Ugly Ducklings of the Hoya family
I hear all the time about people adding hoyas to their wish lists after somebody posts a bloom picture, or mentions the scent, or post a particularly delicious description of how the leaves look. Have you ever heard of somebody refusing to put something on their list, or crossing something out or going "eww"? Yeah, me neither.
We are a positive bunch, but let's be mean girls for a bit and talk about hoyas that don't do anything for us, that smell disgusting, grow all crooked or just do not speak to us in any other ways.
To start, here's my list.
* kerrii: untraineable branches, takes lots of space, ugly drippy messy bloody-looking flowers, and I am not gaga over the leaf shape, either (although this last one is especially a matter of taste, and I know many disagree).
* Eriostemmas: love 'em to death, actually, but it's not hot enough here and not enough light and space. So yeah, I am gonna tell myself I hate them, so that I can get over them. :-)
* arnottiana: the scent has been described as spoiled cheese or vomit or chlorine, none of which I have a strong desire to sniff.
* linearis: never seen it in person, but the look is kinda weird, lone, sickly, straggly and sad when just one or a few strands are hanging down. People say you need a really full pot for it to look good. If I ever get it, I hope to achieve THIS million-dollar look (suetran's picture):
Comments (34)
greentoe357
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
teisa
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Calling all hoya lovers
Comments (36)I like vampire stuff too, most ghost stories as well, especially real old ones. I read some Anne Rice, but I felt that she could never top The Vampire Lestat, and I really didn't read much of her stuff past that one. One of my favorite vampire stories is "Carmilla" - not really a short story, more like a novella, written by Sheridan LeFanu. The story centered around a female vampire and her female victim, which I think caused a bit of a scandal in it's time. The author died in 1873, so the story must have been written before Dracula. ...sorry all, vampires and hoyas do not mix....though actually some hoyas only have a strong scent AT NIGHT and might even be pollinated by moths and SMALL BATS...so maybe there IS a connection between vampires and hoyas.... Those little white hanging pots are great, though - only 5" and that isn't so much bigger than what you are using now...and they are great "trainers" for little plants that aren't ready for the "big" 6" baskets. I am all out of them, I have one left, I need to order some but I would like to try to find them in dark green....See MoreIntroducing ... the Ugly Duckling
Comments (42)Breathtaking lot and lake. No wonder you bought it. We recently went through the purchase of an ugly duckling too. A younger duckling than yours, from 1987. My kitchen is linked below. We (my DD actually) painted the cabinets, and we added tile counters. Makes a great difference. We also painted all of the bathroom cabinets very similar in style to yours the same color. I have the shell sinks too! We used the new SW alkyd cabinet and door paint, after priming with SW primer first. 1 coat primer 2 coats paint. Laid on with a a brush and rolled off with a small foam roller. (of course need to sand and TSP wash before priming). Turned out great. SW Kestral white is a great wall color to merge beiges, whites, off whites, gray, and almonds together. So that is on the walls in our bathrooms to blend the tub (almond), counters (beige cultured marble) toilet is white, and sheet vinyl in a gray (where it was carpeted too. EWW!) You mentioned your home only has electric baseboard and a single window unit. How is your home constructed? Is there a basement or crawlspace for a forced air gas furnace? Is natural gas available, or propane? An attic for an electric heat air handler? I assume your house has no hvac ductwork and that would need to be added if you modified the heat to forced air. (I work in HVAC). This would mean that you would have some tearup into walls to do this, so definitely do the HVAC before painting any walls, This may give you a good opportunity to add insulation and a vapor barrier to some walls at the same time. And you may need to add some electrical capacity to add AC. I would evaluate this before flooring or walls as the HVAC work may get into the walls or flooring and you would want to do that messy work first. Anything you can do to get off electric heat would most likely be money well spent, as electric heat can be quite expensive to run (of course this depends much on your utility rates.) Adding a nice mid-tier heat pump, with either furnace or air handler and electric heat would be a very good solution for your climate. And improving insulation above ceiling and in walls will make your home more comfortable and lower utility bills too. Onto the decor questions. I would only keep the green tub if you absolutely adore it. If not, I would consider getting it re-glazed if it appears to be a good quality tub. They don't make them as good as they used to IMHO. For the kitchen, I would work on the best layout possible with the constraints of re-using what makes sense. I would paint the cabinets in the kitchen and consider some modifications to get the layout you want. If you paint the cabinets, you would have the option to maybe rip out some if necessary and infill with some shelving or other unfitted pieces. We for example took out a cooktop on the island and put in butcher block. And if you paint your cabinets and need to infill with some from habitat restore or other standard new ones, the paint can make them work together better. #1 advice is to buy a nice new gas grill and get a nice patio set for your deck. When you are happy and can cook dinner and have a cold drink and relax it seems less overwhelming to think about all the other projects. Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen with painted cabinets and tile counters...See MorePlease help turn my Awkward Ugly Duckling into a Graceful Swan
Comments (9)This was fun! "The problem is you want too little. That's the hardest thing in the world to get" When you list your wants/dreams now, it should really include function, and not style for now. The style headache can wait for after the floorplan get's nailed down :) I've reconfigured it 3 ways. The bold lines show what you already have, the lighter lines are adds. I personally don't like to move things I don't HAVE to (like the pantry or the doors/windows/sink) b/c I'd rather spend my money elsewhere or keep it if I can. That said, you can assume all of those things are exactly as they are in your kitchen today (I didn't feel like drawing them all in, but you can assume they're in exactly the same place you have them now). I've put up a wall between the back door and the kitchen so you could create something like this if you wanted to: [Farmhouse Entry[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/farmhouse-entryway-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_741~s_2114) by Guilford Architects & Designers CK Architects It'll be easy with any of these configurations to have a designated area for garbage/compost. I haven't constricted the eating area. You'll note that I have extended the countertop all the way to the double doors of the sun room. I will say, you need to dream bigger. Stop restricting your kitchen to these walls b/c you're limiting yourself alot (which is probably what makes your want list so small). There are so many things you can do!! It's an exciting space. I was even thinking that it would be fun to get the kitchen table in the middle of the kitchen and then have a breakfast bar or a ton of storage along the 138.5 inch wall.......maybe even find an awesome buffet on craigslist and save yourself the cabinet cost. From what I can see, you already have a great table for it. It could look something like this: [Farmhouse Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/farmhouse-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2114) by Newport Beach Interior Designers & Decorators Wendi Young Design (If you click into the floorplan image you can see them a little clearer)...See MoreCan I turn this Ugly Duckling into a Lovely Swan?
