Hoya bella family, a comparison

 Hoya bella collection currently in bloom, a comparison.

1. 1. Hoya vaccinoides
2. 2. Hoya bella 'Lida Buis'
3. 3. Hoya aff. bella PES03
4. 4. Hoya lanceolata
5. 5. Hoya paxtonii
6. 6. Hoya chinghungensis
7. 7. Hoya bella

   

   
   

   

   
   
   

Let me tell you a story

Many things have happened since I last wrote this blog. I moved twice, from a very hot flat where most of my cool loving Hoyas died, to a cold and dark flat where most of my warm loving Hoyas died. Eventually I moved to our current house where my remaining plants got left in the kitchen (northish facing and cold in the winter), ignored and left to the mercy of mealybugs.
At some point I even managed to lose the Hoya carnosa which started this all off, so I took a cutting from my parents' plant, which was also ailing. I left it in a glass of water for years (it grew roots and just kind of sat there, the minute I put it in soil it just started growing).
I got married and started doing triathlon (you can read about those on my other blog). I just ran out of interest in my plants I think because of the endless issues with mealybugs. I did discover Cryptolaemus, a species of ladybird, which did a good job of eating the bugs, but they always came back.
Last summer I had gone from 40 Hoyas to 4. Then a small miracle happened. We had one of the hottest summers on record and my kerrii, which had grown a bit in the time I'd owned it but never flowered in over 10 years, grew a peduncle and flowered. It was one of the prettiest things I'd seen and suddenly rekindled my interest in these plants after 6 years. I bought a bunch of cuttings and rooted them surprisingly easy. There was one that didn't make it but it had thin leaves and the plants had been sat in the post office for several days. Several have flowered for me this year so I have bought more to start the collection again. I have gone from 4 to over 20.

So thank you, Hoya kerrii, for restarting my obsession, although I'm not sure that my bank balance agrees!

Hoya multiflora/javanica

Enjoy!

Blooms!

Hoya lasiantha finally bloomed for me earlier this year... I had to spray it every day during its last few weeks and I never thought I would see blooms... I was lucky!

I came home one day to a gorgeous smell. I knew one of the Hoyas had flowered, but which one? I discovered that it was Hoya carnosa!

And finally Hoya retusa. I sadly lost the previous plant I had so it gave me great joy to discover my second retusa had started budding. And now I have flowers! Love the uniqueness of this Hoya.

More buds...

The Hoya lasiantha buds seem to get larger every day... we'll see if they get any bigger or fall off as usual!


This is Hoya telosmoides... a new one for me. Quite excited to see if this one makes it to flowering as well!


Now this is Hoya australis ssp australis. This one almost always flowers around autumn, so it's very bizarre to see it bud at this time of the year. I reckon it's due to the funny weather we've had this year - it was really hot and sunny for ages in April, and now it's got darker, so the australis may be reacting to this. This one is usually quite reliable so I hope to see blooms in a few weeks time.

Try and Try Again...

Well, I'll probably kaibosh it again, but here is the Hoya lasiantha trying to flower once again... the previous peduncles having fallen off once more! Ah well... we will see how far these ones will get!

Must be spring!

So, I was going through the sad process of throwing the Hoyas that hadn't made it through the winter (there are always some, no matter how hard I try not to kill them!). And what should I find to cheer me up?

Oh yes, sweet buds on the Hoya lasiantha! I had a look at it as I was moving some of my Hoyas around and noticed the peduncle had gone dark. I wasn't very surprised about this as it came to me last year with buds which sadly blasted not long before they should have opened. This has happened to me several times with lasiantha so again doesn't surprise me. But, instead of a dying peduncle, I have buds! Will they make it this time? We will have to see. Give it a month!
And here is my second suprise:

I've only had this Hoya padangensis for six months, bought at the very end of last year's posting season. I'm really excited about seeing how the flowers develop - I've seen how unusual they are, which is why I bought it to begin with.
So although it is with sadness I said goodbye to some of my Hoyas, I really hope these ones will come through this time and flower for me! :)