My trip to SRQ

12 years ago

Hello everyone. This past Tuesday, I got to meeat Joni at SRQ and pick up some plants. Her place is only 55 highway miles from my apartment, very convenient. I got to meet her helper and her beautiful red poodle 'Nico' and received a nice tour of her operation and the various places she keeps her hoyas. I saw the area where the 'parent' plants, from which she takes her cuttings were hanging, also the humungous room in which her helper was tenaciously potting the rooted ones. There were rows and rows of tables of those small plastic square pots with yellow lables containing those little beauties that we all love.

My needs were met with 2 Bella var. and a cv.Mathilde which I repotted into the small hanging pots I got from Joni.When she picks them out to ship, she always looks for the right plant by chosing the one that she would want. Now that is exceptional service!

First the Bella

.

Then the cv.Mathilde

And them, hanging on either side of my KP

All in all, it was a wonderful trip that took less than an hours time to drive and I got to meet some excellent people and really get bitten by the Hoya bug. I am trying to re-arrang my apartment to accommodate a few more additions as I type this.

I would like to thank the great people here on the GW for sharing their knowelge and for also pointing out the SRQ site that allowed me to meet Joni in the first place.

Thank you Joni for your hospitality, you made my trip a pleasurable one, for sure.

Poseidon24

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Comments (9)

greedygh0st
12 years ago
Oh how lucky are you?!?!?!

If I were in Florida, that would definitely be on the top of my list (Take that, Oma! j/k). Your plants are super cute in their new baskets and I am glad you made the trip so you could tell all the rest of us curious souls about it. ^_^

I grew up with an apricot standard poodle and that is a beautiful color.
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mairzy_dotes
12 years ago
Oh how fun. I visited an epi nursery once that was enormous, and I have gone up to Kartuz's nursery lots of times. Fun days and definately gives you the WANT MORE bug. Ha. I love your plant window, but I see many more in there in the future since you live close to Joni. Ha.
I love H. mathilda!! One of my favs. I kept killing my variegated bellas, however I have been able to keep the regular one. Never could figure that out.
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Comments (10)
Hi Tish...SRQ Hoyas is great...prices are reasonable, shipping is fast and reasonable, heat packs are available and Joni is very kind. I've been pleased with everything from Joni...other than two "rooted" cuttings that died almost immediately. She was kind enough to root several plants for me...only the two died. Most of her hoyas are nice sized plants...on her "ready to buy" page, she mentions the size of the plants that you're buying...so you know if it's small, medium or big...that's a nice thing to know. She's great at putting your name on a "waiting" list for a plant you really want and she'll start cuttings for you and ship when they're fully rooted...look at her "My collection" to see plants that she's willing to start cuttings of. Most of the plants I've received from her have been very large...no one does it better, other than Carol Noel. Gardino's would be my 2nd choice so far as hoyas are concerned...other plants from Gardino's are fabulous!! I purchased a Cestrum Nocturnum from Gardino's...the size of a shrub...and full of buds. Their hoyas tend to be smaller than Joni's for the most part...but huge compared to Asiatica. Joni has many plants in her collection....some of the "hard to find" ones....she's willing to grow cuttings for you if you ask her...and she'll put you on her "wish list"...which you can check 24 hrs. a day...and she updates the wish list when the plants are nearing the point of being ready to sell. The prices are high, but typical, for very large plants, very reasonable for small and medium size, shipping cost is exactly what she has to pay...she always refunds any over payment that you make...she also often includes a free plant with your order. Next to Carol, Joni is the very best...in my humble opinion. Fondly, Patrick
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Comments (20)
Nice. I got some from her recently as well. citrina (2), pauciflora, publicalyx Black Dragon, sp. Fidjii, finlaysonii, siamica, verticillata albomarginate. I was planning on waiting until some of my wish listed plants were ready, but oh well, guess I was caught up in spring fever. Plus when wish listed plants are available, its an excuse to order more - cause you can't let plants travel alone right? One more thing about clear pots, and this comes from my orchid background. For small ones, under 4 inch, I always use food grade clear plastic cups, etc. For starting seedlings I either use the small clear plastic dixie type cups. For 3 inch pots I use the clear solo plastic cups. The individual pudding cups make great starter pots, and the clear plastic lids you get from the drive through at Dairy Queen make pretty good pots also. I just poke drainage holes in the bottom and voila, a perfectly sized clear pot. They may not last outside as long as the pots made for plants, but as I use them for smaller starts, they are ready to be repotted up before the little pots degrade. Renee
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Comments (6)
Thanks Everyone. Renee, yes I was on vacation. We stayed in Orlando a week 1/2, then drove down to Sarasota. I would LOVE to live in Florida. When you get the chance, I highly recommend going to SRQ. Joni is very nice. Its an experience you will remember forever. I saw Hoyas in bloom, that I will never get the chance to see in person again. She grows Beautiful plants. GG, I appreciate the heads up on Caudata. I had read up a little about it. I knew several people grew it in an aquarium. So thats where it will probably reside. I was a little leary about getting cuttings. I have very little experience with Hoya cuttings. Ive rooted all of 2 prior to going there!!! But luckily I was able to get mostly plants. Plus I didn't know how the cuttings would do in the hotel 4 days and travel home! But thankfully they seem to be dong very well. Pug, you have a great collection! I was happy to see you still growing (and blooming) when you posted this month. And your Signillas blooms look different from any I can find on the internet. Is it maybe they are just fully open and others havent opened completely yet? Or is there different IMLs like Caudata has?
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cutting bundle sale @ SRQ hoyas
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Comments (15)
Funny you should ask, as I was just looking at hydroton and how some people are getting incredible results, both rooting and growing, with it or similar media like growstones. See this for example: http://vermonthoyascom.fatcow.com/learning-how-productions/hoya-praetorii-cutting-experiment/. Blows my mind. But that is not what I did. :-) (Saw this after planting the cuttings and have reservations about frequent watering that semi-hydro method requires.) I like the idea of rooting right into the medium the plant will live in, in order to minimize root disturbances and repotting adjustments. I use a mix of pine bark fines, granite grit and calcined DE ("gritty mix" from the container gardening forum), so that is what they are growing into right now. The mix is so chunky it's actually pretty close to semihydro method anyway. In other news, I am getting 18(!) more cuttings from Joni and 4 more from Denise. Hi everybody, my name is GreenToe and I am a hoyaholic.
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Harrison871
12 years ago
Where is Florida does Joni live? I'm from the Ft Lauderdale area (still living here too). That is soo cool that you got to meet her in person. I'm saving money so that I can grab a few plants from her before the end of the month.
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cpawl
12 years ago
All I can say is you lucky duck.
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marco
Original Author
12 years ago
GG, I felt very lucky to have met Joni and have her pick out my plants, she is a wonderful person and I enjoyed our time together. Her red poodle Nico actually looked like her coat was an auburn/chocolate color but Joni told me she was red but the summer sun had darkened her color. I then asked her if the dogs coat had 'reverted' lol. Apricot is a pretty color no matter if it is a flower or an animal, I wholly agree with you on that.

