I second everything Mare has said about Hoya obscura. It has the best fragrance, best blooming habits and best foliage, bar none, of any hoya I have ever grown. In fact, if I could grow only one house plant, this one might be it. My other favorites are all closely related to Hoya obscura although none have its exact fragrance or unique foliage. The first is Hoya 'Sunrise', a hybrid of Hoya lacunosa x Hoya obscura. It is a very simple green, understated plant with a sweet, very pleasant fragrance (which is different from either parent). I do not find the fragrance to be as strong overall as H. obscura, but it certainly has none of the heavy, musky qualities of H. lacunosa. Next on my list is a new one that I purchased last year as Hoya nabawanensis. It reminds quite a bit of a weedy, rangy version of H. obscura but it has solid green foliage and long internodes. The fragrance is very different, however, being very sweet and spicy. Now that it is finally established, it is growing rapidly and producing lots of peduncles. I can't wait to see how it performs later this spring and summer when the weather warms up. I love Hoya lacunosa and grow several forms of it since it is such an easy, freely blooming plant. I totally agree with Mare that its fragrance is not of such a great quality although it is certainly very strong. I do not consider it to have an "obnoxious" hoya fragrance like H. nummularioides or H. heuschkeliana (i.e., it does not drive me out of the house even when several umbels are open at once) but to my nose it is very coarse and has none of the wonderful perfume-like quality of Hoya obscura.

Maybe she would stop sending them if you started photoshopping Scully and Mulder into the pictures. Renee and Mel, your husbands are onto something there. Everyday support is more important than support during crises, in predicting how happy couples are and how long their relationships last. Which I think is psychology's way of saying our partners could be out drinking the entire time our mothers were in town so long as they routinely fake excitement about peduncles.

I don't know if it is wise to change too much about the way the plant is growing, especially an older established plant. Why not keep it as a hanging plant and start training a few vines up and around the hanger itself, then you will have a combination of both? I know alot of people grow their hoyas on hoops and supports, but some varieties seem happier hanging and doing their own thing. I don't grow mine on supports, I like the natural look, but I would imagine that growing that way requires a bit more maintenence and also pruning, you probably need to keep them to a certain size to look right, to not get lopsided and tip over. Pruning hoyas means you could be removing vines that will produce flowers. And if you just keep wrapping foliage on top of foliage on the support, eventually the older foliage will be covered by the newer, and won't get as much light or air. I think the hoop/trellis/support way of growing is good for younger plants or for plants that are a few years old, or for slow growers...but considering we keep them so long and some have to be older to bloom, I would not think it is a good long term way to grow some of the varieties. Also, and anyone can chime in here, because like I said, I don't grow that way, but isn't it better to start plants on supports when they are young? As another alternative, you could put it up on a high shelf or tall piece of furniture. I have installed shelves specifically for trailing plants, I have a rosary vine and a carnosa on a $5 wooden shelf up by the ceiling that I had someone put up for me, that way the plants can grow almost to the floor - tho I have to keep them trimmed to keep them just out of the kitty's reach! Anyway, whatever you do, do it slow, the plant is going into a new environment, give it a chance to get used to it's new home before you make too many changes. Any bright window would probably be fine for it, just keep an eye out for any unfavorable changes and move it if you have to.

Lisa even growing my hoyas in a gh which is open at least 7 1/2 months out of the year I don't have a problem with ants getting into my hoyas,or haven't thus far anyway. I do however have an issue with those little tiny black sugar ants getting on the hoya flowers when they open to sip the nectar but they don't set up camp in any of the pots or baskets!!! Quinn lambii seems to take a little longer to root than most other hoyas and I root it like I do all my other hoyas in potting mix. The leaves will tend to go flat like all the air has been sucked out of them for a while. You'll know when it has rooted because the leaves will inflate again!!! By having my lambii outside most of the year it does get some leaf debris from the wild persimmons caught in the funnels and the plant does send out roots into that debris but i've never noticed ants in it. david