I got this plant in 2015 from Ric Morier in Florida. The cutting rooted fairly quickly and I was off to the races, or so I thought. I grew it for about 8 months when I saw that it had stopped growing for some time, which usually does not bode well. After lifting the plant out of its pot, it had the dreaded root rot so I restarted it.

After re-rooting this Hoya it grew steadily for months, which turned into years and finally in its fourth year it grew a peduncle! I was elated after all that time. Unfortunately Hoya flavida turned into one of those Hoyas where a peduncle means almost nothing. Soon I had 3 peduncles but they never would bud up. I put the plant outside for the first time in May of 2020 with the hopes that the plant would bud up on those barren peduncles. Unfortunately whether it was the colder temperatures, or an over watering mistake, the peduncles that were on the plant fell off, and the plant stopped growing altogether! It took until mid-August, before that plant started to grow again, and soon I would need to bring it back indoors for the winter!

One of the things I discovered about Hoya flavida is that it needs very little water and is sensitive to over watering. You can easily go 2-3 weeks without watering this plant, and it will be happier for it. I don’t know if this information helped me finally flower it, but it definitely made the plant happier.

When I brought the plant indoors in September, I put it into a new grow-tent that I specifically set up for species that liked it cooler. It had exactly a 12 1/2 hour daylight cycle with high humidity and temperatures that never got above 73F in the day and dropped to 64F at night. I could not believe it when I saw new peduncles form, and they actually started to bud up! Finally in late October, one day before Halloween the buds opened and revealed the pubescent blooms. There was only the lightest of fruity scents on day one of the flowers opening. I finally did it!

Hoya flavida comes from MT Gallego in the Solomon Islands and was described in 1993. As far as Hoya flowers go, the blooms of this Hoya are outstanding, if for no other reason then the flowers don’t drip any nectar. After cleaning up this nectar mess with most Hoyas, I can really appreciate the no drip trait of this species! Except for the interminable wait for flowering, Hoya flavida gets my highest recommendation. The gorgeous red leaves and the long lasting no drip blooms are huge selling points for this species.