The story of Hoya Callistophylla big leaves (Sabah, Borneo)

As you can already understand from the name, this is a hoya with large, very veined leaves, between the veins there can also be dark areas on a bright green background, which looks fabulous. The leaf itself is extremely thick and hard. The leaf can grow very large if there is less light, but can also be medium-sized if it flourishes and grows in a light-rich place or time, for example, in summer. The plant is not too large, because each leaf flourishes and grows relatively slowly, so the hoya will not take up too much space for quite a long time.

I received this hoya on 02.02.2023 as a single-leaf cutting and tried to root it in a coconut substrate in a greenhouse at first. However, after 3 weeks, I still transferred it to a substrate based on houseplant soil, because I was afraid to overwater (read about substrates here) and continued to root in a greenhouse. After about a month, the cutting continued to root on the east-facing windowsill and already at the beginning of April I welcomed the first two house leaves on my palm and some roots were visible on the sides of the plastic pot.

In the first summer, the seedling sprouted about 6 leaves and a tendril, in the middle of the summer it received a larger plastic pot from me (read about pots here) and then in the fall the seedling decided that it was enough to rest and sleep during the winter :), so that it could start with new leaves and prepare for the first flowering the next spring. I welcomed the first house flowering in June 2024, the hoya continued to bloom on several flower stalks until November, and in fact my mother plant has already bloomed countless times. A couple of months of rest, so that in January this year it would start again with the first flowering of this year, already on even more grown flower stalks. Each flower cluster is like a small, round, brown-creamy and fragrant ball, it's just a pity that the flowering lasts only 2 days for each flower. This summer there were a couple of times when even 3 flower clusters bloomed at once, it was a very beautiful and fragrant moment:) And yes, you shouldn't cut off the flower stalks of hoyas, because the hoya blooms on them again and again and the stalk itself becomes longer and longer. You can tell by the length of the flower stalk how diligent a hoya has been. But the hoya Callistophylla big leaves (Sabah, Borneo) is a very diligent flowerer. Maybe this is how it compensates for the slow growth of its leaves?

But then this year at the beginning of August another hoya - sp. DMC5655B - accidentally fell on top of my Callistophylla and unfortunately broke off a large part of the long shoots, leaving the mother plant with 11 leaves and only a couple of flower stalks. I had to urgently perform a rescue operation and now the mother plant has been partially restarted and the nursery with the new cuttings has grown:)

The mother plant is still growing in a larger plastic pot in a substrate consisting of potting soil with additives (perlite, charcoal, etc.) on the east windowsill, there are quite a few roots, but I have no intention of replanting it, maybe next spring. I determine the need for watering by checking the surface of the pot's substrate, if it seems dry on the surface, then I water it, I don't try to dry it out too much, because Callistophyllas are still more moisture-demanding compared to other hoyas.

If you want to enjoy what a blooming hoya means, then I think that the hoya Callistophylla big leaves (Sabah, Borneo) is the right hoya to choose! After 1.5 years (or maybe even sooner:)) you will see this beautiful, fragrant inflorescence, and without using any additional plant lamps or special growing greenhouses, this hoya will bloom, growing on an ordinary home windowsill:)

Good luck!

Diana's Hoyas Youtube video about hoya Callistophylla big leaves (Sabah, Borneo) can be viewed here

You can buy a rooted cutting of hoya Callistophylla big leaves (Sabah, Borneo) here

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