Wax ivy

I want to talk about one of the most beloved ornamental-flowering ampella plants - hoyas. These plants are known to many, and are often found in the offices and apartments of Russians, but not all of these amazing plants bloom. Their undoubted advantage is that they withstand shading and decorate rooms with their foliage, but in sufficient sunlight, they delight us with abundant and fragrant blooms.

Hoyas got their second name "wax ivy" thanks to dense, leathery leaves and flowers, as if covered with a layer of wax. It is known that the genus includes up to 200 species, most of which are native to Southeast Asia and the northeastern states of Australia.

Hoyi are climbing evergreens with wicker-like shoots, on which numerous beginnings of subordinate roots can be seen. Fleshy leaves sit opposite, on short petioles. The star-shaped flowers are usually fragrant, collected in drooping umbrella-shaped inflorescences. In the center of the flower is a five-membered crown, which is actually a modified stamens and pistil, it abundantly secretes nectar. More often it is painted in reddish tones. The petals are white or with small shades - cream, greenish, yellowish, there are species with yellow and purple-red flowers.

Hoya's breeding questions are in the Plants FAQ.

Hoya - care features - in the Encyclopedia of Houseplants section.

As a houseplant, the most common is fleshy hoya. Less often, fine, bella and longleaf hoyas are grown. The remaining species are found only among professional collectors.

Hoyi are unpretentious, easily propagate vegetatively and do not lose decorativeness for 10-15 years. With proper care, hoyas bloom from spring to autumn, and older specimens twice a year.

Types of hoya

• Hoya pale Hoya acuta is a climbing plant, home to China. The leaves are pale green, oval-lanceolate, with a pointed apex, about 7-10 cm long and 3-4 cm wide. The flowers are yellowish, fragrant, about 1 cm in diameter, the crown is carmine. There are a lot of them in the inflorescence - up to 50 pieces. It blooms in summer, with a pleasant mint or citrus aroma, very unpretentious .
• Hoya Shepherdi Hoya shepherdii is a liana with delicate shoots. The leaves are dark green, shiny, stiff, pointed at the end, bent by a boat along the central vein, 12 cm long, about 2.5 cm wide. The flowers are small, very fragrant, the inflorescence is relatively small for such long leaves - only about 5 cm in diameter, contains 12-15 flowers, 1.5 cm each. The petals are white, and the tips are light pink, the crown in the center is red. Homeland - India.
• Choya fraternal Noua fraterna is a climbing plant with broadly elliptical, very large thick leaves, long internodes. The flowers are pink-red, the crown is yellow, blooms reluctantly, rather capricious. Homeland - Java island.
• Royal hoya Hoya imperialis is a climbing plant with pubescent shoots. The leaves are smooth, leathery, oval-oblong, rounded at the base and shortly pointed at the apex, 15-20 cm long. Petiole pubescent, 5-7 cm long. The flowers are large, dark red, greenish yellow on the outside, fragrant. Crown pubescent. It blooms in June. It is found in nature in the forests of the Malacca Peninsula and the islands of Borneo. There is a garden form of Rausch (var. rauschii) with scarlet red flowers.
• Hoya longifolia is an epiphytic shrub with thin curly stems. The leaves are dark green, fleshy, narrow, linear-lanceolate, pointed at the apex, up to 18 cm long and about 1 cm wide. The flowers are small, white, with a faint aroma. The corolla of the flower is pubescent on the inside. The crown is white, with a carmine spot in the center. The homeland is the humid subtropics of Burma and Indonesia.
• Hoya macrophylla is a liana with woody shoots. The leaves are light green and fleshy. Elliptical-lanceolate, with a pointed apex, 15-20 cm long, 5-10 cm wide, with almost white veins protruding somewhat above the surface of the leaf. The flowers are white, with a reddish tinge along the edge, fleshy, pubescent petals on the inside. Homeland - rain forests of the island of Java.

