A new hoya in my collection, acquired in the spring of 2012, grew quickly in my house conditions and I highly recommend it for its early blooming and compact growing.
It grew nicely during warm and hot months, then it stopped during autumn and winter. I gave it water rarely considering the leaves which are succulent -like. I read about pachyclada having red edges on leaves, but mine has just green leaves.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 7,600 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 13 years to get that many views.
As this year was so bad for my kohlerias, gloxinia, achimenes and mini sinningias due to extreme heat and I lost so many of them, my intention is not to recover my collection with same plants (the lost ones). I had to try something that grows well in my home conditions no matter how and what the weather and season are . I try growing new hoya plants because they are succulents and love summer days and humidity. The only problem I have to take care is the humidity as the air is too dry around here…
The cuttings were kept in moist coconut fiber in a small plastic greenhouse, and removed from there when the roots could be seen through clear plastic cups. So far, so good, I lost some of them during last year and this one I was more careful about rooting and watering. Still I lost Hoya lobbii 😦 maybe because of too much watering. Normally I pour little water and often than lot of water and less frequently.
The next big step is to manage growing and keeping them alive over winter time when we have freezeing temperatures outside. Indoor I keep the heating system on 25 Celsius and for humidity weekly showers and/or spraying water on their leaves from time to time.
It did not bloom until now, in late autumn.The flowers are tiny , smaller than last year, but their beauty remained the same.
A very beautiful achimenes, with pale yellow flower and pale lavender edges which turn darker when temperature is cooler.
It’s blooming so late because we had extreme summer heat this year, some of my achimenes dried and died…very disappointing as they are so hard to find and buy.
I am wondering if I should buy more rhizomes and try again next year ?
The heat wave is still here, for two months already, all my plants are suffering because it’s too hot. My achimenes did not grow for weeks, did not form buds, they just stagnate.This is really frustrating and disappointing.
This gloxinia grows in my office where the temperature is almost constant around 25 Celsius.
And my wish came true sooner than I expected 🙂
A few days with rain, clouds and cooler temperatures helped me notice the color differences at achimenes Hugues Aufray’s buds. Even if the flowers did not open yet, the darker edges can be already seen. For sure the flowers will be stunning !
I must say I find this phenomenon really amazing and for better analysis of changes produced due to growing conditions I will post the photos of flowers grown at cooler temperatures versus those grown at hot temperature each time I will have this opportunity. All I need is the weather to keep on changing once in a while.Who would thought a 5 Celsius degrees difference should make such a beautiful change ?
They did not open completely but the pink shade can be seen already compared to my other hoya carnosa flowers which are white.
Other differences:
– the fragrance, Krinkle 8’s smell reminds me of cocoa;
– the leaves, Krinkle 8’s leaves are more interesting because they have dimples;
– carnosa grows fast, krinkle 8 grows slower;
– carnosa has a twining growth, krinkle 8 has a cascading growth;
The second achimenes which bloomed for me this year is a bright yellow one, the edges of the petals being pinkish, salmon or pale lilac, erect stems and light green leaves. The color of the edges varies depending on growing conditions from pale lilac to purple.
It is probably named after a french singer.
Considering the 35 Celsius temperature we have now, I must wait for cool days to see darker edges.But for the next 2-3 months there is no hope for cooler days.
It is obviously Purple King, the old, classic achimenes and reliable one. I must say all of my achimenes were really lazy this year, they sprouted late, made buds in June or others have no buds at all 😦
And another yellow surprise is on the way…
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