Plant Addiction

Can I talk about this today? They do say half the battle of curing an addiction is admitting you have one. But you can't be cured if you don't really want to be. And I've convinced myself my case really isn't that bad...Dennis may think differently.

I will admit to having caused two of our three daughters to become hooked on houseplants and/or container gardening as well. I believe it's genetic, though. My mother hooked me, as well as my sisters. I think my brother escaped unscathed. Maybe it's like hemophilia, only it affects females more than males?

One daughter suffers from seasonal allergies, so she's confined her plant addiction to indoor houseplants. She avoids the great out-of-doors as much as possible. Most of her plants are non-blooming so pollens aren't a problem. Her addiction has outpaced mine. She's bought numerous plant stands, grow lights, specialized rooting vases and clay balls for propagation. She even bought a water purifier for them, and has humidifiers going in a couple of places. I believe she even has a watering/fertilizing schedule, AND uses it! My poor plants either adapt to my benign neglect or they expire.

The second plant addict does a lot of her container gardening outdoors, but nothing edible. Her lanai overflows with huge pots of tropical flowers. She makes many trips to nurseries searching for plants she doesn't already own. There are also a great many potted plants inside with her family. She sends random photo texts of her newest additions, with comments on how cute they are.

Our third daughter does have houseplants, but I wouldn't yet describe her as an addict. She may get there...

So, (last spring? summer) I received in the mail from the middle daughter a new Hoya plant. This one is called Shooting Star. I'd told her I was looking to acquire one after seeing a gal describe their flowers as dragons. This was a year ago during our Christmas trip. This plant arrived in great shape, and was already a nice size. I left it in its original pot since I know Hoyas prefer being a bit root-bound. A couple days ago I noticed it had developed three flower stalks loaded with buds. They're in tiny drooping clusters. They've grown considerably in just two days, and another cluster is forming. I can hardly wait for the blooms.

This led me to do more research. Various sources say there are 500-700 Hoya cultivars, hybrids, and species. The Shooting Star is Hoya Multiflora, native to southeast China. I'm given to believe it will flower often, with white and gold blooms. It should remain somewhat compact, only growing one to two feet tall and one foot wide. It's only mildly toxic if one should be dumb enough to consume a lot of its leaves. That should be reassuring to Dennis who tends to avoid consuming greens.

I've previously written about my original Hoya, the Hoya Carnosa. That one could conceivably grow to 12 to 20 feet tall, although most likely not as a houseplant. Perhaps in Zones 8-11, where they're natives. I did know Hoyas like bright indirect light, to be rather root-bound, and to not be overwatered. Keep them at least at 60°. Many Hoyas grow as epiphytes (air plants) and as such they're similar to bromeliads and orchids. In fact, they'll do quite well in orchid potting soil.

The Hoya Carnosa will usually only bloom in the summer months. What I hadn't know before was that they should NOT be deadheaded after the blooms die, as new flowers will form on the same stalk. Oh, they'll bloom again, but it takes a lot out of the plant to form new flower stalks.

Scientific talk coming: the genus Hoya is part of the Apocynaceae family, which includes dogbane (also known as Indian hemp, which was used to poison dogs). Newer taxonomy (scientific classification) says the subfamily is Asclepiadoideae, which includes milkweeds. The genus was named by Robert Brown , a botanist, to honor his fellow botanist and friend, Thomas Hoy. Probably the Asians already had a name for these plants native to their area, but trust the English (Brown was from Scotland) to catalog things their way.

Anyway, Hoyas are a fragrant, slow-growing, low-maintenance tropical flowering plants very welcome in my totally non-tropical home. They're easy to propagate, too. I've done that many times.