So....I bought two Hoyas from my dealer on Etsy. I got a lacunosa and a Mathilde (been itching for those two to have again in my collection). Just need to find panchoi, Rosita, and a few others.

I REALLY need a greenhouse, too. I've had a few of those flimsy, cheap, hobby ones you just unzip and roll up the front on, but they never last. I need one that's more permanent. Maybe time to look around for some old windows and call upon my handy friends..... ;).

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Brad, there are lots of diy videos on creating a GH using some pvc piping, glue and a few mills thick drop cloth. It'll get you three seasons easily, and if you need to replace anything, it'll only be the inexpensive drop cloth. This may be a viable alternative for you. You will of course need to anchor it down, but that is true no matter what gh you have. Mine is aluminum and I had to anchor it down too. It's an easy job.

Best of luck to you.

Brad, is there a dealer or dealers on etsy you would recommend?

Brad, looks like you are not giving up on Hoya anytime soon. You must of had a bad day when you posted you would) Love them still too. I guess it's hope that keeps me going and makes them stick around. I 'hope' they bloom for me like they are suppose too. )

Bill, hope you are doing well.

Yes, the shop name is HoyaHeads :). He's based in St. Louis, and though the cuttings are small, they're rooted and extremely healthy. Also check out Gully's Greenhouse, HoyaJunglee, and MainelyHoyas.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Thanks Brad, I'll check them out tomorrow. Don't know if I'll buy anything, but I always enjoy looking.

Stay well my friend.

Mike, you did it! I just bought, for my son, the Ponderosa lemon from Logees (I bought the larger one they offered). I also got the fed ex shipping cause I was hesitant about having the post office take weeks to deliver it. Fed Ex is 2 day shipping (it cost as much as the plant!) but at least I know it should arrive in good condition.

Now, you'll need to school me on the care of it. I'm looking forward to smelling lemon scent in a few weeks! 🤣

Now I'm hooked, just reel me in.... 😁

@Bill M., Mike is the one who got me started on citrus over 11 years ago!

I now have a Moro blood orange (and Moro seedling), a Meyer lemon, a variegated pink Eureka lemon (and a new cutting I'm rooting), a Nagami kumquat from seed, a Pomelo from seed, an Australian fingerlime, and a Japanese bitter orange from seed. Basically, they're the reason that I had to invest in the greenhouse!

Josh

Greenman - I have never heard of some of the plants you mentioned, but I will look them up and I fear that in a short period of time, I'll also own some of them! I can't wait to receive this first one. Although i purchased it for my son, it will reside in my GH for the summer, then when he moves into his own house, when it's ready, it'll be moved with him, which of course means I'm going to need to replace it in order to fill the void! It's an addiction I love.

Hey guys..I needed a good laugh.

Yes, I did get Josh hooked and now he has the nicest collection. The Blood Orange to die for. I even got one of those)

Josh, so glad to see you around. I hope all is well. Love the recent pics of your Hoya. My goodness so colorful and so flowered out!! I love that greenhouse too. It never came to my mind that your warm seasons start so early and end so late. I hate you for that.lol And your sun is much more intense than here. That is why the colors on your jades and hoya are to die for.

Bill, I so happy I could be a part of what I think is going to be your new addiction. Ha. When you smell the blooms on citrus trees, they beat the fragrance of hoya by a huge margin. That is why I have over 20 trees and only a handful of hoya although I am starting to catch up, lol I would love to see a pic of that tree when you get it. I will take a pic of mine for you soon. Thanks for sharing and keep me updated ok?

Hey, Mike! Good to see you, buddy.

My RHP opened another bloom cluster today...it's the more pedestrian pink, but still nice.

Green man, I'm going to show your pics to my plant, and maybe I can encourage him to get with the program and start pushing out blooms! 🤣

Beautiful, Green man. I'm just excited that my little obovata is growing new leaves... hope it looks like yours some day!

