My lovely Hoya

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The first time I saw her, I was hooked; It was love at first sight….but she belonged to another; my friend Dorothy had the most beautiful Hoya hanging in her kitchen. I asked for a cutting but was told that the last time a cutting was given, the mother plant subsequently died and the cost of replacing her was substantial. So, I had to be content with viewing this wonderful plant from a distance….still, I hoped that one day she would be mine.
Sure enough, the following year, I came upon my friend trying to re-pot her Hoya. What a mess she seemed to be in….plant and compost all over the place with pieces of foliage strewn on the kitchen floor. “You wouldn’t believe how difficult this is” she said, all of a fluster and if anyone could fluster, it was Dorothy. I wasn’t really listening because my eyes were fixed on the strewn pieces. “They are yours if you want them” she said, “But they are terribly difficult to get going”

I came home with my treasure and immediately put the three pieces into a glass of water until I had time to pot them up. I am a busy person and I always mean well, but often don’t get around to doing the things that I intend to do so the cuttings were forgotten for two weeks as they sat there on the kitchen windowsill being topped up and moved every now and then to clean.

The next time I paid any attention, the cuttings had produced roots and so I carefully potted them up. I visited my friend some weeks later and was bursting to tell her the good news but was saddened to hear that her Hoya had died. I promised that, when my three cuttings were established she would get one back. One of the cuttings didn’t make it but I still had two. I gave one back to my friend and kept one for me and both plants are still good ten years on.
Hoya needs to be at a certain height in order that the stunning flowers can be seen and appreciated. Not liking full sun, mine has always hung in a west window and has never disappointed, flowering year after year and sometimes twice.
In April, having had the plant for ten years without even a change of compost, (shame on me!) Hoya had outgrown her container and it was time to re-pot. I had been putting off this task for so long….you see, she is a delicate thing and her branches break easily and when they do, she bleeds.
However, the plant had grown into an untidy mess and was unbalanced ( sounds familiar, on a personal level), so I pruned first and as expected, the plant bled profusely …white stuff everywhere. I thought I had surely killed it but had started so had no alternative but to finish the job. Hoya had two choices; appreciate what I was finally doing for her or die! Worried that the latter might happen, I put some of the prunings into a pot filled with good compost and some with their stems in water in the hope that I would at least have another plant should the worst occur.
It isn’t really an attractive plant until it blooms……..but the flowers are beautiful and have the appearance of being made of white glass with rubies at the centre of each floret and they give off an amazing scent.

I struggled with the re-potting because the plant had grown to 3ft across and was difficult to handle but I managed to achieve my objective without too many stems breaking off. Now, all that was needed was to replace it in the hanging pot and put it back in the window….
Not to be! The hanging container was now not large enough to hold the new pot…Oh heck!! (or words to that effect)…what to be done now? She needs to be up high enough where the lovely flowers, if or when they come, can be seen.
Well, here is the result….sitting in a trifle bowl on top of a bread crock on top of the frigefreezer near a north east window. It’s light enough and the plant is never in full sun. My mission now, is to find a hanging container large enough…until then, here she stays.
Now, will she flower?

Well, here we are in July and I am pleased to say that my Hoya has put on new growth and produced a few flowers with a promise of more to come. Even better…the six prunings have taken and so I will soon have the pleasure of giving some Hoyas away.
Pics below.

• 7 Jul, 2010
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