I pull up the plants late in the summer, before the pods start to decompose and tear, but when they are good and dry and relatively easy to strip. I take the uprooted plants to whatever part of the garden or landscape where I'd like them to grow in the future, and shake them rather briskly (not hard enough to break the stems.) If you pick them on a nice dry day, the seeds will fly! Most, but not all, are shed in this manner, and the remainder must be stripped by hand. Honesty is a biennial. It takes two years to mature. The first year after shaking branches of it in a particular area, you get nice little soft round plants that make a nice groundcover under and around other plants. They're easy to pull up if they sprout in the wrong place. I generally leave as many as possible in place. The second year, in the spring, each of the little plants sprouts into gorgeous bloom - you may have to thin them out at this time to allow enough space for them to develop. when the blooms fade, the seed pods start to develop, and the plant becomes more and more unattractive. This is when I yank out almost all of them, leaving a few in inconspicuous places to mature and dry. When rubbing the pods between my fingers, I work, for the most part, in an area where I'd like future plants to grow. However, I "clean" some of the branches over a piece of newspaper so I can collect and save the seeds. I store them for a year, and then scatter them in late summer. Otherwise you'll get silver pennies only every other year. this assures an annual crop.

Thank you for all your ideas. I've passed them onto DD who is trying them out. Her clothes that can take repeated washings are getting just that. Thankfully, their new apartment has a washer and dryer right there in their kitchen. Her purses, shoes, coats, good dresses. slacks, sweaters, down comforter, blanket, throw, etc. are at the dry cleaners. They are being dry cleaned . . . and ozoned at another facility. Shoes are being cleaned by hand and then ozoned. The bill for these items is just over $620. Her painted furniture (lt. green nightstand, white shelf unit and white desktop shelf unit are now light brown-gray and smell badly of smoke. Washing and soaking have not helped. As per your recommendations, she is taking photos of them and the damage and throwing them away. We will add them to our insurance claim. The idea of stuffing her purses with newspaper is one she will do when she gets them back from the dry cleaners, as an added precaution. I hear you when you tell me the smoke smell can raise it's ugly head later. Thank you again for these ideas. DD will definitely be using them. Lynn

Thank you dreamywhite and willtv, I think you folks are right and I should not turn the corner and just do the window wall. I had originally intended to go with the Daltile Rittenhouse Square that you mentioned - good price and easy to install. But when I saw the hand-made look of the Horus Art Tile I was swayed. It's much more expensive but by installing myself it became do-able. I'm afraid that the Daltile will look too clinical in my kitchen with the white plain cabinets and I'd have to jazz it up with some other decorative tiles. With the Horus's slightly irregular shape and surface I get some texture just by using that tile. Also important is that the Rittenhouse Square tile doesn't come in a warm enough color. I'm using Caramello in the Horus which goes really well with my honey onyx pendants, bb countertops, and cork floor. And it makes a nice, not too strong, contrast with the white cabinets. Thanks for your help. If I just do with window wall then I'll only need a couple of bullnose on the right and that will be simple to do.

Just a suggestion: the potting media they use for the hoyas you get from Home Depot, Walmart, and the likes, is pretty terrible. As soon as you can, go back to Home Depot, Lowes, or any other store with a garden center and look for fine grade orchid mix. When I run out of my go-to mix (expensive, and useless for your average hoya owner), I hop over to Lowes and grab a (blue) bag of Gubler Fine Grade orchid mix. If you cannot find this, grab a bag of perlite (preferrably without the added fertilizer) and a bag of pine bark mulch. Mix equal parts mulch and perlite into a small container, and soak overnight in water. If you found the Gubler, soak overnight in water, as well. Until you can get a suitable mix, just keep your hoya in a warm, draft free location with bright, indirect sun (a West facing window with sheer curtains works well). The important thing is to protect the plant from cold/drafts, while the potting media dries out. Once you get your mix, and after it has been soaked overnight, rinse as much of the old media off of the roots as you can, gently running your fingers through the roots to loosen them. Soaking the rootball in warm water for five minutes helps. Wash your pot in soap and water with a 1/10 ratio of bleach added (1 part bleach to 10 parts water). Rinse well. Rinse off your new potting mix. Place an inch of your new mix into your clean pot. Insert the rootball into the pot and add the mix around the rootball, gently tapping the pot onto your work surface to allow the mix to get into all root nooks and crannies. Cover entire roit system with your mix. Do not water for a week or two, to allow roots to recover. After the initial dry out phase, you can continue to water weekly to every 10 days, feeding the plant with 1/4 strength water soluble (MiracleGro water soluble tomato food is great: contains all the nutrients your hoya needs, and is inexpensive) food to 1 gallon warm water.