Amazing blooms greenman! How old is your obovata? There's something about those large, saucer leaves, particularly those with splash that make obovata special

Josh, just crazy what you have going on there buddy! That is amazing and must smell so good at night. That is a heck of a lot of blooms for one plant. I think I will but one of those soon ..Thanks for sharing)))

Now I am really depressed mines never do that. Ha

my shepherdii dried up badly but after i soaked it a couple of times it seems to have recovered.

i kept it on the cooler side over winter around 66F. so may be it does work for flowers to keep it cooler and let it dry? mine has over 40! peduncles this year. all growing and 4 already big. i've had it for 3.5 years approx from 2" pot. it's now in 3.5" :) , i water-wick it.

i don't remember it having more then 12-15 peduncles...

go get picture.

Here is a closer look

I have several double peduncles: same stem forking . and also several from same leaf node .

that’s not common is it?

Petrushka, that plant looks great! I've never seen double and triple peduncles like that before, but maybe the combination of drying out plus the colder weather caused it to think its caregiver was trying to kill it, so it had better please you while trying to procreate at the same time! 🤣

Best of luck with it. Please post some pics once it begins to bloom. We'd love to see it.

Yah, i am a little concerned that it’s trying to produce so many flowers. the leaves r still a bit shrivelled up. i am keeping an eye on it. perhaps i should uppot it to a slightly larger pot? will it then slow down on peduncles?

i got 4 almost ready to open. but 36 after that?!😱

Hoy cow and so good to see you)))

Guess what I am doing with all of mine next year????

Josh, wow!!! Always a wow with your plants) Hope you are staying cool

Mike

Something made off with my little loheri!!! Some kind of critter, no doubt. The pot was knocked over and empty :(. Grrr......The rest of the little ones are fine. Just on the hunt for a larger sized loheri (a rare find). However, I finally manged to track down a decent sized panchoi to add to my collection, as well a very nice sized Rosita!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

My carnosas havee we been blooming well , but 2 old plants started drying up vines, so i made cuttings and they r on the way, but how long before blooms? some have old pedancles, but still may be 2 years?

i am also getting tired waiting for blooms.

that obovata looks gorgeous : i’ll keep an eye for it.

i got i tiny cutting of obscura: it’s already got 2 vines going, it is supposed to be a fast bloomer.

i am not a Hoya collector but i like something to bloom inside and they oblige: mine r always indoors. and easy to care for. win-win.

Brad, I think I got that one. I will share once I can trim it my friend. I will double check)

Petruska - I went out and checked my shephardii very closely this evening, and it has multiple peduncles just like yours. I think it's the way the plant grows. Mine is very healthy and although I haven't had it bloom just yet, there are several peduncles forming in clumps like yours. Me thinks you have nothing to worry about. Your only problem is going to be how to capture all the beautiful pictures it will yield.

Best of luck with it and please keep us updated.

Thanks! that’s great👍.

i have now 6 peduncles getting big and 2 more enlarging. the flowers are tiny and clusters are fairly small, but i really like the smell , sort of like gardenia.

Any pics Petrushka? Would love to see them. Hopefully in a few months mine will emulate yours.

Enjoy them always.

Soon as a few peduncles open i’ll post pix.

petrushka, that's wild plant! We would love to hear all about your hoya care habits, particularly as you're indoors. Many people find it difficult to bloom hoyas in a house vs. outdoors or in greenhouse conditions and your shepherdii is killing it!

Exactly what area of the world do you live in ?
Might better weather than our long but winters make a difference ? It’s seems that abuse or should I say lack of water and cold works for many.
I think I’m pampering mine too much. Too much warmth all year and fertilizer.

