I could spare a few small cuttings of Hoya chinghungensis, if you could spare a small cutting of H. pachyclada. I prefer the variegated one, but green is fine, too. But, I'm looking for ones with the red edge only. This spring, I expect to have some rooted H. Maxima (red corona), as I have a ton of runners which should leaf out in spring. Any chance you have a variegated DS-70 in your collection? I have many in your list, so just ask.... Kathy

How's everyone's wish lists going? I am now the happy owner of a rooted australis ssp. tenuipes and a calycina cutting. The australis is very vigorous looking, and the calycina is so nice and fuzzy. My wish list for this year has also modified slightly: finlaysonii Ripple Leaf villosa sp. Square blashernaezii CFM8/fitchii cagayanensis lambii benguetensis In no particular order. I also have var obovata and tsangii cuttings coming to me shortly. I don't know where I will fit all these hoyas, if I were to obtain them all. I guess it will have to be a rearranging party - if I call it a party, will that make it more fun?? ; P

Here is my solution to growing larger Hoyas. The shelves are fully adjustable chromed wire and I use three levels with two for stabilization of the rack and just one to place plants on. The window is south facing and there is an LED panel at the end of the shelf that is farthest from the window plus an LED spot light that shines on a large plant that is placed on the floor. Each drain tray holds two rows of 6"-8" pots with 4-5' bamboo trellises and the trays are aerated with an aquarium air pump and stone and drain down to a bucket. Here is a tray with half of the plants removed so that you can get a better view. Hoya sp Palawan is in bud to the far left in the photo. This photo shows the lower tray that is placed on top of a low table. This tray also holds two rows of plants. These plants can end up taking up lots of space. I have four trays like this for larger plants and the rooted cuttings are all mixed in with my orchids on two three tier shelving units each with a dual fluorescent light strip. Mike

