Trying desperately to save my plant I took a cutting and managed to get it to root, but the main plant died, and shortly there after the cutting, after growing a new leaf, died as well.

My first Hoya darwinii plant was purchased from Gardino Nursery on eBay way back in 2013. It was small, had about 10-12 leaves, and did not last very long at all. I had it growing in soil in a grow tent under T-5 fluorescent lights, and it began to lose leaves almost immediately. Below the buds on the plant:

I really never thought that we would ever be talking about Hoya darwinii as I had failed with this plant so many times, but here we are, success at last!

Here is a photo I snapped this morning of the flowers of Hoya lockii, and Hoya darwinii side by side – similar yet so different. Much more on Hoya darwinii starting tomorrow.

I have been growing Hoya soidaoensis experimentally in a modified bonsai mix now for about four months. I seems to like it and has now flowered twice for me in a very short amount of time.

Don’t know how it happened, but when I moved Hoya ruthiae to photograph one seedpod, I found a second. They are exceptionally thin and about 8.5 to 9 inches long.

I really wanted to be successful with this plant, but in the end I gave up. I don’t know if the plant carried a disease, or suffered from a nutrient deficiency, but I had to throw it out. I could not in good conscience send, or sell cuttings of this plant to anyone so I threw it out. Fortunately I was able to flower this plant, and I am glad that I was able to fool around with this Hoya. As it stands now, I can’t recommend this plant to any one. Below one last look at the remarkable flowers of Hoya phyllura:

I decide to throw this plant out after trying to make it grow into a healthy plant and failing twice. The infuriating thing is that when I pulled the plant out of its pot, once again I found some of the most amazingly healthy looking roots that I have ever found on a Hoya. Usually you will find signs of root rot, but not on this plant. Below is something new that I’m trying out on this site – a mini video. Check out the roots for yourself.

At first it looked like I might have been winning the battle with the sickly looking foliage, but soon even in the new medium the leaves began to streak with yellow. I decided to put it outside this summer to see if different growing conditions might help it. Unfortunately, there was little improvement. Below was as good as I ever got the plant to look, and believe me it looked worse than the photo shows.

Tired of looking at what appeared to be a diseased plant, I resolved to start the plant over and grow it out in a different medium. I chose Lechuza Pon and using semi-hydro. Oddly when I took cuttings and removed the plant from the pot the roots looked exceptionally healthy. Below another of the lovely flower photos from the plant: