Greedy Ghost, I loved your description of those hoyas. I keep one hoya in the house year-round, an S-70. It does so well inside, is ALWAYS beautiful (I think it loses maybe two leaves a year!) and its tiny blooms don't overwhelm or even drip on the floor. It seems to need less light that most other hoyas. Mine grows slowly (that's okay; it can not outgrow its spot or pot so quickly) in the south window (some shade outside the window it inhabits). I can't bear it not being inside, so even when the rest of my hoyas go outdoors for the spring, summer, early fall, the S-70 stays with mama.

However, my largest, crazy-growing hoya is a simple H. carnosa Krimson Princess. She's HUGE and vines and sprawls everywhere. Her trailing vines are at least six feet long. She spends summers on the front porch but has her own window in winters. She's impressive, size wise and color wise. She does her blooming outdoors and is usually just pretty in the winter inside. MrBulbs, humidity is kind of a problem where I live, too, inside mostly in winter. I have helped the situation by keeping aquariums and running a humidifier. Good luck on your choice!

Great! Thank you!

Very nice descriptions, almost didn't have to google them!

I like foliage more than flowers. As that's mainly what I'll be looking at for the majority of the year. I do like interesting flowers though and like plants that flower as it kinda makes you feel accomplished that you got it to flower (for some species).

After reviewing and seeing your responses it's gonna be tough to decide!

I narrowed it down to a couple though

carnosa Krimson Princess

As I've actually seen that before and really like it both for its vigorous growth and the leaves.

Heuschkeliana

As like you stated, it's more of a beginner plant which I probably should go with and that the flowers smell like popcorn! I love popcorn

Ds-70

You both recommended it so it must be good! Also like the foliage colouration

And then odetteae due to its honeysuckle smell. Honeysuckle is one of my favourite plants.

Hm. Looking back now my narrowed down list is basically all the ones you guys stated. Oh well! What's the problem with buying 2 or 3 or 4?

I'll keep the names and I shall now begin my search. I guess it comes down to whatever I can find! Got a terrible plant selection up here. Took me months to find an aeschynanthus..

Thanks to the both of you! Hopefully I can track down one soon.

Hoya enthusiasts are enablers so, personally, I think you need several. I started with one and the first time it bloomed, I was in love and went about buying every one that looked or sounded like something I would like. Over the years, I've narrowed them down to just what I love looking at and that are happy with the growing conditions I can provide. Some I ended up not liking so much when I had to live with them (Hoya bella is cute but grows all weird and wonky, not for me. . . ). I've posted tons of pictures of my big H. carnosa Krimson Princess, so I'll spare the forum any more of her, but here's one of my DS-70. I've had her about four years and she started as a small cutting. She'd probably grow faster outdoors, but, as I already mentioned, she's a year-round houseplant. She blooms every year, has never had a bug, and is perfect for that spot. I adore that plant. I'm sure the Hoya experts will be along shortly and can share so much more and give you more options. I hope you'll post back after you've chosen your plant.

Haha yeah, same thing over in the Houseplant forum! I asked one question about my one and only plant and ended up with over 20 of them 2 years later......

I saw your carnosa and wow! What a nice plant! Same with your DS-70!

Its fun starting with one small cutting and growing it into a large specimen.

Hopefully I find one somewhere..... But I will give an update when that date comes.

lol stonetreehouse, it is wonderful to hear from someone as devoted to their DS-70 as I am. I like the way you put things. I have so many Hoyas that are more valuable, rare, or interesting, but if you put my hand to the fire and I could only have one Hoya, it would be DS-70 because it is so good to me. I just light up with giddy joy whenever I walk into the room and smell it blooming... which feels like a near-constant event, although I know it has its off-periods. Your cardinal is super cute, btw.

I admire your strength of mind, in narrowing down your collection to the plants you really like. I've been thinking lately that if I did the same, I would be able to appreciate my favorites more easily, instead of forcing them to wave their affectionate flower flags at me, from inside a thicket of other plants.

