I thought it would be maybe nice to upload a picture of it, it's in the orange pot- at the front our 2 guinea fowls, they like to look inside the house :-)

Hi Ingrid,

Very nice picture.For me your plant looks great.

I'm sorry I don't have experience with this hoya, but I'm sure others will help you.

Mitzi

OK I admit it, I was way more excited to see the Helmeted Guinea Fowl and did not even notice the Hoyas in the window. Do you ever see Vulturine Guinea Fowl available in your area? These are my absolute favourites but very rare in captivity.

Hoya Viola is a hybrid of Hoya deykeae x Hoya vitellina. Both of these Hoyas like warm temperatures but Hoya deykeae is a bit of a princess. I actually just chucked my Hoya deykeae in the garbage this week, sick of it's pouting fits.
You did the right thing by moving your plant to a warmer place, try and keep the light bright if you can.
Your plant looks very nice, maybe I should just try to grow the hybrid and be happy with that. The leaves are still the same shape as Hoya deykeae so that's good enough for me.

Mike

Mitzi, thanks!

Mike,I never saw a Vulturine Guinea Fowl here, but I understand that some people do have them, they must be quite expensive, and they need a heated henhouse. I can understand that it is one of you're favorites, they are something else! :-)We exchanged 10 of our runner duck lady's for the helmed guinea fowls, they aren't expensive at all here, at least, at the adress we used to go, but I didn't want money for my duck children. ( We had to let them go because the neighbors complained and keep complaining, we thought it was the best thing to do because we were afraid someone would shoot them in the end - they walk free around - so now we have 9 male runners, and no more complains).
We had helmed guinea fowls before, and with the runners, they are the most funny birds I know. It's not only that they like to look inside the house, they also follow our cats and in the summer they sleep on the little bridge from our neighbor- she don't care, but thinks it is great- thanks for that! It's also funny to see how they kind of ' explode ' in the middle of a walkabout, first they are in the ease of grazing and the next second they hang two meters in the air.

Thanks a lot for you're advice about the Viola, I have it in the frontroom now but I'm gonna move it in the back, it's warmer there and there is a growlight near the window. I really don't want to lose this plant, I'm in love with the leaves, and it seems to be a mystery what kind of flowers it could have.

Ingrid

I just can't imagine your neighbours are ok with the Guinea Fowl's loud calls. Ours used to perch on top of a small barn and then make the most incredible racket. They are probably the best birds to have around because they don't mess up the garden like chickens do and they take care of all the insects.

The flowers of Hoya Viola will look like Hoya finlaysonii. Do the leaves have a green underside or is there are purplish veins? You're right that the leaves are very attractive.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Guinea Fowl call

O yes, the calls! :-) In the past we had some really noisy Guinea Fowls, but they used to calm down when I whistled at them. No, the neighbours only complain when they think that there is a lettuce in danger, like they did with the ducks.
The most nearby neighbours live at about 150 meter, there are 3 more houses between them and us but they are most of the time empty.
Friends of ours were in France, and when they sat on old-fashioned chairs- the one's with iron springs in it, they had a big laugh because they heared the two- toned sound of our Guinea Fowls in it. I really love the whistling sounds they mostly make, and I also think that they have beautiful- bambi like - eyes.
& as you say, they don't make a mess like chickens do, we also have chickens but I don't care too much about the mess they sometimes make, but we have to protect young plants otherwise they are gone :-)

The leaves of the Hoya Viola have a green underside, no purplish veins. I am glad to know how the flowers will look like! Mystery solved. Sofar, I only saw the flowers of H.carnosa & H.cummingiana , but I have very young plants. There is a bud coming op in my H.imperialis and also one in H. multiflora.......Exciting! I hope they gonna make it.

Ingrid

Dutchplant, I'm interested in reviving this thread and asking to see your cv. Viola today, if you still have it... I just got one this year, and I had no idea at the time that it was a cross that included deykeae, one of my top five favorite Hoyas. But I was looking at it today and thought, hmmm, I wonder... those leaves have that shape I love so much...

And those Guineas are so cute! I actually kind of like their weird call... But I also love to wake up to roosters, so I guess I'm just a weirdo!

Denise in Omaha

Those Guineas are gorgeous. They're noisy but I think they are so dang smart.

I have a small Viola cutting and man it is slow to root, even on the heat mat. That's about all the info I have to offer. How does yours grow, Denise?

Mine hasn't grown at all yet, though it is well rooted. If one of its parents is, indeed, deykeae, it could be a slow grower. I've had my deykeae for over 6 years and though I wouldn't call it small anymore, it's nowhere near as big as most 6-year-old Hoyas. I look forward to seeing if Viola is maybe a little faster. I don't grow the true vitellina, but I do grow aff. vitellina, and it's a hearty grower.

Denise in Omaha

Hello again Denise!

That is a long time ago, I even had to ask for a new password because my mind was a blank about that.

That viola, well, as you see it in 2012, it looks the same now, although I made it a 'hanging' plant, at least , that was what I was trying to, it's all the way up with this one. It had a grow of 20 cm in the last 3 years, no blooms, no surprises, one old leaf came down and that's it. Not much of excitement I'm afraid. The other Hoya's grow much faster and I already have given them a ferm cut. Btw, the Guineas are still alive and kicking! :-)

Ingrid