Hoya - A Plant For Garden Design

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Hoya is a plant that has long been loved by landscape designers. For the first time, such a culture became known back in the seventeenth century. Hoya immediately attracted the attention of people with its interesting and beautiful view. Snow-white inflorescences complemented the overall picture of this plant. By the way, this culture received its name from the famous gardener Tom Hoya, who made a great contribution to the botany of the world

The homeland of Hoya is considered the tropical zone in Polynesia. The plant looks like a liana and loves an area with rare forests. The culture prefers places well lit by the sun for its growth. However, this plant is also very fond of moisture. Therefore, hoya grows much better on wet soil. When growing a plant in the garden, you should take care of special supports. Liana very often wraps around the trunks of large trees. In natural conditions, hoya can grow up to ten meters in length. At a young age, this plant is characterized by a brown-purple color.

Hoya shoots in this case do not yet have leaves, but after a certain period of time, with proper development, elastic and fleshy leaf plates with pointed ends appear on the hoya. Sometimes you can also find leaves in the form of a semicircle. At the same time, the branches of the creeper become weaker. One sheet can be up to five centimeters long. In the spring season, the flowering of the hoya is striking in its white and pure shade. But in some cases, a pinkish tint is present in the inflorescences of the plant. As for the shape of the flowers, it looks like miniature stars. The inflorescences themselves are collected in tiny umbrellas. The diameter of one flower is two centimeters. Only the imperial hoya has inflorescences with a diameter of eight centimeters. The expressive aroma of hoya also attracts the attention of gardeners. The plant secretes nectar, due to which it is classified as a good honey plant. In general, hoya varieties are divided into street and home varieties.

About leaving

At home, the hoya feels very comfortable and cozy. In the warm season, the container with the plant can be taken out to the site. But with the onset of frost or when the air temperature drops to seven degrees, it is required to re-place the hoya in the room. Supporting elements help support the vine. Good lighting conditions are essential for the proper development of a culture. However, it is required to ensure that the direct rays of the hot sun do not fall on the surface of the plant, as they can provoke burns. It is necessary to water the plant in a timely manner, but it is impossible to overdo it with the procedure.

Flowering problems

Often, flower growers who grow hoya at home are faced with such a problem as the lack of flowering of the culture. The reason may lie in non-compliance with the rules of care - lighting, watering, temperature. But sometimes all of them are performed in the desired form. Then the reason may lie in the poor content of elements in the soil. Here you can take advantage of the opportunity to simply feed the plant. Fertilizer should be made liquid, and it should contain potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen (2: 1: 3). This will help the vine to bloom again, awakening from the calm phase. The ideal temperature in the summer is 24 degrees. In winter, the plant even tolerates a seven-degree temperature. However, there are individual indications for some varieties.

How is hoya bred?

When breeding hoya, flower growers rarely have difficulties, although compliance with the basic rules is still necessary. This process should be carried out only in the spring period of the year. There are three ways to breed a crop: cuttings, grafts or layering. In the first case, ten-centimeter cuttings are used, but only from the upper part of the plant. Next, you should prepare a mixture of sand and peat. Often phytohormones are added to artificially created soil. These ingredients help create a more improved root growth and formation process. After the cuttings are planted in the finished soil mixture, they will need to be covered with plastic wrap.

The temperature inside such a greenhouse should be between eighteen and twenty-four degrees. As soon as the cuttings release their first roots, they will need to be transplanted into separate cups, which are pre-filled with the same mixture.