I received Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot in a last Thai order for 2019, from Surisa Somadee. This order was facilitated and shared with my good friend Jimmy from North Carolina. All of the plants came in extremely rough shape; I have since learned that when one is ordering from Thailand, early spring is best, as September and October are simply too hot there, and the plants cook in the packaging. Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot was not in very good shape and had 3 good leaves when it was received.

Many of the Thai growers are now rooting in sphagnum and shipping quickly rooted cuttings out in this damp moss. This is the condition that Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot arrived in. These sphagnum rooted plants are always highly at risk for root rot as the moss holds far too much moisture for most plants. I planted my three leaved specimen into a 3 inch net pot and hoped for the best. My plant did okay in the net pot and I began to see roots emerge from the 3 inch pot. Almost immediately I got 2 new leaves and a peduncle formed; I was quite excited, but the buds only got to around a 1/16 of an inch before falling off. I also lost one of the older leaves at this point.

Over the next couple of months the pattern of getting a new couple of leaves followed by a peduncle, aborted buds, and finally the loss of the peduncle repeated itself. Finally in April of this year (2020), I got a peduncle that buds actually started developing on and they kept on growing. The buds were fascinating to me as they had these incredibly long calyxes unlike anything that I had ever seen in Hoya buds before. The buds of the plant continued to grow and mesmerize. Eventually one Saturday morning in mid-April of 2020, the buds opened to reveal beautiful red flowers that reminded me of red Hoya platycaulis blooms.

Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot seems to mimic some traits of Hoya platycaulis and Hoya amrita. Hoya amrita is like a orange/red flowered form of platycaulis from Daveo Philippines. Some people think that Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot is Hoya amrita; but the leaves really don’t match up well. The leaves of Frog Foot are much more wider and shorter than the photos that I have seen of the leaves of Hoya amrita. To make things more confusing, Surisa Somadee seems to have dropped Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot from her catalog, but has Hoya amrita for sale. Does this mean that she too now believes that Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot is Hoya amrita?

The flowers of Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot have no scent, but what they lack in fragrance, the more than make up for in longevity. If and when I finally find out that Hoya sp. SR-2017-012 Frog Foot is really Hoya amrita, I will change its name, but for now I like the name of Frog Foot. While it is very early days, I can highly recommend giving this plant a try if you can find it. I know that I have really enjoyed my time with it thus far, and will report back when I find out more about it!