Wax Plant

Botanical Name: Hoya carnosa

Long, slender vines of the Wax Plant are covered with thick, green leathery leaves. The leaves are sometimes flecked with silvery or creamy white.

Given enough light, Wax Plant will produce parachute clusters of sweet-scented, star-shaped, white to pink flowers with five-point centers.

This plant blooms best when slightly pot -bound, so move it to a slightly larger pot only every couple years or when needed. Do not move the plant when buds are forming, because this may cause them to drop.

Don't prune off the leafless stem -- or spur -- where flowers have been produced because flowers will form on the same spurs year after year.

To show off its thickly-leafed vines, and to give them a denser appearance, loop them around a wire hoop or trellis and tie loosely with florists wire.

This is a long-lived plant and easy to grow with little attention.

Origin: India and East Asia

Height: Trailing stems can grow to 10 ft (3 m)

Light: Bright light with some direct sun. Hoyas will live in low light, but will not bloom.

Water: Keep soil evenly moist spring through fall. In winter, water sparingly giving the plant just enough to keep the soil from drying out completely.

Humidity: Average room humidity.

Temperature: Average room temperatures 60-75°F, 16-24°C

Soil: Peat moss based potting mix.

Fertilizer: Feed monthly spring through fall with high-potassium liquid fertilizer diluted by half.

Propagation: Take 3 in (7 cm) stem tip cuttings in spring. Cuttings should include at least 1 pair of leaves. They will root easily in moist potting mix.