mairzy, like you, Joni also 'saw' more room for Hoyas so I will have to re-arrange things a bit and then build up my collection with another fun day trip down the highway. That aught to motivate me. Now, I need to save up again and toss out some furniture to make room for them. The cv.Mathilde is a beauty with new growth on 3 seperate vines, 2 of which are over a foot long. The bellas are so cute in their pot and I am going to baby them until they grow up nice and big and I am going to keep showing it a pic of Sue Trans bella that GG sent me the link to on another thread. The huge thing looked like a tree and had countless blooms on each branch. That was what sold me on the bellas. They are just the right size to 'dote' on.

Melissa, SRQ are the call letters that identify the Sarasota airport, that is where Joni came up with the name. Her place is in Sarasota. You could probably cross alligator alley and shoot straight up 75 to Sarasota in about 2 hours I would guess. That would cost around the same as shipping and waiting for them to arrive, perhaps? I provided the link to Joni's site at the end of this post.

Moonwolf, I remember reading in another thread that you had a sq. leaf on your wish list. I saw them all potted up and waiting to find a home, boy did they look cute !

I would advise anyone within driving distance to contact Joni and set up an appointment. You will not be disappointed I can promise you that. She is an absolutely wonderful person of exceptional quality.

cpawl, that is exactly what I felt like !

poseidon

Here is a link that might be useful: SRQ Hoyas
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Harrison871
12 years ago
That's really cool. I went to college in st petersburg. I will most likely have to have the plants shipped since now a days i don't get alot of free time to go anywhere other the work and home. The next time I head to st pete I will plan to stop at Joni's ;P
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theplanthoarder
12 years ago
I am so glad you had restraint and only came home with a few plants. I probably would not have been able to only buy a few and I would have came home with 50 new hoyas with nowhere to put them.

You are so lucky to be so close.

Michelle
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moonwolf_gw
12 years ago
You are very lucky to go see Joni's nursery! Oh what a sight that must have been to see all those hoyas! Yes I do have Sq. Leaf on my wish list! Christmas is coming after all lol.

Brad AKA Moonwolf
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tigerdawn
12 years ago
I just got square leaf from Joni (along with 5 others) and I am not dissapointed! It is so adorable!

I have wanted to visit Joni for ages but Florida is a long way from Oklahoma. If I ever do, I'm taking as much spending money as possible!
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My trip to SRQ

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