Hoya blashernaezii ssp siariae was part of a group Thai order that went disastrously wrong. Of all the plants in the order, this was the only one that survived intact. This means that it was the only plant that I did not have to chop up in an attempt to root something that would save the plant. While I did not have to chop it up, it was still in pretty sad shape with many yellow leaves.
With its heart-shaped heavily truncated leaves, Hoya deykeae looks like the product of a relationship between Hoya kerrii and Hoya callistophylla.
Hoya griffithii had a great summer in the greenhouse and should reward me with a few weeks of heavily perfumed flowers.
I found several of these Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillars eating my outside Hoya cumingiana today. It makes total sense as both of these plants are in the Asclepiadaceae family. I don’t really care about damage to the plant as it is headed to the waste bin anyway, but the caterpillars are extremely interesting.
The Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar obtain cardiac glycosides, a powerful toxin from their food and store it in their bodies. Birds will try one of these; wretch, immediately vomit it up, and because of the bright colors of the caterpillars will avoid it in the future.
I bought this cute little vase from Vermont artisan Jennifer Ranz. Her website can be found here: Jennifer Ranz Greensboro, VT. Greensboro is one of my favorite places to visit; I go there at least 3-4 times per year.
Hoya cumingiana and Hoya chinghungensis Late Summer 2017
Sniff as I might, I could not detect a scent from Hoya pentaphlebia. If there is fragrance, it is extremely faint.
Hoya pentaphlebia peduncle of flowers shown against a Hoya imperialis bloom.
Here are two photos from outside this morning as the snow continues to come down. Growing Hoyas in Vermont is certainly challenging especially when reading how nice it is in some areas of the country right now.
April First Snow Storm 2017
April First Snow Storm 2017
It is kind of slow here right now with not much new going on so I need to show off repeat bloomers in new and I hope interesting ways. Hoya patella is almost always in flower during the winter in the grow tent and sometimes has up to a dozen or more blooms open at once. I picked a few the other day to show off.
I want to thank everyone for bearing with me during a very difficult time for this Site. Vermont Hoyas was hacked a couple of weeks ago, and it has been a difficult road back. Fortunately I have had a very good person helping me try to restore some normalcy here. I have now switched web hosts and have implemented new security measures to hopefully stop this from happening again. If you notice, that there are missing photos from some of the page listings for many Hoyas. I am working hard to get most of these back. I hope to soon have this website back and better than ever. Thanks again for your patience.
After bringing Hoya vitiensis back inside this fall, and putting the plant in a warm, humid grow-tent under strong LED lighting, the plant began to thrive. Buds began to develop on one of the peduncles and this time they held on. Below you can see the entire plant against a background of late October leaves right after the plant flowered.
