Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

"Puzzlers"

Q. I was wondering if you could tell me the name of a houseplant. I wish I could send you a picture, but I don't have one. It grows like an ivy sort of, grabs onto things, it has oval shaped dark green leaves and gets little pink bunches of flowers on it, funny looking things, not at all like a normal flower, they look like one till you see it up close then they look like bunches and similar to a plastic looking flower. I hope you can give me an idea of what this plant is, I've had it for a very long time, last year was the first year it got blossoms.

A. These questions are the hardest on me, for I cannot see the plant and say, "Oh yes, that is called..."

I suspect Hoya. Do you know that plant? I have a webpage here below for you to browse through. It is the most complete one on Hoya that I know with lots of color pictures of the growth and flowers, called bracts. Let me know if this is the plant. It is rather waxy and the flowers do indeed seem plastic.

Be sure not to overwater it, but supply good humidity [it is a tropical climber] and indirect light for optimum growth. They bloom sporadically, but once they have started, they should bloom yearly for you!

http://magdoch.free.fr/hoya.html