I have had great success with the more colorful hoyas (kentiana, compacta variegata or any of the Krimson Queen/Princess/tricolor/Exotica) in a full sun southern exposure window (indoors only). They produce the most wonderful range of color with full sun.

Wayetti and DS-70 are both great hangers. In fact, any of those long-leaved Hoyas look great hanging - shepherdii, shepherdell, Minibelle...

Denise in Omaha

I do have shepherdii, although it hasn't bloomed for me yet, I could always spare him some cuttings of it. It looks a little sparse right now.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I could spare some cuttings off my kentiana. She has great colors in a sunny window. See pic.

Beautiful kentiana, CPL!

Lol GG, he's not too picky for plants since he has such a love for gardening. I wish I had some lacunosa to send him when spring arrives. So, what you're saying is I should ask Santa for a DS-70, right? *^_~*

If only he lived within reasonable walking distance, I'd take him to Lowe's or HD to find some Hoyas. He's got an extremely green thumb. Heck, we'd be going out plant shopping all the time lol. That goes for everyone I'm friends with on GW, though.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

LOL @ GG. I have to agree if you are speaking of the variegated DS-70!

But, I do have 5-6 small lacunosa rooted in moss. I think it's Ruby Sue, but not sure. They need a good home. See pic. These would look nice in a Kokedama moss ball hanging in a window.

I have others, too! Look at my list =)
Kathy

LOL @ GG. I have to agree if you are speaking of the variegated DS-70!

But, I do have 5-6 small lacunosa rooted in moss. I think it's Ruby Sue, but not sure. They need a good home. See pic. These would look nice in a Kokedama moss ball hanging in a window.

I have others, too! Look at my list =)
Kathy

{{!gwi}}

I sent you an e-mail, Kathy :).

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Got it, Brad. And right back to ya...check your mail, too! LOL
Kathy

Message received and responded to, Kathy LOL.

Michael is the name of my new friend and I first met him over on the Winter Sowing forum last year, but only started talking to him recently and did a flower seed trade with him. I made him a crocheted butterfly last night that I'll be sending him with his Christmas card. He's a very kind, sweet, passionate, determined, full-of-life kind of guy, and I feel so comfortable talking to him, but I am seeing where our friendship goes in the meantime. After all, I only started getting to know him only recently, but *sighs* what a guy he is :).

Brad AKA Moonwolf

@ Brad

Yep. DS-70 is the one Hoya I *have* to have in my bedroom. It's just one of the greatest simple pleasures of life, to come to bed at night and breathe in the fragrance of warm caramel. It's different from burning a candle because someone else planned it. :)

Michael sounds really nice. I'm sure he'll be happy with whatever Hoya you start him out with, since it will be given with such warm thoughts.

@ Kathy

lol I wasn't thinking of variegated DS-70, because mine is still not blooming size yet, but I totally agree that it is a beautiful plant. I love your plant above, too. I never got around to acquiring that one. I might have to hit you up for a trade in the spring. Btw, I love your profile page. What a nice bio! I like your monkey planter, too. I collect antique animal planters myself. :)

Awwww.......thank you GG. I'm always looking for a different way to display my babies. I have found it's very easy to grow epiphytes in a planter that has no drainage holes. I use a medium chunky orchid mix with a little charcoal in it. Cover the soil layer with a piece of sheet moss. When it's time to water, fill it up, let it set for a few minutes, then support the moss with your hand and turn it upside down to drain. The residual water stays sweet due to the charcoal and evaporates off fairly soon. The moss keeps your chunky potting medium in place.

Also, check out Kokedama balls. Very easy and unique way to show off your smaller hoyas and houseplants.

And GG, I have a variegated DS-70, but I almost lost it. It is in the plant ICU recovering nicely in a humidity tent right now. Hopefully, in the spring it will take off again. Maybe enough to trade a cutting with you!

I'm excited for you Brad! It's always fun to find a new friend and better still that he enjoys your hobby. It sounds like it's going to be a fun Christmas for you!

=) Kathy

GG, I've always thought DS-70 was a nice plant, but I've never picked it up because I either didn't have room, or simply wasn't interested. I think the next time I go to Lowe's and HD, I'll see if they have any in the EA baskets. Plus, caramel is something I enjoy the scent of (and to eat!), and the flowers are a pretty shade of red. What more could you ask for in a Hoya? ;).

Kathy, I just replied to your e-mail. I'm excited to be getting some cuttings :). I know Michael will enjoy them when I send them to him in the spring :). We're having some bad winter weather today, but there are a couple days where it's not supposed to be too bad. I hope the cuttings survive the trip to my place.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

The variegated DS-70 I have. The variegated kentiana you have pictured above is the one that I am missing. :)

Thanks for the advice about the planters. That's a really good strategy. I might get to use more of mine now. Thus far I've just used them to house vigorous plants. But since a lot of them are really small, a system like yours will permit me to use them on some smaller, but more delicate plants. That would be more appropriate and attractive. I know some people just drill holes in them, but I'm scared to, since I'm quite fond of some of them. Plus, what kind of drainage tray would fit under them then. lol

Those kokedama balls are super cute. I am trying to get good at growing moss, but I can't say I am super good at staying on top of it. It always ends up drying up periodically and having to be nursed back to glory.

GG,
I'll be happy to send you some small cuttings of the kentiana! Where are you? What's your weather forecast? Email your info to me and I'll get them out to you whenever you'd like. 'Tis the season of giving......LOL
Kathy

GG never fails to make us laugh, doesn't she?!?

I often find myself thinking, "DS-70, you're almost as common as the cold, and yet somehow I love you and want to care for you as if you were the rarest of plants!"

CPL, that variegated kentiana is a beauty indeed!

