Hoya bella (Hoya lanceolata subsp. bella)

Meet the plant

A small hoya that does not climb. Thin, soft, slightly downy stems rise from the pot, arch and hang, set close with small pointed leaves in pairs; on a happy plant the stem tips carry hanging clusters of waxy white stars with a pink to purple centre, sweetly scented in the evening (RHS profile, NC State Extension). It stays small, 30 to 50 cm at most, and is sold as a hanging-basket plant for that reason (RHS profile, Logee's). Kew treats it as a species in its own right, Hoya bella, and the RHS as a subspecies of Hoya lanceolata; the shops use both names (Kew POWO, RHS profile).

It grows as an epiphytic subshrub on trees in the forests of Assam and Myanmar, from the eastern Himalaya (Kew POWO, NC State Extension, Missouri Botanical Garden), which is cooler and wetter than where the common wax plant lives; the late David Liddle's notes describe it as a cool grower from moist highland forest that wants constant moisture (Vermont Hoyas, in the wild). That is the whole difference in living with it. Its leaves are thin for a hoya, so it shows thirst sooner, scorches sooner and minds dry air more (Healthy Houseplants). The RHS gives it an Award of Garden Merit and the extension pages call it low-maintenance, but the most experienced grower source lost leaves by the hundred until it learned never to let the pot dry out, and then found it easy (RHS profile, NC State Extension, Vermont Hoyas, bella). This guide calls it moderate for that reason. NC State tags it non-toxic to cats and dogs, and the ASPCA lists its relative Hoya carnosa as non-toxic, though it has no entry for this species (NC State Extension, ASPCA); the milky sap can irritate skin, so wear gloves when you cut it (RHS growing guide).

You will usually buy a rooted cutting of a few nodes in a 6 cm pot (Logee's). What to expect in a year: a handful of new stems arching over the rim, each adding pairs of leaves through spring and summer, and little in winter. It flowers young for a hoya: the RHS gives two to five years to maturity, Clemson calls it an easy bloomer, and a well-grown plant often shows its first clusters by the second or third summer (RHS profile, Clemson HGIC).

Light

Bright, filtered light close to an east or west window, and an hour or two of gentle morning or evening sun once the plant is used to it; NC State says that gentle direct sun encourages flowering (NC State Extension, RHS profile). Sources range wider than that: the RHS profile lists full sun for a sheltered summer position outdoors but bright filtered light indoors, Missouri Botanical Garden asks for half a day of direct sun, and Logee's says partial sun (RHS profile, Missouri Botanical Garden, Logee's). The cautious path indoors is bright indirect light with a little sun at the ends of the day, because this species scorches more easily than its thicker-leaved relatives (Healthy Houseplants); move it closer to a sunny window over a couple of weeks, not in one go (Clemson HGIC).

Too much sun shows as bleached or yellowed leaves and then crisp brown patches (NC State Extension, Iowa State Extension). Too little shows as thin stretched stems with small leaves far apart, and no flowers; light is the first thing to change when a hoya will not bloom (NC State Extension, UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions).

Water

Check first. Push a dry finger into the mix to the second knuckle and lift the pot: learn what it weighs wet and dry (Vermont Hoyas, watering, Clemson HGIC). Dry to that depth and noticeably lighter means it is time; damp means wait. The leaves tell you too, and sooner than a wax plant's: when they go thin, dull and slightly wrinkled the plant is asking (NC State Extension).

The rule: water thoroughly, until it runs out of the bottom, once the top half of the mix has dried, then let it dry to that point again. Do not water in sips (Vermont Hoyas, watering), and use room-temperature water. Sources disagree on how dry is dry. NC State says let the mix become almost dry, as for other hoyas; the RHS says water freely in the growing season; Vermont Hoyas, after years of pitted, yellow, falling leaves, found the plant easy only once it was never allowed to dry out (NC State Extension, RHS profile, Vermont Hoyas, bella). This guide sits between them, on the drier side of the RHS: the top half dry, never the whole pot, because a soggy pot rots the roots of any hoya and a bone-dry one costs this hoya its leaves (Iowa State Extension, Vermont Hoyas, bella).

