Hey Quinn,

I live here in FL and all mine are outside. Now that being said they are not in direct sun except they publicalyx's and eriostemma's. They others are in bright light with some in the shade. I do have to watch the water levels as some sit in pots inside pots so have to empty them out, but we have been very dry so not much worry on that. Moving to Austin you will definately have the heat but it is drier there than it is here.

Dee

Ooh, so pubicalyx may be a good candidate for outside in direct sun? I have a bunch of those. I don't really have shade out there, but if I put things closer to the house rather than the gate, they get some relief from the sun. I was thinking I'd maybe put kerrii and wayetti outside also, and maybe carnosa. Along with my aloe and jade. That may be my limit. It's not a big yard at all, and other things do have to fit back there as well.

Hey Quinn - I don't have that many hoya's (see my list), but all of them (including sp. Tanna Island that you gave me) are outside, except my compacta (only because I don't want bugs inside the leaves). However, none are in direct sunlight. They are all on my back deck which is 100% shade. I've never been able to put any of my hoya's in direct sun ,,, they ALWAYS burn. Not sure how others get away with it. Anyway, if you need more relief from the sun, a garden lattice might work (you can pick up inexpensive panels from the big box stores). I've also seen lace panels used to help filter the sun.

Good luck!!

My best example is always accompanied by photos and of course I speak of Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

Direct sun early morning hours
An example of this you can see link below

Here is a link that might be useful: Sin comentarios

Quinn,

I wouldn't put any out in full sun. Even if they can take it, they'll probably initially burn and then new growth will be very washed out. I think JLT is right - if you can find a way to shade them, you'll be much happier with how they look. Any I grow outside are either under my cedar tree, on my back porch which faces north and gets just a bit of late afternoon sun, or under my front proch where they only get bright indirect light.

Maybe when you get to Texas you'll have shade trees or areas where you can put them out where they'll be shaded from the harsh sun.

Denise in Omaha

/Quinn Sorry to hear about your funk. I've so been there and the worse my plants look, the more I want to avoid them. It's true that the Hoyas are very forgiving of such funks, while I lose half my Gesneriads every time. Jerks.

I wish my buotii got the same memo as yours. I have been dutifully attending to it, but it's still sulking, so I moved it into the aquarium last night to have some spa time.

Anyway, I don't grow anything outside, but if I was going to, I'd put some of the micrantha tribe out there.

Glad to hear you're feeling better - always nice to hear from you. ^_^

Hi Quinn
I've been in a funk too. This past winter was a bad one for my plants. As you know, my hoya grow outside. We had a freeze this past winter. It was in the 20s for close to 2 weeks. I had all my orchids and hoya covered with quilts and blankets, but it didn't help. I lost close to 100 orchids and over 30 hoya plants.
Then we had to make an emergency trip to NY for the death of my husbands brother. We left rather quickly and I forgot to put water in the trays of my African violets and shut the lights. When I came home, quite a few were goners.
Now I'm out of the funk and starting to re-build my collection. If you have any cuttings of hoya to spare, I'll send you postage to cover your expense. Maybe you want to thin out some of yours.
Good seeing you here again.
Eileen

I was in a nasty funk last fall and winter but I don't think I lost any hoyas from it. They sure are forgiving plants. I love how spring always brings new hope.

I grow most of my plants outside in the summer. I actually have to go through and decide which ones can't take the heat and need to stay inside during July and August. I have two porches; one gets morning sun until about 10 or 11 and the other gets late afternoon and evening sun from about 4:00 on. I can adjust plants forward or back to give them more or less sun. I don't put any of the hoyas in full sun.

Austin is quite a change from Pennsylvania! But the Amtrak makes a trip from there to OKC so maybe we could visit sometimes.

GG, looks like your buotii got the memo, mine didn't (shhhh!). I watered it well, it perked right back up and didn't even lose one leaf. Ok, maybe one, I don't remember. But if so, that's it, just one. Someone may have leaked the memo to sp. Tanna Island though. It looks great, but if you feel the leaves they are very limp. I feel like it will pull through, but it isn't responding as rapidly as the others. Fitchii already looks right as rain. I think it got too much light in the window though, it is pale yellow green. I was hoping for some red coloration. Guess that's not happening there.

