It was a Hoya that got me "hooked" on growing. Back in high school, I was dating my ex who's mom was growing a lot of really cool plants, which I later came to know as succulents. She grew things like Aloe vera, Mother-of-Thousands Kalanchoe, Bird's Nest Sanseveria - common stuff for the most part. She gave me starts to grow myself. One day, my then-boyfriend brought me a Hoya - the common variegated carnosa. I was enthralled at the pretty leaves and I was careful to take very good care of it. It was such a thrill to watch it grow and "ooo" and "awww" over the attractive new growth! A year or so later, I had subscribed to a magazine called Houseplants & Porch Gardens and they had an article about Hoyas and I discovered, to my delight, that there are lots of varieties of Hoya! But other than a couple of very common ones, I never found any others locally. When I finally got a computer and got hooked to the web, my first search was for Hoyas and a whole new world opened up! Since then, I've collected quite a few more and look forward to continuing to expand my collection...

This is Hoya tsangsii and I chose to ramble about this Hoya because it's the one in bloom for me right now. And - wow! - is it blooming up a storm! Hoya tsangsii is one of the little Hoyas with leaves only about 1" long with a leathery texture. The edges of the leaves take on a dark, bronzy tone when they get good light. It's not one of the climbers, but a trailer. I got this one about two years ago at - of all places - Home Depot. It was an Exotic Angel plant, so I repotted it right away into a more "home friendly" mix. (I've found EA plants are in a mix that is WAY too easy to both under and over water!) I use the same mix for all of my plants - coir and an additive like perlite for good drainage. While some plants go into a temporary dormancy when they're repotted, I don't think this tsangsii missed a beat and seemed to, in fact, charge forward with new growth. Within a year, I had my first buds and blooms and, about 6 months ago, it started to explode with new peduncles. A few days ago, I counted 11 peduncles in varying stages of blooming! That's a LOT for a small Hoya! I detect no scent at all, which is the only disappointment I have with this Hoya. (I read on Christina Burton's website that she thinks they smell like carmel, but I can detect no scent whatsoever...) Each bloom cluster is about 1" across with 12-20 individual flowers. It's a great little Hoya that I recommend highly. I would categorize it as "easy" for both growing and blooming. It can take quite a bit of sun, but I suggest morning sun is best. I had mine in a south window for awhile and it started to get some yellow leaves, which don't hurt anything but just don't look particularly attractive. With all my Hoyas, I water them when they start to dry out and feed with Eleanor's VF-11, both in the water and through foliar feeding.

Tomorrow: more Hoya pics.