Thirsty: thin, dull, slightly wrinkled or curling leaves on a dry, light pot, and after a long dry spell yellowing lower leaves that drop. A soak brings the rest back within a day or two. Overwatered: leaves yellowing or dropping while the mix is still wet, a soft dark patch at the base of a stem, a sour smell (NC State Extension, Iowa State Extension). If the leaves say thirsty and the soil says wet, believe the soil and look at the roots.

How often that lands depends on the pot, the mix, the light and the room. In a small plastic pot of chunky mix in bright light in summer it often comes round every five to ten days, a little more often than a wax plant; no source gives a figure for this species, and most hoyas need water no more often than about once a week (Vermont Hoyas, watering). In winter the plant rests and wants less, roughly half as often, though a pot by a radiator in dry heated air can dry faster than you expect (Vermont Hoyas, watering). The RHS keeps it just moist in winter and Missouri Botanical Garden says water less; neither lets it go bone dry (RHS profile, Missouri Botanical Garden). In a cool room err dry, because it is easier to overwater when it is cool. Treat the numbers as a reminder to check, not as the instruction.

Soil and pot

A chunky, fast-draining mix that still holds a little moisture: equal parts fine orchid bark, peat-free compost and coarse perlite, and the RHS adds sharp sand and charcoal to a loam-based compost for this species (RHS profile, RHS growing guide, Clemson HGIC). Hoya growers go chunkier still, mostly perlite and bark with some compost (Vermont Hoyas, medium); with this species, lean toward the compost end of that range so the pot does not bake dry between checks. Ordinary potting soil on its own stays wet too long. Mixes break down over two or three years into fine material that holds water, so refresh the mix on that rhythm even if the pot stays the same (Vermont Hoyas, medium).

The pot needs a drainage hole and should be snug; it is usually a hanging pot, so the stems can fall. A hoya does not mind being pot-bound and flowers better that way; a pot too large keeps the mix wet and rots the roots (Iowa State Extension, Clemson HGIC). When you do move up, go only one size, 2 to 4 cm wider (Vermont Hoyas, repotting). Plastic, a glazed pot or a nursery pot in a cachepot keeps the mix from drying too fast and lets you judge the weight; Vermont Hoyas finds bare terracotta dries a chunky mix too fast and kills the fine roots, which matters more for a plant that dislikes drying out (Vermont Hoyas, repotting). Terracotta works if you check more often.

Repot in spring, never while the plant is in bud or bloom, and only when roots have filled the pot or the mix has gone fine and soggy (RHS growing guide, Iowa State Extension). Water it in lightly, because this species dislikes a dry root ball, then go back to checking before each watering: the two months after repotting are when overwatering does the most harm (Vermont Hoyas, repotting). Hold the feed for five or six weeks (RHS growing guide).

Feeding

Lightly. A balanced liquid houseplant or orchid feed at half strength every four to six weeks from spring to early autumn, and nothing in winter (Iowa State Extension). This is general hoya advice; no source gives a feeding rule for this species alone. Sources disagree: the RHS feeds every couple of weeks in summer and once a month through winter (RHS growing guide), while Iowa State feeds at quarter or half strength and stops for the winter rest (Iowa State Extension). This guide takes the weaker rule. Every few months water through with plain water to wash out salts (RHS growing guide). Nothing for five or six weeks after repotting.

Flowering

The flowers are the point of this plant, and they come more readily than on most hoyas. Each cluster hangs from a stem tip and holds a handful of waxy white stars, each a little over a centimetre across, with a pink to purple corona at the centre; sources count anywhere from five to thirty flowers in a cluster, and a young plant's clusters are small (HortFlora, NC State Extension, RHS profile). The scent is sweet, like candy, and strongest in the evening (Logee's, Healthy Houseplants). They come from late spring to late summer (NC State Extension, RHS profile), and they drip a little nectar, so put a cloth under a plant in bloom.

What it takes: bright filtered light with a little gentle sun, a snug pot, steady water and humidity through summer, and a cooler, unfed winter (NC State Extension, Missouri Botanical Garden, Iowa State Extension). Most plants that never bloom are not getting enough light (UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions).