Brad, I am very happy for you for striking that relationship. I think you are overthinking it a bit though with what kind of hoya you want to give Michael. Almost all of them hang well, as said above, so root a few of whatever you have or will get. To hedge your bets, make it more than one species. For a case like this, I like a combined pot, say like this one, with multiple sections, so the roots are separate and repotting is easier. It's actually an almost-empty sampler container of 5 different kinds of mukhwas, which is Indian after-dinner mouth freshener, with fennel seeds for the main ingredient. These are the seeds in bowls many Indian restaurants have in plates by the exit. Drill 5 drainage holes in something like this, find a fitting cache pot, slap a bow on it, and it's good to go.

Greentoe, I probably overthinking on what kind of Hoya to send to Michael, he lives too far away to actually see him (yet alone meet him) physically. It's just that there's a lot of Hoyas to choose from lol and they're all such great choices for their own reasons, kinda like why everyone can't choose their favorite friend, because you love them all equally for different reasons :).

I LOVE that idea of growing different species of Hoya together in a pot! An excellent gift idea! Boy, does that ever set my creative gears into motion! The possibilities are endless :).

Everyone that I've told about Michael is very happy for me. Maybe I'll get lucky and my little crush on him will turn into something bigger and better someday, but that's wishful thinking and a whole different story lol.

GG is such a wonderful person, too. She's been a great friend, an extremely valuable source of information and support, and has been blessed with a wonderfully wicked sense of humor :). I always enjoy reading her posts on here.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

LOL very well put, GT. Almost every other plant in my collection is worth more, but DS-70 has sunk its roots deep into my heart. Wow, I'm surprised how creepy that ended up sounding!

I just love that mukhwas cannister idea. Idk how I'd eat that much mukhwas tho. You are a mouth-freshening-digestion-aiding beast!

GG, that does sound rather creepy LOL, and puts a rather creepy image into one's mind, like something from a science fiction (double-feature) movie.

I will have to look around for similar containers like in your picture, Greentoe. Maybe I could send Michael's cuttings all potted up in one :).

Brad AKA Moonwolf

lol I promise none of my Hoyas have physically attached themselves to me. I think you have to be in Florida for them to get strong enough to overpower you. ;)

Lol good thing, too, GG! I've heard of being wrapped up in your hobbies, but that's taking it too far lol.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

> I just love that mukhwas cannister idea. Idk how I'd eat that much mukhwas tho. You are a mouth-freshening-digestion-aiding beast!

I swear my breath doesn't stink THAT much haha. (But note also that we are all online and I can lie like a lying liar who lies lol).

But I love mukhwas, and I wanted a variety pack, and this is the smallest they had at the Indian store. That container lasted me years. "Best before Sep 2011", and I am still finishing those scraps of seeds on the bottom. :-)

As a plant container, it's actually very small, 3.5" diameter split into those 5 segments. It's not really the best thing for the health of those plants, long term, except for maybe those that do not form big root systems, but as an intro to hoyas gift, it's great, I think. Mukhwas variety pack, reincarnated as a hoya variety pack lol. Plus, perhaps a few months after giving something like this, Brad can nonchalantly go, "Hey, Michael, would you like me to fly over to your side of the country and help you repot?" Smooth! :-)

> I will have to look around for similar containers like in your picture, Greentoe.

Like you said, Brad, let your imagination fly. You may not find the exact same thing, but who needs the exact same thing? There are some other ideas for you in the photo at the bottom.

And yes, those shot glasses do have drain holes! They are at least 29 years old, and likely at least closer to 35, a family artifact that I brought to the US from my country of Ukraine. (Insert your favorite "Soviets and their vodka" stereotype here!) They have a manufacturing or a design defect where the very center of the bottom of the shot glass is thinner than the rest of the glass, sort of the opposite to how it should be. Over all these years, all of them except for just one cracked there to a perfect drain hole you can imagine, for a glass container. (Actually, I am pretty sure they are Bohemian Crystal, bought for pennies back in the Soviet Block times.) I already have one small orchid living in one of these, and the others are waiting patiently for their time to be reincarnated into the plant universe.

> Maybe I could send Michael's cuttings all potted up in one :).

Yes, that is another idea. Tangled roots will occur, of course, but there, the problem is also not too bad if it's repotted relatively soon, or if there is no expectation to repot ever, or if Michael simply up-pots the whole mess of roots when it's time. This way, it could be "Hunger Games" of sorts - let's see which of the hoyas here are stronger and which are weaker.

Ooh, those are some good ideas as well, greentoe! I'd love to actually meet Michael (and other GW friends) someday. Fortunately, we live in the same state, so I wouldn't have to fly ;). Not that I have my license yet or anything, but one can dream.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Flying or not, offering to help a friend repot is an excellent excuse to visit and bond... it's really fun to do together! Great idea, GT. ;P

That is so neat about the holes in the shot glasses! I just broke a shot glass today and was so irritated that it split in 3 instead of conveniently forming a drainage hole!! Maybe I have the wrong heritage. I'll have to see if there are any holes in the bottoms of my beer steins.

lol @ Hoya Hunger Games. Do you drop little packages of fertilizer to the Hoya with the most sponsors? Possibly the one with the most fiery leaves...?

This post was edited by greedyghost on Thu, Dec 4, 14 at 15:23

GG and GT, I had a sign in my garden that said "Garden" in all caps and the sentence underneath it read said "Time spent in a garden is time well spent". Finding friends to garden with makes it even more fun! I just wish I had more friends involved with gardening lol. Happy the day will be when I finally meet Michael :). Nothing official yet, mind you, but it's still an awesome idea :) *sighs happily and smiles*

Brad AKA Moonwolf