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

Flowers Almost at End of Their Days

The colder days in the year are starting to be felt here. The Northeast Monsoon brings the colder winds from our neighboring countries that has the peak of winter in December.  Most of us are excited for these colder nights because we have been exasperated by the hot days throughout the year. Besides, it coincides with the Christmas Holidays, where our festivities start in September. We normally call these as "BER"months, to denote the months from September to December. But actually, colder temperatures are until February, when the dry season starts.

For ornamentals, these months coincide with their maturity and flowering starts to dwindle. Annuals produce seeds and the plants start to die. That way, the seeds are ready before the dry season starts to be too harsh for them. They are genotypically prepared for the continuity of the species.

This anthurium is pinkish red, but beautifully produce some variegation at maturity

anthurium flower stages

Dianella tasmanica produced lots of those minute flowers in November

Pentas lanceolata is a perennial but they love it better with colder nights. Butterflies also starts to be less, but they still love the pentas blooms.

Bougainvillea is also a floriferous perenial, never stops blooming

Marigold becomes scraggly these days, but the blooms are still lovely at old age, don't you agree?

We have some scentless roses too. I guess they are less palatable when scentless. No wonder they don't need to have thorns, so it is the Unscented Thornless Rose!

This is a lone chili pepper at the front of the house, delivered by birds. We let it grow there and it became like a small tree, about more than 6 ft. It was actually taller than me. The birds love the ripe fruits. We don't have much use for the fruits, and the birds monopolize the eating.

ready for harvesting, eh!

The blue duranta, well loved by the butterflies, now have few flowers left. The flower stems don't look nice anymore. In a little while, the green fruits will emerge concomittant with the dwindling numbers of butterflies. They are in-sync, don't you think so?

 

Even the caladium  gets scraggly, not looking good anymore at old age. Some are even eaten by the hawkmoth larvae turning serrated leaves.

Lantana camara and Ixora coccincinensis are both perennials, 

they are not bothered much by hot or colder temperatures. 

Look at the Impatiens balsamina, fruits are maturing, some even already dehisced busting them to the ground. I have also uprooted a lot of plants for the compost. 

Mussaenda blooms are maturing too, reaching the extent of blooming. 

A few more weeks and they are ready for prunning or beheading. 

Of all the plants we have, it is Hoya diversifolia that brings me so much excitement.  The vines outside the canopy, facing the bright sun produced umbels at every node, and they continue to bloom until January or February. They have been like that since September. I think you will agree with my enthusiasm. Other hoya growers don't experience the blooms i get from it. This is its 2nd year of blooming like that. 

Above is the close-up of some blooming stems near the tree main branch. The only disadvantage is the height of the tree, i need to go to the roof to take some photos. The first photo was taken on the ground, while above was on the roof. Can you blame me for giving more attention to the hoya?  I have made a post about it "In Focus" in the previous posts. 

Nature Notes

GBBD

Our World Tuesday

Outdoor Wednesday

In Focus: Hoya diversifolia

Hoya diversifolia is a much loved hoya of the Philippines. It was reported to have been found in Palawan, there is even a name H diversifolia subspecies el nidicus, which refer to that one found in El Nido, Palawan. It is reported that aside from the Philippines, it is also discovered from Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. There are many subspecies and even written as varieties in hoya websites, but they are probably given by traders to show physical differences, not considering the changes they show when grown in different conditions of the environment including media, pH, nutrition, temperature, sun exposure, etc. Researches to show variations in one through time is non-existent or very limited. Moreover, even the main Hoya diversifolia name has the status of "unresolved" at The Plant List.

Long time growers very well know that hoya characteristics changes in color, shapes of flowers or leaves and a lot more phenotypically. But this species is named such because of its diverse characteristics of leaves. For example, sizes of leaves vary so much that if only big leaves are shown continuously for a long time, someone might think that it is the actual leaf sizes for it. However, the word diversifolia came from diverse or variations of the foliage.

Even with the growth of the flower buds, there are normally a few stages in one umbel at a particular time. The above umbel has at least 3 stages of flower development. But there are also umbels showing the same stages of flower growth. 

The early opening buds already produce an exciting phase like the photo above. The fuchsia corona color peeps through the light colored corolla making the opening very dramatic. 

Nectar is also a prominent characteristics of this hoya, giving indoor growers in temperate countries some difficulty with cleanliness. Nectar is sticky and difficult to clean most specially because flower stays open for 1 week. Scent is not very sweet nor bad, just a pale discernible flavor. 

