Hoya ‘Rebecca’

Hoya ‘Rebecca’ is a cross between Hoya lacunosa Langawi Island x Hoya obscura.  It was created in Thailand and no one seems to know who created the cultivar, and whether H. obscura, or H. lacunosa bore the seedpod.

**Update**  I received this information on how Hoya Rebecca was created from Antone Jones in October of 2019: Your info on this cultivar is incorrect. I have been trying to figure out how to message you to give you the info. I’ll leave it here just in case. This cross happened at my old nursery, Spring Valley Tropicals back in 2007 or 2008 (I can verify once I get home). The actual cross is Hoya lacunosa Langkawi Island (a smaller variety) x obscura. This one I did not do by hand (unlike Patricia and Naughty Noel) but I did witness and photo capture the moth/butterfly who pollinated it in action. The pod formed on the umbel not long after. Rebecca has a sister cultivar named, Rachel. They are from the same pod but the seedlings looked different to me and so I gave them each a separate name and tossed the rest of the seedlings away. So this is NOT a Thai cross. ?

I received a cutting of Hoya ‘Rebecca’ in May of this year (2018) from Ric Morier of Florida.  It was a plant that I didn’t really care one way, or another about, but Ric was selling one really rare Hoya that I wanted, and the shipping is the same for one cutting, or six so I threw Rebecca in as a filler. I started the plant as a cutting by rooting it in a small net pot.  It grew very rapidly in my regular chunky mix, and needed transplanting within a couple of months.

Moving from a 2 inch to a 3 inch net pot very quickly, Hoya ‘Rebecca’ soon needed transplanting again.  The roots were so tangled in in the ‘net’ that I just sunk the entire thing, pot and all, into a 4 inch plastic pot.  I then attached a hanger and hung it up in the regular house. As the months passed and the daylight grew shorter, I noticed peduncles beginning to form in mid-November (2018).  Worried that there would not be enough light in the darkest month of the year to bring buds to term, I moved the plant into one of my grow-tents.  Almost immediately the leaves began to take on the characteristic red color, and the buds began to form.

The plant opened her flowers in mid-December, just seven months after starting from cuttings.  This is one of the faster bloomers in the Hoya world. For a plant that I cared little about when first ordered, it has turned into a favorite.  I really can’t recommend this Hoya highly enough!