Happy Valentines Day everyone! Here is a photo of Hoya nyhuusiae being introduced to a bloom from Hoya imperialis:

I finally have this one growing extremely well for me, and I hope that I don’t jinx it by saying it out loud! It is growing in leca using semi-hydro with very little water kept in the reservoir.

Here is the second and final photo of my new flush of flowers on Hoya nyhuusiae:

I have just gotten a second flush of flowers on Hoya nyhuusiae and thought that I would take a couple of comparison shots with other Hoyas that are flowering at the moment. Here is the first of two shots:

I started Hoya dekeae over from cuttings this past summer, and this time I planted it in leca using the semi-hydro, or passive hydro method. It has been very slow going, but it has finally rewarded me with flowers. I barely keep any water in the reservoir so that I don’t inadvertently rot the roots, which is easy on this species.

This beautiful and ephemeral flower is the reason why Hoya sp. Kalimantan (SLM-02) should be sought out for the collection. I have found the plant so far to be much easier to grow than the regular all yellow flowered H. wallichii; so if one had a choice, this plant would be the one to choose. It also is capable of getting up to three buds on the same peduncle, which also makes it a superior choice.

The only thing that I can say for sure is that this plant came from Surisa Somadee in Thailand, and she got it from a collector by the name of Sulaiman, and this name is where the accession number SLM comes from.

Unfortunately, all later flowerings of Hoya sp. Kalimantan (SLM-02) have been just like the regular wallichii in that the flowers are mostly closed up within a couple hours of the light coming on in the morning. So the flowers are ephemeral and should really be appreciated when it is observed, because it won’t last long!

Strangely enough the next day the flower stayed open for most of the day unlike the regular wallichii; it allowed me to observe it in the tent and photograph it many times. By the next day however it mostly closed. The flower had no scent at all.

The next thing that I worried about was getting good photos of the flower. If it behaved like Hoya wallichii, it would bloom at night, and would be nearly closed up by morning. I took to checking it each night after the grow lights would turn off, and before I went to bed. It happened almost instantly; the lights went off, and POW!, the flower opened fully. I took many photos that night and a video.