Saturday, February 24, 2007

Bella and Kerrii: Beauty and the Beast

Hoya Bella

Actually a beautiful plant. I did not want to get it seeing as I allready have H. weebella/dickinsonia and have now actually run out of hoya space (or any other plant for that matter!). However, an old lady in Scotland needed a Bella and therefore it's now sat in my lounge. It might get a small haircut before it goes away...

There are flowers, either open or forming, all over this plant. I'm guessing it's been sat in a nice warm greenhouse, and not in someone's cold front room! The flowers smell like delicate hyacinth which is really rather attractive. It was sat next to me last night while I faffed on the computer and I suddenly caught a whiff of it - very subtle I think.

Hoya Kerrii

Ok, so it's unfair to call any plant a beast, but I mean more in terms of the fact it has absolutely humungous leaves!!! For some reason I always thought this plant had much smaller leaves, and it literally has SAUCERS - it and the lauterbachii are now in contention for the bigger leaves, and it's winning!!! The leaves are 10 cm long and probably as much wide - crazy plant!

4 comments:

EpiForums said...

Yes, the leaves are quite large and stiff. Now while I won't say that you could eat off them (maybe some tapas), they do require some room. My largest leaf grower has to be hoya latifolia, which has leaves larger than the kerrii.

roybe said...

Hoya bella is one of my favourites Hilary,its a good idea to take a few cuttings before you part with it. when I go to the markets everyone seems to go for Hoya kerrii they seem fascinated with the leaves.

Sandy said...

Hilary, I have never seen a bella grown on a trellis, what a lovely plant....you will have fun with keeping that one tamed!..the blooms smell very nice up close.

Unknown said...

I bought a Hoya Kerrii from Bangkok,Thailand and will bring it back to my hometown Istanbul, Turkey. It is a beautiful plant but the seller was a Japanese lady who didn't know a word of English. I don't know how to take care of it. Can you pls give me some info? I hope the climate of Turkey will be suitable. Thanks.