A Creeping Hoya

Hoya serpens flowers in my kitchen window in Hayes.  18 June 2012.

I've been out a lot recently and I will be out more.  I will have enough lovely photos to queue up summer blog posts for weeks..  But this one, like the Sundews, comes from my house.

Hoya flowers are beautiful miniatures.  The plants are usually climbing and vine-like, needing a support to twine around.  This one has inconspicuous small roundish leaves on a weak trailing stem.

These flowers are each about 15mm across, larger than the leaves.  They have a powerful sweet scent that fills the whole house at night just from this small cluster.  Some Hoya flowers drip a sweet nectar that you can catch on your finger and lick off.  I can see drops forming in these, too, but not as much as that.

It came originally from the Himalayas, and now it is happy on a north-facing windowsill, where it can get quite cool in the winter.