I don't generally visit this forum but I am sooooo glad I stopped in tonight! The envy index has sky-rocketed, dontchaknow? :-)

Oh heck! I'm not going to be ANY help to you Bihai. I am too busy drooling over your GH planty things! How lovely are those?!?!?

May I ask .... Who's the prickly guy just to the right of your VERY droolable reed stem epidendrums in the 3rd posted picture? Also in the same picture, just in front of that prickly guy and a bit to the right, who is the "clover-like" fellow with the very cool coloured veins?

Hmmmm. OK. This is Hoya world so .... maybe some of the guys that can be grown as epiphytes like H. tsangii or H. curtsii could be grown on some palm trunks or other branches laying on the floor of your GH rather than on a totem to define a different elevation to your design? Maybe have one limb going across your stream?

3DChick

Hi Chicka! Long time no see! How are the new Ecuagenera purchases faring? The Draculas and the Masdevallia, as well as the anthurium reflexinervium and the other South American orchids and plants that you sent to me from their last show in OH are doing very very well! I never thought the Draculas would adapt to the warmth here quite so easily but they seem to really be enjoying their spot in the understory of a big Alpinia purpurata "Ginoza". It keeps the sun off of them completely. The Masdie is on its second blooming!

The spiny job up there to the right is a Dyckia bromeliad, like the Cherry Coke and Red Devil I sent you. But this is a much smaller growing hybrid that those. Cherry Coke will eat your house if you let it so beware! Dyckias are succulent bromeliads, that particular one is "Brittle Star" (the one to the left is "Snaggletooth")

The little variegated clover is a mystery plant. It blew in from a friend's greenhouse on some stuff she gave to me, and at first I thought is was a "diseased" form of the normal one of those (the name escapes me...you know they are those little pinky/purple wildflowers....we have them all over the yard) so I emailed her and she said, "no, its a true variegated form!" So I let it go and once it got bigger I could see it was really kinda neat.

The space I am doing this current project in is the "wide end" of a very large planted bed shaped sorta like a teardrop. If I use a totem for something large growing, like the Variegated Vanilla Orchid plus Hoyas idea, I will go over to Waldo (the little berg 10 miles away) to Tom's Cypress and purchase a large piece of suitably arching driftwood that can be angled over the spot between the Anthurium and the little Darian Palm in that space. While it doesn't look like much now, that little Darian will eventually have whole (undivided) leaves that will measure between 12-20 feet in length, coming up directly off the ground like a cup (Darian palms are virtually trunkless) so I have to plan for that event and not do anything that will impede the Darian in the future.

I have plenty of time to figure out which Hoyas to use, but was hoping to hear from some like Aroideana who I recall posted something about training some different cuttings over logs in Oz. I'd be interested in knowing which varieties worked best for that purpose. I'd really like to do one of the larger showier species if it would work. If my Imbricata was bigger, I'd do it, but I am afraid it might get too much light down there and its still just a leaf, but doing great. I can tell its going to be slower than what I am after for this project though, at least initially.

This is the list of plants I have to choose from. Some of these are large grown out specimen plants, others are just small plants, or recently rooted cuttings from trades.

Smaller leaves:
bella
brevialata
camphorifolia (might be more "medium leaved" actually)
cummingiana
curtsii (I know this one does well mounted)
HSI-037 (medium?)
kenejiana "Nugget" variegated
kentiana (already have this mounted, probably won't use it again)
speckled lacunosa
nummularioides
obscura
"Optimistic"
"Ruthie"
siariae
shepherdii (looks too much like kenitiana, probably won't use)
tsangii (already have growing epiphytically)

medium-large leaved:
Imperialis
Kerrii
Kerrii Reverse Variegated
Kerrii variegated (I am really thinking about this one)
macgillvaryii
variegated Macrophylla (the yellow and pink tones would complement the other plants in the scheme)
megalaster
multiflora (probably too shrubby but I might plop one of the 4 I have does somewhere in that space)
silver pink/Splash (but I already have this running helter skelter over about 16 sq ft of space in the front of the GH so I probably won't use here)

I was looking at my linnearis too...it has a LOT of aeriel roots coming out between each leaf, and that really delicate appearance might be really cool on a big totem if I could get it to grow up the arch.

The rain seems to have stopped so I am going out for a quick 6 mile run, then going to get started on this. Brrrr.... the rain is ushering in a cold front for us...it was 92 yesterday when we were at the crawfish boil, today's high will only be about 75 but its supposed to drop to 40-44 tonight! Glad I bought ONE LAST TANKFUL of propane for the greenhouse heater! Just when you thought winter was over...but, its only for a night or 2 so I won't complain.

Hi Bihai.

That is *great* to hear that the stuff I sent you is doing well. My Masdevallia, like the one you got, is also going into new bloom! Mike will be so happy to know "his" Draculas are doing well for you. Ours are doing great as well. They really like that vaporizer! :-) All the other orchids from Ecuagenera are either blooming or thinking of blooming again!

Except for that ~ditch orchid.~ He's still got issues but I see he's got new roots out over the willow bark so all is not lost yet.

All your guys are doing fantastic, as always. :-) I like the Dyckias you sent though they were tricky to unwrap without drawing too much blood. LOL! Thanks for the ID on the Dyckias in your photograph. That mystery variegated clover is charming! Glad you didn't pull him.

Hopefully some Hoya experts can help you with your project.

Stay safe from the gnasty weather in the area.

3DChick

The weather is gnasty in more ways than one...we had strong winds and heavy rain blow through here this morning starting at about 4am. When I went out to start my run, a 25 ft tree with a diameter of over 24" had fallen across the driveway. I had to chainsaw it up instead of going running, so I did get some exercise, just not what I thought I was gonna get. My hubby is on his way to the airport, he hopes his flights into DC are not cancelled as this weather stretches all the way up to the NE. AFter I get a bite of lunch, I am out to start my project!