I found that this Hoya has grown exceptionally slowly and put on very few leaves. Finally in April of this year, I spotted my first peduncle starting to grow, and buds followed soon after.

I received Hoya aff. lambii (SLM 04) from an Indonesian vendor in the middle of the summer of 2022. It arrived in pretty rough shape with just a couple of useable leaves which I was fortunately able to root in coconut husk using a warm propagator box.

Here is a teaser photo of the flowers before, I talk about the plant tomorrow:

Hoya versteegii is a must have for every collection. The leaves are among the most beautiful of any that I have personally seen, and the flowers are so unusual. My plant was grown completely artificially, and only recently saw its first natural sunshine when I brought it outside to photograph it.

I was able to flower Hoya versteegii for the second time just recently with many more flower in this umbel. I still have not figured out what the flowering trigger for this one might be. I guess it just flowers when it wants to!

Finally in Mid-April the first flowers began to open. These blooms were supposed to have a really nice scent, but I have yet to discover it.

Good things come to people who wait, and sure enough one day in March of 2023, I finally spotted one of the peduncles starting to bud up! Below is a montage of developing bud photos:

The leaves on this plant are exceptionally beautiful, but I was looking to be able to flower it especially since I saw many people across the internet blooming it. It grew several peduncles, and though I checked them constantly, they refused to bud up. So I continued to enjoy the leaves.

After an exceptionally slow start the plant finally started growing well in early 2022 necessitating several up-pottings. With each potting I had moved to coconut husk chips mixed with about 10% large perlite or sponge rock. I had to be very creative with the trellising and fashioned trellises out of 14 gauge 2×4 fencing. I attached the trellis to clear orchid pots so I could more easily see when to water it.

I received a small rooted cutting of Hoya versteegii in the summer of 2020 from an incredibly nice Hoya Grower named Mandy Lin. The plant had pubescent leaves and was growing in Pon. I later transplanted it to soil, but the plant was extremely slow to get growing. Months went by before it grew a leaf; finally I was forced to start it over because of root rot. I rooted this one in coconut husk chips and tree fern substrate. This one rooted easily, but just sat there a long time before growing a leaf.