Lamenting the need to get rid of a good looking plant doesn't equal a suggestion to keep it. The Ficus could be hard-trimmed ruthlessly, but a human would resent that a plant had turned them into a slave ... when it's supposed to be the other way around. I agree with catkim that a different tree would be a better choice, all things considered. "I assume that a walkway the visually greets guests from the sidewalk would appear more welcoming than one that leads from the driveway... Do you think that I'm incorrect in this assumption?" edit: Oops ... I meant, in a word YES! (to the question about the assumption.) You should create a walk that looks like it makes the best sense for the overall property ... and a walk directly to the city sidewalk is not necessarily more welcoming. You might not want to duplicate what exists a mere few feet away. Much of it depends on the geometry of how a walk would be laid out, it's width, materials and/or finishes. I'm not saying a separate walk directly to the city walk would look bad, but that it might not be an improvement over one that ties to the drive. It depends on all the factors involved. You might explore similar houses in the neighborhood to see if others have come up with successful variations. This post was edited by Yardvaark on Sun, Oct 27, 13 at 12:25

Thanks everybody for sharing your experiences! My conclusion is...you folks definitely need some more Hoyas/Dischidias! Therefore, I highly recommend going to visit Kartuz Greenhouses down in Vista. It's definitely worth the trip. His online catalog really does not adequately represent the great variety of tropical/interesting/unusual/rare plants that he grows. Plus, his prices are really reasonable so you can get a good collection going without having to pay an arm and a leg. If anybody is interested...I also posted this thread in the following places... Garden Web - Hoya Forum - Cold Tolerant Hoyas/Dischidias Growing on the Edge - Cold Tolerant Hoyas/Dischidias PalmTalk - Cold Tolerant Hoyas/Dischidias? Flickr - Epiphytes Group - Cold Tolerant Hoyas/Dischidias?

Okay, orange for juicing - the classic Valencia is our "juicing" orange. But, if you'd like a very delicious alternative, try the Page mandarin hybrid. Think of it as a "Minneola hybrid". It is 3/4 mandarin and 1/4 grapefruit, and it is out of this world good, especially for juicing. My favorite fruit for juicing. Or, if you're adventurous, try a blood orange, like a Moro, or the best tasting of of the blood oranges, a Tarocco (either a "Bream" or if you can find it, the best tasting of all the Tarocco's, the "Thermal"). And orange for eating out of hand would be any of the great navel varieties. You certainly can juice them, but drink the juice right away, as their juice contains a higher amount of a chemical, when exposed to air creates a second chemical that will make the juice become a little bitter. But, best eating out of hand type of orange. The classic of course is our wonderful Washington Navel. A great couple of alternatives would be the beautiful Cara Cara navel (a sport of the Washington), which is a bit sweeter, and has pretty pink flesh (lycopene), or the classic Minneola tangelo. I love my Cara Cara. Satsumas tend to grow in a more weeping fashion (very beautiful specimen trees for your yard, so maybe? a spot in your front yard to show it off), so, instead of a Satsuma (which really is not the best tasting mandarin, imho), I would suggest a Tango mandarin. More upright, and one of the very best tasting mandarins out there. Another excellent option, and the very BEST of all the mandarins (again, imho), is the Seedless Kishu. If you have small kiddos, this is the perfect mandarin for them - pint-sized, completely seedless, very zipper skin, melts in your mouth with a rich, complex, sweet flavor. Grapefruits. The best 100% grapefruit variety for us in the more coastal areas of S. California will be the Rio Red. Very pretty red flesh (lycopene, again). If you would prefer a little sweeter tasting grapefruit, I would definitely go with the Oro Blanco grapefruit hybrid (pummelo x grapefruit), or it's "sister", the Melogold (which I think is a wee bit better, sweeter, thinner skinned). And, if you really want a sweet grapefruit, the Cocktail grapefruit, which is not even a grapefruit, although marketed as such, but a pummelo x mandarin cross, and my favorite of all the "grapefruits". I believe Clausen's has all the varieties I've mentioned. But, that's a HOOF from Culver City, let me tell you. There are some great options up in your area for good nurseries: Armstrong Nurseries, and they can even special order for you. Also Burkard Nurseries in Pasadena: http://www.burkardnurseries.com/plant-lists/citrus-trees , And, Sperling Nursery in Calabasas an N. Hollywood (think they still have their N. Hollywood location): http://sperlingnursery.com/ Another option if you're in the Bakersfield area is buying directly from Willits & Newcomb. They are one of the best commercial tree growers (along with Clausen's), and they also should have all the varieties just about, that I've mentioned. Hopefully our Los Angeles area forum members can also offer up some suggestions. These options will be more expensive than either Clausen's or W&N (as they're getting their trees from folks like Clausen's or W&N), so bit of a trade off - price vs travel :-) Lastly, I would still recommend going with semi-dwarfing rootstocks. Either Troyer/Carrizo, or even C35. Your tree will top out at about 15' - still way too tall for me - but you'll be able to manage your trees much, much better than trying to get a tree that wants to be 20 or 30' down to 15'. Citrus are tip fruiting trees, so you have to be careful in how to prune them, or you can end up pruning away future fruit. You would need to be very good a drop-crotch pruning, and most folks aren't :-) Stick with semi-dwarf rootstock and you will only need to prune out dead wood every 3 to 5 years from the interior of the tree, as citrus have lovely growth habits, and semi-dwarf trees should give you the perfect height tree for your particular application. Most of the trees at the UCR Citrus Variety Collection are on semi-dwarfing rootstock, and they are huge. Patty S.

