Hoya Blooms

My Hoya carnosa finally bloomed tonight! It's been working on flowering since 12/22/15! It took nearly a month to flower!

January 8th

January 14th

January 16th

Many of the buds fell off just before blooming. I wonder if I stressed it out or if that's pretty normal. It was in a pretty high traffic area, so the buds may have been brushed off. I'm not too sure.

Hoya carnosa

Budding Hoya!

I have only gotten one Hoya to bloom before, and so this slow growing plant had be very excited when I finally noticed this!

Photo taken December 22nd.

Photo taken December 30th.

New Plants

Yesterday I had to get out of the house, and so I decided to take a stroll at a few of the local nurseries. I didn't plan on buying anything, but the second place I visited had leaves dropped everywhere, and I wanted to bring those home, so I felt obligated to make a purchase if I was going to ask if I could keep their garbage.

First I visited Home Depot, and I saw a few items I'd like to have bought, but I left without purchasing anything. My second stop was to Calloway's nursery. It's very close to my home, and I visit there often. They had a bunch of some kind of Echeveria leaves all over the place. I picked up about a dozen of them as well as my very first Hoya! I think it's Hoya carnosa. I also picked up a spectacular little Bromilliad. He's got very dark leaves with brilliant silver tiger stripes! I think he's called Bromilliad cryptanthus "Black Mystic".

After leaving there I visited this local Bonsai shop. They have a lot of Bonsai plants, pots, and other miscellaneous stuff including succulents. The store looks like someone's old home turned into a plant nursery. It's an absolute treasure hidden between Taco Bell and an Alcohol store. If you're not looking for it you're sure to pass by it without ever seeing it. From here I picked up a very large curly Tillandsia, and two succulents - Faucaria tigrintha (I think!), and a Crassula ovata, Gollum. Although all the variations in ocata are fairly daunting so I may be off base!