Plants Are People, Too

06/30/2026

To all you Hoya Vines lovers out there, chick out this bit of information!

My Hoya Kerrii is full of life and strong as a Hoya can be. As you can see, this monster of a plant lives in this small CLAY pot. After many...

08/14/2025

I just finished top dressing the soil in the pot of my 52-year-old Hoya Carnosa. I have owned this plant for 52 years. I have absolutely not a clue as to how old it actually is. It was a cut back foot high plant when I first purchased it. I believe it was already very old.

If you out there in Hoya land treat your Hoya vines right, and follow Hoya care rules, decades from now you will have a monster of a VERY HEAVY plant that should be FULL of flowers throughout the summer into the fall!

Also, the glass door in the photos is an east facing door. This plant gets about 4 to 5 hours of morning sun. The rest of the day is simple light. And that is the light it needs to flowers like what you see in the photos.

Lastly, over to the left, in the photos, is a 35-year-old Hoya Chelsea. Also, full of flowers.

Happy Hoya care, folks. Enjoy...

RLJ

05/13/2025

Here are a few photos of one of my 50+ year old Hoya Carnosa. As usual, at this time of the year, it is full of flowers and has the entire area filled with the sweet smell of chocolate throughout the night. This plant lives about two feet from a south facing window, behind a very thin curtain that filters the sun. If you want to try a Hoya vine, start with the Hoya Carnosa. If you follow the rules of taking care of this plant, it will give you decades after decades of companionship and beauty!

Also in this picture, are several other Ancient Hoyas. There is a Hoya Pubicalyx over to the right. There is a Hoya Kerrii in the center of the photo. And there are several smaller Hoya vines the photos that are too small for you to see.

Anyway, Hoya vines are fantastic! Get your hands on one and ENJOY!

RLJ

04/29/2025

Today, at a local Northern Virginia Walmart, I met a tall beautiful lovely lady at the self-checkout. I was actually joking with the line attendant at the check-out about the long bamboo supports I was purchasing. I often use them to center my large Hoya vines in the platforms I build for them to climb... as a climbing Hoya Vine grows MUCH faster than a trailing one. If you carefully look at this picture of one of my variegated Hoya Chelsea, you can see the bamboo pole in the center of the plant.

I gave her some advice on looking into Hoya Vines as a hard to kill plant that does not necessarily need direct sunlight to grow large and healthy. I hope she eventually contacts me through Facebook so I can steer her in the right direction and give her good advice on Hoya care.

This 15-year-old Air-layered Hoya gets about 4 hours of morning sun every day. As you can see, it is healthy and in full variegated color. And the flowers, oh the flowers. I will probably post a photo when it blooms again.

If you want a Hoya Vine that flowers without fail every late winter into the summer, Hoya Chelsea is a great Hoya to own. Purchase the standard type with the green leaves, give it LOTS of window light, let it climb and enjoy the show.

OK, more Hoya love! Questions? Send me a message. I have Hoya vines that I have owned for almost 55 years. Yes, Hoya vines can get VERY old, indeed!

RLJ

03/05/2025

Well, OK now.... here is one of my very, very old, extremely large Hoya Chelsea. Today is March 5th. and it is a few days away from blooming for the first time this year. I always expect, at least, three rounds of flowers from this always willing to flower Hoya.

If you get your hands on a Hoya Chelsea, treat it exactly like you would treat a normal Hoya vine. But there is one blaring caveat to keeping this plant happy and heathy. You must keep the Hoya Chealsea out of direct sunlight! This plant thrives in bright light from a window without sunlight hitting its leaves. Direct sun will BURN this Hoya's leaves. To see this happen, as a learning mistake decades ago, I now preach to people to study the needs of your Hoya and follow them like religion. The payoff, in the form of impressive leaves and the incredible flowers, is worth your attention.

Enjoy your Hoya Vines in 2025!

RLJ

05/20/2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipmDjl0FdmY&list=RDNSRBM6IhT2mJg&index=9

This is the new face of religious homophobia, religious racism, religious sexism and much more evil religious hatred!

