November Blooms

I am maybe biased to flowers that cater to butterflies. That is my disclaimer because most of the plants you will see in this post are nectar plants, loved by butterflies, which in turn i love too!

 

 Asystasia intrusa can be invasive, but i always have them for, of course you know what! But if isolated in numbers in plates like the above, they can be beautiful too.

 Pentas lanceolata are favored by the Scarlet Mormon. They favor those in umbels because they will not leave the area for another flower, just insert their proboscis in the next flower within the umbel. Butterflies know energy conservation too.

another Pentas lanceolata color form, favored by the tigers

 This hippeastrum is the only species that bloom more than once a year. In fact this is its 4th bloom. When under the net protection it produced 6 flowers in one scape. 

 This is my first time to see the flowers of Curcuma longa or turmeric.  Actually, above are the bracts, the flowers already gone. Those almost rotten debris at the axils of the bracts are the decomposing flowers.

top view of the Curcuma longa bracts

 This is only a leaf, but it is as lovely as a bloom. It is one of the colorful caladiums. 

Hoya pubicalyx 'Black Dragon' syn. Hoya pubicorolla

 My Garden Bloggers Blooms post is not complete without the hoyas. They are the special flowers in my garden with their own enclosure and get more attention from me and my sister at home. I just go home on weekends and i only do some jobs and taking their pictures. I confess my bias is fully with them together with butterflies!

 Hoya alwitriana starting to open. This is one of the very few hoyas that blooms in the morning, most of them opens in the late afternoon.

 Hoya pubicalyx

 Hoya odorata

Hoya bifunda ssp. integra

Hoya nakarensis

GBBD

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. 

Floral Friday Fotos

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, March 2017

March is an awkward month of the year in this country. It is when the "cold" easterlies stop and replaced by the hot winds. Literally, the air suddenly gets hot, it didn't even pass by warm! Temperatures will now all be above 31C which will still go up to about 37 or 38C. The other night i suddenly woke up feeling the perspiration on my head and neck. It is the start of the dry-hot season, the difficulty going outside the building, the plants drying up, and the soaring of electric bills from continuous airconditioning units. 

AT least we still have lots of flowers. Of course, we actually don't loose the flowers, but many of what we have now will also die the following months. 

I would like to show you my flowers grouped into colors.

REDS

Above and below: Episcia

a rose bud

milkweed, Asclepias curassavica

I am very much fascinated by those ladylike structures of the flowers with their flowing red gowns. But this milkweed is not commonly growing in our lowlands. In fact this is growing with me for the first time, flowering for the first time, which excites me a lot. I got the seeds from the cold uplands before Christmas. I know this is the host for the monarch and we also have a Philippine monarch species, so i am hoping they will eventually find their way to my milkweed. If the monarchs in Mexico can travel the distance to the US, then i am hoping wherever our native monarchs are will finally show up to eat my milkweeds. Let us see, i am hoping!

 It is amazing that there are stages in maturity showing at the same time in one plant. Despite my going home only on some weekends, at least i will always see them at the open stages. They are so lovely.

 The plants are not as tall as those in the cold uplands in Baguio City, but they also grow luxuriously and looking healthy in my garden. I just realized they mature fast in hotter climes. Nothing is eating its leaves yet. The monarchs are nowhere to be seen.

WHITES

Clitoria ternatea

I planted the seeds of this, thinking i am planting the common blue butterfly pea. Only 1 plant germinated, and eventually a white flower emerges instead of the blue. It could be disappointing, but it actually is beautiful that also fascinates me. Although of course, i will not be able to produce blue rice, and blue juices. Nevertheless, i love the white one.

 Hoya multiflora

My bloom day will not be complete if i will not be including some hoyas. There are always a few of them blooming in my garden.They sustain my lust for flowers every weekend when i go home. They say "food satisfies the body, but flowers sooth the soul". Nothing is more apt than that. 

 Hoya celata

Not many hoya species are white. There are a few more but mine is not yet flowering, except for this Hoya celata. 

VIOLETS

I realized i have more violets blooming now. I wonder why they suddenly opened at the same time to make me have some conclusions about them. That i have actually lots of violet flowers in my garden. I didn't intend to have all those, but they are already there, so get the most out of them. 

Hoya pubicorolla ssp. anthracina

This started as black or almost black, in fact, its original commercial name is Hoya pubicalyx 'Black Dragon'. But hoya flowers being mostly anthocyanins change color with different conditions. This is one of them that responds well with changes in the environment including its media. 

Hoya pubicalyx

This is one of the remnants of the orchids i once owned. They were neglected, and just left on their own 'instinct' to live, to perpetuate the species. They are watered only by the rain and not fertilized at all in their lifetime. I guess it just got to become tolerant or resistant of the unwelcome conditions in my garden. Definitely, an orchid is always loved when it suddenly showed up. 

Duranta erecta, is one of the most durable plants in my garden. It gets stressed and yellow during the very hot dry season, but it never fails to show some flowers. I planted it for the butterflies, and it never disappoints.

a single flower of Impatiens balsamina, 

If i didn't take a picture of a single flower, i wouldn't realize it is very beautiful and elegant. They grow in droves, get a bit invasive and thrive so fast so easily. That is the reason i fail to see it like above. 

The single plant

The above group is not planted intentionally. They are the seeds from the previous growths and suddenly emerged that plenty. The original has peach, purple, whites, but the peach didn't show up in this generation and only a few white plants are growing. 

GREENS

anthurium

You might think that there is no green flower, sometimes there are! This is actually a pink anthurium. I intentionally touched that spadix when the minute flowers are still open, trying to pollinate them. A few of those bulges in the spadix are the anthurium seeds, which are more plenty at the base. I learned that the upper portion is the male part, however there are also a few bulges there, which means some seeds are developing there too. Anthurium seeds mature in almost a year, so if i will really be interested to get those seeds i need to wait for a lot more months. However, i will not wait for that, as i am not really getting the seeds from its selfing.  My curiosity just got the better of me during that time, just needed to see some green anthurium spadix.

Through My Lens
Nature Notes
Our World Tuesday
GBBD