These types of thin-leaved Hoyas with campanulate flowers used to be easy for me to grow, but now it seems to be a real struggle. H. danumensis managed to put out these weak blooms this morning so I took a photo.

Hoya Rachel is a sweet little Hoya that make a fine companion for Hoya Rebecca, or just to grow on its own. It is an easy grower that would work well in any houseplant collection!

I received the following information from Antone Jones back in 2019 on the creation of Hoya Rebecca and Hoya Rachel:

This cross happened at my old nursery, Spring Valley Tropicals back in 2007 or 2008 (I can verify once I get home). The actual cross is Hoya lacunosa Langkawi Island (a smaller variety) x obscura. This one I did not do by hand (unlike Patricia and Naughty Noel) but I did witness and photo capture the moth/butterfly who pollinated it in action. The pod formed on the umbel not long after. Rebecca has a sister cultivar named, Rachel. They are from the same pod but the seedlings looked different to me and so I gave them each a separate name and tossed the rest of the seedlings away.

Antone Jones

This is kind of a cool feature of WordPress that I just discovered. Below is a slider that you can move back and forth; Hoya Rachel is on the left and Hoya Rebecca is on the Right. Move the slider to compare the two cultivars.

This plant has stayed in its original tiny clear pot and budded up and flowered in February of this year (2022). It is watered about twice a week because of the small pot size and free draining media. I plan to up-pot this plant soon.

Hoya Rachel was kindly given to me in a trade by an collector named Naomi from right here in Vermont. I rooted it in a clear 3 oz cup using coconut husk in June of 2021. It rooted quickly and immediately started putting on growth.

Hoya Rachel is a “sister” cross with Hoya Rebecca and comes from the union of Hoya lacunosa ‘Langkawi Island’ and Hoya obscura.

I just had a nice woman from Ohio contact me about selling her Reddit group Hoya seed, and since I frequently get request for Hoya seed I thought that I would share my response here:

Seeds – Sometimes I go years without pollination that produces a seedpod and other times I will get lucky and I might get 3 pollinations in one summer, but it is completely not predictable. I have never managed to purposely bring about a pollination. More on seeds: Except for Hoya papaschonii which seems to self pollinate regularly, and the seedlings are pretty much true to the parent, seeds are generally not a good way to increase your Hoya stock. Many of these seedlings are weaker, not true to the parents, and should never be sold or traded without being labeled a seedling. Sometimes you need to plant 50 seeds to come up with a couple of good plants as recently happened to me with both multiflora and ruthiae seed. Also, raising Hoyas from seed is a very slow and laborious practice, and not at all like starting, let’s say, tomatoes from seed. The best and only reliable way to propagate Hoyas is from stem cuttings so that you really know exactly what you are getting.

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There are many Philippine Hoyas that have one negative trait, and that is that the flowers have a very short life. Hoya cf. palawanica falls into that catagory. These blooms began to fade in only 24 hours.

My plant is now a little larger and Hoya cf. Palawanica has put out a very nice peduncle of flowers this go around. It is a very early bloomer that I can really recommend highly!

Hoya australis ‘Lisa’ has grown exceptionally well this winter and has now gotten to be quite large. It is 38 inches tall and that is most likely as large as I will let it grow.