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My Hoya Conservatory, Dearborn, MI (2026)

11/22/2023

Hoya polypus S.Rahayu & Rodda

Scroll for the bare and unusual corona, and a pollinarium (it’s large!)
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What a surprise I found in my warm season tent this week. A little Hoya sent at the end of October 2021 by Herman as sp.Kalimantan (well before Hoya polypus was published) had climbed up the steamy walls and developed heavy buds very indicative of the blooms to come. The shimmery leaves with anthocyanic ridges on the back and clear sap (that + Kalimantan should have been the real clues had I been paying closer attention).. would bloom as Hoya polypus within the next day.

Slowly and few at a time they opened their many maws. My son, age 6 and always the first to put his face right into a flower, wanted to know what would happen if he put his finger in one of the “mouths”. Would polypus snap at him? (It did not, but I don’t blame him for worrying!)

This Hoya is collected from parts of the forest under serious threat of logging, and it is status is critically endangered.

Some of the Hunters who have rescued it, like .saha.7165 , are like Hoya conservation hero’s, having done so at risk to themselves, and propagating it with care to share with taxonomists as live specimens and even herbarium sheets. Maybe for some it is only a commodity or something new to have in their cabinet collection, but for others it is conservation of part of their home and forest.

It is a beautiful Hoya to grow, but also an honor to see it flourish and conserve it for years to come.

I don’t have my sense of smell in full right now, but I detect honeysuckle in the evenings. I hope it blooms again when I can really tell the full range.

I have seen several clones now on the market with slight variation in bloom and leaves, including a silver selected clone.

This one has the most lovely gold tinted blooms and somewhere in the asparagus green (RGB 0 255 0) range with dusty splash and a soft sheen like you see on Hoya pimenteliana.

09/12/2023

A very elegant clone of Hoya pandurata subsp.pandurata Tsiang

This one was traced back to China.

I grow all of these cool, high elevation Hoyas in my sunroom office indoors because I can see them constantly and it is an unheated high humidity space.

The smaller plants are in enclosures lining my shelves alongside my desk for a further boost in humidity (and unwanted byproduct of warmth).

Like other pandurata, I cannot detect a fragrance. Some say they can get a faint scent. It is a disappointment, but I find this group interesting and worthy enough without this usual favored perk.

The leaf shape on this one is almost all true pandurate, and the texture is smooth, nearly nerveless to the naked eye, and shimmering with only the faintest bit of hairs around the margins.

This clone reminds me a lot of another collection that has puzzled collectors with its identity over the years due to a more varied leaf shape and blooms which are neither “cup shaped” nor fully reflexed. But alas, it would be irresponsible to compare clone to clone, so that is just a liner note since all signs point to them having come from the same general region despite the other havjng been labeled superfluously with another country based on the photos of its blooms, match the 2017 Preliminary checklist of Hoya (Asclepiadaceae) in the ﬂora of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Whether this has made you curious or annoyed, I promise that one is coming. It has had enough of a ride with its label that I would like to get it just right.

In the meantime, here is this pretty one with its densely pubescent corolla and pretty rose-peach coronas.

09/02/2023

Hoya bilobata Schlecter
A clone as bright as the sun from Sierra Bullones in Bohol.

A very polymorphic species with many names and colors, it grows and blooms easily ex-situ in Michigan USA.

Scroll to see:
- a very unscientific comparison of the tiny umbel overtop of a Hoya carnosa that trades as 073
-a little Acanthostemma hangout with aff.burtoniae DS70 and sp.Sumatera (appears to be andalensis).
-alongside a falling umbel of another clone of bilobata
-An actual ruler in there somewhere 🌱. just to show the size and color in this quick format.

Growing lithophytically but will be transferred to bark and cork now that it is well past the rooting stage.

I owe thanks to Rykiel De Guzman, for kindly selling me a cutting earlier this year.

I am also watching buds try to form on one labeled bilobata (orange flowers) from the one and only but the peduncle length is vastly different, I cannot wait to compare. What will it be like? 🤞🤞

07/25/2023

This was collected in West Sumatera/Sumatra, and came to us as sp.Kalimantan as a gift/trade from one of my favorite sellers and friends, 🌱❤️.

