Hoya Houseplants
By Elaine Haines:Â Pike County Cooperative Extension Master Gardener
My first memory of a Hoya was many years ago as a child who enjoyed the blooms for the taste of honey that accumulated in the centers. I looked forward to this experience even though it was fleeting and scarce. My mother referred to the plant as Bethlehem Star, probably because the cluster of blooms resembled a star shape. She grew this plant on the sill of a south facing window.
In the late 1950’s, I became ill, and our family doctor made a house call. This rare event is remembered more for the method of payment than for the seriousness of the illness. The doctor asked for payment with my mother’s Hoya plant and she agreed. I often missed that plant over the years, mostly because of no longer tasting the honey from the blooms. Imagine my surprise and pleasure when my mother reported that a lady knocked on her door and offered her cuttings from the original plant that she inherited from the doctor’s estate. This was forty-five years after the plant left our home!
Since that time ten years ago, I have enjoyed my Hoya plant and have started others from it. When it was three years old, it won Best of Show in the local garden show competition. My mother was thrilled with the news that a plant with a family history of more that fifty years had achieved such an honor. Many of you feel this same connection to the plants you grow and love.
Hoya carnosa is the name for the plant I grow. It is part of the milkweed family; the Botanical name is Asclepiadaceae. It is native to Australia and Southeast Asia, and some species are considered invasive in their habitat. There are over 200 varieties of Hoya, and many of them are available through mail order and online. The blooms vary in color from white to deep red. As the plant ages, the blooms grow more magnificent as they rebloom on spurs that enlarge over time.
Basic plant care is easy. Hoyas prefer to be pot bound and watered infrequently. In fact, they will survive over the winter in 50 degree temperatures and watering as seldom as every 6-8 weeks. In the spring, watering with a weak fertilizer when the plant dries out will encourage blooms that can last through the entire summer. These plants can also be moved outside for the summer as long as they are not placed in full sun and are returned indoors before nighttime temperatures fall below 50 degrees. Because my plant is a vine, I use a wire clothes hanger curved in a half circle for it to entwine. Some Hoyas drape nicely from a plant stand or out of a hanging basket.
The most common pest that attacks Hoyas is the mealy bug, a white wooly insect. It can be controlled by spraying insecticidal soap every few days for about three weeks or by applying alcohol saturated cotton balls to the insects. Be sure to examine all areas of the plant as mealy bugs love to hide under the leaves and in the crevices where the vines come together. Periodic baths with warm water and very mild hand soap especially before returning plants to the indoors will help prevent infestations.
Propagation of Hoyas is as easy as clipping a piece of vine that has two to three sets of leaves, removing the set of leaves closest to the cut end, and placing the vine in soil after dipping the end in rooting hormone. Keep the soil moist, not wet, in filtered light, and the vine will form roots in a few weeks. Vines will also form roots when placed in a container of water and may be planted when roots are well established. To hasten blooms on new vines, I select sections that have bloom spurs so that I don’t have to wait for them to form. It can take several years for blooms to form on new vines.
My love for Hoyas continues to grow, and I have added new ones to my collection. However, my greatest loyalty and affection remains with the one that left our family and returned so unexpectedly.
© Copyright 2010 Connections Magazine