M-m..😱…i am not a plant abuser!😁🤣.. got 140 in JC(7b) that’s across the Hudson from NYC ..and another 140 in Miami FL. been snow-birding part time for a while …

so all on water wicks in my absence! sometimes we have to be flexible about the return, so some miscalculation occurs on occasion: lost some 40?! plants last year..in JC. but quickly reacquired a new lot in MIA.👍

My zone disappeared from profile, i’ll try to fix it.

so it’s passive hydro with water-wick in the pot: plants in my own jungle mix with AV mix, coco-chips some bark for bigger ones and perlite. Hoyas r in west window, but it is obstructed in summer after 6-7pm.

so definitely part-sun, liquid ferts in water most of the time.

my carnosas never bloomed with such abundance though they would shrivel up sometime too , but not for long: i have water-roots usually that grow into water .

but sheperdii run out towards the end...and was prolly hot in the room last 2 weeks..((a/c malfunction) ...in the region of 90-95F hot due to western sun till sundown hitting the room directly after equinox .. but it was on upper shelf , above 6 feet ...so only very late sunset sun would reach it.

detail..detail..i have a wall to wall fl to ceil window in that room :) about 10'.. and another 3 feet wrapping to north..so it is like a greenhouse of sorts. in a hi-rise with modern windows, not sure how much UV they screen, but not UVA.

so there is a wrinkle: may be the heat triggered it? obviously it ran out of water only at the end..or it would be dead. bu can’t say exactly when or for how long: leaves shriveled and i was afraid that peduncles will abort: soaked the whole lot for like an hour in a sink, pot and leaves. and then 1 week later again. and now for the 3rd time. is that another wrinkle :)) : dry-wet cycles?

Petrushka, JC? I grew up in northern Jersey!

well, i'm not originally from NJ...been between NYC/JC , originally from Eastern Europe...

when i took my carnosa cuttings to Mia i put them in part-sun on the balcony first, but that was too much, so i took them indoors again by the south window (that gets almost 0 sun in summer, but is good in winter). i posted some notes on light intensity change: leaves grew much larger within a month. but 2 cuttings were in the pot with clerodendron that i keep outside in part-shade...they managed well.

so it's mixed bag, but sheperdii was indoors in JC all the time.

It's been awhile since I've been here. Mike, I hope by now your Hoyas have taken off and that you've gotten some blooms, buds or at least some new peduncles. At least enough that you've gotten past the feeling of giving up! Growing in these northern states is a challenge for sure. I've been growing Hoyas (and succulents) for over 40 years and I used to get frustrated that while others could get loads of blooms, I was getting one here, one there on a good day. So I learned to grow for the appreciation of the foliage. So when I pick out a new one to grow, I make sure it appeals to me without flowers - after all, even if you are good at getting flowers, that's still only a fraction of the time you'll be looking at the plant!

And here's another thing to consider - when one that is powerfully and wonderfully fragranced DOES bloom, I'm usually grateful I don't have a plant loaded with blooms! One of my pubs that's in my bedroom had one umbel of flowers that opened a few weeks ago, That first night, I kept waking up - the fragrance was so strong, it almost made my nose sting! It smelled awesome, but it was just too powerful, so the next night, I moved it to another room. Imagine how strong it would have been if it was several umbels! The one and only time I had a Hoya loaded with flowers was a big australis ssp. tenuipes that flowered one fall. It must have had at least 30 or 40 umbels open at the same time! It's one that is intoxicatingly sweet, and I could barely walk past the door to my GH for a few days! (To this day, I wish I could figure out what I did right that year because I haven't had a single flower on that one since!)

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that you're not alone when it comes to Hoyas being stingy with their flowers. But I will suggest a few species that are a little more generous for me since we both live in northern states... finlaysonii, once mature, is a pretty good bloomer. Obscura is a reliable bloomer. Lobbii - blooms all year long for me! 'Jennifer', which is a hybrid of fin, is a good bloomer. Most of the pubicalyx cultivars will bloom, but I never get the loaded plants you see the Florida growers getting. I recently sent a pic to my buddy, Marco, who's in Florida... let me find it and post it here - made me laugh my ass off because it's so true!

