Hoya thomsonii ‘White Flower’

Hoya thomsonii has caused me considerable anguish over the years. I received the plant as a cutting from the Liddle Nursery back in 2006, and have had many stops and starts with it in that time. It is a native of India and has been widely disseminated to China and Thailand. The plant is named after its co-discoverer T. Thomson with the other plant hunter named J. D. Hooker. The leaves are pubescent and vary widely in size; with some silver flecks on many of them. A very pretty, if slow growing Hoya.

I have had peduncles on this plant now for two years in succession and have been unsuccessful in blooming it. Last year I even had developing buds that unfortunately dried up and fell off when I moved the plant inside from the greenhouse. I think blooming is triggered in thomsonii by gradually shortening day length or photo period. By moving the plant into an artificially lit grow tent, I disrupted that cycle and lost the buds. I also think that this plant is a cool, moist grower, and the grow tent was just too warm for it. I could have flowered this plant if my greenhouse season was just another month longer. H. thomsonii also really likes consistent even moisture in its potting mix. I have a friend in the UK that bloomed hers successfully using a self-watering pot. I am moving in that direction myself. I hope that the next time I update this page in the fall I will have some bloom photos to show.

***Update*** Hoya thomsonii has finally bloomed for me in November of 2014! That was a lot of years to wait, and I’m very happy to have this one behind me now.