Someone gave my wife this Kalanchoe as a retirement gift about 3 years ago and I’ve been maintaining it ever since. The plant is never out of flower. It sometimes makes me wonder why I only concentrated on Hoyas when there are so many other great plants. My advice to everyone is to don’t overly specialize.
While this book does not talk about Hoyas per se, it does a fantastic job of helping people who never thought they had a green thumb to develop one. The book is called The New Plant Parent: Develop Your Green Thumb and Care for Your House-Plant Family and it is written by Darryl Cheng. I read it cover to cover and although I have been taking care of plants for over 40 years I still learned a thing or two from it. Anyhow this book gets my highest recommendation, and it would make a great gift for anyone who has the tiniest inclination to want to grow houseplants.
Even a Hoya lover like myself needs a little variety once in a while. These flowers are from an Aloe called ‘Fiddle Sticks.’
Aloe ‘Fiddle Sticks’ December 2013
Here is the first large mounted Orchid that I have ever bloomed. A good friend from San Diego sent it to me two years ago. I literally have given this plant a shower for months on end to achieve this result. I’m pretty happy with it. Not a Hoya, but a lot of the principles of plant care are the same. Also, nice to see something so fresh and tropical here in Vermont in February!
Here is photo of a very tiny Orchid that would make a nice companion plant for any Hoya. The entire plant is around 2″ square. The flower is almost a 1/4 inch long.