Hoya persicina is endemic to the Philippines and was described by Dale Kloppenburg in 2012. It was named persicina after its peach colored corolla, which I have yet to observe. We have to remember that according to Christine Burton, Mr. Kloppenburg has made many a mistake in his descriptions, and never met a plant that he did not want to name as a new species.
Hoya persicina came to me as a trade from my friend Patrick Vance, a renown U.S. Hoya collector. I received it as a cutting in 2014, and it took quite a while to flower it. The plant rooted very quickly and grew well right out of the box, but year after year went by with no peduncles. It looked like this was going to be one of those really shy bloomers. Finally in 2018 I saw my first peduncle, but it took forever to finally bud up and when it did of course the buds blasted. In the spring of 2019 buds began to form on one of many peduncles. There were not many, but this time they held on and opened a few weeks later. While they were not that impressive, the scent was magical, and I was very glad to get this one behind me!
While this plant can never be called floriferous, it finally did flower a fair amount for me in my grow tent in 2020. This is a Hoya that has never lived in my regular house so I can’t speak for how well it would do a a houseplant. It grew in my regular chunky potting mix, and was completely unproblematic. Hoya persicina makes a very handsome specimen plant even without the flowers which are just a bonus. I kept this plant for a good 5 years to see flowers on it, and now it is time for me to move it out to make ready for more new Hoya experiences. I can however give this one a very high recommendation.