I am about 1.5 hrs north of San diego and 1.5 hrs south of Los Angeles in the Inland Empire, it starts getting cold here at night about mid September to mid October. I bring almost all of my hoyas inside from the time the night temps drop below 55 degrees and keep them inside until April or May when they are back up to around 55. I was in Europe this past September and had my sister staying over to take care of my dogs and plants and I didn't think it would be a big deal to wait to bring them inside until I got back because temps were about 60 degrees when I left, they abruptly dropped to just below 50 while I was gone so they were in shock when I returned, I lost my Aldrichii and cv. Joy. My sister has hoyas too so I am sure it was the temp drop that shocked them and not the way she watered them. I am surprised you have been able to leave so many of yours out through the entire winter without mass casualties! This winter it was close to freezing for several weeks, and was even under 20 degrees a few nights here. I left my Carnosa outside through the winter because its way too big to bring inside and it seemed to do fine. My Variegated Kerrii was subjected to those super cold temps inside my house and tons of leaves froze, then turned black or started to yellow, and dropped off :( It was too big to bring into the kitchen where I keep the rest of them during the winter, so I left it in the back bedroom next to a window and I guess it must have even gotten too cold in there for it... It has bounced back, but I'm assuming that's because of its size, if it was a small plant, I surely would have lost it. Any new leaves that have grown since the freeze are solid green, not sure if that is from the shock of the cold or what but I'm not too worried about it, I know the whole plant can revert to solid green because of this but I'm ok with that, I'm just glad it survived because it was in bad shape. My hoyas that were in shock in the low 50's & high 40's: Latifolia - this one is pretty sensitive so I won't be putting it back outside unless temps are consistently above 60. Balansae Meliflua ssp. Fraterna Cv. Joy - eventually lost Diversifolia ssp. El nidicus - almost lost this one too Balaensis Pentaphlebia Naumannii Aldrichii - eventually lost The ones that were ok in the low 50's/high 40's but I brought them inside anyway (and they seemed grateful to be indoors): Australis(not sure which ssp., purchased at local nursery & it was not labeled) Davidcummingii Obovata Pubicalyx - did drop a few leaves but was still ok Heuschkeliana Compacta Kerrii Plicata I am slowly bringing them all back outside now :) Hopefully that gives you a good bit of insight from another Southern California Hoya lover. I have also developed my own little system I would like to share that helps me be sure not to over or under water my hoyas regardless of the season, my trick is checking the mature leaves first before checking the soil, if they are stiff I know they are not ready to take water yet. If the mature leaves are soft, I then check the soil, and if it is dry, I can be sure they need water. If the leaves are soft and the soil is moist I check the leaves the next day and most of the time they are stiff by then and just needed a bit more time to soak up the water from the soil. Basically, I rely on the stiffness of the leaves to tell me if the plant is ready to be watered and I have not had over or under watering problems since I started doing it this way :) My only hoyas large enough to take cuttings from are my Carnosa and Kerri, which are obviously pretty common, maybe we can do some trades next season once my other ones are large enough to take cuts from :)