The Incredible Hoya Plant

When my sister, Diane, sent me a recent photo of one of her Hoya cuttings, I felt that the story of this amazing plant needed to be shared.  Here is Diane’s account of the history of her plant.

“In the mid to late 1970s Doris’ friend Marjorie gave me her Hoya carnosa plant (a.k.a. Wax Plant) as she was moving to Seattle.  I remember her telling me that, from time to time, there will be a few pink bloom clusters.  Sure enough, it would bloom now and then over the following fifteen years or so.  It continued to grow well and by 1993 it was at least 3 feet tall.  We moved in January of that year to Ontario from Montreal and, not wanting the plant to die if it travelled in the moving van, we brought it with us in the back seat of our car.  It made the trip okay and has been in our dining room ever since.  This room doesn’t get any direct sunlight and the plant rarely blooms but it has continued to grow and is now over 6 feet tall.

However, I have cuttings in water that do bloom regularly!  I add no nutrients to the water, and I have found that once the roots form a tight ball, the plant will bloom, almost continually, in one area of the plant or another.  Recently, the plant in water that resides in our kitchen, had five blooms at one time!  It gets the morning sun which I assume helps it to flower.  This plant, started from a couple of cuttings from the original, is at least 10 years old.  And all it gets is sunshine and tap water!

Over the years I have given cuttings away and started new plants for myself.  The one on the table next to the lamp is in potting soil and is about 4 years old.  It gets filtered sunlight and has not yet produced a bloom.  The plant in the jug is solely in water and is about 2 or 3 years old.  It gets only ambient light and also has yet to bloom.

As I’ve had the plant for close to 45 years and as it must have been mature when I received it because it had bloomed for its previous owner, I suspect it is over 50 years old.  Hopefully, it will continue for a few more decades.”

By the way, the paintings of the tiger and the flamingo are originals by Diane, so not only does she have a green thumb, but she is a very talented artist too!