Close up pics of various plants

I absolutely love close up pictures.
I think they give a plant or flower a whole new perspective.
It almost makes me see the plant in a way that is different than just looking at the whole plant. This pic is of a Christmas cactus flower.


Again a Christmas cactus close up.



This is a picture of a new leaf on one of my hoyas.
The leaves on this one come out red, and gradually fade back to green.
The little leaf is about the size of a pea.


This one is a close up of an African Violet flower.
I am just amazed at the clarity of the little pollen sacs.



My last close up is a bare peduncle on my Hoya Compacta.
The leaves have grown around it, giving it a cool appearance.

In my perfect world of flowers......

In my perfect world, flowers can be whatever color I want.
I find the rarest colored flowers are the ones that don't exist in the plant I want.


If only Shlums cames in green and blue and bright yellow.




I have to admit the green and blue are my favorites,
probably because they are the ones I can't have....lol.
Why do we always want what we can't have?

Not plant related, but it's still cute......My dog singing!!

Well this has nothing to do with plants, but I had to do it, since I have friends and family that check out my blog. This is my dog Gonda. Every time she hears this song she comes running and has to sing along with it. She has been doing it for months, but this is the first time I thought to get her on video. Enjoy......back to my plants.

Kohleria humidity problem

I bought some Kohleria rhizomes a while back, they have all sprouted, but some are doing better than others. It seems that some of them are going dry and crispy at the bottom. The picture shows the lower leaves going brown and crisp.


I am thinking it has to be a humidity problem, as the couple I put under humidity domes seem to be doing much better than the ones that are not under my dome. I was under the assumption that they grew in much the same conditions as their cousin, the AV, but I am finding with a higher humidity, they grow much nicer.


The picture below is of some Kohleria Texas Rainbow. It was having some really problems until it went under the dome, and now it is starting to look really good. The ones under the dome are not getting the crispy brown leaves like the others, so I think I am going to have to move all of them into the dome. I have to be really careful as to what I out under the humidity domes, because I have found that plants that don't require such high humidity rot quite quickly.

I bought some Kohleria rhizomes a while back, they have all sprouted, but some are doing better than others. It seems that some of them are going dry and crispy at the bottom. The picture shows the lower leaves going brown and crisp.


I am thinking it has to be a humidity problem, as the couple I put under humidity domes seem to be doing much better than the ones that are not under my dome. I was under the assumption that they grew in much the same conditions as their cousin, the AV, but I am finding with a higher humidity, they grow much nicer.


The picture below is of some Kohleria Texas Rainbow. It was having some really problems until it went under the dome, and now it is starting to look really good. The ones under the dome are not getting the crispy brown leaves like the others, so I think I am going to have to move all of them into the dome. I have to be really careful as to what I out under the humidity domes, because I have found that plants that don't require such high humidity rot quite quickly.

A single bloom on my most stubborn Lipstick plant

Over the course of the past few months, maybe close to a year, I have been watching this lipstick plant grow a few buds, only to lose them before they bloom. I can not for the life of me figure out what causes bud blast on various plants, but it happens quite often in my house. Well it finally decided to keep a bud and let me see a flower. I believe it to be an Aeschynanthus Radicans, although I could be wrong.


I just love looking into the throats of various flowers, mainly gesneriads, but also schlum's. Inside the flowers are the most intricate and beautiful designs and colors. My collection of Aeschynanthus....aka lipstick plants has grown over the past few months, and it must be the season for them to flower. I am really coming to appreciate the intricacy of these flowers. It can't be a good thing....lol....because there are a lot of different types of lipstick plants, and with spring soon here, I can start the mail order thing again.


This plant hobby of mine has turned into a full blown addiction, and it is beginning to take over the house, and the backyard in the summer.

Pooh Bear joins my indoor jungle

I have been meaning to do it for months, adding a humidifier to my indoor jungle. It is pretty dry here, especially in the winter, so it will be a great addition not only for the plants, but for my family as well. Of course, I kept putting it off, there is always nicer things to buy than a humidifier, but then I came across a Winnie the Pooh humidifier, and being a Pooh fan, I had to grab it. He looks so cute peeking out from behind my plants. If only DH would stop unplugging it.....lol.

I could''t leave the foliage out

Well I felt a little bad for all the leaves, old and new that didn't get their minute in the spotlight like the flowers did in my last post.....lol. My camera takes wonderful close up pics of the foliage as well. It is able to capture hairs that are near invisible to my own eyes. The pic below is a variegated AV crown.


This close up is of a new leaf growing on one of my hoya's. This leaf is really only the size of the number 8 on a keyboard (Well standard ones anyway, but who I am to say, I am typing on a pink and silver Bratz keyboard.....lol) Let's just compare it to the size of a small pea or an apple seed....lol.


Now I am not even sure what this is. I know it is one of my episcia's, but I have never seen growth like this on any of mine before. Now I have never seen my own episcia's flower, so I am hoping this is what the beginnings of flowers look like. I can't even get close enough to get a good look with my eyes, because it is fairly small. If anyone can confirm that these are buds, please confirm for me.


This is a close up pic of my Hoya lacunosa. I swear it hates me . You can see in the pic that based on the look of this peduncle it has flowered a couple times or so, but this has not actually happened. It grows a few buds, and they never get too much past this size. I have seen them once come oh so close to blooming, but like I said this hoya hates me, and just keeps dropping it's buds on me. I think this will be the fourth of fifth time this hoya has done this on two different peduncles, The first peduncle it surprised me with didn't even get buds, the whole peduncle fell off before anything happened. It likes to tease and taunt me.