Hoya Vine In Bloom
When my Hoya vine blooms with clusters of pink waxy flowers it is truly exciting! Truthfully, for the first few years after purchasing this plant, it didn't bloom at all, and I didin't even know that it had the capacity to bloom, funny enough. But after producing a bloom or two, the plant has become an even more proliferous bloomer with each succesive year, and it is such a joy to watch the tiny buds develop into these stunning flowers, especially on a plant that doesn't even seem to be known for its flowers!
It is true, my hoya lives outside in a sheltered and shady spot most of the year (except for near freezing temps when it is brought indoors) so it may be happier than many of the Hoya houseplants one sees in interior photos now that plants are all the rage. But I'm sure if given a bright spot, and well cared for, you can get your Hoya to bloom too!
I really don't know too much about my Hoya, except that it is really quite happy with regular watering, and a shower now and then to keep scale and pests at bay from its tight clusters. My next task is to find some vermiculite or course mixture of bark and to experiment with rooting sections of the vine, as I read that one can propogate with cuttings any time of year!
And truthfully I wouldn't mind having a few more pots of Hoya here and there! Of course just taking care of the mini jungle that i already have can sometimes be more than enough, so I can't say for sure when this rooting experiment will happen, but when it does I will be happy to share it with you. In the mean time I have my eye on some cuttings from a neighbors huge Pathos vine, that I know root easily! Happy container gardening!
2 Comments
Randi
Really beautiful blooms! You seem to have the real “green thumb” with your plants, as they look so healthy and thriving. I have a Hoya, also, which I think I bought at a Walmart, not even knowing what species it was. I found a Succulents plant care booklet at a yard sale years ago, and identified my Hoya, and the instructions in the booklet said to water it sparingly and to keep it in a smaller pot, as they thrive when roots are constricted. So, I dutifully followed the instructions to water sparingly, and it did nothing! Didn’t grow, just a few pitiful sprigs hung there for over a year. I took it out of the dirt to check the roots and they were pitiful also. Well, a friend of mine sent me a picture of a vintage glass vase that had been her mother’s, and while looking at it I realized that the monstrous, thick plant hanging out of the vase was a Hoya and it was growing in water, not soil! I asked her about this, and she said the plant had also been her mom’s and it was decades old and had always been grown in water! Well, I started watering my plant very well, not worrying about the soil getting too wet, as I had been previously paranoid about and it started growing and now looks pretty healthy and has a lot more branches and is quite healthy looking, over a year later. I hope it blooms like yours someday, too!
Sara Rivka
Hi Randi,
Thanks so much for your comment, and for the insight about trying growing hoya in water, I LOVE that option! I bought mine at IKEA not really knowing what it was either, and while it was a large plant, it actually took about three years before I got any blooms. Youll know when the plant is happy as the leaves look really healthy and full of pigment. i actually just changed the location of mine outdoors to a spot that got 2 hours or morning sun maximum and the leaves got burned a bit, so moving it back to total shade. all the best!