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I was visiting a client’s place a couple of months ago and noticed they had a large pot at the front door with flowers spilling out of it. It made their place look really warm and inviting and I mentioned it to my husband. We had a large pot out the back that was just collecting cobwebs and nothing else so he carried it to the front verandah for me and I found a pot to put inside the opening (so we didn’t have to fill the entire thing with soil) and then I planted Petunias and Pansies with a reed plant in the centre. The pot is now spilling over with flowers and looks really lovely, in fact welcoming as people come up to the front door. The Hoya is sitting behind it – I’m waiting for it to show signs of picking up still

How often do you see something you like elsewhere and then come home to duplicate that? That’s what I’m doing with my vege garden too but it’s going to take longer than a few weeks – for that I have to be patient!

Petunias, Pansies, verandah, flower garden

I have a Wax Hoya named Magnifica and bought it at the garden show some weeks ago. It’s been put in a pot by the front door so is under shelter but open to light and fresh air. However, the big green leaf has turned yellow and dropped off and one of the other smaller green leaves has dropped too so I had to start looking up about the care of Wax Hoyas. Seems because it’s not flowering I should not be watering it much at all so will stop doing that for a few weeks and see what happens.

In the meantime, I came across some interesting sites regarding Hoyas and a blog named Hoya Garden dedicated to them by a man in Brisbane, Australia. I’m listing the other sites I found below for your interest. These are lovely plants with flowers which are are deeply fragrant and I remember the pale pink one I had at my parents’ home when in my teens.

I wonder if I’ve returned to gardening now my kids are grown and I no longer have to spend time doing things for them anymore? I remember mum and dad really getting back into gardening around the time I left home – prior to that I used to love digging and planting in the backyard in my teens and had many plants, flowers, strawberries, potatoes and other things growing. Mum and dad would have been a bit younger than I am now but similar scenario – kids off their hands.

Collectors Corner (where I got mine from)

Gardening Australia (ABC Australia)

Hoya Forum

Hoya World

Plant of the Week

wax hoya, magnifica, gardening, fragrant flowers