Porcelain Flower
Family
Apocynaceae
Origin
Borneo
Description
Hoya Balaensis is a tropical, climbing plant that bear attractive foliage and cupped yellow blooms. The peduncles are long and thin and the drooping flowers can be hard to see in detail unless you are looking from below.
Balaensis has lovely large heart-shaped green shiny leaves, which can be as wide as 6 inches across. The colour is medium green with lighter veins . Young leaves are very bright and they get a nice red tinge when given a lot of sun. Leaves grown in bright light are much shorter than if grown in lower light conditions.
The inflorescence is made up of multiple flowers in a group of umbel.The bloom is clusters of star-shaped, cream to pink flowers with five-point centers
Environment
Easy to grow & don"t require much attention. Hoya do best in filtered light or with lots of artificial light in indoors.
Hoya plants don't ask for much, beyond the well-draining soil and the warm humid conditions ((similar to bromeliads and orchids)
They are epyphite, can be grown in orchid medium or light potting mix with lots of bark conditioner. Hoya like the security of a snug pot, and plants that are a bit root bound will flower more prolifically than those that are swimming around in a giant pot.
This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds .
Landscape Use
It makes a nice hanging basket, but also does really well as a mounted plant