Hoya & Eria Orchid

 I had often seen Hoya plant enthusiast who post tonnes of blooming pictures.
And that's how I got infected with the craze. I thought these plants were expensive - then I came to find out that they were but because of the supply and demand factor.
And then suddenly they had flooded the market - just like the orchids, desert rose and any of the latest in thing - the usual price hike will tumble down quickly as most vendors want to push these plants off their rack to refurbish their new stock.

That's why this is priced something within RM20 - (RM12 or RM18)
I don't intend to spend buying expensive plants,
knowing by experience - when a plant is expensive, it means that chances of it die under my care is faster.
And truly - I intend to keep hardy ones - not the sensitive
(due to lack of time - care of garden plants is very limited)

So this is the Hoya story.
Commonly known as Indian Rope.
If you got it together with a hanging pot - practically there is nothing much care is required as they do just fine establishing themselves shooting out new vines all over the place.

I think the weather places an important role in their blooming process.
These had started blooming after a long dry spell
followed by few days of gloomy wet/rainy weather.
As I said.
I only admire them from other gardener's picture.
I really thought - I could actually come up close and personal.

I forgot to mention.
Their blooms are fragrant - stronger closer towards the evening time and night.
And yeah - if you are sensitive type where you don't like floral fragrance,
I bet you won't like this one.
It smelled earthly - close to something that almost like an industrial chemical, something very close to unpleasant but bearable.
And I end up taking a few more sniffs to really identify why I don't like this floral fragrance.

My wife thought something died in the garden.
That how ungraceful Hoya Carnosa can be.
I guess this variegated type is not a pleasant one.

Sometimes admiring beauty requires an acquired taste.
I guess it is a gardener thing.
And I really hope - other gardeners agree with me.

 Next another non-varigated Hoya started its first blooming.
This one is totally striking red.
And it also had the same fragrance like the pink one.
Regardless - I enjoyed this redder bloom - it was really explosive.
Like a ball of fire.

 A seedpod from a Hoya flower.

This Eria Orchid started with its flower spikes suddenly.
I thought this was a goner - never to see it blooming like thousand years ago.
An I'm not a orchid collector type - the type who goes for exclusive, rare taste..
where the flower would appear to be something like a common grass flower.

Nevertheless - It was given to me to try it out.
And me - that time, anything that can survive in my garden is considered OK.
This one stayed strong with me compared to most orchids - I often wondered whether it would ever bloom in my garden and now it started showing its inflorescence.

I understand that it is an Eria Orchid.
Or perhaps I'm wrong.
Well - let's wait and see how beautiful the blooms shows up.

The best thing to do when these don't flower at all
is to bunch all of them together and consider them as an Epiphyte corner,
placing other coloured creeping and hanging ones together to add depth and mystery to it.
And it does sort of give a nice feel of variety - something that the wild got to offer.
But mine is basically worldwide - and that is something I like about it.
Having a small portion of the entire world in a small space called my garden.
The only trouble I face is vines being vine - they tend to outgrow very fast.