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Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Blooming in December

It is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day again, which i forgot to do in November. It is not because we lack blooms like those in winter countries, but my time has been limited on weekends. The available time on Sunday mornings were even devoted to chasing butterflies, a hobby i have been passionately doing these past few months and years! Even attending to my hoyas become already the second priority. Some needs untangling, some needs media replacement, some have aphids or insect larvae, and a lot more problems. But they are relegated not only at 2nd, but to chance. Oh i am sorry about that, neglecting my otherwise is top priority.

So last Monday, i purposely got absent to have another morning for butterfly chasing, but it was drizzling and cloudy. Therefore, i have some hours for plant photos before leaving for the city again in the afternoon. So here are some of my blooms in a very scarse garden.

 
Two orchids: Dendrobium and Vanda
red cosmos-i planted this for the butterfly nectaring plants, but till now i still haven't seen any butterfly alighting on them


Celosia argentea 'Cristata' 

The flowers bloom at early evening, and the wind to the house was so sweet one night. So i got out and looked for the source, thinking there is a hoya that opened late, only to find out it was this Dracaena surculosa. 

Dracaena surculosa umbel

Hoya mindorensis


Hoya buotii (purple)

Hoya obscura

 Hoya multiflora

Hoya bicolensis
 Hoya siariae

Hoya siariae (yellow)






Thursday, November 16, 2017

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day November

It is almost the 15th of the month again, i need to post for the usual meem that every garden blogger waits for! It might not be the best time to show off our blooms and plants as they are already blooming since the start of the rainy season. Most of the annuals are already almost at maturity, and the perennials are not really that keen in producing reproductive parts. That is because we are approaching again the dry months in about two months.

So i am now gleaning on whatever bloom is available in the garden. 

a hibiscus flower inside the protected garden tried to escape for more light

it is now open, with slightly laced petals courtesy of the little one below

moths' larvae are everywhere, eating everything they can reach

this hippeastrum has been blooming a few times already this wet season

and we have some cockscomb blooms 

of course, Hoya multiflora is non-stop in blooming

one of the variants of Hoya buotii


the multiplier onion flowered already           
                                                

my first time to see an onion "pompom" here in our garden
   
squash is starting to flower and bear fruits. This one is so wide at 1 ft in diameter

These are Mimosa diplotricha flowers, pretty but the stems are loaded with thick thorns that entering a field with lots of these is impossible

the invasive Mimosa diplotricha

I just chanced on this wild plant while chasing butterflies. It is so pretty that did not escape my lens. 

this is also a weed, but it is lovely as well. It is favored by butterflies too.

Thursday, October 26, 2017

In Focus: Hoya pubicorolla ssp. anthracina

Hoya pubicorolla ssp. anthracina is well-known in the past years as Hoya pubicalyx 'Black Dragon'. The latter is just a coined 'variety' in commerce to describe its blackish color. The collector is from here in the country, but sold his collection first as export to the western countries but not locally. In effect, the foreign collectors already have it growing beautifully and all of us here in the country are in awe where we can get it. I was just lucky to have connection with some people and was able to get a plant from the collector. Later, when my plant flowered i was so surprised as it is not as black as the photos circling in the net.

I just learned lately that there are two forms of this as collected here. One was real black and the second is the more maroon one just like mine, as presented in the photos below. A friend from Europe offered to give me a cutting of the black form, know someone who might come here for the holidays. I hope there will be a person to bring that from Europe to Manila. I am almost close to praying!

The newer name, Hoya pubicorolla ssp. anthracina, is given by RD Kloppenburg, a former collector who gave names to most of the Philippine hoyas. He was also responsible for the controversial names of many species, as he sometimes give a new name to already identified ones. Lack of knowledge on the characteristics of hoyas to change forms, colors, and leaves shapes through time and growing conditions predisposed the Philippine hoyas to have chaotic names, others actually said "naming of Philippine hoyas is a mess".  Nobody seems to be entering the mess to correct it. 

newly opening buds


side view of the umbel of the newly opening buds

another view of the whole umbel


Sometimes the form is like above, but sometimes it is like below. They seem to be different, but they are in the same plant. That is true with the corolla, but the corona of above and below are the same. 




I love its characteristics of producing continuous umbels for many months. They seem to be always there every month, however there are not as many umbels in one plant as compared to Hoya carnosa. 


Above is the typical plant, shiny green leaves without very prominent venations. The internodes are a bit longer than the other Hoya pubicalyx, but the shape and size of the umbels are just like it. Leaves vary in sizes too, there are leaves which are sometimes longer than the average, as you will see in the above photo. There also a few umbels at the back. 

One of my pot has stems that climbed the lanzones tree. I was not able to see that until i saw an umbel of open flowers as above. I did not remove it anymore, let it climb some more, and this umbel has been flowering for maybe already 6 times. A previous flowering was included in the Hoya Telegrafen, a publication of Sweden, as the editor requested my photo. 

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Bloom Day in October 2017

I have not been going home for 2 weekends now! That means a disappointment, as i don't have the chances to photograph the butterflies, the insects and spiders in the property and a lot more. I also don't have the opportunity to tend to my hoyas, which are already behaving like they are in a forest. Some needs food, some needs to change the media, some needs to be disentangled from their neighbors. Two weeks is enough for them to embrace tightly their growing shoot stems to whatever handles they meet in their vicinity. But that is my circumstances, so bear with it.

Because i don't have my flower photos at the moment, i will be posting mostly hoyas blooming at the start of this month.


Hoya pubicalyx (different form of leaves and flowers)

 Hoya pubicalyx


 Hoya valmayoriana (named from Dr. Helen Valmayor, an orchidist, professor)

 Hoya mindorensis (from the province of Mindoro)

 Hoya pubicorolla ssp. anthracina

 Hoya ilagiorum (named from Ilag family, educators and intellectuals)

Hoya (? still unidentified)

 Hoya 'Viola'

Hoya buotii (purple)

Hoya buotii (purple) (named from Dr. Inocencio Buot, a botanist professor)

 Hoya buotii (yellow with dark corona)

Hoya siariae (named from late Dr. Monina Siar, a plant breeder and collector)

 Hoya campanulata

Hoya surigaoensis (collected from the province of Surigao)

Hoya diversifolia already climbed our lanzones tree

not hoya but hedge of Impatiens balsamina, with a purple vanda on top

a lovely show of grass blooms at the edge of the property with the morning sun glow