Doug, I've had no luck getting a bloom out of 'Iris Marie' either. Mine is nice and tight in a 6" pot, had grown like a weed over the last two years, but not a single peduncle. I thought maybe it was too cool here for it?
Carol's giant 'Iris Marie' by her front door is a real show-stopper. Every time I've seen it it has been loaded with blooms. In fact, I have a couple of pictures of it.
I meant to ask: Gabi, what's the secret to getting it to bloom in our cooler part of the world?
That is a great looking plant. Maybe they prefer hot, humid climates? I wonder how that particular one would do here in my area? Anyone down south grow Iris Marie?
I had to go google this one to see more photo's and look what I found: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bigislandgrowers.com/AHcomp/AH/AHiris1/AHiris1C.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bigislandgrowers.com/AHcomp/AHiris1.php&h=656&w=325&sz=54&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=V7fZVclrsx71lM:&tbnh=138&tbnw=68&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dimages%2Bof%2Bhoya%2Biris%2Bmarie%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX Beautiful plant, Carol!
Another I'm adding to my wish list. Gee, I can see myself giving up every plant I own to have a house full of hoyas.
My small plant of Iris Marie put on 2 peduncles this spring and bloomed for me here in Illinois. I grow her very dry, in a somewhat sunny south window. She's in my regular potting mix of one part orchid bark, one part promix, and one part hydroton. HTH.
Karen
Hey Karen, does your house stay particularly warm?
Here is a Hoya cousin blooming for the first time for me, a Stephanotis. It appears to enjoy it's new home in Georgia (as do the humans living in the same space). All my hoyas are putting out new growth...much more than anything I ever saw in Illinois. I've got a few penducles, but not too many flowers YET....but I do have hope!
Stephanotis....I LOVE that flower!!! I planted one and it grew up a tree and blooms 40' up and I never get to see it!!!! or smell it!!!!
Oh, that is a beautiful Stephanotis! I had no idea it was related to Hoya! How cool.
I have a Stephanotis that I bought about 3 years ago, it has grown a lot but has not bloomed yet! The trellis is an upside down tomato cage stuck in the pot. Suz, what do you feed your plant? Mine might not be getting enough direct sun as it's in a container in my screened pool enclosure.
I can't wait for mine to bloom, and to hopefully smell that fragrance!
Mark - I don't keep the house particularly warm. Iris Marie bloomed for me in May. I keep her in the sunroom, so, at that time, I had all the windows open for most of May, so there was alot of air circulation. Also, we had a very rainy May - excessively so for our area, so the humidity was higher for us than usual. Those two factor may have also contributed to her cooperative mood to bloom for me!
Karen
P.S. Hi Sue - I'm still in awe of that australis I got from you - she continues to put on growth! Glad to hear your move was a good one for you - although I can't imagine anyone liking warm Georgia over tempermental Illinois!! LOL (Here's a picture of her!)
Lin...yes, she likes full sun! And she does like to climb!!!! If you had a place just outside of your pool enclosure....?
Thanks Carol ... I'm moving her today!
Oh, maybe the humidity then, for 'Iris Marie'. That makes sense, Carol's place tends to be "somewhat" moist most of the year, eh Carol?
I guess I'm out of luck, California is dry as a bone (except for fog) for seven moths out of the year.
Waa waa.
Can you hang her in the kitchen over the sink? Or in the shower?
Lin,
I feed my Stephanotis the same way I do my Hoyas...I use MSU Feed Me fertilizer and I spray it on every few days during the growing season. The rest of the time I don't feed. Since the "growing season" in Georgia is about 3 months longer than in chilly Illinois, I think it has improved my chances for blooming greatly. My Stephanotis gets LOTS of full sun on my SE facing covered deck. I have it at the very edge where it gets full sun in the morning and early afternoon...but none during the burning hot sun of the late afternoon. It LOVES sunshine, but our Georgia sun is really strong and I've burned up a couple of plants keeping them out in it full time already this year.
Good luck with yours...it is beautiful!!!
Thanks Suz! I have moved mine to a sunnier spot. I was going to put it just outside our pool area but that is the SW side of the house and gets very intense, hot sun in the late afternoon so I decided to move it to the front of the house which faces East. It will get morning sun until about noon. If it doesn't work there I will try it somewhere else. I need to get better about feeding my plants! I really, really would like to see blooms on this one.
