When I was a kid, my mom put a Hoya carnosa in my sister's room, mainly because she was one of those girls who are into horses and it happened to be in a horse shaped planter.

It was placed on her headboard, on the side furthest from the window, putting it about 8-9' from its light source. So it started out like this.

Hoya -------------------------------------------------------- Light

And gradually did this.

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooya Light

I found it very enterprising. It was a plant that could do something about its needs! So when I discovered there were more, one day, while shopping for Gesneriads, I bought as many as I could. Then, subsequently was shocked to discover it wasn't that easy to 'collect them all'.

Welcome, goddess. :)

It's hard to recommend species or cultivars if we don't know what you like. Variegation? Big leaves? Small leaves? Fuzzy leaves? Unusual characteristics? Frequent blooming? Vigorous growth? Good smelling flowers? Certain color flowers? Certain types of flowers?

Personally, what I seek out changes from month to month, but my favorite Hoya is rigida.

Hello, ghost. :) Nice story, haha!

I have looked at other Hoyas and find that I'm not particularly picky about how it looks - I would love to have one flower for me one day. Does the KQ bloom? I hear it's kind of slow growing, as well.

I also tend to grow foliage plants so any flowers are cool in my book! I will look into Rigida...I think I liked a few I saw on SRQ.

Lauren

My favorite H. rigida that Joni sells is 1424, but the 1395 is totally amazing in a completely different way. These two are an awesome pair, actually, very different from one another. I did notice that she has this amazing 1364 and if anyone thinks they are going to nab that one before me they are sooooo wrong!

(I hope :3)

The KQ does bloom! It pretty much blooms just like the regular carnosa except just a bit earlier (in the calendar year)! The blooms smell like if someone dumped some floral perfume in a cup of Swiss Miss cocoa. It's wildly disturbing but cool. If you give your KQ super good light, enough that the green part of the leaves turns a sort of limey color, it will bloom for you within a year or two I bet.

Here's a video pepeuve posted of his KQ. He really knows how to grow those carnosas.

Hello Goddess, and welcome. Congrats on the new Hoya.

KQ was my first Hoya, too. Got me hooked I tell ya! And two years later when it bloomed, I was done for. East window, above the kitchen sink- lots of humidity!

I am attracted to the ease of growing some of Hoya species. I love how some just sprout peduncles, when I'm not looking, and sometimes bloom, too.

I suggest lacunosa for you. Quick to grow and bloom, lovely fragrant flowers, and a different flower form than carnosa. Should be easy for you to find, too.

Welcome to the forum Goddess.

My first Hoya was a Hoya carnosa and after it sat and did nothing forever so I gave it to my sister. It was not until years later (and much more patience for slow plants) that I got a few cuttings in a care package from a very nice woman from Ottawa. Those cuttings were of Hoya DS-70 and when it bloomed a couple years later I was pretty much hooked.

If I were you i would spend some time looking through the SRQ site. There are so many Hoyas that have both amazing leaves and flowers that there is no need to compromise. If you find that you have a type then let us know and we can make suggestions. If you can't decide then then do what I would do and just get several. LOL
Hoya sp Haruku is a great species to start with if you like pendant growing plants. This one has an impressive growth rate and is very forgiving. The blooms are small purple fuzzy balls that smell like butterscotch.
Hoya pubicalyx in its various forms is another great beginner Hoya. The blooms are fragrant and very similar to its cousin Hoya carnosa but they are more towards the purple end of the colour spectrum. The leaves on most Hoya pubicalyx varieties are just as beautiful as the flowers although some are plain green.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Hoya sp Haruku

Excellent advice to just go forth and explore, Mike. You know, psychological research surprisingly suggests that people are terrible at predicting what will make them most happy or unhappy. I think this holds true in selecting plants. Even if you try to be strategic about it, you will find your most beloved species through accident.

Also, Haraku is a fantastic recommendation for a starter Hoya. I would also say merrillii. And, you know, this sounds weird but sp. 910307 is such a fantastic Hoya. Very classic Philippine look, you know, with the curving glossy leaves and lots of pale veining? It's fast growing and turns all kinds of red even in north facing windows. Gorgeous! Just... a perfect Hoya in my book.

