I soon learned that this plant was now being called the “Red Wallichii”, and while I was concerned that it would give me problems, it did not, and got its first buds very quickly.

The plant grew well from the beginning and was easier than its look alike Hoya wallichii, in that the leaves stayed green without becoming chlorotic. I had a quandary in how to trellis it with it being in such a small pot. I did not want to up-pot it unnecessarily, and invite root rot, so I opted to keep in in its original pot, and set it inside a larger pot which anchored a trellis in hydroton. See Below for what I am describing:

The plant came in phenomenally healthy condition in a little 3 inch pot. After unwrapping, I simple put it into my basement grow tent and left it alone except to water when dry. I so looked forward to flowering this plant and knew that it was closely related to Hoya wallichii.

Happy February 1st everyone! Today we start talking about Hoya sp. Kalimantan (SLM-02). I received this Hoya as a small rooted plant in a 3 inch pot from Jimmy Myers early summer 2020. Below the foliage of Hoya sp. Kalimantan (SLM-02):

I came extremely close to losing this Hoya, which would have distressed me, but I pulled it back from the brink. It is very closely related to H. platycaulis, and rooting it is every bit as difficult. I now have it growing in terracotta allowing it to dry out much faster to hopefully keep the root rot that has been plaguing me at bay!

Hoya patella has gone crazy with flowers in the tent this winter. I counted 16 open flowers at one time on it.

Here is what a healthy Hoya ruthiae is supposed to look like. The odd thing is that of the plants that I grew out from my seedpod, this was the runt of the litter, It was so bad and stunted at one time, I almost threw it out; I’m really glad that I hung on to it!

Because of my bad growing history with Hoya collina, I cannot say that it is one of my favorite Hoyas nor give it a recommendation. My experience though may not be your experience, so give it a try, and let me know how you fare. There is nothing better to behold than a Hoya growing nicely in full health, but spending years on a Hoya that just won’t grow properly can really sour you on it!

Being geographically challenged, I had to look this Biak Island online, and apparently it lies on the Western side of New Guinea. There are apparently two different clones of Hoya collina sold and one of them is called Hoya sp. IR26, which gets red leaves in direct sunlight. Mine is definitely not that one as it has been exposed to intense light and the leaves never get red.

At first I did not think that there was a fragrance to these flowers, but first thing in the morning, when you put your nose up to it, the blooms smell of butterscotch. The flowers last about a week and drip small amounts of nectar.