Hi Gootziecat,
Just a little correction...It's Hoya Rubra, not Ruba. Congrats on your purchase. I also prefer the trailing kinds. A very fragrant one is Hoya Lacunosa, and you can find that at Lowe's or your local nursery or other box stores (It is usually incorrectly labeled "Hoya Green Leaf" or "Hoya Mini Wax Leaf"). Very cute small leaves with fuzzy little flowers. I'm sure you'll get a lot more recommendations, but there are only a few hoyas that you'll easily find at stores. Other ones you'll probably end up finding online (I've read that Logees has hoyas, but I never bought from them).

As for pruning, you'll still get blooms as long as you don't cut off the peduncle (that's what the blooms will continuously come out of). If you do cut off a part of the vine where there is a peduncle, you'll still get blooms as long as you root the cutting...then you can start a new plant with it or put the vine back into the same pot to give it a fuller look.

Enjoy your hoya!

Gabi

My favorite for fragrance is pubicalyx 'Splash' (or 'Pink Silver' or 'Silver Pink', depending on who you talk to...) It's a climber and has gorgeous silver specked leaves, burgandy flowers with upwards of 25+ flowers in an umble. Not hard at all to come by in trade.

Denise in Omaha

Obscura. It has the most heavenly fragrance of Fruit Loops cereal and gardenias, trails, blooms young so you can trim without worrying too much, and has pretty leaves that get reddish in sunlight.

That said, lacunosa is probably known for having one of the strongest fragrances. I just don't think the quality is quite as nice as obscura. My shepherdii has a pretty strong scent, too, and I think the leaves have such a nice sculptural quality when they hang. Those two are also early/easy bloomers, so you don't have to worry so much about trimming.
'Mare

For those that have Pubicalyx 'Splash'...do you know if the scent is similar to Pubicalyx 'Red Buttons'? That's the one I have and I'm wondering if the blooms will smell as good as 'Splash'. I really love the 'Red Buttons'...haven't had blooms yet but I just love the dark green leaves with the ever so slight speckling. And I love how red the new leaves are....a deep deep burgundy color. Looking forward to the burgundy flowers too...my favorite color.

Denise,

Rob's violets has Hoya purpureo fusca 'Silver Pink'. Is that the same plant as publicalyx 'Silver Pink'?

gootziecat

I looked at Rob's pic and I THINK it's probably really pubicalyx. On the website of the "unmentionable" vendor, Carol writes "H. purpureo-fusca is often sold as H. pubicalyx 'Pink Silver' and visa-versa, even tho' the leaves are totally different..." After looking at her website, I think I may just have to order a purpureo-fusca myself!

Denise in Omaha

I have a Hoya heuschkeliana that keeps trying to flower despite hardly being rooted, so it is obviously an early flowerer. All my buds have blasted so far (I've got three left that are growing, slowly!) but I've heard it smells of melted butter. It is a trailing hoya (although I've seen it trellised online) and one of those that gets purple leaves when exposed to lots of sunshine.

I second everything Mare has said about Hoya obscura. It has the best fragrance, best blooming habits and best foliage, bar none, of any hoya I have ever grown. In fact, if I could grow only one house plant, this one might be it.

My other favorites are all closely related to Hoya obscura although none have its exact fragrance or unique foliage. The first is Hoya 'Sunrise', a hybrid of Hoya lacunosa x Hoya obscura. It is a very simple green, understated plant with a sweet, very pleasant fragrance (which is different from either parent). I do not find the fragrance to be as strong overall as H. obscura, but it certainly has none of the heavy, musky qualities of H. lacunosa.

Next on my list is a new one that I purchased last year as Hoya nabawanensis. It reminds quite a bit of a weedy, rangy version of H. obscura but it has solid green foliage and long internodes. The fragrance is very different, however, being very sweet and spicy. Now that it is finally established, it is growing rapidly and producing lots of peduncles. I can't wait to see how it performs later this spring and summer when the weather warms up.

I love Hoya lacunosa and grow several forms of it since it is such an easy, freely blooming plant. I totally agree with Mare that its fragrance is not of such a great quality although it is certainly very strong. I do not consider it to have an "obnoxious" hoya fragrance like H. nummularioides or H. heuschkeliana (i.e., it does not drive me out of the house even when several umbels are open at once) but to my nose it is very coarse and has none of the wonderful perfume-like quality of Hoya obscura.

Kartuz has a couple hoyas I'd like to order, thanks to everyone's info and help. Has some one had experience ordering from them? Thanks.

gootziecat

I've heard Kartuz's plants are on the small side. My only experience w/ him was in person a few yrs, ago, I bought a small H. Loheri, which unfortunately, didn't do much. After a couple of yrs. of starts & stops of sluggish growth it died last spring (could have been my care, not anything wrong w/ his plants), just small.

Hills, I have a Hoya heuschkeliana and I swear it is one of my favorite hoyas. She blooms all the time, and is blooming now. Those purple blooms smell like buttescotch. TammyPie