Hoya Blashernaezii SSP. Siariae (yellow) – Carla's Hoya haven

Look at this gorgeous plant! I love her!

This is the most expensive plant I’ve purchased to date at $140 but also the largest. Usually, I buy smaller plants because they’re more cost effective. I just couldn’t resist this one and she was worth every penny.

Unsolicited Plant Talks has been popping up in my Instagram feed for a while now. I visited their site a few times and they have an amazing selection of Hoyas and I love the way they laid out care instructions on their website. I like that they point out which plants are a challenge. It’s really good to know which plants are going to give me a hard time before I add them to the cart.

I purchased this plant for the unique flowers and also for the care instructions: shade, intermediate temperatures and lower humidity around 40% or above. I can deal with that. After loosing a couple high heat, high humidity, fussy Hoyas this year I decided to stick with easy to intermediate level Hoyas for a while. Those that can survive the winter in average household humidity are fine with me.

My package from Unsolicited Plant Talks arrived in excellent condition within a few days. I like the branded packing tape. That’s a nice touch.

Inside the box my new plant was cushioned in a cloud of wadding, wrapped in foam, clearly marked and nestled in packing paper.

Not one single leaf was broken. Not one leaf tip was bent.

I set my new H. blashernaezii in front of a window. It’s west facing but there is a porch eave and a tree out front that shade this window quite well. The sheers prevent any direct sun from touching the leaves.

The plant seems happy here. There is new growth in two places. All the leaves perk up a bit when the sun shines . As long as this plant is happy and growing I’m going to leave it here.

H. blashernaezii is named after Filipino plant collector, Blas Hernez, who first collected this Hoya species on the Island of Catanduanes near Luzon. SSP. Siariae was collected on Luzon Island, Philippines, in the Bilcol region by Reynold B. Pimentel and named after Dr. Simeona V. Siar for her scientific contributions to the study of Hoyas.

For now this plant is doing well in my living room window. I look forward to seeing some blooms next year – maybe.