Did you received a painted heart this Valentine’s Day? What I am referring to is this stiff, usually all green, heart-shaped leaf stuck in a pot that has been painted with some words or simple decorative graphics. Here is a website on the internet to show you what I mean:
http://www.houseofplants.co.uk/Hoya_Kerrii_Heart_shaped_hoya.htm
These painted hearts are in fact the leaves of the Sweetheart Hoya, Hoya kerrii. With only one leaf stuck inside the pot, it is hard to imagine how the actual plant looks like. Below is a picture of the Sweetheart Hoya that I took when I visited Woon Leng Nursery at Jalan Lekar some time back. This plant is the variegated version which spots leaves that have those yellow swirls against the usual green background.
The Sweetheart Hoya, like many similar species are vine-like and it can be trained to climb a support to keep it neat and tidy. Because it is variegated, it is relatively slower-growing compared to its all green counterpart. This may not be a bad thing afterall, since slower-growing vines means lesser maintanence!
This plant needs to be grown in an area with semishade for at least 6 hours daily. Suitable for apartment dwellers too for those who have the light. Do not chuck it in deep shade as the lack of light will not only affect the growth rate and flowering, it can also cause the variegation to be lost. It also needs to be grown in a porous medium and should be kept pot-bound and watered just enough to keep the substrate moist but not wet. Hoyas tend to rot if the medium is too wet. Feed with a plant food that has a higher proportion of phosphorous. I found a good blogsite that teaches one how to grow Hoyas:
http://www.briansgarden.com/2001/03/hoya-kerrii.html
Like many other Hoyas, the Sweetheart Hoya also blooms and the flowers are fragrant! The color of the flower is creamy to greenish pink with a darker corona. The flowers are borne in large waxy clusters and are very long lasting.