I taste all the nectar of my hoya, and i just discern the sweetness, characteristics of all their nectar. 

This hoya has long internodes and really grows fast, so i allowed one plant to climb the lanzones tree. Despite our very long, hot dry season, it thrives there without any watering. The leaves just turn yellow and wilted, but recovers quickly after the first heavy rains of the next season. It is also noticeable that almost all nodes are laden with umbels. 

It climbs almost all branches and twigs, then the stem end drops to space for lack of suitable object to cling to. Even the dropping stems bear continuous umbels on every node.

The characteristic differential flower bud maturity in an umbel is shown in many umbels of the above photo.

 But there are also umbels showing the same stages of maturity. By the way, we can see the sudden big size of that above leaf, surpassing all the sizes of the older leaves before it! Diversity in foliage clearly sustained.

This is the main trunk of the tree it climbed on, now already fully enveloped at the base. It also produces long adventitious roots reaching the ground, finally getting more food sustaining it for the dry season.

The only difficulty i have is climbing the roof just to get some photos. At least our house has a lower roof above the terrace, where i can easily climb via the 2nd floor window.

 Flowering starts in September and continue until December or January. That is almost 6 months of non-stop flowering. This is the difference when growing in their natural habitat, as many growers in temperate countries are disappointed for years without blooms. In my case, even the very short newly planted cuttings produce small number of flowers.

 My Hoya diversifolia does not disappoint growers. It is self supporting without watering and did not receive any taste of fertilizers. It also caters to insects in their own food chain, as lots of them are thriving in that small micro community.

Can you see that green praying mantis at the top right portion of the photo? 

I just saw it when i post this here. 

Previous In Focus posts: 

Hoya obscura, 

Hoya benguetensis

Hoya madulidii

Hoya siariae

Hoya alwitriana

Hoya imperialis

Nature Notes

Our World Tuesday
Outdoor Wednesday
Floral Friday Fotos

Flowers of Hoya diversifolia

I have not been taking photos lately. My weekends are always so short and always lacking in time. I arrive home normally after lunch from the big city where i stay weekdays, and at 3 or 4pm Sunday i leave home again to be back to the cement jungle and to the 5th Floor of the condominium where i live. Most of the time i stay late at night doing garden chores and wake up early direct to the hoya garden. I am already there even before having coffee and breakfast. Hoyas, i confess, are getting most of my time. It entails a lot of work, i am tired but i enjoy it. My hands got dirty, my legs ache, my eyes got so overworked, but still i love them.

Photography now takes second place. Butterflies, lots of insects and spiders roam around, but i seem oblivious of them. Oh how i miss photographing those butterflies. When they enter the hoya garden, then i somehow can take their photos. But that is not often, so i lack butterfly photos this year. Again, this seems hard work, but i enjoy it.

Hoya diversifolia flowers in an umbel. It was just washed with strong rain, so the usually oozing nectar is not seen now. In a few hours there will be nectar again.

This Hoya diversifolia is planted about 3 years ago when i got disappointed in seeing a supposed-to-be a hoya sanctuary in a resort. After returning to our place i immediately planted this to climb our lanzones tree in front of the house. This bottom parts of the hoya are exposed to the sun, those leaves get so yellow and wilted during the dry season. It is the rainy season so the leaves resurrect and get a bit greener. It doesn't receive watering at all.

This NE part of the canopy shows a lot of consecutive peduncles on the vines.  I was able to take direct level photos by climbing our rooftop. It is nice to look at long strings of blooming umbels.

 Branches that tend to drop from the branches produce lots of blooming umbels too.

 This phase of the 2 adjoining lanzones trees fronts the house, and the vines already transfered to the 2nd lanzones tree at the left.  A few lanzones fruit bunches are starting to ripen. This year it is not laden with more fruits unlike last year. The lanzones tree is not fertilized so it gives biennial fruiting.

 the same portion of the trees at wider angle

 this photo was taken during the typhoon showing the branches moving with the wind

 a migrating vine with long growth shows consecutive blooming peduncles

another nook with lots of blooms

The hoya vines already reached the canopy of one side, stems still 

conquering more portions of the tree. It is amazing how prolific this 

hoya is in our country. I guess that is because it is native here and needs 

no acclimatization to bloom fully.

Floral Friday Fotos