Jardinerong Sunog (the Burnt Gardener)

What you are looking at is a little known epiphytic gesneriad that is almost entirely unknown in cultivation, Agalmyla clarkei . I first saw this species in Oriental Mindoro some years ago, and was given two plants by a friend who used to live there. The plants lasted for only a few months, killed perhaps by the poor quality of the water I was forced to use. More on that here:  https://jardinerongsunog.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-deforestation-decimated-my-plant.html However, I am also aware of this species' ecological preferences, which is situated at elevations around 1000 m.- and I live in the lowlands. Still, I have plants from the higher altitudes that are doing well for me, kept going by some measures that somewhat negate the effects of the higher temperatures. But as for the Agalmyla , I never obtained the opportunity to try again. Until last Wednesday, May 1. I visited a nursery specializing in some begonias, species orchids, Amorphophallus, Aeschynanthus, and other o...

Hoya imbricata  appears to dislike company plants and grows frequently in open situations. Photographed in Ilocos Norte Upon graduation from college, my first job was that of an assistant landscaper, and for my first salary I bought a book on, what else, houseplants. I also remember buying a Jewel Orchid ( Ludisia discolor ), but most of my other purchases were not plants, but books. In these books, I was introduced, not just in matters of plant cultivation, but plant genera and species I wasn't yet aware of at that time; I recall being particularly fascinated by Amorphophallus and orchids. A year later and I moved to the province, where there are still good patches of natural habitat left, although in many cases disturbed by human activity in various levels of degradation. Nevertheless, I have been fortunate to have made friends with similar free-spirited attitudes, and not long after we were beginning to explore our environs. An overwhelming thrill permeated- now I...