We call "sneaking a cutting " stealing. If that's your normal behavior (your word, not mine), do you act that way at your friends' homes, a favorite restaurant, a local botanical garden, or (even worse) a garden center? Businesses like the swank office building will use the services of a florist or interiorscaping firm. Witb a little bit of sleuthing, a person could track down the name of that company and, contact them, and ask for the identity of the plant you admire. Then, you can obtain the plant the way that the rest of us do....we buy it. Can't afford all of the plants that you'd like to have? Do without until you can. THAT'S "normal "! As far as the identity of the plant goes, I'm tempted to say that it's one of the new Aglaonema cultivars. If Toni, sees this post, she is a likely candidate to be able to ID the plant....and probably tell you some good mail order options.

I don't think it's a Hoya, although it does bear some familial resemblance (krohniana, curtisii...) My money's on some kind of Dischidia... like ruscifolia! I don't own a ruscifolia, so I can't say for sure, but it certainly resembles my Dischidias more than my Hoyas, and the blooms will be a dead giveaway when the time comes. Also, a long cutting like that is just fine, but not necessary. However, if you want to give it the best of all worlds, a very strong strategy is to kind of lay it flat along the soil line, in a loop, so that more nodes are exposed to the medium and can send down roots. Then, once it is well rooted it will send out vines to dangle. They also grow great mounted, but that might be more bother than you're ready for. :P This post was edited by greedyghost on Tue, Feb 5, 13 at 14:19

It is a Lobelia, a native plant that enjoys moist conditions.

Is the leaf reverse purple? Looks like Plectranthus ciliatus.