I'm glad everyone seems to be on the upswing out of the funk. The funk was not the good kind of funk. I agree, even the thought that my plants weren't doing well was enough for me to want to avoid them. The violets are looking pretty sad. As is my stephanotis. I think with care they will all recover though.

I don't know if I can pull off the outside hoyas this year then. There isn't any real shade and no way to create it, really. It's a narrow space with a few large obstacles (ridiculously large AC unit, smoker/grill, trash can) and I can't block access to any of these items. Also, my landlord is promising a new fence this year (though he has promised that for the past three) and I don't really trust anyone he has working for him to treat my plants nicely. But we'll see. Maybe I can test out a few bits of hoyas, so that I won't lose the whole plant if it doesn't work out.

/Eileen That sounds like a terrible winter. I'm so sorry for your losses. There's nothing more depressing than the way tags start to look like tiny tombstones after they've lost their plants. Good luck with the rebuilding process.

/Quinn Yeah those limp leaves are just what my buotii looks like for sure. I was really shocked, because up to this point it's been my miracle plant. When it was a cutting, I let it crazy dry out and while others in that batch really got mad, buotii seemed not to notice. (like yours!)

I'm with you on not trusting random workers to be respectful of your plants. I've noticed that many people act like if you put plants out in your yard, they must not be valuable. -_-

You're starting to give me the bug for at least a test Hoya outside, though, darnit. I put a Kohleria outside the other day (infected by Mike (me, not the plant)) and forgot to bring it in after a couple hours... and it sat out in the harsh western exposure all day and still looks like it's been inside all this time. Another miracle plant!

Yeah, haven't decided yet. I know I'm going to set the aloe outside, along with my jade, and with this scrap of opuntia which I thought was dead but is still green after two years and still around. I guess if it were really dead it would have rotted and disintegrated.

It's not the random workers I don't trust, so much as the one I know about. First of all, I get an 'off' vibe about him to start. Second of all, his work is subpar. Third of all, I believe he HAS damaged my plants in the past, and doesn't clean up after himself. The worst was when he insulated my pipes the one year, after they all froze. He apparently decided to leave the trash BEHIND a panel of drywall, basically, sealed up behind the wall. Imagine everyone's surprise when we pulled that panel off for some other reason and saw all those plastic wrappers from the pipe insulation. Blech. He really annoys me. Also, why there is a loose panel of drywall, is beyond me. The last tenant(s) left a microwave, mini fridge, boxes of old photos, sleeping bags, etc. Behind the wall. Go figure.

All these kohleria pics are super tempting. Except I have a bunch of cranky African violets staring me down. Which then puts an end to the temptation. For now.

Holy crap, that's a crazy story. It's like there was a gross time capsule hidden behind your wall. I'm trying to imagine how that scenario played out. Hey dude, can we put our mini fridge and these pictures of my ex back there, before you seal it up?

When the timing is right for Kohlerias, you let me know, I'll send you some rhizomes, and you can join the clique. (lol) I think it was actually my pissy AVs that drove me into the arms of Kohlerias.

Well, fascia boards are hanging friends. A couple of bicycle hooks and you 'can be' good to go. Marilyn1 used to use shade clothe and she would even wrap hoya's with it to prevent bleaching. It just depends on your standards...

Denise always flinches when she sees my plants but they ALL grow out in my Myoporum tree. Which is slowly dieing from thrips. So there are water spots, sunburn, blotching from insect predation... They pretty much look mostly like weedy, neglected ropes these days. I've been in a garden funk since August of '09. (Mentha, Jewel and Jay are fantastic additions to my family!!!!!)

I grow: carnosa, pubicalyx, kerrii, australis, shepardii, and bella outside. There is one more that escapes my brain name function...

I could post pictures, but they are all at least a year old.
Perhaps I could dig up a bleached out queen or princess. The extra sun promotes blooms!