If you like houseplants and only have room for a few, then keeping either Hoya halconensis or Hoya alagensis is a must! They both grow without a care and the flowers are among the most beautiful in the Hoya world. If they have only one drawback, it would be that they grow so rampantly, they must be started over every 2 years or so, just to keep them in check. Then this will give you the ability to share them with friends and turn a negative into a positive.
Many times I write these blog posts 2-3 weeks in advance. These flowers appeared just shortly after the winter solstice, near a window with ice on the interior glass, because of the mega-cold snap that we have been in. There is no auxiliary lighting or heating. The leaves are dusty from being so close to the cat litter pan, but not only does it keep growing through the winter, but flowers – What a plant!
Part of the fun of keeping Hoyas is that they are always capable of surprising. In the darkest, coldest part of winter, while bending down to scoop the cat litter boxes, what do I see? Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something white, and when I investigated I found these flowers:
Here I break with tradition and make a video of a Hoya that I have never flowered and in all likelihood never will, but that doesn’t stop me from trying!
Hoya hanhiae ‘Pink’ just bloomed for the first time indoors with a very nice set of flowers. I think this plant is starting to grow on me – no pun intended!
I don’t really need to tell all of you this, but in case anyone is seeing this photo for the first time and knows nothing about Hoyas, Hoya imperialis is on the left and Hoya fitchii is on the right.
Hoya rosarioae is a fantastic plant that I can’t recommend highly enough. It makes a perfect specimen for the light garden and doesn’t get too large too quickly. It flowers at a very early age and the flowers are supposed to smell sweet. It doesn’t get much better than that. Below is my favorite photo of the blooms:
Here is a comparison of the two flowers for perspective:
I read numerous places online that the flowers of Hoya rosarioae smell sweet and faintly of roses. Unfortunately I can not attest to it, as at the time of the flowers opening, I had a tremendous cold and could not smell anything. The flowers only lasted about four days and fell off over night.
Hoya rosarioae takes a fair amount of moisture, but growing it was completely unproblematic and it flowered between 6 and 7 months from cutting. You can’t ask for more than that from a plant!
