The pink Hoya brought from Perth
Many years ago I was given two pieces of Hoya brought from Perth, West Australia by my sister Christine. The pieces couldn't have been more than 5 inches long and I grew them. They grew rapicly but I think I over fed them in huge pots with wet waste compost, so all they did was grow and grow without a flower in sight. I thought it was no sunlight, I blamed it on too much watering, but nothing would get it to flower. And in no time, five whole years passed.
There are literally hundreds of bunches all over
But to my utter luck the vine seemed happy on my balcony and its leaves began to shine and it spread across the entire trellis work. On one of my annual holidays in the UK with my son David, he said "Mum why don't you try feeding it some Epsom Salts? "
He bought me a packet and I carried it home to India to feed my Hoyas. In a few weeks bunches of buds appeared and the plant flowers twice a year now.
Enid shared a [piece of her White Hoya!
Meanwhile I had begun a Whatsapp gardening group and in minutes I had a gardener respond that she had a white Hoya and would I like a piece?! Ofcourse I would and in weeks and months the pieces grew huge and this year -- barely in a year I got my first white Hoya bloom! They are outstandingly beautiful and emit a delicate scent. I will share ONLY with growers and gardeners who can make the effort to grow them and send me pictures of the blooms!
The waxy Hoya!
Then a gardener from Pintovaddo in Goa, said --"Come over and take my brown Hoya cutting. Imagine that?? I got the brown from Lillia Pinto in Goa, a prize winning gardener and my collection has grown to three. Gardeners are good people. They share with no expectations, like I do now. Dozens of gardeners in Goa are growing my pink Hoya and sending me pictures of them flowering. Now I've begun to share among the mothers of seminarians and the priests whom my son Steven is in touch with.
Speckled leaves!
And the leaves took me a long time to get used to. I thought they had a problem, some sort of virus! But No! They are speckled like that!
