Hoyas With a Sweet Scent and How to Encourage Blooms
Transform your Hoya from a foliage plant into a fragrant experience. Understand the subtle care adjustments that encourage sweet-smelling, recurring blooms.
Fragrant houseplants add a unique sensory layer to an indoor garden, and the Hoya genus excels at this. Commonly called “wax plants” for their thick, sculpted leaves, many Hoya species are known for their sweet-smelling flowers. These clusters of star-shaped blooms can fill a room with a pleasant aroma. This article explores popular scented varieties and the care required to encourage them to flower.
Popular Hoya Varieties with Sweet Scents
Among the most popular Hoyas is Hoya carnosa, a classic variety known for its hardy nature and fragrant blooms. It produces clusters of pinkish-white, star-shaped flowers with red centers. Their scent is rich and chocolatey with notes of vanilla or honey, becoming more pronounced in the evening. Its thick leaves can be solid green or variegated, making it attractive even when not in bloom.
Hoya pubicalyx offers a spicier, more complex fragrance. This variety has fuzzy flowers ranging from pink to deep burgundy, often speckled with silver. The scent is like a sweet floral perfume with a musky or spicy undertone. Its long, dark green leaves, sometimes with silver splashes, distinguish it from Hoya carnosa.
Hoya lacunosa produces a powerful fragrance from its small, delicate flowers. The creamy-white, fuzzy blooms appear in small, drooping clusters with a scent like cinnamon or a sweet floral perfume. Its smaller, dimpled leaves trail well, making it ideal for a hanging basket.
Hoya sp. aff. burtoniae has a unique butterscotch or caramel aroma. Its fuzzy, dome-shaped clusters of deep burgundy flowers are distinctive. This variety has soft, fuzzy leaves that can develop a reddish tint when exposed to more light, adding to its visual appeal.
How to Encourage Hoya Blooms and Fragrance
Providing adequate light is the primary factor for encouraging a Hoya to bloom. An east-facing window with gentle morning sun or a spot near a southern or western window is ideal. If leaves look pale or bleached, the plant may be getting too much direct sun.
Proper watering also triggers blooms. Hoyas prefer their soil to dry out between waterings. Allowing the soil to dry out in the spring can mimic a dry season and encourage flowering. Be aware that if the plant gets too dry after buds have formed, they may fall off before opening.
Maturity and pot size are also considerations. Many Hoyas will not flower until they are several years old. These plants bloom most prolifically when slightly root-bound, as a snug pot encourages flowers over root growth. Only repot when necessary.
The right fertilizer can provide a final push. During the spring and summer growing season, use a fertilizer with a higher phosphorus content to promote bloom development. Avoid fertilizing in the fall and winter when the plant is resting.
Common Reasons Your Hoya Isn’t Blooming
A frequent reason a Hoya fails to bloom is insufficient light. A plant putting out long, leafless vines is often searching for more light. Another factor is the plant’s age or stability, as a young or recently repotted Hoya may not be ready to flower.
Improper watering is a frequent culprit. Overwatering is particularly problematic as it can lead to root rot and prevent blooming. Conversely, consistent underwatering can stress the plant too much, causing it to conserve resources rather than expend them on flowers.
A mistake many new Hoya owners make is removing the flower spurs, known as peduncles, after the blooms have faded. These small, woody stems are where the plant will produce flowers year after year. Cutting them off forces the plant to expend energy creating new spurs, significantly delaying future blooming.