Two things never to do. The flowers grow from short spurs at the stem tips, and the same spur flowers again year after year. When the flowers fall, leave the spur alone: cutting it off is cutting off future flowers (NC State Extension, Missouri Botanical Garden, UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions). Let spent flowers drop by themselves. And once buds appear, do not move, turn or fuss with the plant until the flowers are over, and keep the watering steady; a moved plant or a pot that swings between dry and wet drops its buds (NC State Extension, RHS growing guide).

When something looks wrong

Look at the soil first; most trouble with this plant starts there, in both directions.

• Leaves yellowing, pitting and dropping in numbers. The classic bella complaint. Usually the pot dried out completely and the thin leaves gave up (Vermont Hoyas, bella); otherwise cold draughts, a cold windowsill or a sudden move (NC State Extension). Check the mix. Dry well down: soak it through and water once the top half dries from now on. Then keep it off cold glass, above 16 C and in one place.
• Thin, dull, wrinkled or curling leaves. Thirst, or damaged roots on a wet mix. Dry and light: soak it and the leaves firm up within a day or two. Wet: let it dry to the top half and slide it out to look at the roots (Iowa State Extension).
• Yellow leaves on wet mix. Overwatering, a pot too large, poor drainage or a mix that has broken down (NC State Extension, Missouri Botanical Garden). Stop until the top half is dry, check that water runs freely out, and repot into fresh airy mix in a snug pot if the mix is compacted (Clemson HGIC).
• Bleached, yellow or crisp brown patches. Sunburn; this species burns more easily than most hoyas (NC State Extension, Healthy Houseplants). Move it back or filter the light, and introduce stronger light over a couple of weeks.
• Thin stretched stems, small leaves far apart. Too little light (NC State Extension). Move it close to a bright window.
• Brown crisp tips and edges. Dry air, especially by winter heating, or a mix allowed to dry out again and again (RHS growing guide, Healthy Houseplants). A pebble tray or a group of plants, a steady watering rhythm, and distance from the radiator.
• No flowers. Light first, then patience, then the pot (too large?) and the spurs (were they cut?). Stop feeding in winter and keep the summer watering steady (NC State Extension, Iowa State Extension).
• Buds drop before opening. The plant was moved, the mix went too dry or too wet, or a draught caught it (RHS growing guide, Iowa State Extension). Leave it where it is and keep the rhythm steady until it has finished.
• Mealybugs. White cottony tufts in the leaf joints and under the leaves: the one pest the RHS singles out for this species (RHS profile, UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions). Dab each one with a cotton bud in rubbing alcohol, wash with insecticidal soap, repeat weekly for several weeks, and keep the plant apart until clear (Clemson HGIC).
• Scale. Small hard brown bumps with sticky residue (NC State Extension, Missouri Botanical Garden). Wipe or scrape them off, then wipe with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil and repeat.
• Spider mites. Pale speckling and fine webbing in dry warm air (NC State Extension, Clemson HGIC). Shower the plant, undersides included, every few days, spray with insecticidal soap or neem weekly, and raise the humidity.
• Sticky drops in flower. Nectar. Normal. A cloth under the plant, and wipe the drops so mould does not grow on them.
• Black soft base, stems wilting on wet mix. Root rot. Cut away every dark soft root, repot in fresh, barely damp mix in a snug pot, and take cuttings of healthy stems straight away: a plant this far gone often does not recover (RHS growing guide, Clemson HGIC).

Propagation

By stem cuttings, in spring or early summer, and it roots readily (NC State Extension, RHS profile). Take a piece of mature but not woody stem with two to four nodes and a few pairs of leaves; wear gloves for the sap. Stand it in water, where it roots in two or three weeks, then pot it up (RHS growing guide); or push it into moist perlite up to the first leaves, keep it warm and humid under a clear bag or cover in bright indirect light, and expect roots in four to six weeks (Vermont Hoyas, propagation). Pot the rooted cutting into the chunky mix in a small pot, and give it the same light and the same top-half dry spells as its parent; a few cuttings in one pot make a fuller plant sooner. A stem can also be layered: pin a low stem to a pot of mix beside the plant and cut it free once it has rooted (RHS growing guide, RHS profile).