Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Stars are Here!

Not sure if this marks the beginning of summer, but my WAX PLANT finally bloomed! I wanted to document this day because I am constantly telling friends and family about my most favorite house plant and offer cuttings of it regularly. The botanical name for a wax plant is Hoya carnosa. It has very thick, waxy leaves and you literally can not kill it. My plant grew from a cutting off my mom's plant and has become pretty large over the last several years (see the last photo on the blog). The plant grows fairly slow, but it never loses leaves. The leaves grow on vines but they don't really "grab" on to anything, so I loop them through the woven plant holder. 

When the plant is ready to bloom (mine was 3+ years old before it bloomed for the first time) you will see little buds like this.


The next few photos will take you through the development of the clusters of 5 pointed stars. These flowers are gorgeous and you can smell them before you can see them. Sometimes the flowers are hidden within the plant, but you will know when to start looking for them if you walk by and catch the aroma.





Now the flowers are fully open! The white-ish pink stars have an adorable red center. I took a shot further back to give you an idea of how many blooms are on the plant. I am unsure why, but most of the flowers are concentrated on the side facing away from the sunroom windows.


Want to grow a wax plant of your own? I'd be happy to share a "sprig" with you! Hope you are enjoying the beginning of summer. 

xoxo



1 comment:

  1. Wow! I've never seen one of those (and at first I thought it was fake and that you were pulling my leg...but I KNOW you would never do that!).

    And - can I have a dollar? Feel free to move the decimal a couple places to the right :)
    ~Kerrie the Brat

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