PUSHING THE BORDERS

Very photogenic is Hoya, beautiful shiny leaves, but here's a thing I can't smell it, well I do get the odd whiff but not the wonderful perfume others rave about, am I alone?

hoya carnosa002 by charliepridham, on Flickr


hoya carnosa001 by charliepridham, on Flickr

It mainly smells in the middle of the night and I don't find it especially wonderful. More heavy and a bit oppressive, just on the OK side of unpleasant. It's not perceptible during the day at all.

There's a H. carnosa plant growing through the rafters of my long (9m) rooflight. It's about 4.5m from end to end now. It's difficult to keep it watered, because the pot is 2m off the floor, but it flowers anyway.

I wouldn't put it there again, because I spend half the Summer clearing up the hundreds of dead florets it sheds all over the floor. It's also impossible to keep the foliage clean and free of cobwebs. But the plant keeps growing and keeps flowering, so it must be happy.

I can certainly smell it! Keep mine in our bedroom where it tackles our garlic habit manfully (I rather like the smell) over the course of the night.

You are right about it being very photogenic though...................