Okay, so I will admit that I am a bit of a plant junky, but I do have a few species I’m especially fond of. One is citrus. I have several, and I’m addicted to iced tea with my own Meyer lemon squeezed in. Another is orchids, and I have several dozen. And I have what are known as Wax Plants, or Hoya Plants. Hoyas, you ask? What is a Hoya?
Let’s Talk Hoyas
Hoyas are native to tropical areas of Asia, Australia, and Polynesia — areas that are warm and humid. It is a distant relative of the vinca vine and the Butterfly Weed. Most Hoyas are epiphytic vines. An epiphyte is a plant that grows on other plants; it is NOT a parasite, however, that sends its roots into other plants and steals their water and nutrients. Epiphytes use the host plant to lift it up where the light and air circulation are better. It gets its water from air humidity and tropical rain, and its nutrients from decaying organic debris that washes over it.
A Hoya’s nickname is Wax Plant because its leaves are thick and waxy. The foliage is very attractive, often with pretty variegated leaves, and wide varieties also have attractive flowers. They can either be grown in a pot and trellised up a pole or grown in a hanging basket and allowed to cascade.
How to Care For Your Hoya
They prefer very bright indirect light or good dappled light or they can take some direct sun before 10:00 AM or after 2:00 PM. You’ll want to pot them in cactus soil.
You can find them in most greenhouses in the cactus section, but they are NOT a cactus. They do like to dry out almost completely between waterings, but they don’t want to stay dry for several days. You can feed Hoyas a balanced fertilizer (20-20-20) during the growing season (mid-February through October), but they do suggest a couple of doses of a blooming plant fertilizer during the summer.
Give a Hoya a try. You’ll love them!