Growing Hoya ‘Nathalie’ was no picnic for me. It was a long slow slog with many interminable stops along the way. It grew in my regular chunky mix, but I think the roots must have suffered some rot at some point as it would just sit there and act like a plastic plant – not growing at all for months at a time.
Hoya ‘Nathalie’ came to me as a cutting from Patrick Vance in Michigan four years ago. I feel that it is important to give him credit for it; as in the early days after the release of this plant, it sold for huge dollars. I saw one plant go on eBay for $165.00! So thank you Patrick for supplying me with the cutting out of the goodness of your heart!
The best feature of Hoya ‘Nathalie’ for me is the incredible dark perimeter bands on the new leaves. Sadly this fades away on the older leaves.
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and to those who don’t the day length should start getting a little longer each day so be happy anyway!
Hoya ‘Nathalie’ was named in honor of Nathalie Evelinadotter Simonsson, now Nathalie Simonsson Juhonewe. She is Swedish, and a present day botanical explorer who has discovered a large array of new Hoya species on collecting trips all over the Hoya growing world. She has also done amazing work with the deaf population of Papua New Guinea. Below the flowers of Hoya ‘Nathalie’
Hoya ‘Nathalie’ is a Mike Benardo hybrid Hoya where he crossed H. erythostemma with H. ‘Joy’ (Hoya erythostemma X Hoya ‘Joy’). Hoya ‘Joy’ itself was a cross between Hoya sp. Laos and Hoya vitellina so in Hoya ‘Nathalie’ there are some interesting genetics going on.
Hoya sp. Krabi, South of Thailand EPC-188 is a Hoya that I never really mastered, but was a plant that I’m glad that I had the opportunity to bloom. I can’t really recommend it; as a far better candidate with a similar flower would be Hoya micrantha which makes a beautiful specimen with none of the problems of Krabi. Here are the last of my photos of Hoya sp. Krabi, South of Thailand EPC-188:
Here is an extreme close-up of the flowers of Hoya sp. Krabi, South of Thailand EPC-188:
After adding crushed oyster shell to its potting mix, the plant did, after about six months, look considerably better, but began to go down hill again with the onset of colder weather so I finally threw the plant out. At least I had the opportunity to flower a plant of which I can find no other flower photos online, but my own.
Besides not being able to keep the plant warm enough I suspected that the plant needed limestone added to the mix. The plant looked so bad at its worst that I suspected it might have a virus. Below you can see what I am talking about and why it may have flowered from stress:
Krabi is the main town in the province of Krabi on the west coast of southern Thailand. This is an area that never goes below 71°F at night and averages 90°F or higher during the day 12 months of the year. If the plant was unhappy with me, it could be that I simply could never keep the plant warm enough. Below the leaves of Hoya sp. Krabi, South of Thailand EPC-188:
