langlin,

gorgeous flowers and awesome photos of them as well!!! And it only took 6 years!!!!!

I had mine just as long and never even got a peduncle let alone a flower!!! The vine grew along the rafters of the gh roof and was well over 13 ft long. It got to the point that it was hanging everywhere so I chopped it up and tried to start a new pot which ended up being a big mistake because I ended up losing all of it.

Congrats on the killer flowers!!!!

david

/Langlin Those are just spectacular. When they get this big I remember all over again why they got the common name 'wax flower.' Your blooms look so unreal.

/David That is just about the saddest single Hoya story I've ever heard. Arggghghghg!

GG,

i'm not sure what I did wrong while trying to root those cuttings but none made it and i'm sure you can imagine just how many I had from a multi stemmed hoya that was over 13ft long. I've never had issues with rooting imperialis before but it sure bombed out that time!!! I got a new start last year from a forum member here and it rooted right away. that start is just now putting out it's first new growth.

My H. imperialis "alba" is actively growing again after a long winter nap. It is just over 2 years old and has a peduncle towards the top but it's just sitting there doing nothing. This plant is a single vine about 7-8 ft long and I really want to cut it up and make new starts but don't have the heart to do it!!

Those flowers are GORGEOUS- what a beautiful dusty pink! I love how they almost look like alien flowers or something :) I have an imperialis that's just a baby, only about a foot tall now. I hope I get blooms one day!

Congratulations on the blooms, after 6 years I think I would want to throw a party. I have had orchids take that long and I just know half of my Hoyas will make me wait that long as well.
I think I have the deep red variety of imperialis but I would love to grow more than one colour form. I just added Hoya obtusifolia so that will have to do because it's a huge growing species that is quite similar to imperialis.

Mike

Oh how beautiful and my favorite color to boot. I have one called pink pearl, it died back to about 4 inches and is just now starting to make a tiny shoot. It did not like being in the house during the winter as it way quite large when I brought it in last fall.

Dee

Langlin,
That's beautiful! I'm with Mike, I'd be throwing a party!

David,
I never think of you having failures! You always seem to have a a bevy of bloomers and I'm always so envious!

Kelly

Kelly,

if you only knew!!!!! trust me I have my fair share of them I just keep them a secret!!!

spectacular !!

Langlin,
Do you know which imperialis this is?

David,
I can't even think about my losses....the $ amount and failures would send me into a depression!

Kelly

I really like the color, it's beautiful.

Congrats. I was having trouble with my two this year, but I seem to have figured out what was wrong.

Only 4 more years to go.

Renee

Wow Langlin...Congrats!! It is definitely worth the wait isn't it? Definitely the largest blooms I've ever had on any hoya to date. They also lasted quite a while which was nice since we wait SO long for them to bloom. Your blooms are beautiful and so is the color!! Enjoy...

David, I'm SO sorry to hear about yours...it is a very sad story.

Renee, don't give up...mine took about 2 1/2 years to bloom...so maybe yours won't take 6 yrs,lol...

Langlin, what a georgous bloom. I don't have that one yet. I'm afraid that if I had to wait six years, I may not be around to see it. (I'm 76 yrs old). Hoya and Orchids are my passion, but they grow outside all year. Not too good since the weather pattern has changed the past two years.
David, I thought you had 'magic fingers' as far as your hoya. I see only your beautiful pictures. I've seen your postings on other forums in past years. I know you have a massive collection. I guess I never thought you would lose any. You keep mum about your failures. You should share with us. We are 'family'. You will help us learn. And please, keep posting those gorgeous pics. I never tire of looking at them.

langlin you give me hope!! i may only have 2 years to go. congratulations she is gorgeous. Im in southern NM, im sure you have WAY more humidity than i do, but would you mind sharing your growing conditions/soil recipe? My imp is 4 years old and just devouring the window shes in, but shes never shown signs of a peduncle.

Nancy i took yours and dmicheals advice and bound up my imp and put her in a window that gets pretty intense morning sun. she has taken off again (greedy eater like you guys mentioned) and is putting out new vines everyday. hopefully this is the push she needed to give me some presents.

dmicheal-i remember when you got that alba. im sorry about your giant, its always hard when you cant keep a piece. But im happy that you have a new peduncle started on your alba. i lost the cutting of alba i got when you got yours. But i tried again this year, finally got roots-(holding my breath)

David, I CAN imagine how many starts you had off a 13' plant! Your account just goes to show none of us should beat ourselves up too much over failing to root a cutting. There's just no telling sometimes what the plant will or will not do, even if it seems all the variables are in our favor.

It's probably foolhardy for me to consider starting a new imperialis in my climate, but if I did, I think I would go with imperialis 'alba,' so I think you're lucky to be doing so well with this one.

As far as sharing failures goes, I kind of agree with everything that has been spoken here. On one hand, it does help release the poison a bit (as well as share wisdom) when we dump our tragic stories amongst kindred spirits. On the other hand, a lot of the time when something goes wrong, it's hard to tell why, and then what is there to say? At least that's how I feel when I'm staring at a vine turning into a stick, wracking my brain trying to figure out whether meddling will help it or put the last nail in its coffin.

Thank you all for the nice comments and here are some answers, first David you have so many bloomers that I have admired and I know you'll get this one back. This Hoya is huge and has over 50 peduncles but they would always blast, I moved from the Ozarks to south Texas in 2008 and brought about 40 varieties with me but they do not like the move at all. Only lost four but it is so dry compared to the Ozarks and I had the perfect growing area there. Here I don't have enough light or humidity but I have had a lot of blooms here too, maybe they like the struggle to survive? Kelly, I don't know which this is, I ordered from a grower in Florida and was told it was "Red".

Leon

jsainz, I think San Antonio is very much like south New Mexico and it's tough to grow house plants but I use Scotts potting mixure about 3 to 1 with Pearlite and water when dry.

Leon