My first Hoya umbel

[Junebug]

My noid Hoya has produced it's very first umbel and it's so cute. The plant is probably a hybrid carnosa and was grown from an unrooted cutting. I've had her and another just like her (only much bigger) for 2 years. I purchased both of them as unrooted cuttings from a local thrift store. They've grow side by side and have received the same culture, but the little one decided to be the first to bloom.

[WhiteRabbit]

woo hoo!
I got my first hoya umbel too - got a nice hoya rubra (? I think it's rubra) last year - I forgot about it during a cold spell in December - and I was afraid it was a gonner. The plant looks really bad, but is blooming!

It's exciting, isn't it? Can't wait to see bloom pix!

[RosieC]

Cool

I used to love seeing those appear on my NoID Hoya back when it was flowering regularly. Mine was a cutting from my Mum's (all she knew about the name was Hoya).

One thing she said, which matches with my experience, is that they flower when pot-bound. Mine got established as a cutting and grew quickly (back in about '93) but only flowered about 5 years later when it was pot bound.

I repotted it about 5/6 years ago and it stopped flowering and has not flowered since... it's growing like crazy but is still not pot-bound. Like your bigger one it's huge with leaves everywhere... but it's also in a big pot. (It flowered for a couple of years in it's current spot, so I know it's the repotting which stopped it).

[RosieC]

The flowers on mine look just like WhiteRabbits... I guess mine might have some rubra in it's make up.

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by RosieC

The flowers on mine look just like WhiteRabbits... I guess mine might have some rubra in it's make up.

oops - mine is labeled 'Krimson Queen' which I see is a carnosa - I think the small cutting I had which croaked during the freeze was a rubra

[Gin]

Very pretty plants , they usually have a scent ..

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

oops - mine is labelled 'Krimson Queen' which I see is a carnosa - I think the small cutting I had which croaked during the freeze was a rubra

Ok, well I reckon mine is close to your 'Krimson Queen' then.

I should perhaps take pics of my Mum's sometime because it's more than masive... around the time my cutting was taken it was looped around a hoop stuck in the pot. It wound around and around and around. At some time later there was too much of it for the hoop so she added a moss pole and wound some more of it around that... when it became too big for that she put it in the corner of her porch and started training it up the trellis on one wall as well. The trellis goes up the wall then across above the living room side window which looks out in to the porch, the hoya covers it all. It is almost always in flower, but looks fantastic (and smells fantastic) when there are a lot of flowers (which is quite often).

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

woo hoo!
I got my first hoya umbel too - got a nice hoya rubra (? I think it's rubra) last year - I forgot about it during a cold spell in December - and I was afraid it was a gonner. The plant looks really bad, but is blooming!

It's exciting, isn't it? Can't wait to see bloom pix!

It gives me a thrill! I found the little umbel by accident as I was moving the plant to less sunlight and I practically got goose bumps. I returned the plant to it's previous location after the umbel sighting. I read somewhere that it's not good to move them while they're making blooms.

Now I must wait for the blooms to mature. How long did it take you blooms to develop, or have they developed yet?

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by Gin

Very pretty plants , they usually have a scent ..

Thanks. They really took off growing last fall...especially the larger plant.

I read that some blooms smell like chocolate...probably not this one though.

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by Junebug

It gives me a thrill! I found the little umbel by accident as I was moving the plant to less sunlight and I practically got goose bumps. I returned the plant to it's previous location after the umbel sighting. I read somewhere that it's not good to move them while they're making blooms.

Now I must wait for the blooms to mature. How long did it take you blooms to develop, or have they developed yet?

I too noticed mine when I was moving the plant - I thought perhaps it wasn't getting enough light to bloom where I had it. It's blooming now. Took a few weeks from first noticing the small umbel to blooms. As the buds get bigger - they are really cute - cos they start to get the star shape