I missed the blooms at antithesis, catching them fully open after returning home from what us Michiganders call “up north” .. the jaunt to a family cabin in the woods where we roast s’mores and play at local beaches around our closest Great Lakes all week, pretending not to be tourists in our own state. How could we be tourists if do it every year 😉? But we collect Petoskey sones with enthusiasm and buy souvenirs in marked up beach shops. Anyways, it’s a delight and required vacationing for northern USA summers.

As usual, after a full week away, my Hoyas taunted me by showing off how much they thrive when I am not there to overwater them & panic about invisible pests. Many more were in bloom than usual, even for peak growing season.

Among them was this, & I so far think it matches Hoya andalensis, only really deviating in having much smaller leaves and slightly smaller blooms.

Really, that species is the bilobata of Indonesia, and when you see something like this it is more evident. Compared to both bilobata and brevialata, there is little to separate it beyond size and where it turned up on the planet. In a global market where collections are not carefully tracked, it is hard to say that this is anything besides an aff. This collection makes me wonder if it was found near a nursery or is a seedling.. on the other hand, every day the Indonesian forests yield incredible new variation both beyond and within the known species. If the line between andalensis and bilobata seems to be maintained mostly by geography and size of the plant, this one is smaller and measured only a fraction of a mm above bilobata Schlecter and much smaller than the aff.burtoniae known as DS70. Better photos and true measurements to come, since this is all cursory 🌱.. hopefully collection details, too.

Maybe someone out there has seen this collection or knows more about it.

Moral of the story=‘s go on vacation with your family ❤️.

07/03/2023

Are you interested in Hoya hand pollination?

Stemma Journal () is hosting a live ongoing discussion tomorrow starting at 8am EST/8pm Philippines time Tuesday with writer Farley Baricuatro ( )about his groundbreaking and revelatory article from 5(2)p.3-23 (2023), Diary of a Hand Pollinator.

The discussion will be held at Facebook.com/groups/StemmaJournal and the article can be found at www.StemmaJournal.org and in the same FB group under the Files section.

Questions are welcomed and encouraged on the post. Join the group to be a part of this conversation. The Stemma Journal team will watch for your join requests to get you approved before start time tomorrow.

Please feel free to share this cool online event in spaces where it will be welcomed 🌱.

06/29/2023

Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’ (left) & Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’ KRIMSON QUEEN (right) side by side.

To paraphrase, Barnell L.Cobia patented Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’ after working with Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’ and ultimately improving the issue it had of weak new growth due to lack of chlorophyll from its tendency to come in white for several nodes. He also developed more robust vines along with improved and longer lasting color in the margins.

In between Hoya carnosa ‘Variegata’, and Cobia’s formerly patented cultivar ‘Tricolor’, there lays an unnamed cultigen by Cobia: an unpatented iteration which he felt came very close to meeting his goal, and that he described as having rounder leaves alongside the darker coloration and robust vines of Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’ (This is just fun trivia, I am not sure yet if it falls under ‘Tricolor’ now or has since been given a casual TN or several, etc).

For ‘Tricolor’, he Trademarked (now expired), the Trade Name KRIMSON QUEEN. That name has been used so much by nursery growers that it turned into a common name which is why the trademark is expired. Still, I write it in all capital letters so that it cannot be mixed up with a cultivar name since a trade name can never be a synonym, and the Accepted name (first validly published under the ICNCP) for this cultivar is Hoya carnosa ‘Tricolor’.

There are quite a lot of other names applied to outer-variegated carnosas (not including the silver ones) floating around, and I haven’t figured out yet all of those which are actually published cultivars with names which have been properly established and which are just trade names for the same cultivar, but it’s a fun puzzle.

In the meantime, here are two properly established names and the cultivars that go with them.

