How do you know whether a hoya should go in a hanging pot or climb a trellis? Is it dependent on the growth habit of the plant? If so how do you find that out? Is it owner preference?
Thanks in advance for your answers.
Sarah
To trail or to hang?
I've never found an indoor trellis that is solid enough so I make all of my Hoyas hang whether they like it or not. The ones that are twining around the hanger up into the ceiling I figure are the ones that would enjoy a trellis.
Just took this photo....it is H. vanuatuensis and it has been growing in full sun on this dead tree trunck for about 3 years. It climbed up and now trailing and covered with blooms. This is the way MANY grow in the wild.
Oh my gosh! that is hugeeeee & beautiful!!!! I would love to see the hoyas in the wild in person like that.
Carol.....Thats amazing!
Carol, Carol. .. why do you do that to me? LOL
Beautiful!!!!!
Sarah, with mine it doesn't seem to matter whether they are on a trellis or not. If they are in hanging baskets and want to climb, they just twine up the hanger and the vines tangle around each other. I just bought an H. australis from the EA website and that's how they train them. I unwound it from the hanger because I just didn't like the looks of it.
I think someone told me that H. cummingiana is a shrub type hoya and not a viney type ... I still have it clipped to a trellis to keep the branches from sticking out every which way.
I have a large hanging basket of brevialata and it shoots thin vines out from all sides and last year it even grew THROUGH the screen that it was hanging next to, so I had to give it a little trim. I think in nature they do what they want ... climb, vine, trail ... and they will do the same thing when planted in containers. If a plant wants to trail, it will scramble out of it's pot and I imagine if there were soil nearby, the runners would take hold and set roots in that soil.
My opinion has always been that plants have minds of their own and with proper water, air and light they will survive whether in the ground, in a container, or attached to the bark of a tree. Of course temperature is important too ... with the heat we are having I'd think my place would be a jungle by now!
Carol: I agree with Ric - that is one Amazing and Happy Hoya!
I 'll have to check for fragrance...by the time we go by in the a.m. it is warm and no scent...I seem to remember it is very sweet.
I think it is important to think of hoyas as 'advanticious beautiful weeds' in their natural habitat (and they seem to really like Hawaii). They will twine, climb, hang...which ever works for them. A few, like H. imbricata needs a surface and will grow UP usually...but it also goes sideways, along the bottom of a branch. They climb, they grow laterally and they hang...wherever the light and warmth move them. Even H. odorata, which branches, can twist around trees, branches, rocks etc. to get to the light and when they get to the light, they do their BEST to find just that light they really want, so they will gro along the top of, the side of or the bottom of a branch/rock. We provide them with a gym set and they will adapt... I had H. tsangii growing in a pot and it seemed to want to go out and up. It is now growing on a piece of bark, is about 2' long and it grows down...so far...I will probably see it wander all over the place looking for what it likes best.
I took the pot that H. caudata was growing in back to the greenhouse and I cut off the vines growing into the tree. That hoya is still growing in the tree...no pot...not rooted, as I can see ...to anything. And up there it is fine...3 years later.....
There ARE some hoyas that really grow well when climbing up...Eriostemmas are one group....and obviously H. vanuatuensis!!!!
Yes, up, up and out and over and in and out...golly, it just likes to travel I guess. It especially likes twining in with linearis...it's like untangling a ball of yarn sometimes...lol.
I just remembered that when I got my vanatuensis cutting two summers ago it had a peduncle on it that opened shortly afterwards, and it had a lovely, light, sweet scent at night.
Christine
Oh that's right!!! I think I'll put some around the house!!! Goodness knows...we have enough trees!!!