Hoya bicknellii was discovered in Matutinao, Badian, Cebu in the Philippines. “Cebu’s temperatures can reach a high of 36 °C (97 °F) from March to May, and as low as 18 °C (64 °F) in the mountains during the wet season. The average temperature is around 24 to 34 °C (75 to 93 °F), and does not fluctuate much except during the month of May, which is the hottest month. Cebu averages 70–80% humidity.” (Quote taken from Wikipedia) When you see these temperatures and humidity readings it is truly remarkable that we can grow these plants at all in the house.

Hoya bicknellii flowered for me for the first time last February (2018), and it is finally time to talk about it. I bought this as a small hanging plant from Gardino’s on eBay in the late fall of 2016. Below the flowers of Hoya bicknellii:

These may be the world’s first photos of Hoya wallichii and Hoya erythrina Nara together.  I felt kind of bad cutting off an entire peduncle of flowers from H. erythrina, but it is almost never out of flower so I felt like it was okay.

Today we draw to a close our discussion about Hoya sp. Mindanao UT-247. For all of you looking for and extremely quick and easy to flower Hoya, I can’t recommend this plant more highly. For those who are more concerned about the mess of constant flowering, you might want to look elsewhere. I do however love the bright red flowers of this species and have had a lot of fun with the plant over all!

One would hope that now that we are finally out of March that we will begin leaving winter behind us and get into good Hoya growing weather outside. For me, however, that will need to wait for another six weeks at least. Below a close-up of the flowers of Hoya sp. Mindanao UT-247:

Hoya sp. Mindanao UT-247 is very closely related to H. ilagiorum and like that plant won’t stop flowering. It flowers to the point of being annoying as one spends all one’s time picking up spent flowers and cleaning the nectar off from the leaves. I have had as many as four peduncles of open flowers at one time on this Hoya.

The flowers of Hoya sp. Mindanao UT-247 are heavy nectar drippers and have no detectable scent. They only last for a few days then unreflex, fade, and fall off soon after. Below the flowers after four days:

This is a plant that grew very easily for me with no special demands. After filling two net pots full of roots, I transplanted it into a six inch regular pot where it continued to thrive. I did notice though the plant does best under medium light and high humidity. Below the plant in its entirety:

Hoya sp. Mindanao UT-247 was received as a small rooted plant from Thailand in May of 2018 and flowered for the first time in October of 2018. I started by growing the plant in a series of net pots, which became too difficult to remove and potted them up by leaving the pots in place.

After finishing up with a great Philippine Hoya, we move right into another one with Hoya sp. Mindanao UT-247. I though we would start by talking about where it comes from. Mindanao also referred to as the Southern Philippines is the second largest Island in the country. It has over 25 million residents, and has a wide range of geographic features from towering mountains to coastal plains. Below the flowers of Hoya sp. Mindanao UT-247: