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stonetreehouse

Hoya bella, First Bloom

11 years ago

This is my Hoya bella's first blooming. It was purchased as a small cutting exactly three years ago. It's not my favorite Hoya due to its growth pattern (one small pot and it takes up two to three feet in every direction with its sprawl) but I think I forgive it for its sweet little flowers with a sweet, delicate scent, a bit like honey and jasmine. It's covered in over a dozen open bloom clusters and another half dozen to come, so it's going to a heavy bloomer. It's outdoors for the summer (and spent the winter in a small, rudimentary, no-frills greenhouse). It gets big-shady-oak-filtered, but intense, light and it's almost 100 degrees here today, and it seems to love it. While it will probably never be my first choice as a nice, tidy, compact houseplant, I have a whole new respect for it. It can stay. ;-)



Comments (19)

  • 11 years ago

    Beautiful! Mine has the tiniest buds on two peduncles right now, not bad since most of its growing tips for fried recently when the temps spiked. Oooohhh, I cant wait for this year's blooms!!! Enjoy, yours look great!

    stonetreehouse thanked Kim
  • 11 years ago

    You waited three years to see if it was worth taking up space in your place? I think you were gonna keep it anyway :p

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    It was lucky. ;-) Space is pretty limited in my greenhouse, and I ALMOST didn't give it real estate last year when it was half its current size. It has exploded with new growth since it went outside this past spring. It's not going to fit this year, and it's really too wild and unwieldy to come in the house. It would be a shame to cut it back and probably would affect its ability to bloom next year. So, this may end up being a gift to someone in late fall. I LIKE it but I have others I love. Sometimes it's hard to prioritize one's plants. Anyone thinking of growing this hoya, beware; its deceptively tiny leaves do not hint at its ability to grow to a large footprint. Cuttings are cute but they grow into plants the size and sprawling ability of a very large Boston fern or very mature spider plant in a very short period of time.

  • 11 years ago

    I think if you cut it back at the right time, probably right after flowering or just as soon as you see new growth (one of those "you prune when *this* happens" things but I'm not sure which one would apply to Hoyas or even of the same rule would apply to all hoyas...which it probably wouldn't), then it can cause it to have more profuse flowering and perhaps a more compact growth habit. Every plant has a way it likes to be pruned, you just gotta figure out what it is and when to do it. Maybe some Hoya experts can fill in some blanks for us.

    In the mean time, if you do decide to cut away, I'm sure there are plenty who would be more than happy to take a cutting or two off your hands!

    stonetreehouse thanked laticauda
  • 11 years ago

    When I prune it, you're more than welcome to cuttings of it.

  • 11 years ago

    Okay, that means I should not compulsively buy one if I see one in a store. I thank you! What a great burden lifted to be able to walk away from a Hoya you don't have yet!

  • 11 years ago

    Of course, walk away. Why would you buy one when you can have pieces of this sprawling spider of a hoya for FREE! ;-) When it takes over your house, don't say I didn't warn ya.

  • 11 years ago

    Thanks, Kim. I'm going to go out there and do just that right after its big bloom show. I hadn't thought about rooting them in the same pot. That hoya is a "bit thin on top" by nature so I think that will be a good thing to try, accomplishing two goals: fuller and less sprawl. There's still plenty of warm weather here left to root those well before I decide where this plant is spending its winter. Great idea. Thanks again.

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago
    I love this one..You are right, it is not the most neatest of downward vining one to unless you have a high tree to attach it to, but it loves to crawl up the sides of the walls of my greenhouse and across the top too..The flowers are heavenly, although it's strange how some flower now and mines flowers in winter...It must be about 7 feet high if pulled iupward and in a 3 inch pot..You are right about it doing fine in a tiny pot.
    stonetreehouse thanked myermike_1micha
  • 11 years ago

    The blooms spell like suntan lotion at the beach now. This one is VERY strong, so glad it's outside but it smells really good. Two reasons to forgive its growth habit now: cute flowers and pleasant aroma.

  • 11 years ago
    last modified: 11 years ago

    I'm so happy that you're pleased with a thus far very disappointing plant!

    I've been wondering about whether anyone has experimenting with pruning/pinching their different hoyas at different times of year to attempt to produce a bushier, more prolific blooming plant?

    The reason I ask is because I saw a post where someone got some Hylocereus cuttings from some trash and the cuttings bloomed that first year. I just got some H. diversifolia and it's rooted and appears to maybe be putting out a peduncle as its second part of new growth. The first part was a set of leaves.

  • 11 years ago
    I have had cutting put out blooms as soon as the first few months...I am supposing a mature cutting from a mature plant helps...
  • 11 years ago

    Probably so! I wonder if the mother plant is putting out peduncles right now or if it's more about the plant "falling off the mother plant" and "happening to take root" so it goes into super reproduction mode (flowers make berries which make seeds which store better than a plant, in case of emergency)

    I'll have to ask the person I got them from about the mother plant.

  • 11 years ago

    My plant is in a tiered planter, so not that far from the ground. I just notice that my crazy, cover-the-world-with-my-fronds plant has hit the ground and its runners have rooted into the soil of my neighbor's yard, which is directly on the other edge of my driveway, where the planter sits. I doubt it will survive the winter there (although it MIGHT protected under the oak leaf litter that will cover the ground come fall, and the fact that my neighbor never rakes). I'll keep an eye on it. I will need to cut it to move my plant to its winter quarters.

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    stonetreehouse thanked Jan Sword-Rossman Realty 239-470-6061
  • 11 years ago

    They really are quite exquisite little things. Ah, the bounty of beauty in nature. Mankind can only pale in comparison.

    stonetreehouse thanked laticauda
  • 11 years ago

    My mom always did the same as Kim's, cutting off anything headed the wrong direction and replanting back in the top... makes for lovely full plants. Granted, it gives you twice as many vines to deal with the next year, but I've never minded that part.

    stonetreehouse thanked Rainthistle (Oregon)
  • 11 years ago

    With my bella,I take the longest stems and fold them back on the pot so some of the vine is laying on the potting mix and hold it on place with a rock or pin the vine down with pieces of bent wire.The vine will root and put out more branches.

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