The fact that the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs and his family are in lock step with Butker is numbing to my soul! Don't they realize that they are in a service industry, and they are abjectly disrespecting a HUGE portion of their fans?

Oh, wait a minute, this is a family of spoiled rotten billionaires who don't give one goddamn about their fans as individuals! They see the masses as their cash cow. So, what if a few individuals, in their minds, are unhappy. The billions will keep pouring into their coffers anyway.

Now, let's go bleach our hair and spend more obscene amounts of money on Botox and Italian sports cars and Italian suits and Italian Handbags.

And finally, Travis Kelsey was disrespected concerning his relationship with Taylor Swift in Butker's rant. I wish no fighting between these two men, but Kelsey needs to tell this dude to keep his rich superstar girlfriend out of his mouth and thoughts. I really hope he sets Butker straight. I don't need to hear about it. But Kelsy, Sir, don't let ANY teammate snipe your girlfriend. Be a man!

RLJ

Chiefs' kicker Harrison Butker's jersey sold out amid controversy over his commencement speech at Benedictine College. The speech, which included comments on...

07/12/2023

Also, for today, I need to let my friends know about this particular cherry tomato type.

Here are a couple of pictures of the "Chocolate Sprinkles" cherry tomato. Other that the awesome Black Cherry Tomatoes, these things are wild and fun to grow. The actual plant is large and very vigorous. And it produces handfuls of tomatoes.

And the taste? Sweet with a slight acid twang... delicious! They are great in a salad for color and taste.

I buy these tomato plants at the local Home Depot. So, try them if you like tomatoes. There are very good... even as a snack to pop in your mouth in passing.

07/12/2023

For those of you out there who love growing Hoya vines, I have something to show you.

OK, so you purchase one of those "Sweetheart Hoya Leaves-In-A-Pot" on Valentine's Day. A few days later, you have this quant heart shaped leaf that just sits there in the pot and, week by week, it does not appear to grow. Well, I just want to tell you that, with a lot of patience -- 3 years' worth -- the plant WILL finally put out a new leaf and start another vine.

So, don't throw away your single leaf Hoya Kerrii because you believe it will never sprout growth. It will, eventually, after several years. Just keep the leaf in a widow with lots of light, water it when the soil dries on the surface and WAIT!

Here is what I have coaxed out of this Hoya leaf after three years. I have a different Hoya Kerrii that I am waiting on. Three years on for that Hoya, too... but it will get there, eventually.

01/24/2023

Well, today I have decided to take a few pictures of one of my Ancient Hoyas that is already forming flowers that should open in a week, or so. This particular Hoya is prolific. It flowers at least twice a year. If you see this Hoya in your local nursery, pick up one. You will not be disappointed.

Take note of the almost oval leaves. And, take a close look at the very stiff, thick, bumpy vine of the plant.

Check these out...

RLJ

12/13/2022

Hello, fellow Hoya Vine lovers. I wanted to share these pictures with you all because I recently was told by a couple of Hoya friends, in a greenhouse, that their Hoyas died when they left their rooting plant in water for too long. I could not figure out why their plants did not survive living in water via our conversation, but I want to show you all that this large size clipping from one of my HUGE Hoya Carnosa vines has been living in this Jar in water for six years and counting.

Now, I ONLY add bottled water to this jar when the water level drops by about a half inch. I am too afraid of what chlorine and fluoride in tap water will do to these roots. I never turn this plant, because you know how sensitive Hoya vines are to being moved too much.

Also, I put just a LITTLE pinch of just a couple of small sand sized particles of fertilizer to the water every couple of months. There are several flower spurs on this plant and I hope it will bloom in the next cycle, or two.

I am compelled to plant this Hoya in Hoya soil, but I will contain myself and let it grow this way... at least until it flowers.

So, if you care for your Hoya Vine properly, it will grow in water. You will get to see just what those EXTREMELY sensitive Hoya roots look like through the water.

Good luck and happy holidays.