Stephanotis LOVES its head in the sun...the most beautiful one I have seen is growing on a chainlink fence on a lava field...talk about HOT and SUN!!!! We are closer to the equator so our sun is even stronger....but our humidity helps!!!
I've been looking through this thread. These are BEAUTIFUL plants! Are they expensive? I'd dearly love to have one of the ones with the ball like blooms! I think I had a hoya years ago, called lipstick vine. But these are spectactular! I've really enjoyed looking at them!
Audrey
Hi Doe,
Hoya's and Lipstick are two different plants but some of the Lipstick plants have foliage that resemble that of hoya. The Lipstick plant is in the Gesneriad family of plants, along with African Violets, Streptocarpus, Episcia and a few others. Hoya's are in the family Asclepiadaceae. (What a mouthful, huh?)
I have a couple of Lipstick plants and a few Hoyas too, love them both.
Check out some of these Lipstick Plants in Plant Files: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=aeschynanthus&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search
And, Hoya's: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=hoya&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search
I didn't know they were in the African Violet family! Mine had the hard, shiny leaves like the Hoya! I'm surprised! They're not to terribly expensive, are they? I'll have to get some after the weather cools off some!
Yep, African Violets are in the Gesneriad family, the blooms are very different than hoya blooms.
Some of the Peperomia plants: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=peperomia&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search have foliage that resemble hoyas too. Another entirely different family of plants.
I used to have the watermelon peperomia. Years ago!
Lin, thanks to you, I have finally got a whiff of what lacunosa smells like. The speckled lacanosa you sent to me had a peduncle. Here she is.
Here's my fungii. It's a young plant from a cutting in November 07. This is her first bloom.
I recently received a cutting of an ordinary carnosa with a peduncle. The flowers are not so ordinary. There's only a few and I think they are beautiful
I really like that fungii! I didn't know you could grow these from cuttings!
Nice blooms Imadigger. If only my fungii would bloom!
Mark, sorry for the delay in answering your question (spent this ultra HOT weekend camping - fun but uncomfortable!).
Anyway, you asked how I get cv. Iris Marie to bloom in my cool weather - here's the answer: I got it from Carol!!! It has 3 or 4 peduncles, so I lucked out!
Doug, I really hope you get blooms soon - I know how frustrating it is to have such a large hoya and to wait and wait and wait for blooms.
Gabi
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Awanda & Meltn!
Hope you both have an absolutely beautiful day!
Imadigger: What great blooms! I'm do glad the speckled leaf lacunosa didn't blast that peduncle! What do you think of that fragrance? Really nice isn't it? I wonder why your flowers look so different from mine? My lacunosa's all have little tight cluster like blooms. I think the lacunosa is one of my favorites because it seems to be a dependable bloomer for me and I love the sweet fragrance. I have had much better luck with the speckled leaf one than the regular lacunosa for some reason. Here's a close up of one of my lacunosa blooms. They never open way up like yours did.
Very nice! I'm envious!
Lin, that picture was taken just as the buds were opening. Once they were fully opened it looked like yours. I usually take about ten pictures of each peduncle and then pick out the clearest. I must tell you, even the box smelled so pretty when I opened it.
I'm glad it's doing so well for you. Isn't it even more exciting getting a package when it smells good!
H. lobbii & H. pachyclada in bloom again.
Pachyclada.
Pretty color on the H. lobbii and I love the blooms on that pachyclada, sorta reminds me of popcorn!
Any scent with the H. lobbii??? I remember awhile ago someone (I think on this forum) reported that the blooms smelled like "bandaids" :)....somehow I have trouble relating to that...Is there a fragrance? And if so, what's your take on it?? Thanks...
Shelley
Are hoyas hard to grow? They sure are pretty! Would I be able to find one at Wal*Mart? Or Lowe's?
Doe41:
You can order from vendors right here through a link at Dave's Garden. At the Hoya forum main page, you will notice the second sentence has the word 'Mail order vendors' in green and you can click on it. Also, when you look in the Hoya Plantfiles you will see links to vendors who are selling the particular Hoya you are looking at. So, I suggest you search the Plantfiles for the one you want and follow the link to order from the vendor.
Shelley, I detected slight scent but I can't figure out what it is.
Two more blooms on the H. obovata X H. carnosa cross....so far 3 seedling have bloomed and all are different The one on the left is the first bloom....
Carol, Very pretty!
Jan
