Author Archives: Doug

Hoya sp. aff. Bella PES 03

Finally found out the official name of my all white flowered Hoya bella; it is called Hoya sp. aff. Bella PES 03, but other than the name and that it is extremely rare, I have little else to go on at this point.  I will report back when I find out more information.  In the mean time here is the only multi-flower photo that I can locate, and it happens to be mine for now.

 

Hoya lanceolata Bella All White Flower Blooms Again

I am so aggravated that I can find no photos or any information about this plant anywhere online, except my photos.  After restarting my plant in 2016, it has exceeded my expectations.  Below my first bloom in nearly 2 years with much more to follow:

If you notice in the background you can see the flowers of the regular bella.  The plants live near each other and seem to do better that way.

The Ghost Bella Rises Again

I have gone through much agony with the plant that I call the Ghost Bella.  It is actually my rarest plant.  I say that because, I literally cannot find it for sale anywhere even with all of the Thai vendors that I have checked.

After my plant flowered in September of 2016, I had to chop it up and start it over as it rapidly declined, beginning to lose many of its leaves. I started many pots and only one survived.  I have a 90% failure rate with rooting this species.  I have to be doing something wrong – maybe it is too warm??  Below a set of buds on my resurrected plant:

Final Day with Hoya flagellata

I’m really glad that I kept Hoya flagellata around despite my struggles with the plant.  This species also helped me learn that you need to keep trying different methods and medias when a plant does not grow properly for you.

Hoya flagellata Does Not Like to Be Wet.

Just because a plant likes and needs humid conditions to survive, does not mean that they want to be wet. This has been a strange disconnect with me, and taken a long time to learn.  Hoya flagellata will immediately start losing leaves if the mix is much more than lightly damp.

 

Rooted In Bark, Hoya flagellata Continues To Do Poorly

While I did manage to root my tiny little Hoya flagellata cutting in bark, it continued to do poorly and looked as if it were going to die, until I spiced up the mix with a whole lot of sphagnum moss.  It finally started to actually grow and now looks like this:

Hoya flagellata Rises From The Ashes

My pitifully small specimen of Hoya flagellata stress flowered with just a few leaves right before it was going to die back in March of 2016.  I took a cutting just before it died of the dreaded rotted root syndrome and rooted it in bark.