Hi silenceisgod, Welcome to The Plant Exchange. Please see addressing newbie and newer member issues for instructions on getting your Member Page email link set up so that you can easily be reached. In the past, having the follow-up replies emailed to you hasn't always been 100%. Additionally there are also a lot of members who have no link, or have chosen to show it to no one so even if you get a a follow-up reply via email, you can't always reply to the email. Happy Trading! Sue...aka chemocurl

Hi Edwin. Yes I think I will do that ,but in any case,when I see one of your plants or others and I write here on the forum that I'd like to have one,you can take that as an order and put a label "sold" on it .So far I count six ! In fact,the only time when I get a chance to see a decent conifer display is at the Paris plant show,twice a year .There are the Laurains sisters, Ward Alpines (who carry a fair selection of conifers from Lime Cross Nursery in Britain, and also Vallonchene. I have also obtained some fine plants from Clement in Belgium by mail. Talking of wich (and in order not to deviate too far from the original post) I was wondering what the understock was on Clement's 'Chief Joseph'. What a shame to see a fair sized plant like that go down the drain! T.

In the real conifer world everything is surviving naturally because nature placed it there. These issues of why it failed never come to mind. They come and go naturally. Gardening with conifers represents a real challenge. Why, because a big percentage of conifers you are growing are trying to survive away from their homeland where nature intended for them to survive. Most of us grow them on the edge where acclimation is questionable. If you want to do this expect failures. I have had my share. Certain cultivars require modest attention to insure their survivability. Others a more intense regimen of care is required. In spite of all our efforts we still loose them. The chemistry is just not right. A lot of variables come into play for a conifers survivability in a garden setting. Micro climate is number one. You have to figure out what yours is and what will successfully grow in that environment. Soil composition is a big player. Have you had yours checked? Planting correctly, watering and after care. All three of these require attention. Have some idea of the health of the conifer you are buying. Pop it out of the pot. Root bound, don't buy it. B&B, broken root ball. Don't buy it. This is a frying pan that just keeps on cooking. Big time if you have become heavily evolved in this venture of collecting. Count you losses only as opportunities for learning and enjoying the hobby more. Dave

Yes Hoyas tend to put out long bare vines that look for a place to cling to or twine around and then they fill in with leaves. If you were to let most Hoya plants just grow as they wish their rate of growth would be much better than when we try to train them on trellises. I find that too much manipulation slows the plants down and as GG mentioned it often results in aborted leaves and growing tips. I grow my Hoya loyceandrewsiana in a gritty mix but with added coconut husk chips so that I don't have to water quite so often. This is another species that likes to dry out but remember that when the plants are actively growing vines and leaves then they like to be kept moist, a slight drying between watering is just fine and even preferred. You can fertilize year around if the plant is growing but if it's just sitting there then there is not much need for extra nutrients. I mix fertilizers at about 1/2 strength and apply often. Some of these Hoyas are slow growers so it takes a couple years to get established before they take off. Hoya loyceandresiana is one that loves to put out really long bare vines that seem to do nothing. My plant looks pretty scraggly because of this but I don't want to cut anything just in case. I often wonder if I should water even more often than I do when I see new growth because many times those long vines appear to be developing new leaves only to see them abort very early on, I'm still figuring this one out. When it comes to plants, identification can not rely on leaf size or leaf colour etc, it can rely on leaf characteristics such as leaf shape, leaf margins if they are distinct (serrated), and always on flower morphology. Mike