Hoya dennisii is endemic to the Solomon Islands and was described in 1993. If you are geographically challenged like myself, you might want to know where exactly the Solomon Islands are located. From Wikipedia: “Solomon Islands is a sovereign state consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania lying to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu and covering a land area of 28,400 square kilometres (11,000 sq mi).“
My first brush with trying to grow Hoya dennisii came quite a few years ago when I purchased a cutting from SRQ Hoyas. It did not last that long; with root rot and yellowing leaves, I don’t think that I had it quite six months before it bit the dust. My second go round with the plant came late last summer (2019) when my good friend Jimmy from NC sent me a cutting from his plant in a little trade we had worked out. I rooted the cutting in water and then moved it over to a 2 inch net pot. Roots and new growth started almost immediately after the its transfer to the small net pot. I was keeping the plant on a heat mat which I thought at the time was helping the it out. After a couple of months there was so many roots showing in the net pot, I moved it up to a regular 4 inch pot and left it on the heat mat.
It wasn’t long after transplanting the plant that a peduncle started to form. I was beyond thrilled. I noticed that it also started to bud up even though this plant was very small having no more than 14 leaves. My excitement was short lived however as the buds dried up and fell off. Another few weeks passed and it started to bud up again and the buds yet again fell off – so disappointing! After losing the last set of buds, I decided to move the plant off from its heat mat, and that really seemed to help. One of the buds on the plant started to grow and eventually opened. So my first flowering was simply a single flower, but a beautiful flower it was! After the single flower closed up, there were four other buds that opened shortly after. Also, while the plant showed a reticence to grow new foliage it put on two additional peduncles. Moving the plant off from the heat mat seemed to make Hoya dennisii much happier. This is the reason why you have to keep trying different micro-climates until you find success.
The flowers on Hoya dennisii are about one inch across or about 2 cm. They are not long lasting only making it about 3 days at 80 degrees F. They seem to have no scent and drip no nectar. I can’t recommend Hoya dennisii highly enough. It is a plant that does not get too large, flowers at an impressively young age, and drips no nectar. It is a plant that seems to do better in slightly cooler temperatures, and could very well live happily on a windowsill, but I have yet to try it. I will bring this plant back if I ever get a floral display with more than 4 flowers.