Comments (53)Still looks to me like it might be walnut Bloomin' ... As you could see, using the flash our walnut table took on a reddish tone, as yours does, but in natural light it's very brown. Almost a blackish brown, like the picture of the leaf you posted above. I really, really hope you are doing your stripping out in a garage or well-ventilated space (porch, etc) You can get stripping gloves at Walmart - they are very heavy duty and the chemicals won't leach through. Might take 2 or 3 pr for your project & well worth the $$ spent if you are going to do the whole table yourself. Once you get the lion's share of the old stuff off, you'll want to sand it before you begin any polyurethane or paint. The problem with antiquing is that green stuff is like a stain and it gets into the wood pores. It really might be easier/faster for you to have it dipped and then you can do a light sanding if needed, and decide from there what you want to do (paint or polyurethane, etc). I've had a few things dipped that I wanted to refinish and I think that cost-wise it's a wash by the time you end up buying all of the chemicals, gloves, items you need vs just letting someone else dip it and take it down to bare wood. There are a few folks over in the woodworking forum that are quite helpful also if you run into a problem. Good luck with it....See Moregreedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
I thought it was just a nod to Lindsay Lohan's infamous "Mean Girls" movie.
I like this topic. I've been thinking and thinking and thinking of an answer. I can find something to love about any Hoya, but there are definitely some where I sit there looking at their leaves going... what is there positive to say.... ;P Certainly CB is constantly and unreservedly referring to Hoyas as eyesores, which always makes me giggle.
The ones I really have the most problem with are plants like subcalva, calycina, juanngoiana, bicolor, trigonolobus, naumanii, benitotanii
They all have gorgeous flowers, but in the meantime, while they're working up to it, they have big bland leaves.
There are tons and tons of Hoyas with small boring leaves, but it doesn't seem like as big of an issue when they're little, and usually they have short internodes, so they form, overall, a pretty little garland of a vine.
I actually put together a whole flat of Hoyas like this - with little boring leaves, and they look quite cute together. They are also the ones that the mealies like tho, lol...
susancarol
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agovermonthoyas
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
Denise
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreentoe357
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agosunnysa
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agosunnysa
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreentoe357
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agosunnysa
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agopirate_girl
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agopirate_girl
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoYeah, I wasn't really that impressed by linearis from photo either. I felt totally like you. But it always made me smile on my shelf. One of those plants you put up front so you can look at it and pet it.
Sorry about the photo. Maybe this one will work better.
Hoya cumingiana, with nice compact internodes
Source: Ingrid's Green World BlogDenise
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoNow see THAT'S a nice looking cummingiana! And in the summer months, when it was outside, the leaves would become more compact. But in winter, the internodes would be long and it would look gangly, even sitting in the highest spot in my GH.
And I do like the look of a full linearis, but I can't seem to get my hands on one, so I've only had little snipets of it to start and it never really gets going well for me. And when I'd try to start new pieces for more fullness, more often than not it would rot off before it would root, so I never could get more than a strand or two growing at a time. It's just not the same...
As for Chelsea, if I could get my hands on a clone that looks like the photo below, I would probably just give my big one away. It looks nothing like it.
Denise in Omaha
greentoe357
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agosummersunlight
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreentoe357
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agopirate_girl
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreentoe357
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoteisa
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agogreedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoFor others as lazy as me, here is the neat linearis photo PG was talking about.
Hoya linearis
Source: Houseplants: April Showers Bring May Flowersdethcheez
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agoNot a Hoya
But I think Our Plants may be related
Or
At least have the same Tailor
LOL
greedygh0st
9 years agolast modified: 9 years agodethcheez
9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
laticauda
8 years ago
stacy_hikari
8 years ago
pirate_girl