In this week’s issue:

• The plant your gran grew, and why it's back
• Flowers that look carved from porcelain
• The one cut that costs you every bloom
• The surprising family your hoya belongs to
• My July plant of the month
• And more...

🇬🇧 Sheffield Answers

Every week, I get tons of questions about growing houseplants. In “Sheffield Answers”, I’m going to pick one out each week and answer it. Want to submit your own and get it featured next week? Click here to ask me a question!​

Question: How do you unpot a difficult plant such as a Thanksgiving cactus? Christine

My Answer: Unpotting a difficult plant like a Thanksgiving cactus can be tricky because the stems snap very easily. The key is to remove the pot from the plant rather than pulling the plant from the pot. Lay the plant gently on its side and support the stems. If it's in a plastic pot, squeeze the sides all the way around to loosen the root ball. You can also carefully run a blunt plant label around the inside edge. Hold the plant close to the base, tip the pot and gently wiggle it free. If it won't budge, simply cut the plastic pot away.

🪴HOW TO & TIPS

It's a new month, so it's time to shine the spotlight on one plant for July. And this one's a proper classic.

If you'd shown a hoya to someone in 1975, they'd have shrugged and said, "oh, the wax plant, my nan's got one of those."

For a good few decades the hoya was deeply unfashionable, the houseplant equivalent of woodchip wallpaper. But here's the thing about classics: they always come back around. And right now the hoya is having a serious moment.

I get why. There's a lot to love here.

First, the basics:

• Name: Hoya carnosa (the classic), though there are hundreds of species and cultivars out there
• Common names: Wax plant, porcelain flower
• Origin: Native to Eastern Asia and Australia, where it grows as an epiphyte, climbing up through the forest canopy
• Habit: A trailing and climbing vine with thick, semi-succulent, waxy leaves
• The draw: Clusters of star-shaped flowers that genuinely look sculpted from porcelain, often sweetly scented in the evening

Why is July the perfect time to talk about it? Because summer is hoya bloom season. With all this bright light and warmth, a happy, mature hoya is about as likely to flower now as it ever will be. So if yours is going to reward you this year, this is the window.

Here's how to keep one thriving:

1. Give it bright, indirect light

This is the number one thing. A hoya will survive in a dim corner, but it'll basically act like a very convincing plastic plant: dark green, slow, and it'll never, ever bloom. Light is the fuel for those flowers. An east-facing window is the sweet spot, bright morning sun without the harsh midday glare. A west or south window works too, just pull it back from the glass or use a sheer curtain so the leaves don't scorch (especially relevant in this heat).

2. Water less than you think

Those thick, waxy leaves store water like a succulent, which means the hoya is genuinely happier when you forget about it now and then. Let the top inch or two of soil dry out fully before watering again. Overwatering is the fastest way to kill one. Less is more.

3. Keep it cosy (and pot-bound)

Hoyas actually prefer being a bit root-bound, and a snug pot encourages flowering. So resist the urge to rush yours into a bigger home. When you do finally repot, only go up a size or two, and never repot while it's blooming or forming buds. In fact, once buds appear, don't move the plant at all. Even a small change in light can make it drop the lot.

4. Never, ever cut the flower spurs

I'll say it again because it's the mistake I see most. After the flowers fade, you're left with a bare little stalk (the peduncle). Do not cut it off. Next year's flowers grow from that exact same spur. Snip it and you've cancelled the show.

Follow those four and, with a mature plant and a bit of patience, you'll be rewarded with those unreal waxy blooms year after year. Not bad for a plant your gran had figured out decades ago.

📹 Watch & Grow: This Week On YouTube

👉 Changing THIS Will Make Your Monstera Adansonii THRIVE

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👉 Inside An Indoor Plant Oasis

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Did you know?

Your hoya is a distant cousin of milkweed, the very same plant that monarch butterfly caterpillars feed on. They share the same plant family, which is why a hoya's sap is that milky, sticky white stuff, and why its seed pods, if you ever get one, look remarkably like a milkweed pod bursting with silky-haired seeds. A butterfly-garden staple and your windowsill wax plant, related all along.