Denise in Omaha

Denise , first I must say it’s an honor to finally see you posting again and on my thread. Thank you. Loll. Crack me up with that photo. Exactly. Lol. I’m dying.
You expressed exactly what I’m dealing with. Exactly. It’s been a challenge for me to enjoy growing them when most plants I get are usually for fragrance. I’d say 90 percent of my indoor and outside plants are highly fragrant. I have the most fragrant Azeleas one could grow or they would not be in my yard.
So after reading this I took a good look at my Hoya and realized the some of the leaves are Beautiful especially the new growth. I love the leaves. Popmama was saying the same thing that she grows for leaves. Flowers are a bonus.
But still yet , I’m going to see if I can pick up a couple of the plants you mentioned. One in particular. Sounds like there is promise even for me.
Can’t thank you enough for your help and encouragement. You have been miss. Please stick around as much as you can. It would mean a lot. You’ve been a part of these forums way too many years to stop now.
Mike

So finally my shepherdii opened: all 6

Closeup

top 2

Big view: u can almost see all 6 clusters.

Petrushka - any fragrance? That sure does look like one happy plant - congratulations, ya done good!

So far no smell. I’ll sniff at night 😁. usually it smells like gardenia, even the first time with just 2 peduncles u could smell it at 4-5 feet.

it normally blooms around june.

but my carnosa smells strong only at night, and u need to stand right next to it to smell.

perhaps, it needs to open some more? ..any clues?

These plants are so strange. My carnosa has virtually zero smell even though there are dozens of peduncles in bloom, yet my lacanosa, with one tiny peduncle open, will fill up and entire room and can be smelt from many yards away.

Your job Petrushka, should you decide to accept it, is to slowly sneak up on your carnosa, pop up quickly, jam your nose into the blooms and sniff! Sniff, sniff sniff, then report back as to your findings.

Good luck (and remember to stay quiet 🤫)

😉

😱…that’s Mission Impossible! my carnosa went nearly caput! i bare-rooted and repotted just a week ago: won’t expect it to bloom for awhile!

bit i did stuff my nose into shepherdii: weard!

kinda musky stuffy strange smell, nowhere like before!…

what’s goin on?! do they change with age ?!🙄

Petruska, thank you for the details on how you grow your hoyas and for sharing sheperdii's blooms! Simply gorgeous! I wonder at the size of your reservoirs for semi-hydro. Do you mean you leave them for 140 days and they're mostly fine?

usually after 2-3 mo they need to be checked and refilled ifnecessary ..DH takes the responsibility in winter 😁👍 when we snowbird..but yah, then it could be another 2mo. so 2x2 (4mo) is doable . but i do calculate for 4mo max. winter with 66-68F they take half as much water, so most of my containers take 3-4qt only some 7qt: for that i use water jugs in garbage baskets: i don’t want open water, but jugs might leak, so i buy staples garbage baskets and stick them in vertically. they r behind the couch so invisible, it’s all neat and presentable👍.

Was wondering where did u get 140 number? that’s almost 5mo😱..

no, 140 is my number of plants currently in each location. it was supposed to be temporary last yr until we xfer to FL permanently..but now we have to wait : both buying and selling is crazy. so i serve as a water-bearer of sorts ..in the age of Aquarius ..😱🤣. u laughing yet?! i’m a natural born clown..

don’t know how long long this lasts..it’s getting old … but soon i visit my pretties in Mia.👍

Hoyas. You have two options: ONE: No direct sun, no luminosity, dark green leaves, very lustrous and striking. (I would affectionately call them "apidistradas" and very few peduncles. TWO: Sunrise sun or a lot of luminosity, lemon green leaf, thicker, meatier, smaller, less showy. many peduncles and flowers. Each one is free to choose the option that most suits you. I choose the TWO option.

Wow! i remember reading yr posts. you are in spain, right ? This is on your balcony? or is it planted in ground: it’s huge!

what great blooms! fantastic! how old is this plant? we need to know!

This hoya is planted in ground, Málaga, Spain. This hoya carnosa is approximately 14-16 years old today. I have another one, my "hoya carnosa mother", is 32 years old. It is impossible for me to send you a private message. If you send a message to me I reply with my text that I want you to read. Thanks

Pepeuve, thanks! but i don't PM from forums usually.

Thanks.