12 November 2014

Flower of the week

It's just a humble creeper - but boy can it creep!

I only remember buying two hoya plants (genus Asclepiad) in all the years I've lived here. But as the creepers grew, I would stick pieces here and there - usually in hanging pots.

I don't know what it is about these tough little guys with their leathery leaves that always fascinates me. I've never seen a bird feeding from the flowers, though I suppose insects must.

But once a year - in late Spring - they flower. And it's always such a pleasure to see where these appear.

'Wax flowers' is the common name - and as soon as you handle one of the multi-headed blooms you can see where the name comes from. The waxy flowerheads don't smell, they fall to pieces as soon as you pluck them so are no good for picking. But...

...appearing as they may do anywhere along the creeper's roaming stems, they're always a delight to behold, even if I know that after flowering is finished I'll have to disentangle some of the plants from places where they have no business going - e.g. under the gutters!












Let's hear it for tough wiry survivors.

No flowers yet on this one, even though it has colonised much of the pergola that it shares with a number of other plants and with frangipani (plumeria) just now coming into leaf.

7 comments:

Red said...

Good to see you post again. I hope these posts come more often.

The Blog Fodder said...

My mother-in-law had a Hoya plant in her apartment for decades. The flowers stunk to high heaven and were immediately picked and thrown out, as I recall. It certainly did creep though. When she moved, she had to leave it behind. I hope the new renters liked it.

Chartreuse said...

I never smelled the flowers. I know they're no good for picking as they immediately fall apart. But I'll have to try sniffing them to see if ours smell.

Snowbrush said...

Why don’t you post anymore? If you will post, I will promise to read it. Paula Kaye lives in Kansas, USA. She lost her husband to Parkinson’s in August, so I keep thinking that you two should meet. I just posted a link to your blog on her site, and I’ll now share a link to her blog on your site: http://smidgensbitsandsnippets.blogspot.com

Snowbrush said...

I’m not familiar with hoya, but I do pay a lot of attention to plants, so I suspect it might not grow here. So many plants have become invaders that it might be just as well. The flowers look like they would be very fragrant, so I’m surprised that they aren’t and what a drag that they apart when you pick them.

Snowbrush said...

I SO wish you would continue to post!

Snowbrush said...

Please let us know how you are.

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Journalist, editor, teacher, publishing manager, education consultant….but that’s all in the past. Even further back, I could add waitress, Five-and-Dime salesgirl and my favourite title: Girl Friday! All mixed in with wife, mother, caregiver and grandmother. But nowadays, based on time spent: gardener, cook, reader, writer and whatever!