Porcelain Flower

Porcelain Flower
Hoya incrassata
(HOY-a)
Synonyms: Wax Plant
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This is an unusual flower that I came across last year. All Hoyas are kind of weird looking and this one fit the genus well. It had a peculiar smell that was umm, less than fresh. The flower itself really didn’t have any color to speak of but was growing in a geometric umbrel. Umbels are a flat or rounded flower where the individual flower stalks arise from the same point. Examples of umbrel type flowers are geranium, milkweed and chives. Hoyas are sometimes classified by the amount of flowers per umbrel. You can see that H. incrassata is generous in the amount of small flowers (20-30) per umbrel.

There wasn’t much information to get on this species of Hoya other than it was discovered in the Philippines in 1904. It doesn’t seem to be overly popular.

Yesterday was a hot day around here with the mercury climbing to about 90 degrees F. A lot of the plants were wilting including the beautiful Lungwort (Pulmonaria saccharata) and even some of the Daffodils. It is expected to cool down over the weekend, which is okay with me.

Fanfare Indian Blanket Flower

Indian Blanket
Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Fanfare'
(gay-LAR-dee-uh) (gran-dih-FLOR-uh)

I hadn’t seen this variety of Blanket Flower before so while getting its picture this bee flown into the frame. Neither the camera nor I were quite ready for that but it worked out. ‘Fanfare’ has a remarkable flower color on a compact plant. The flowers seem a little more incised than the normal Gaillardias. It is a sport of ‘Dazzler’ Blanket Flower. If you don’t know what a sport is in botany it is defined as “an organism or part that shows an unusual or singular deviation from the normal or parent type; mutation.”

Blanket Flowers are getting more popular. Earlier this year, on this site, I was lamenting how few cultivars the nurseries were carrying around here. This year there was a lot more to choose from, which is the beginning of a trend, I hope. Until further notice I am considering these flowers as annuals. They just don’t seem to come back for us.

Since it is Ruby Tuesday here is a shot that I have been holding on to for awhile. It is a rare flower since until recently they didn’t think there were any red flowered Hoyas. It is a strange little plant and the flowers are weird and unusual. This picture is from the Main Greenhouse at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, New York. They had several species of Hoya and they were all blooming on the tenth of May. This one didn’t have a proper identification tag but did have a little sign like they use at a steakhouse that said ‘Rare’.

Wax Plant
Hoya
(HOY-a)
Synonym: Porcelain Flower