Krimson Princess was my very first one and it grew so fast without much effort. Gardenweb really did a lot to increase my wanting others after I saw pictures of everyone's hoyas.

My preference is the glossy leaf hoyas and don't really care if they bloom or not.

Welcome!

Susan

I LIVE for blooms, need them, need them, need them!
*sigh*

Gee, wish you guys were unpleasant so maybe I wouldn't be so tempted to buy more! :P

thank you for the welcome and I will look into the suggestions!

Does srq send hoyas rooted? And my hoya is currently in a mandatory quarantine but is fairly close to a west facing window. That should do, right?

Lauren

LOL I hear you. I can't remember exactly what I was thinking when I decided to join a Hoya forum, but I seriously didn't expect to end up where I am now... at a point where I tactically avoid telling people the number of Hoyas I have. And it is totally because everyone was so nice.

I started a hello thread just like yours... :X I bet it was even the same subject. Good luck!

Yes, SRQ sends rooted Hoyas. Here's an example of a couple of Hoyas I got from Joni - exactly as she sent them (once unwrapped).

She recently switched to smaller pots. Here's a comparison she provides:

She does also sell unrooted cuttings. On each plant's page, she indicates its cutting price to the right of its name (here's the key.) But the price on the button that adds the plant to your basket, is its price as a rooted specimen (if currently available).

Hello Lauren, I just joined too :)
It's a very small community, so it has a tight knit- cozy sort of feeling. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself here!

I'm totally addicted to house plants and one day I stumbled upon Hoyas while reasearching! I was totally attracted to their growing habits and unique flowers, especially the fact that they are fragrant! I'm a bit of a noobie though, mostly plant-educated through online readings :)

Lacunosa is near the top on my list. Fast and easy,(as mentioned earlier) plus it's supposed to have an amazing (and pleasant) smell. You should be able to find it at Home Depo or Lowe's eventually because they carry Exotic Angel plants. If you see the plant on your HD/Lowe's website and decide to order it, you can have it shipped to the store for free.

Other great indoor plants with fragrant flowers are: Sansevieria Parva, Epiphyllum Anguliger and Aglaia Odorata. Check them out on google!

(Ghost I love your hoya story too! Now I have to go research all the mentioned Hoya :D )

I only have one plant so far, so I haven't gone crazy yet. I got a Hoya lacunosa because I read somewhere on the web that the flowers smell like the inside of a florist's cooler, like roses and carnations. Yum. I hope it's true.

Even though my plant is a tiny thing in a 2.5 inch pot, an old peduncle from a previous blooming is now making buds. I hope I get to smell them soon.

About how long does it take from the first sign of buds to the opening of the flowers?

My mom has always had a hoya in her kitchen... it's just a single vine but it is many years old and wrapped all around the window. I've always loved the flowers, they smell so good and are so simple and white.

So I bought my own hoya, (a mix of KQ and KP in the same pot) and was surprised at how wonderfully strange it was. No two leaves are alike and it moves its vines all around.. I also love how stiff it is, it's very sculptural. The flowers of the KQ part are not like my mom's at all, they are brownish pink and smell terrible, which somehow makes me love it even more.

So I found this forum, and found out how many insanely cool varieties there are, and now I have 5. One of them is a tiny plant with only one leaf, (a very beautiful leaf, since it's a callistophylla) and it just started growing a new shoot! It's so exciting. I would like to get more, but I need to get rid of some of my less interesting plants first.

Many years ago a dear friend gave me a beautiful trailing plant with thick stiff leaves. I had no idea what this plant was but I fell in love with it. Unfortunately, she had placed it in a pretty bowl that did not have a drainage hole. I promptly killed the poor thing.
I later found out that it was a hoya. I had intermittently looked for another one, but was afraid if I did find one I would not be able to grow it. My MIL has a carnosa (ID thanks to the wonderful people here), she gave me a rooted cutting last fall. It is growing like crazy!