See patent USPP2950P for ‘Tricolor’ (name not established at that time)

06/10/2023

Today is the day, my wonderful friends! It has been a very exciting and BUSY month but from 2:30-8pm that all pauses and I will see you’ at Detroit Abloom with an SUV full of Hoyas ❤️🌱.

06/04/2023

Here is an interesting Hoya that I hope to learn more about over the next week.

Sent as Hoya burtoniae Kloppenb., propagated from a Philippines collection, it (at least sort of) surprised me with larger blooms and less erect corona than I expected for that species.

It is not like the collections of burtoniae we grow in collections in the United States, and I am curious to learn more about Hoya anncajanoae in that complex, and other collections of Hoys aff.burtoniae from around the Philippines archipelago.

Maybe the most interesting thing to me so far about this large-flowering, hirsute showering pedicel show of a Hoya, is the fragrance which is distinctly floral like spring lilacs with only a hint of the typical sweet caramel Acanthostemma underneath it all.

05/03/2023

Hi friends! Come hang out with my friends and I at this really fun event that is just around the corner on Saturday June 10th.

I will be selling Hoya propagations from my collection and so will Shanty Ritthaler , Alma Mistry Martinez, and .. I will also talk your ear off about them, tell you where they came from and who gave them to me, and answer all of your random Hoya questions. It makes me so happy to get to share these in-person and I don’t plan to bring any home🌱🙃.

We will be there with 17 amazing plant party vendors:

with his exceptional aroids
beloved local family business with houseplants of all genera , our favorite classics to rare , accessorize with .. Awesome botanical art prints by , community fave .mi_ , unique accessories from , , & .co bringing some zen & with even more gorgeous plants from a local nursery shop:

This is one of the most beautiful locations.. a neighborhood block on the east side of Detroit which has been converted into a pollinator refuge with a huge gazebo and event space. There will be great vegan food, beer & wine, places to hang no matter the weather, and a swap. So bring plants to trade and meet up with us to shop, eat, swap and hangout.

No Cover Charge.
June 10th
2:3p-7:30pm
At Detroit Abloom
248 Manistique Detroit

Event Link:

https://facebook.com/events/s/plant-swap-social-detroit-ablo/1387638312077238/

A million thanks to for organizing these fabulous events which are such a pleasure to attend.

04/24/2023

Seeking publications and further information on Hoya carnosa ‘Marlea’ (as well as Hoya carnosa ‘Brazil’ for separate purposes):
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Thought to potentially represent a unique cultivar by Almost Eden nursery, this was sent to me as Hoya carnosa ‘Golden Tricolor’ (name Not Established).

They recall that this appeared as a sport on what is sold as their Hoya carnosa ‘Rubra’ KRIMSON PRINCESS * many years back.

Differs from Hoya carnosa ‘Rubra’ in its very curly new growth and from what is sold widely as Hoya carnosa ‘Brazil’ (name also Not Established by possessing very long internodes and extremely vigorous growth.

I think this is a particularly stunning one.

Edited 12/23 reflect ongoing updates.

04/23/2023

Hoya versteegii Simonsson & Rodda

This is the best, most pure fragrance that I have experienced in a Hoya so far, just ever, of all the Hoyas.

It is no wonder: Hoya versteegii requires its pollinators to plunge past a densely hirsute, long and narrow tunnel shaped corolla, not previously described in the genus to this depth and persistence. This corolla shape is called ‘infundibuliform’ (funnel shaped).. and is seen in Marsdenia, Papuahoya and other Apocynaceae.

Opening the doors of my steamy tent this week is more rewarding than it has ever been. As a child I grew up in a home with blooming Jasmine grandiflorum, Stephanotis floribunda, Gardenia jasminoides, Trachelospermum jasminoides.. among others less relevant to my nose at this stage, and of course old heirloom Hoya carnosa which is my one true favorite fragrance because it will always smell like childhood and the staircase up to my parent’s bedroom.
I reaped the rewards of my mother’s green thumb and love for all things in bloom. But among those revered fragrances, I have never witnessed a Jasmine so pure and clean as Hoya versteegii in bloom.

