*Really*.... how bizarre! Well, thanks, Lin - I've been losing faith in my ability to grow flowering plants, so that makes me happy, at least one I can!

It was strange, today was volunteer day at the botanical gardens for me. When I walked into one of the courtyards, I would have sworn I could smell a H. lacunosa blooming. Turns out, it was one of our cacti - Echinopsis candicans, or Argentine giant, that has these big (like 7" across) white blooms. They typically bloom much earlier in the season, double whammy.

As you can see, however, not something that you're going to put in your livingroom, lol ....

http://phoenix.about.com/od/ar...

Oh my goodness ... that is one amazing Cactus; beautiful shot!

My Hoya shooting star blasted all the buds.....I knew it, this is not the time for it to make its blooms..must have been fooled by Mother Nature, funny thing, it is indoors all this time, but still it knows when temps outside cool down. We had that one week of cool temps..then went back to our usual mid to upper 90's. And promptly blasting them all.

I just noticed this post! I love hoyas, I have 3 H. carnosas, varieties Krimson Queen, Krimson Princess, and Hindu Rope, there all small but i believe they will bloom one day!

I found this one at Home Depot today and of course no name. Does it look familiar?

I have a plant that seems to be the same as this one.Hoya 'Krimson Queen' but there is another, H.Krimson Princes'.The difference is one has a white center with green around the edges and the other is the opposite.
H. K.Q. bloom

K.Q.

H. K.P. plant and bloom

Rhamel,i just noticed your post and here's a reason to keep the good attitude.I also have those 3 hoya's.
Here's pictures of mine when i first got them and pictures of them now a few years later.

Hoya 'compacta' (hindu rope plant)



H.KP



I don't have a lot of pictures for some reason of the H.K.Q. here is a picture of it now.


I have found their environment has a lot to do with their blooming.

Good luck and don't give up the blooms are worth the wait!!

Thank you jojoe, I will goggle those names. I have the Hindu Rope and it is blooming but there is no fragrance so I am giving that one away.

Cinta: Your beautiful plant is definitely a Hoya carnosa. There are many cultivars of H. carnosa, some with variegated foliage. I have one carnosa that was a gift as a very small plant from a dear friend in 1976; it was the Krimson Princess (Hoya carnosa 'Rubra'), this photo is from 2009: My plant lost all of the leaf variegation years ago and now has solid green leaves. I have a few Hoya carnosa's and I've never detected fragrance on any of them but it may be because my plants stay outside on the porch, deck or hanging in trees. I might have to bring one in that's blooming now to see if I can smell anything this evening.

joejoe: Your Hoya's look very happy and healthy!

I used to have a huge Hindu Rope Hoya ... it was a mealybug magnet during the hot humid summers here and I'd have to spend hours with q-tips and isopropyl alcohol trying to get into all those nooks and crannies to eradicate those bugs! I ended up losing the plant to a winter freeze along with lots of other tropical plants but I don't miss that one at all, LOL.

Cinta, where are you growing the H.compacta? inside or outside & has it bloomed before? I found out with all of my hoya's (8) they seem to a stronger smell with each blooming.If you have it in a small room you can smell it much better.Don't get me wrong some don't have so much of a scent & some don't smell so great.The smell are always the strongest in the evening as the sun goes down.I like to bring them inside for a little while during their blooming period because you can smell them so much better.

I put mine outside in a wooded area where they get partial sunlight.This year we have had so much rain and cooler temp's that i have 5 blooming.
You can see they get more of a dapple sunlight


If anyone has or knows anything about H.'Chelsea' or H. 'brevialata' please let me know.Those 2 i haven't been able to get to bloom yet.
H. 'Chelsea'

H. 'brevialata'

Lin,we cross posted and you said the same thing i did.I have one that smells like chocolate & one like butterscotch,one it's hard to explain need to bring it in for a few days.

Hi jojoe:

Hoya 'Chelsea' is another one of the carnosa cultivars. I had a couple of them a few years ago but gave them both away when I moved; one of mine bloomed once, looks just like other carnosa blooms. 'Chelsea' is a pretty Hoya, I like how the leaves are kind of crimped on the edges and I've seen some with solid green leaves while others have a reddish tinge (possibly from higher light conditions) but I'm not real sure. I used to have a couple of Wax Plant (Hoya brevialata) and they bloomed during the summer months, July, August and September. I feed my Hoyas ( when I remember) the same plant food I use for my orchids; one with a high middle number. I just dilute it by 1/2 of what it states on the label.

Thank you Lin. I hope it does not lose the variegated foliage. That is what really makes the plant that and fragrance. If it does not have either of these I will be giving this one away too.

Is it common to lose the variegated foliage?

I'm not sure how common it is ... I always thought that plants would revert back to the solid green parent as they age but when googling, I found this: http://www.coastbotanicalgarde...

I have heard folks talk about pruning out any solid color foliage to keep variegation but I'm lazy and just let plants do what they want, LOL.

I read a thread somewhere that i believe Carol was a big part of and if i remember correctly she said it's not uncommon for plants to revert back to their original color.Such as my 'chelsea' has some flat leaves not all the leaves have that indention on them,my KP & KQ have some plain green leaves but the KQ has some plain white leaves & also have some pink on them.I don't have a plain carnosa without some kind of variagation.

White leaves on KQ


A close-up of 'chelsea' leaves


My DS-70 & 'Wayetti' have blooms that look really a like except ones red & ones burgandy.

H. 'wayetti'


I have never really fed my Hoya's much because i was told by someone "to much fertilizer and they won't thrive or bloom at all", maybe i should feed them 15-30-15 in half a few times a growing season??

I have to admit i love my hoyas,they are one of the 1st plants i started growing after i was diagnosed & am attached to them.The hubby even likes them.I am probably going to have to repot and put on trellis's real soon they have gotten so long in the 3 years i've had them.Look at the difference here.


H. 'brevialata'


My post is long enough,i am long winded enough but that is the amount of growth i've gotten from them all.

Jelinda: You are doing something right ... your plants look very happy and VERY healthy!

Lin,Thank you very much!!!

I love my hoyas nomatter how small, the foliage alone makes them popular inmy house and one day, a bloom will warm my plants. I used to have a huge Hoya sp. DS-70, but i gave it away, because it was huge and rather boring, the flowers were qute but scentless and dripped nectar everywhere(my dog would lick up the mess)

I know the feeling of dripping nectar from the DS-70 i put a towel under it & it bloomed for so long it was a constant thing to keep up with.My 'Wayetti' does the same thing,maybe it has to do with the smaller blooms?