Good Old Reliable Carnosa

Day 316: Hoyas are rewarding houseplants, if (and note this well) you happen to be one of the many people who can grow them successfully. I'd have thought it was impossible to do otherwise, but I have a few friends (you know who you are) who say they can kill them without half trying. Admittedly, I have a few of the more obscure members of the genus which I have not been able to bring into flower, but for the most part, they grow well for me. Hoya carnosa (above) is the type most commonly found in plant stores, sometimes alongside its variant H. carnosa compacta, aka Hindu Rope Plant. For the record, I do not own a compacta, an oversight I may need to remedy. My most prolific bloomer is of course H. bella, the "miniature" Hoya. Following shortly on its heels is bronze petalled H. fitchii, and further down the line by the red-flowered H. ilagiorum. Oddly, good old reliable everybody-owns-one H. carnosa falls in fourth place. Still, there's nearly always a Hoya in bloom among my collection.