

I almost forget going home when my sister called saying i must go home now, as in NOW! Hoya imperialis already opened 1 flower. I suddenly went home last Saturday and 3 buds already opened when i got home.

 another angle of the corona

Will you not be enticed by this sight?  It is one of the biggest hoyas, and this originated from Papua New Guinea. The diameter of one flower is about 2 inches in that normally curved form. 

After taking a lot of photos, i can't seem to be satisfied that 2 of them remained tightly closed! I arrived home at 1:00pm and at 5:00pm those 2 buds are still very hesitant to open. My sister said they might be still due the following day. I can't agree on that, so i tried putting pressure to the center of the bud, and it cracked, even with a crackling sound. I repeated the process to the other one and it followed unhesitatingly. I jokingly said that it can do a "Caesarian section".

Here is the final picture of all the flowers fully open. You can see that right one still newly opening. But who will blame me for my impatience! They are so lovely impressing the onlookers as a group. I don't think someone will contradict me on that.

Macro Monday 2

Macro Monday

Ruby Tuesday Too

Floral Friday Fotos

Hidden Treasures

   Casia fistula flower

 plantlet still on the leaf of the "thousand plants" succulent (Kalanchoe daigremontiana)

the lip of Dendrobium anosmum orchid

    

  

Untimely Bloom

My Hippeastrum puniceum produced some blooms in February, as a response to an untimely rain. The blooms are very few, but it gave a beautiful surprise. January to April are the normal dry months, this bulb normally bloom only after the long dry spell followed by the heavy rains in May. However, they are now unprdictable, just like the weather. Thanks to the very unusual climate changes, plants gave unusual responses as well. I hope the changes remain just like this, and not the unexpected harmful ones. 

   

First Cactus Bloom

This is my first time to see the flower of Haworthia attenuata. The spike is more than two feet in length and the flowers open consecutively. They finished blooming in 3 weeks. The individual flowers are only more than 1cm in length. I scrutinized the morphology of the flower, as i cannot decipher where the stigma and pollens are! When there are only 2 flowers left at the tip of the spike, i physically removed the petals, to peep inside that small throat, and there way below the opened parts are the reproductive parts. Actually, very small ants led me there. I saw them entering that throat, i guessed they are getting something sweet inside it. 

It is elegant on its own, viewed individually like this.

The flowering Haworthia attenuata. I peeped underneath and 2 suckers are now growing. I am so glad with my new acquaintances. 

Jewels Under the Leaves

I have two kinds of 'rubies' here. The first one, i thought are just specks on the leaf near this bug. I was actually taking shots of the bug, although it is just only half a centimeter long. After 2 shots i touched the reddish spots with a leaf and the insect fell off together with the 2 red specks. When looking at the photos in my computer, i realized they are actually babies of the insect. They are safely attached to the legs of the mother, oh how so convenient! I just concluded that this insect is so caring with her youngsters, oh how so cute!

And this 2nd ruby looks really stunning and so glittering in its full red regalia. This is a spider that apparently lacked the other 2 right legs. I wonder what happened but i guess it is now doubly crippled. I promise, i didn't have any contribution in their removal. I saw this already looking this way. I've looked at so many plants in the vicinity, but I can't find any other spider looking like this. This seemed to be alone in its world. I am so sorry, spiders don't have the capacity to regenerate their appendages, so it might have to stay cripple the rest of its life.

   

Seed Natural Art

 How would you describe this photo above? It could have been mimicking the rays of the sun! But why is this structured this way, structure for function!

This is actually a seed of a big hardwood tree. The light, thin, winglike structure is necessary for dispersal of the seeds to wider areas, propelled by the wind. The seed is not eaten by birds so a unique structure is needed for dispersal. I don't know if this structure is evolutionary acquired, but isn't it a great appendage! I am awed by that, as am awed by nature. Whose mind goes to this structural design, we all know!

 
Macro Monday


Our World Tuesday

The Reds for those in Winter Climes

Many garden bloggers today are still in winter, their gardens are nowhere under deep files of snow, and they most of the time stay inside their homes with heaters to get a semblance of comfortable environment. I can only imagine and visualize these conditions. I cannot for the depth of me,  in any way empathize with their feelings and conditions, because aside from the artificial Snow Park in, of all places, Dubai desert, I haven't experience winter. The only snow I saw was the snowcap of the Taurus Mountains in Turkey. The only real snow i touched is during the snowdrop festival in Ibradi, Turkey, and it is already thawing and flowing down the slopes. 

I am posting hot and warm photos with the good sincere thoughts that I can give these blogger friends some warmth. What the eyes see is transmitted to the mind and can affect the feelings. So please keep warm, my blogger friends! These are for you.

Euphorbia millii

Caladium bicolor

Heliconia

  

Pinky Red for Monday

Anthurium andreanum spadix with blooming flowers are not very visible to the human eyes. Those whitish -powdery stuff are the flowers.

 A lovely red insect (NOID) is seen on the spadix. Maybe it gets food from there or maybe waiting for a prey. It is shorter than 1cm in lenght from tip of the tail to the tip of the head.

     

Macro Monday

Elegant White Flowers

I have been looking for white flowers at home, but they seem to be elusive. I just realized we don't have them for a long time. I searched and looked, peeped and magnified, and here are my only white flowers. And they are very small, it is good i already have a macro lens. 

individual flower of cat whiskers (Tagalog-balbas pusa), Orthosiphon aristatus

Spike of the cat whiskers flowers

Asparagus fern, Asparagus plumosus

the individual flower of asparagus fern is ~3mm in diameter