MrBlubs, I like your final selections. KP is a bigger plant, but the other 3 can be relatively compact, so maybe you can get away with a row of them at that window.

If you're happy to start plants from cuttings, it might be easier to just place an order with an online Hoya vendor, versus striving to find them locally. I assume from your zone you are in Canada??

I agree that it is more fun to grow plants from cuttings, and Hoyas seem to especially benefit from this method. They take a while to adjust to new conditions, and the period is longer the more mature they are. So, often a cutting will overtake an established plant you purchased at the same time.

If you prefer leaves to flowers, you might also take a quick peek to see if curtisii or serpens speaks to you. Neither is as generous with blooms as the species we have already mentioned, so they don't make first draft, but they are two of the species best suited to hanging, and they might strike your fancy. They each have very small (~1-1.5cm) ornamental leaves. Curtisii's spade-shaped leaves have a unique (for Hoyas) marbeled coloration and are hard and fairly thick with a sandpapery texture. Serpens has dark green oval leaves with a super bumpy surface much like a cat's tongue. I think it has the prettiest hanging look of any Hoya - like a perfect little garland. Curtisii is difficult to kill and serpens prefers things a bit cooler, so it's not hard for us northerners. It doesn't like to dry out quite as much (relative to other Hoyas), so if you treat it like your aeschynanthus, you will get along fine.

Darn... Another one added to the list!

I like the serpens alot! The curtisii not so much... I'm not really a fan of that type of Variegation in

plants. With the exception of satin pothos. I find the silver and green foilage gives the plant a fake old look to it. Idk. Just me.

And yes Sunny Alberta Canada! I might actually have to do as you suggested and get the cuttings from online. I'll look around here In B. C and then if nothing I'll see if Rona has some in first and if not online it is. Rona and Walmart are the only places I've ever seen Hoyas

Thankyou for your help!

Ha - curtisii is not my favorite look either, but I think having seen it in the context of other Hoyas with lichen-pattered leaves, it makes me think more of its jungle context than anything. That's the nice thing about Hoyas - it's such a (relatively) new plant to cultivation that people tend to have more clones off collections from the wild than market-savvy crosses and cultivars.

photo taken in Hawaii by Carol, not in its native Philippines, but you get the idea.

These are not my photos/plants - I just wanted to clump some examples.

All that said, I would rather have serpens than curtisii in a heartbeat. Ahahahahahaha. So I'm not arguing with you - just... talking??

Incidentally, my serpens just opened up while I was out of town. I bought it last April and as you can see, it's still a small plant (that's its original 2" pot from Violet Barn.) It did grow more than that since I've had it, but somewhere along the way, I appear to have accidentally pulled off a vine and rooted it separately, so I have two of them. The other one has buds too, but they haven't matured yet. It has a fragrance that is hard for to describe - a fresh fragrance, somewhat like lacunosa, but more delicately spicy.

Incidentally that other flower is a Saintpaulia (tr) Rob's Humpty Doo blossom that got pulled off when I was trying to extricate serpens from its IKEA greenhouse to take the photo. Just thought that was funny since someone else here photographed it recently.

I had a serpens for years before, (prior to this one) and it grew like gangbusters, but although it budded up frequently, they never came to fruition. I think it worked this time b/c the greenhouse environment keeps it evenly moist over longer periods. Just a theory.

I just associate objects with some things so years and years ago my neighbour has this fake vine plant and it had the same Variegation. So now when I see anything similar I immediately associate it with and think of that really fake looking fake plant! I'm sure I'd like it if I never got it imprinted on my mind! It's weird. I don't do that to everything but certain things just stick and that's all I can think of!

Though, if I saw it in a store I'd probably get it anyway!

Congratulations on the flowers! What a nice looking plant. Are the flowers fuzzy? They look fuzzy

Yeah, they are fuzzy. A lot of Hoyas have fuzzy flowers but the so-called nap on serpens is thicker than average.

Funny story about your neighbors plant. Are you ever tempted to run out there in the night and replace it with a real one? I would be - must be an eyesore to have such an effect on you.. My sister has a fake plant in her kitchen and I keep giving her more and more real ones so eventually she won't have room for it anymore.

