For some reason, I have had far more difficult time keeping Hoya Bella Anneke Buis happy then Hoya Bella Luis Bois. Here is Anneke Buis from this morning

Growing in coconut husk chips and living in my bathroom seems to really suit Hoya Bella Luis Bois. It has actually been easier for me to cultivate than the regular green-leafed Bella.

I have kept this plant around for a long time, because I just love the shiny leaves on this one.

Here is my Hoya sp. Gunung Gading, which I promised to pull out of the tent and photograph. I don’t know if the effort was worth it though as the leaves are so dark red they are hard to see.

I was the first person in the U.S. to flower this plant when it first became available. It was called Hoya pubicalyx ‘Pink Dragon’ at that time. I believe it was around 2010 when it came into the country, and I flowered it in 2012. Here is the plant, which I still have in 2024:

My favorite part of growing Hoya leucantha was how quickly it grew into a stunning specimen with tons of healthy, green pointed leaves. I just loved the overall growth form of this Hoya. Unfortunately, its proclivity to fail, just after it looks its best, is a huge detraction for me. It could also be my conditions that it does not like. I have only grown this one in high humidity grow tents under lights, so it may behave far differently when grown on a windowsill. I would encourage all of you to pick one up and give it a try as I would love to know if I am the only one who has experienced this precipitous decline after the plant matures.

All of the cuttings that I took of my failed plant easily rooted, and I was able to share this plant pretty widely through sales on eBay. Now here is the odd thing, since starting this plant over, twice more I have ended up with spectacular specimen plants that inexplicably failed with tons of leaves that would yellow and drop off. Each time there was no root rot observed at all so I am pretty baffled as to what the issue is. I have never observed another Hoya that would drop leaves without having compromised roots. Other than this problem, it is a stellar plant.

Right after this plant bloomed the second time, I noticed that the leaves no longer looked as vibrant and many of them started to yellow and fall off. I worried that I might lose the plant so I chopped it all up into multiple cuttings and put them in the propagator. The odd thing was that the roots on the specimen looked to be in good shape, so I have no idea what the problem was that caused so many leaves to fall off. Below the plant in its entirety before it went downhill:

The next morning I made sure to get up just before the grow lights came on and manage to get the flowers fully opened before they began to close up for the day. Below the blooms on that 2nd day. I should also note that I was not able to detect any real scent to the blooms.

My NOID Hoya with pointed leaves continued to grow well and had a number of up-pottings. It budded up early and I anxiously waited to find out what the real name of the plant I received from Indonesia was. It finally flowered in late 2022, and I have to say that it was somewhat of a let down in that it appeared to be a Hoya that only has its flowers fully opened at night or very early in the morning. When I first viewed the blooms, I knew at once that it was Hoya leucantha and not Hoya paradisea. Below the newly opened flowers after the lights had been on for about 3 hours.