It is like the best Jasmine tea pearls, no hint of the chlorine of fading flowers on a snowy bush that is coming in and out of season. Not too powerful, but all-encompassing. I’m completely romanced. I imagine this is the idea for any potential pollinator with this Papua Province, Indonesian endemic Hoya: it must lure its potential pollinator right down its throat, or at least enough of the pollinator to effect the act of pollination. See the diagram and associated drawings by M.Rodda included with the publication of this species on page 142, Contribution to a revision of Hoya (Apocynaceae: Asclepiadoideae) of Papuasia. Part I: ten new species, one new subspecies and one new combination by N.Simonsson & M.Rodda, 2022 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326685758_Contribution_to_a_revision_of_Hoya_Apocynaceae_Asclepiadoideae_of_Papuasia_Part_I_ten_new_species_one_new_subspecies_and_one_new_combination

Backstory:
I got this as a small, rooted plant a year or two ago (oh dear, I absolutely cannot recall).. and I trellised it and taped a leaf which was breaking from its own weight. It is potted in my orchiata, bark and mulch mix, and likes to stay a little wet.

When it took off, it ignored the trellis and I let it (my usual habit).
It latched to the netting along my tent walls, and Hoya lambii (the TYPE specimen) latched to its trellis so that will be something to sort out, but I enjoy watching Hoyas go wherever they will.

For photos last night, I finally decided I cared more to be able to see it more clearly, and had promised spring cuttings to a friend long ago anyways. So I took scissors to the netting since the large runner isn’t hardened off, and laid it out on a shelf and corner I had emptied out into several storage bins temporarily for this occasion.

These are my most awkward photos yet. I am not physically adept and had forgotten about lambii or would have removed the whole thing from the tent at this point, but lambii isn’t just climbing the trellis, it’s also climbing an opposite net and very happy. I’m pleased to say I only knocked one leaf off of Hoya sulawesiana, tipped over one out of two pots of Hoya megalaster, and broke one leaf off of of a large collection of Hoya kentiana.. the David Silverman clone.. while I was shoved in there with a lot of equipment. And I found about fifteen buds and umbels I would not have found until they had come into bloom so all in all it was quite an adventure.

When I was through, I gently retrellised Hoya versteegii on its original trellis alongside lambii, allowing the two to co-exist for now. I will face lambii in its own time (which is coming). And I hung the pots and baskets that had been on the netting back up, and repotted a large Hoya gigas, ariadna, and lauterbachii (breaking some ceramic with a hammer and using the broken pot as drainage material for their upsize).

04/03/2023

Happy Monday from Michigan ❤️🌱!

While I am having lots of fun learning my new phone camera, here is a close look at a Hoya that we’ve all seen a lot of lately and that is as special to me as it is exciting:

This petite, yet to be described species hails from Indonesian Papuasia, and often circulates with the numbers IM-08, though this one came into the US without numbers as only “sp.PNG” (it seems to more accurately be sp.Indonesian Papuasia).

This is an interesting little Hoya. In horticulture it appears to be very happy growing hemi-epiphytically climbing a trellis (I’m going to give it a little bark slab).. in high humidity and a range of temperatures (I almost froze everything about a month back you may recall, but this was just fine).. which over here usually range between 40-90% humidity and 65-75 Fahrenheit.

This has just bloomed yesterday so I have yet to look closer at all of the parts and am going to do that tonight but so far a few interesting parts at a glance are these long dished coronal lobes, a fragrance alike to a more mild serpens (a not dissimilar appearing Hoya but from a very different part of the world, very far away), and the aesthetically pleasingly patch of magenta behind the corona.

It was traded to me in the fall by Doug Chamberlain and I have been watching with bated breath while it grows happily, and then while the similarly small-leaved Hoya pulleana was published. I saw the mystery at least partly solved when his own mother plant bloomed last month which you can see on his channel, Vermont Hoyas; so I knew what this would appear as, though it still does not have a name. His is so beautiful and much more prolific of course than my one bud showing, so head over to his YouTube to check it out.

# ❤️🌱

My Hoya Conservatory