Okay, I hope I can answer most of these question. As many of you may or may not know, the Princeton Elm was choosen for its landscape characteristics back in 1920, before DED even hit US soil. Now 88 years forward and 100 million elms dead, the Princeton is still growing and able to fit a new void in the plant pallet of an upright vase shape, arching canopy shade tree. Now there are several trees that are DED resistant, but non have the landscape qualities, rate of growth and color of the Princeton. That is why the National Park system chose it for planting in front of the White House and many city and state governments are choosing the Princeton as the tree of choice. Now lets look at some of those questions. 1. Heat tollerant? The Princeton Elm has been sent as far south as Orlando Florida as I have read. 2. Home Depot? My understanding is that they do not carry the tree anymore, seem like the last time a couple of weeks ago I was in a HD, they did not have any trees. New leadership and market conditions I bet. I think I heard that Garden Centers would start handling the trees now. 3. Leaf Scorch? I have some here in Georgia and they do not seem to be affected by Leaf Scorch. 4. Japanese Beetles. Yes, they will eat on the leaves, but the tree grows 3' to 6' in one season, so the beetles are only affecting the look, not the health of the tree. 5. caliche soil (alkaline soil)- Research done on the Princeton has indicated it grows in a very very wide ranges of soils until you get into desert/sand type of conditions. Zone 2b to 9 make it one of the most widely ranging trees in North America. The soils in these regions vary widely, so I dont think it would have a problem. Give it a try and report back to us. I hope this may help?? Thanks!

Rick, since you've resurrected this thread I thought I'd add my stellar success with nelsonii as both a seed parent as well as a pollen donor to this thread!! I think I mentioned this earlier that in order to double my chances of getting some viable seeds on my two nelsonii flowers I selfed them both and simultaneously put papilio on one and Exotic Star on the other. Well, both took and the seeds were all good and are now germinating for me!! I've been advised by some experts on this forum that I most likely would have needed two different clones of nelsonii for the selfed seeds to have taken so I can assume (hopefully) that they are indeed x papilio & Exotic Star!! I also put nelsonii pollen on Komoriya's Deja Vu and Chico and got viable seeds from both!! Chico's seeds are very small but some are already sprouting. The Deja Vu seeds just hit the water! All of nelsonii's seeds were good, (the ones that matured,) there were no seeds with the usual white spots. I am psyched!! I'm hoping I can keep my plant happy, she is now putting up a new leaf to add to the seven she already has.☺☺☺Donna

Hello everyone! I normally post on the fragrant and plumeria forums but have been lurking here lately. :) Here is my Hoya obscura 'Major' that I purchased from Kartuz Greenhouses back in October 2011. It's growing in a gritty mix with Dynamite slow release fertilizer. I occasionally give it some Dyna-Gro Grow. Recently after reading on this forum about Eleanor's VF-11 I ordered some and sprayed the plant with it yesterday. Being a fragrance nut I'm hoping to get it to bloom. It's in a south facing window but will go outside in filtered sun when it's warm enough. Would love to get any tips on how to get it to bloom...though I fear I just have to wait until the plant gets large enough. The good news is that it's been putting out lots of new growth lately so fingers crossed! :) Anyone ever sniff this variety? How does it compare to the regular H. obscura? -Robert

WOW--like I say I wasn't even thinking of HVX when I noticed this strange division on my MA. I had one hvx plant 4 years ago, so I thot I knew what it looked like plus that time the HVX enveloped the whole plant and not just one division. This case just affects one division plus it is very striking looking. Now I know why that one H grower saved his Leopard Frog H or whatever he called it. I truly appreciate everyone's input--all your replies are valuable and enlightening, and now I am in the "pondering stage". My first call was to order the "kit" so I will test for the disease before I make any other moves with it. I asked the phone person about just part of a plant being infected, and she said they are growing some H in the lab in which some divisions are infected and some are non-infected to see what eventually happens to a whole plant. I will keep you informed of my next decision. I keep asking myself how I could ever grow H anymore without all the help I get from this forum. :0) Mary PS this is the back of a leaf.