Hoya sp. aff. engleriana ‘Vietnam’ is a plant that I received as a rooted cutting from my good friend Julie Kennedy in mid-summer of 2015.  It flowered for the first time about 11 months later in the early summer of 2016 and has grown significantly larger and flowered again in the late spring of 2017.

This is a plant that is significantly different than the regular H. engleriana.  One of the biggest differences between the two species is that the regular Hoya engleriana never has more than four flowers on a a peduncle and Hoya sp. aff. engleriana ‘Vietnam’ generally has six to seven blooms per peduncle. The foliage of Hoya sp. aff. engleriana ‘Vietnam’ is about one third larger than that of the regular H. engleriana. Probably the biggest difference between the two species is that Hoya sp. aff. engleriana ‘Vietnam’ is far easier to grow than the regular version that has been in the trade for years.  The regular version is always in danger of taking a turn for the worst and being virtually dead in a week.  Hoya sp. aff. engleriana ‘Vietnam’ is far hardier and easily grows in the regular house in any peat-based chunky mix.  Comparison photos of the two plants can be found captioned in the gallery below – click on any of them to see full sized.

Hoya sp. aff. engleriana ‘Vietnam’ has now moved on to my must have list of Hoyas for northern growers and receives my highest recommendation!

The Flowes of Hoya sp. aff. engleriana ‘Vietnam’