By Dennis Oda, Star-BulletinBotany student Ed Gilding displays some of the many
varieties of hoya that he cultivates. Hoya flowers, including
the hoya carnosa with its red or pink centers,
below, grow in tight clusters.
ED Gilding has been interested in gardening and growing plants for 11 years. When you consider that he's 21, that's a hobby that he started early. Gilding, who is studying botany at Leeward Community College, started his first garden when he was in the fourth grade. "I've always been interested in nature, and I started with cacti. To a kid, cactus is fascinating because the plants are odd. But then the rains came and the roots rotted, and I lost interest. A whole lotta hoya
growing onAn LCC student sells
a selection of his vines
"Several years ago I started growing hoyas in hanging baskets, which was probably not a good idea -- I can't tell you how many times I've hit my head." Gilding at 6 feet 6 needs to duck a lot when he works among his plants. Hoyas are primarily a vine, but can grow as a bush.
Gilding, to avoid skull damage, grows most of his hoyas on trellises or trees, but admits they do best in hanging baskets. "They don't do well in a clay soil, and you have to watch for nematodes when you plant in the ground," he said.
There is a beach variety now growing wild in the sand at Laie, an introduction from Australia. "Hoya australis is a very variable plant because it has adapted itself to a wide range of environments," he said. "Some grow as vines, some as bushes." The leaves may be thick and leathery or thin and shiny, but the flowers are always white.
Gilding will sell a variety of hoyas at tomorrow's Spring Plant Sale at Foster Garden. Also known as wax vine, a hoya will make a good Mother's Day gift since it is easy to grow. The flowers, which are related to stephanotis, are prized by lei makers, particularly for haku lei.
All hoya flowers are star-shaped, with five petal and a central crown. They grow in tight clusters of 20 to 30 in what is called an umbel -- think of ixora -- and are often faintly fragrant. In almost all varieties, all of the flowers open at once, and remain open anywhere from 8 hours to two weeks. The foliage is glossy green. There is no native hoya, and most species come from South America, South Africa and Southeast Asia.
When kids his age were taking motorcycles apart or at basketball practice, Gilding was on collecting trips. He traveled to Indonesia and the Philippines with hoya expert Ted Green and they brought back several new plants, bare-rooted so they wouldn't bring in any alien bugs or viral infections.
Gilding propagates some of his plants from seed, but they grow easily from cuttings. The seed pods are long and skinny. When mature, they open and the seeds are airborne. Some will sprout.
But is it is faster and easier to grow hoya from cuttings. The first thing to remember with a cutting is which end is up. If you bury the growing end, it may root, but the new growth will be slow in showing up. "I root new cuttings in perlite and peat moss, although the perlite runs out of the bottom of the pot, and is not good for long term root growth," Gilding said. The medium should be loose.
Dale Kloppenburg, author of "The Hoya Handbook," suggests that the cuttings should be kept short, and that at least one node of the cutting be buried. The cutting will first form a tiny leaf, then begin to set roots.
Once the root is established, the leaf may fall off. Don't give up. If the stem begins to look plumper, you're in business, but it may take anywhere from a few days to more than a year before you see any real progress. This is why impatient people buy a established plants.
Gilding plans to sell several of the most popular forms of hoya at tomorrow's plant sale.He will accompany his hoyas to the sale and give advice to converts to his favorite plants.
The sale will also feature several introductions. They include Ginger "Tomi," bearing very dark pink flowers tipped with white, and Heliconia "Keanae Red," with dark red flowers, plus two new bougainvilleas.
Orders will be taken for the anthurium "Tropic Fire," which will be available this summer.
Good to grow
What: Spring Plant Sale
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
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