I live in Ontario, Canada.
I have a Hoya Carnosa Compacta plant. I received it this summer from a friend who did not know how to take care of it.
Love my hoya, but it took a long time to get big enough to bloom. To me, the blooms smell vaguely of chocolate.
I recently bought a small 6" hanging pot with 3 starts at a local plant sale. I've had the green leafed one with creamy flowers for about 15 years, so just had to have this colorful one with burgundy stems and leaf edges that makes a pink flower. Hoyas do very well hanging under my porch where they get filtered morning sun only and water I give them when needed. It's 6-11-18 and my green one has been sending out new growth for a month, so I'll have flowers this summer. They are so pretty hanging over the edge of the oversized hanging basket it grows in. About once a year in fall I give it a haircut to keep it in bounds, and I use the cuttings to root new plants to share or trade.
Stems are very stiff compared to a lot of other hoyas.
I had two baskets of Hoya curtisii a few years ago. It didn't survive for long under my care. They were both out on my deck with all of my other Hoyas, receiving bright indirect light. I read somewhere recently that H. curtisii prefers cooler conditions so it might have survived longer if I'd kept it inside in the air conditioning and not outside in the high heat and humidity.
Hoya wayetii is another Hoya that I find easy to grow. The foliage stays pretty green when I keep it in bright shade, but when moved to full sun the leaves turn a bronzy red color. It blooms off and on year round and has cute little fragrant flowers! Just be aware, if the plant is subjected to full, direct, hot sun for extended periods, the leaves will burn.
The cute little Hoya bella was given to me as a cutting in a trade. The cutting rooted fairly quickly and the little plant lived for about seven or eight months and then suddenly withered and died. I didn't try to figure out what went wrong with this one and I have not tried growing this particular Hoya again.
I love this hoya ... maybe because it seems to be an easy Hoya that does well for me. I received a cutting in a trade a few years ago and it rooted easily, has grown lush and blooms once or twice a year with extremely fragrant flowers! I live in zone 9b East Central Florida where the climate is hot and humid during the summer. I grow this Hoya in a chunky, fast draining potting medium that consists of a lot of orchid bark mix and a little potting soil. I water once a week during the hot summer months unless we have rain, and once every two to three weeks during our short winters.
This Hoya shooting star prefers to sit literally in water. In our dry and hot weather, I guess the plant requires that for its humidity needs. If it gets too dry while a peduncle is growing or attempting to make buds, it will blast, so that moisture requirement is very important. The flowers flow with sugary sap, so remember that when you position your plants indoors. I usually find this plant more actively producing peduncles and buds when our temps hover in the low to mid 80's, but once it starts running into the higher 90's outside, somehow the plant senses it and it will abort any growth. Just the same, I keep the container sitting in water, so the plant will not languish. I grow this plant indoors near our west-facing window, protected by our white curtain, during the hottest part of the day and with the ceiling fan constantly running during the hot summer days.