I am hooked, I have placed a couple orders with Joni and look for hoyas in every nursery in the area. Goddess, you will find great information here and very kind people willing to share their expertise. Having said that, you will also find that this site is like crack to an addict! Any mention of a specific hoya will send you frantically on a search for it! I have quite a number of hoyas added my "wish list" at Joni's site, including a couple mentioned in above posts. If all the ones I am looking for become available at once I will have to take out a second mortgage!

Love hearing your stories, guys.

I just gave Joni some business - got 3 different hoyas, most of them easy/quick growers. I'm no Hoya expert so I'm starting easy!

Thanks for being such a nice bunch. :)

/bellegallica

It depends on the plant and how early on you noticed the buds, but generally speaking it takes Hoyas a month or so to go from bud to bloom. Luckily Hoya buds are really fascinating and beautiful to watch swell and change.

/squidy

Your mom's plant sounds very interesting. I have to admit when you started describing it, I was imagining her pinning the vines around the kitchen window molding, but I suppose what's really happening is they are simply climbing along handy grab points on its own. :P Still, a living kitchen wreath would be really cool!

I didn't have the discipline to get rid of plants when I first caught the Hoya bug, which means they are either being relocated to the office (which works well) or perishing through one accident or another. I honestly don't know how people like Mike grow multiple types of plants simultaneously with such apparent ease. I only seem to be able to manage one watering schedule at a time. So... Hoyas and anything else that likes the same type of care LOL. I'm getting into succulents on my balcony and that works.

/goddess

Good plan. Honestly, the vast majority of Hoyas are easy so why get into the mere handful of touchy ones until you're jonesing for a challenge? I take my time too. What were your three?

GG,

H. cumingiana
H. lacunosa 'sno caps'
and H. fitchii

I'm very excited about seeing them! I haven't seen a bad review of SRQ Hoyas yet so this should be interesting. They were a bit expensive though per plant, but I'm sure they're worth it. They were also picked to my tastes for foliage, so if they don't bloom I will be able to really appreciate the leaves.

Any tips on these particular Hoyas?

Lauren

Okay here's my recommendations.

When you first get them, stay on top of them for the first week or so. I don't know why, but they always seem a bit edgy and thirsty during their first couple weeks, then they settle down and keep pace with the rest of the plants. I have the same experience with other vendors and plant types, so I think it's just an effect of them settling into a new environment.

All 3 of these are easy to grow. H. lacunosa likes a bit extra water. Don't keep it damp or anything, just keep in mind that it will grow most lavishly if you water it slightly more frequently than cumingiana and fitchii. Cumingiana does amazing in super bright light. Despite its delicate appearance, it doesn't burn so easily and the leaves will be spaced more closely together. Here's a nice high light example:

and a low light example:

Fitchii is super easy and hardy. No special instructions for that one.

Ah, so I should probably let cumingiana hang. It is the only place I can squeeze it in where it will get bright afternoon light.

Thanks for your recommendations - it's good to know that I picked the "easy" ones!

goddes,

If you have plain lacunosa you are in "trouble", last summer I picked one from grocery store and was hooked! This Hoya has been growing ever since and blooming for over 3 month now, such an easy plant to own! Now I have over 25 Hoyas!

Joni's plants arrive very thirsty (she sends them dry to avoid rot), so make sure you water well. I set them up in the tray and let sit with bottom of the pot in the water for 30min-hour, before moving to permanent spot with no water in the saucer. First couple of weeks I check newbies every day to learn how often to water. Don't freak if you notice that growing tips are drying up, change in humidity and light etc. can cause it. Most of plants I got from different vendors did it and recovered couple of weeks later when they settled in new home.
Aggie

My passion for hoyas started in the late 90's when reading the Gardenweb houseplants forum. Everyone was talking about hoyas and it was before this forum was created. I purchased my first hoya - a H. Kerrii (not variegated) from a local nursery - Hawthorne Nursery. I kept her for a year and she bloomed. Sticky sap all over my dresser drawer... lol

Tpie