Bringing Back The HOYA

For many of us, hoyas are those plants our grandmothers had growing on the 'stoep; or in a pot that hung from the dining room celling in a macrame pot hanger

- Tinnus Oberholzer

The genus Hoya contains between 200 and 300 different species. In addition, there are also lots of hybrids and cultivars of certain species, making it an incredibly diverse group of plants. Hoya plants go by numerous different names: waxflower, wax plant, wax creeper, wax vine, porcelain flower and Mary’s tears, to name just a few.

These plants have a home range that stretches from India in the west to China in the east, and reaches downward through Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia, through all the Southeast Asian islands, and even extends to the northern parts of Australia. Because of this wide distribution range, which includes many different habitats, these plants have varying growing requirements, which we need to keep in mind when we want to keep them here in South Africa.

In general, most of the hoyas can be described as tropical, while certain species are subtropical. The subtropical species are the easiest to grow in our climate, as the tropical ones need high temperatures coupled with high humidity throughout the year to perform at their best.