Wax Flowered Hoyas
Here’s a couple of recently blooming Hoyas for you. Enjoy!
Hoya kerrii has the heart-shaped leaves so fondly remembered from Valentine’s Day.
Hoya “Mathilde” is new to us and we haven’t had any ready for sale yet, but here you get a preview of the flowers.
Hoya australis I featured a few months ago, but I thought I would add it to this entry anyway. I must be in Summer Repeats!
Let me tell you something more about the Hoyas. Hoyas are in the Milkweed Family, Asclepiadaceae is the former name of the former plant family now treated as a subfamily, Asclepiadoideae, of the Dogbane Family, Apocynaceae, which also includes such famous succulents as the Pachypodiums and Adeniums! (Science!)
Or let me quote a couple o’ the books in print..
“These tropical, vining plants have rigid, glossy leaves and bowl-shaped clusters of star-shaped flowers so stiff and shiny they seem to be made of wax. Provide rich soil, regular water, warm temperatures, and sun protection. Plants thrive in bright shade and humid hothouses, blooming best when pot-bound… Water minimally during winter dormancy.”
Debra Lee Baldwin, Designing with Succulents, p.196.
“Hoya and the closely related Dischidia comprise vining plants that barely fit the definition of a succulent…. Hoya and Dischidia species are native from India through New Guinea, northern Australia, and even Southern China. Most Hoyas grow more-or-less wholly as epiphytes. As a result, even though they are from tropical regions with heavy rainfall, they have to be able to withstand considerable dryness, and so have evolved thick, succulent leaves.”
Fred Dortort, The Timber Press Guide to Succulent Plants of the World, also p.196!
