There she is, the mother plant. The descendant of the hoya cutting I have managed to keep alive for over forty years. She bloomed for me the first time back in the late nineties after years in different locations but essentially the same care. She has grown to this size from a small cutting that survived a mite infestation ten years ago. Located for the last year in the sunroom off the kitchen, she is again enjoying light from the east-facing patio door, very similar conditions to the house in South Dakota. She is thriving, but showing no sign of blooming again.
Here we have a cutting from the mother plant, situated about ten feet away from her in the dining room. The cutting gets a pretty intense dose of late afternoon light on the sill of the west-facing window. I was concerned that the leaves would get fried in the heat but no, she seems happy and has nearly doubled in size from a year ago.
I have always been amazed by the strong heliotropic tendencies of the hoya. Last night I was taking a look at a nearly perpendicular vine of the plant and discovered this! A spur from which an umbrella-like profusion of star-shaped pink flowers will grow. I'm so excited that over the next couple of weeks my hoya will be sporting blooms again!
On closer inspection, I found a second, more advanced spur! Considering that I'm hauling in tomatoes nearly every day now, and the recently resurrected poinsettia, my brown thumb is decidedly more green than it ever has been!
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