I've been meaning to respond to this thread since you posted it, GT. I looove the topic, and am just having a hard time finding time to organize my many many MANY thoughts on it. So I figured I'd just take my collection section by section and pull the plants that I feel fit in this category. Here is today's installment. Hoya australis ssp. australis This won't be my only australis entry, in fact it's not even my favorite australis, but let's face it, australis is one beautiful Hoya. You know how psychologists proved that we are attracted to faces that are symmetrical and prefer composite images (that average out features) to real faces? To me, australis is like that composite face. Round and full like the moon, perfectly proportioned, with a pure matte spring green color. Then australis ssp. australis has that peachy down all over it, like it's been gift-wrapped for a baby. Hoya sp. Lata Iskandar (Aleya) A lot of Hoyas fall into the "you had to be there" category because they have leaves that seem to be made out of special materials. These leaves are firm, thin, round and cupped, but unremarkable except that they have that same faint silky iridescent sheen as cagayanensis. And it's easier to see on this plant because the leaves are broader and catch more light. Hoya sp. Kunming Kina Hello, Kunming Kina. A lot of Hoya people like this plant and it's because it's very tolerant and the leaves are atypical for the genus. Classic "rare-plant-that-you-can-trust-a-beginner-with." You can't really tell from photos, but the leaves are thick and plump, like someone inflated them a little bit too much, and their veins dig into their flesh like the scoring on an unbaked loaf of bread. They don't drip or spring from the vine - they just hang stiffly, the way little girls hold their arms away from their bodies when you put a fancy dress on them. It's hard to describe but this is one of those plants where the vine and pedicels are very appealing - smooth and thick like plastic cables - the same is true of meliflua, but, of course, Kunming Kina is a discreet mannerly size. Hoya fungii seedling This is a bit of a departure because you can't see the leaves very well in this photograph and it's not a plant you could just pick up at your local Hoya vendor. This is one of the seedlings from Sue's fungii, maybe crossed with something else. I got it on a trade from a lovely GW member, who grew it, and as you can see the leaves are so heavily splashed they are 75% silver, and of course they have that amazing fuzzy fungii backing to them. I just really like this plant. Hoya dasyantha Ah, perfect. Now we have a perfect example of GT's criteria. The unphotographable leaf. Dasyantha has such interesting leaves, because they are this inky dark green, but they aren't that thick, so the light shines through them beautifully, creating this subterranean effect like light sluicing through the dark waters of a pond in deepest shade. It has very beautiful ornamental veins that make it look like a gothic window if you catch it right. Hoya oreogena (IML 1214) NOTE: I purchased this plant as graveolens - please note the IML#, and see the explanation of the naming issue here. Ah-HA! Another good criteria-meeter. You can barely see the leaves, and I took this photo at the same time and location as the others. It's because these leaves have this silky matte look, like washed silk, and dark green color like something you'd see at the bottom of a well. As black as they are green. I don't even know how to describe what makes them appealing. They're hard and uneven with crisp curling edges, and they're just interesting somehow, like that girl on the subway with the not-pretty-face you couldn't stop staring at. I've always liked this plant from the day I got it. Hoya balansae Actually, this is the plant that oreogena most reminds me of. They have leaves of the same shape and size, except balansae's are kelly green with thick lichen-y camouflage. I just really like the way the surface of the leaves have this rough granular look to them, from the heavy speckling, but when you touch them they are smooth and hard, like stones rolled paper thin, then shaped into leaves. Hoya parviflora I don't know whether other people see this plant the same way I do, but I just love to look at it. It's like lacunosa's edgy big sister, with spiky plum-colored hair and long sharp nails. I just love all these plants with small long dark dagger leaves. They look so ornamental and so mean. It's awesome. Hoya aff. thomsonii (EPC 215) "And now for something completely different…" This is probably the single most eye-catching plant in my collection. I'm not saying it should be, but it is. Even if you bury it in the middle of a flat, it catches your eye every time you walk past, almost like it moved. Which is fitting, because it looks like something that would move on its own. Hoya pandurata I bought this plant 100% because I'm a string musician and this is the Hoya named after string instruments. But I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought. Its leaves mayyyybe look like some kind of a lute, but their appeal is in that flat grey-green color, like dry lizard skin or a piece of sea glass. It grows kind of inconveniently, like lobbii, on long arcing stems, but since it's so little that just makes it adorable, as it's always sticking it's arms out and away from the group, showing off its pretties. Hoya sp. Queson If you asked me what one plant out of this group you should buy, I would hem and haw and never give you a clear answer. But if you quick held me out in front of an oncoming subway and wouldn't let go until I gave you an answer, I'd immediately shout "Queson queson queson" because in my gut, I feel this is the most deeply enjoyable Hoya there is. It grows FAST, like a weed. But it's pretty, like a model. Really pretty. It's like velvet wrapped around elegance. You expect even the leaves to smell like perfume. Hoya teletifolia (EPC 232) Look how pretty this is! It's like retusa's big sister! (And then acicularis is teletifolia's big sister!) The reason these plants are so likeable is that they are way out of proportion, like a daddy-long-legs or a praying mantis. They just end up looking like a jumble of bones or a sea creature. A photo can't capture the way every time you pass them, your hands twitch, wanting to gather all those long leaves up in a neat pile, rap them against the table to even it out, and put them back in place, organized. Hoya surigaoensis Cheater! Cheater! A photo can capture how awesome those leaves are! Yeah, I know. So sue me. Hoya aff. scortechinii (SRQ 3019) Ah, now here's a good candidate for sure. I will collect anything with the name scortechinii on it, ever since getting my hands on this little baby. But this is the best one. This is the real deal. The others are not the same, even the real scortechinii that I bought from CB, which is also cool, and will be on this list later. So what is so great about this plant? You can't see it at all from the picture, can you! No, you can't. Well, the leaves are nice. They are thin and crisp, like those expensive mints you get at symphony fundraisers that snap in half with a little snick. They are a cool mint green color, too, with hard sharp edges and a jagged claw tip and a hollow curving belly. But really what makes this plant beautiful is how they grow tightly together, like the huge scales of ornamental plate mail. This, I think, is what LOTR elves must model their armor off of. Hoya sp. Bogor, Hoya acuta (IML 0079), Hoya pallida Maybe acuta doesn't look too fancy, but everyone should have one. The leaves are so simple and perfect and elegant, like a raindrop. Even when they are massed together, they look fantastic. This is the no-bad-hair-day plant. The J. Crew model of Hoyas. The one that is so classic you forget to put it on lists, but really, it's what every plant wants to look like. The golden mean. I actually think the leaves on sp. Bogor are a little prettier - longer and darker, so the flecking stands out more, but the internodes are spaced further apart, so it's a toss up. Hoya aff. acuta (EPC 759) Speaking of acuta, here is my new love, aff. acuta. Jack calls these leaves "" and even in my conditions you can see an inky spray shimmering over the backs of the leaves. But what really makes these leaves beautiful is the fact they are long smooth spear tips that put all the neighboring leaves to shame with their tame round shapes. This plant is not the warm fuzzy part of the jungle, waiting to be churned up into medicine to cure cancer. Nope, it wants to be on the tip of a poison dart. It's hawkish.