I just don't get it. Having a fake plant is like having a doll for a child. All the lovable stuff is gone and it looks vaguely creepy. Just buy a sculpture or something.

I've been tempted to burn it. That way no one has to deal with it ever again! I wouldn't replace it though, they're not plant people so any plant put there would be a goner in a month or so..

That's a good plan for your sister! Hopefully it works. I don't get fake plants either..... They look horrible and get dusty. And they never look anywhere close to the real thing.

I guess it's for non plant people who want to be plant people but don't want to do the work associated with being a plant person.

I don't know... It's a strange world

With cooler temps and less intense light, have you considered polyneura? Lovely foliage for a hanging basket...

I researched polyneura and it does seem like it be perfect for there too! I guess it would bloom in the winter for me

I went on a hunt today at Rona and there were Hoyas. But if course they were suspended from the ceiling and the only lable I could see simply said 'wax plant'. I hate it when stores do that! Anyway at a moment of desperation, I searched through their plant foliage toss away bin and found a cutting! Matched them together and they are the same plant.

There 18.99 and fairly big and I also wouL

d get a 15% discount if I bought it tomorrow yet, idk if I want to. I like the looks of it but I hate having a mystery plant. Everything needs to be researched before I buy it! I also really like the suggestions you made so maybe I should wait?

Can anyone identify it? I'm guessing no but worth a shot

You're right, it looks fairly generic... my experience has been that the home and garden stores around here which sell "wax plant" don't spend money on the more unusual or difficult species. Good chance you have a carnosa there.

What I can tell you is that it's going to vine, so be prepared for these kind of shenanigans:

Looks like a nice fresh cutting though, and will probably root easily for you. Even if you're not crazy on vines, might be a good test run for your light and humidity.

Carnosa eh?

Oh well I do like carnosa

but I guess I'll broden my search too see if I can find any of the other ones. If not I'll go back and pick one up! They'll probably have an endless supply there anyway.

Good! I love vining plants! And yeah, this cutting will be my guinea pig to see if I'm worthy to buy a full plant.

Thanks

Nice plant by the way

Yes, that is definitely Hoya carnosa.

Hahaha... @ "tempted to burn it."

So I've emailed and been to every store around and it's either nothing or a carnosa. So today I was at Rona and was this close to just buying one! But I held back.

I think I'm going to wait untill I see one at Walmart as I know I've seen a Hoya there and I know (more like hope) it wasn't a carnosa. I almost bought it the day I saw it (4 months ago) but of course didn't. I guess I have to buy more impulsively. Though, probably now Everytime I go to Walmart they won't have any.

The carnosa cutting has rooted now but has yet to put off new growth.

I haven't bought or got a new house plant since early May and it's driving me nuts!

I regularly see Hoya "others" at Walmart (and Lowes). Last Wed. I saw a wayetti at Walmart. I already have a variegated one so I didn't get it but it looked really healthy. Keep looking. I'm sure you'll find one. I agree with the others who think your cutting is carnosa; it looks exactly like the solid green parts of mine. Not to discount that, though. I really love that kind. That's what gets most people into hoyas anyway. I ended up WAY sentimental about my carnosa (like many others that grew theirs from their grandmother's plant). You should plant up your cutting. You'll have a good-sized little plant before winter.

I hope so!

Dont get me wrong, I really like carnosa too, but it's readily available at that Rona so I'm just seeing if I can find the others mentioned. Plus, I already have the cutting! I will pot it up as soon as the weather gets better so I can venture outback and find a suitable pot.

Thought I should provide a update

I still have not got any type of Hoya yet! The ones at Rona still manage to be the only ones available. Always on the look out though.

My Hoya cutting has been doing good. Not as good as it should be as I haven't been giving it the best of care. Yet it will soon have a permanent spot in my window for the winter. I was hoping I would have found a larger Hoya to pot it in with, but I guess it will stay in this tiny pot until I find one or at least until spring!