• Hoya multiflora is a climbing plant. The leaves are oblong-linear, sometimes with silvery spots, clearly visible veins, 10 cm long and about 3 cm wide. The flowers are straw yellow, with narrow petals orange at the ends. The crown is white, with arched spurs, the flowers have a subtle lemon aroma. There are 30-40 flowers in the inflorescence. Homeland - forests of the islands of the Malay archipelago.
• Hoya fleshy Hoya carnosa is a woody vine. Shoots climbing, pubescent. The leaves are dark green, ovate-oblong, short pointed, rarely blunt, 5-6 cm long and 3-4 cm wide. Flowers up to 1.5 cm in diameter, with a pleasant strong aroma. The petals are wide, fleshy, white or pinkish-cream, with slightly bent back edges, densely pubescent on the inside. The crown is yellowish, with a purple spot in the center. It blooms profusely in spring and summer. Homeland - forests of tropical and subtropical Asia and Eastern Australia. Garden forms with variegated and white-edged leaves are known. It is the most common type of hoy among amateur flower growers .
• Hoya beautiful Hoya bella is a stunted (up to 30 cm tall) shrub with thin, creeping, densely leafy shoots. The leaves are light green, ovate-lanceolate, pointed, 2-3 cm long. The flowers are small, 6-8 in inflorescence, have the same aroma as daffodils. Petals are white, fleshy, pubescent on the inside. The crown is pink-crimson. The lot blooms abundantly and for a long time. Homeland - forests of Southern Burma and the island of Java.
• Hoya Emglore Hoya engleriana is an epiphytic shrub, Leaves 15 mm long and about 4 mm wide, slightly convex, completely unlike other species, resemble hoya bella leaves, only narrower (about twice). The flowers are 1.5-2 cm in diameter, the petals are white, slightly bent back, the crown is red-purple, pubescent from the inside. Small-flowered inflorescences - a maximum of 4-5 flowers. Homeland - Burma, Vietnam, Thailand.
• Hoya southern Hoya australis is a woody vine with long (up to 6 m) climbing shoots. The leaves are dark green, leathery, shiny, ovate or obovate, blunt or shortly pointed at the apex, rounded at the base, 5-8 cm long and 3-5 cm wide. Inflorescences are almost spherical, 5-6 cm in diameter, consist of 20-25 fragrant flowers. Petals smooth, shiny, white, with a crimson spot at the base, slightly pubescent. During flowering, the edges bend back. The crown is white. It blooms in October. Homeland - Eastern Australia and the islands of Fiji, Samoa.
• Hoya dimpled Noua lacunosa is a shrub with climbing shoots 60-100 cm long. The leaves are dark green, elliptical or lanceolate, pointed at the apex, 6 cm long and 2.5 cm wide, with depressed large lateral and middle veins (where the name "dimpled" comes from). The flowers are numerous, greenish-yellow, fragrant. The petals are fleshy, pubescent on the inside, bending back during flowering. The crown is yellow. It is found in the forests of the islands of the Malay archipelago and the Malacca Peninsula.

Hoya care

Hoyi grow well in rooms, easily tolerate dry air. It is best to place them on the eastern or western windows. On northern windows, or in a room at a distance, even near the brightest window, they, as a rule, do not bloom. From direct sunlight at noon (from 11 to 14) plants need to be shaded in the spring-summer period, because burns can form. Hoya can get burns when placed on the south window (from mid-spring to September), but in winter - from November to February, it can grow on the south window. On the east or west window, if its leaves come into contact with the glass, burns can also form.

Leaves at the same time, first discolored, then become light brown. My hoyas grow on the eastern windowsills in hanging planters, and bloom all summer.

The optimal temperature in summer is from 22 to 25 ° C, in winter from 16 to 18 ° (for fleshy hoya 14-16 °). Plants can winter in warmer rooms, but in this case they will bloom worse.

In summer, hoyas are watered abundantly. But so that the earth dries up completely in about 2 days. During the rest period - very moderately, the earth can dry out completely in the pot, but drying out can only be short-term. They are fed 2 times a month alternately with organic and full mineral fertilizers.

I usually use Kemira Lux fertilizer for flowering plants, and when transplanting, I make biohumus. After transplantation, the first feeding is carried out no earlier than in 2 months.

You cannot fertilize hoyi only with organic matter, or add very large dosages. In this case, the hoya will chew, grow a leaf, become susceptible to fungal infections, and will not bloom.

As a tropical epiphytic plant, hoya loves moist air, so it is possible to spray it in the morning and evening. But besides this, dust accumulates over time on large khoy leaves. It must be washed off in the shower with warm water. Only during this procedure avoid waterlogging the ground. The miniature hoya bella is especially prone to rot.

Hoyas breed easily. For cuttings, segments of shoots with 1-2 pairs of leaves are cut in hoya fleshy (and other large-leaved species), in species with small leaves, cuttings can be cut more genuine, with 3-5 pairs of leaves. For rooting, cuttings are placed in wet sand or in water. And you can cut cuttings at any time of the year, if only the temperature during rooting was not lower than 20 ° C, and the cuttings stood in a bright place. Cuttings take 3-4 weeks to root. And then they are planted in pots with earth. With good care, hoyas bloom in the third year.

Few people use the method of propagation of choi by air branches, but this is an interesting experiment. To do this, part of the shoot, where there are many primordial root buds, must be wrapped with wet sphagnum moss, covered with cling film on top and tied with thread. After 2 weeks, roots should grow in this place. But the moss must be constantly wet, so the film must be slightly opened and wetted. When the roots appear, the branch can be cut off and planted in a pot, right with the moss. This method allows for earlier flowering.

In many waxy, melting peduncles persist for several years, forming new buds every year, so they are not removed after flowering. But I know from my own experience that if a very overgrown fleshy hoya is cut off, it will still bloom if in winter it was able to relax in the cool, and if it has enough light.

By Devi