Thanks for all the I.D.'s and advice everyone! I can finally do some research and start treating these plants as needed! The aloe is pretty close looking to A. maculata, I'll definitely look in to this, either way it's a great looking aloe! wantonamara- My grandma said the same thing happened to her. She had an unexpectedly cold winter and all the aloe died, eventually coming back the next summer. Two years later I would have never known, they grew back so quickly and there's so many of them. As for the adenia, it's more than likely just going dormant as everyone has stated. For some reason dormancy escaped my mind. I guess I was just worried that I had done something wrong. Thanks for the tip robinpla! I want to grow the fattest caudex possible but I'm new to the whole caudiciform scene and don't know a whole lot about fattening them up. Any other advice on plumping my adenia up? I also have a fockea edulis if anyone has any advice for fattening those up as well. The only thing I read about fattening fockea was to bury the caudex and don't prune it. Thanks for everyone's help!

hey joe ... the issues with large transplants: first... there is always a stud to put it in your car or truck... then you get home.. and wonder how the heck to get it out of the car.. and all the way across the yard ... i have seen many stories of the peep who had to run back and beg the nursery to borrow the tree cart ... lol .. someone even walked it home one time.. cuz she knew she would be able to lift it out of the car .... lol... second.. then you dig the hole... unpot the sucker.. throw it in the hole...find out your hole is too deep.. and cant lift it out of the freakin hole ... third.. then you find out.. this 8 footer has been grown in this pot for 5 years... and that 4 years of roots are going... like the wheels on the bus... round and round ... so you have to make large gashes in the root system.. hoping to make those roots go out away from the plant ... rather then continue circling... maybe cutting off half the root system. if you get aggressive .... then.. 4th.. you find out that after making all those cuts... the integrity of the ball failed.. and you have to drag it out of the hole again.. by which time.. you have ruptured two lumbar and one cervical disc.. and are off to the hospital ... buy this time.. its been upotted in the sun for 5 hours.. and now has half its roots cut off .... i on the other hand.. bought the 3 footer.. and lifted it out of the trunk with one hand.. dug the hole.. shoved it in.. and have had 4 beers by this time.. lol ... anyway.. back to your story... fast forward 3 years.... mine is now 6 foot tall, because it got re-established so fast due to less stressors ... and yours is either dead.. or still 8 feet tall.. and still not recovered... and you are still in therapy after back surgery ... should you have heavy machinery.. or strapping young men to do this work.. you failed to mention that in your facts .... now .. all that said... it depends on what you are planting.. many of the juniper.. and thuja/arbs .. are much more forgiving of abuse/stress ... than many of the much more foo foo that some of us deal with ... in my case... i am not a wealthy man... and for the cost of one 8 foot plant.. i would rather have 5 smaller plants... part of that being a function of having 5 acres to cover ... but if your budget allows... and you understand the inherent risks ... or if wifey insists.. you do what you have or want to do ... there is no hard and fast rules here.. its more about the 'easy' way.. rather than the risks of the harder way .... do review.. and commit to memory.. EVERYTHING at the link .. which can be summed up by the following: PROPER planting PROPER watering, and PROPER mulch... note the key word there....if you do all 3 of those.. in theory .. size is irrelevant ... but for you physical capacity to deal with such .... or your ability to pay to have it done ... make sense??? now.. you dont mention what you are thinking about.. i am sure.. in a new post.. we could discuss the various aspects of certain conifers.. that you might want.. like single leaders... heat ... zone.. etc .... i surely wont be able to address z7 ... but others will ... but add a big city name.. and if you are thinking larger ball and burlap... you didnt say so ... good luck ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

Hi WG, The pix are visible to me. I'm unfamiliar w/ H. Exotica, never heard of it before, so can't say, but it's a handsome leaf, if I saw some around, I'd buy it myself. The Hoyas 1, 2 & 3 all look to be Carnosa types (yes, some say the blooms smell like Chocolate, mine have never bloomed for me, so can't say for sure). The pot for Hoya 3 is too big, all Hoyas prefer to be potbound & in smallest possible pots (also helps avoid root rot). Also its soil looks very heavy & dense, like maybe it's from the backyard. I'd use some houseplant type soil & add abt 1/3 by volume of perlite (or pumice if you can get it). They'll want bright, indirect light (in nature they climb trees, up into the canopy). That very last pix, is a goner, might as well toss that, it will NOT recover (sorry).

The wall faces SW, so it gets a fairly good amount of sun. Not quite full sun, but still a high amount. I'd prefer something that does not need to be brought in during the winter. My grandmother used to have some beautiful climbing roses, does anyone have experience with those? Thanks again.