Finally tiring of waiting months for this plant to bud up, I was forced to monkey around with its day length cycle, and moved it from 14 hour days down to 12 hour days. Apparently this was what the doctor ordered, as it began to bud up almost immediately. The flowers were much nicer than I had anticipated, and it produced a multitude of 1 inch pink blooms.
Hoya-yvesrocheri was never a great grower, and by that I mean that it has a tendency to have leaves yellow and fall off, which always makes me crazy. It was not near as vigorous as stenophylla, but it still grew steadily. It developed its first peduncle at about 2 years of age, but there was no signs of it ever wanting to bud up even after it had 20 peduncles. Below the plant as it looks now:
I received Hoya-yvesrocheri as a very small rooted cutting that was growing in pon in October of 2021. It was part of a trade for Hoya thailandica and included H. stenophylla. Since I hate Lechuza Pon with a passion, I quicky transplanted it to a chunky mix.
Having grown both of these plants for well over two years now, here are the differences from a hobbyist. The flowers on Hoya yvesrocheri are larger the corolla opens fuller then on H. stenophylla. The flowers are pink on H. yvesrocheri and yellow on H. stenophylla. The leaves on H. yvesrocheri are approximately three times the width as the leaves on stenophylla. Finally H. stenophylla is a far more vigorous grower than H. yvesrocheri.
Hoya yvesrocheri Was Name For The Yves Rocher Foundation, which sponsored a lot of Nathalie Simonsson’s work from 2011-2015 in PNG.
Nathalie Simonsson observed this Hoya once on fallen tree on very sharp ridge in primary rainforest in Bula, Morobe Province. When site was revisited in 2013, the ridge had been burned for slash and burn subsistence gardens. It is likely that this plant is very endangered in its native habitat.
Hoya yvesrocheri was collected first by A.N.Millar in PNG, Morobe Province, Wagau at 4200 ft [c. 1280 m]. It was found in large tree in old garden near village.
Hoya yvesrocheri was first collected in Papua New Guinea, June 11, 1964.
Just when I think that it can’t get any better with this one, it has produced 13 peduncles full of flowers. The plant itself is over 3 feet high. Here are photos from the front and back:
This Hoya flowers so much now that I am forced to cut many of the blooms off as it drips nectar like water on everything. This nectar dripping is a real drawback to growing certain Hoyas as it creates quite a mess if you are not on top of it continuously. Here is a photo from this morning of the flowers before the corolla reflexes.
