Aurorawa your a rock star !

They look so good! Congrats, mel, and props to aurorawa too. :)

Thank you so much for showing me how they arrived. First time I have seen the results of a package I sent. I am glad they arrived in such good condition and glad you like them!

Don't you just LOVE those tortoise shell leaves on elliptica? One of my all time favorites!

Beautiful! Few things are more exciting than opening a fresh box of cuttings. The eliptica is easy for me to pick out (I love those leaves, will have to pick that up come spring!), which are the others? Happy growing!!

The large leafed one is imperialis var. Rauschii, the one with speckled leaves (second pic in second) post is sp. Phu Wua. The one in the third pic, second post is cv. Iris Marie, and here is what sp. UT-002 will look like, given the right conditions:

Is it me, or does Houzz stretch photos? Lol.

Ha, it does sometimes. It is weird. Right now I still can't post pictures from my phone, not sure if it is the phone or houzz. Hopefully I can share pictures when mine come. I really like the UT-002, the veins make the leaves look elegant and sculpted, just wish the discovers had been better biologists and given it a proper name, not a code from a data sheet! ;-)

You just saved me an entire day of potentially frustrating searches, ha. Thanks, I have been wondering about the lettering and what it means. The usual bio alphabet soup I understood, just not the rest of it, UT, IML, etc. Do you happen to know what "RB" may stand for? SRQ has a gorgeous yellow one, think it was RB Dick "Splash" or something.

No clue. I have RB-5 and RB-Dick splash. Not sure if RB and RB-Dick are the same person/place.

AH is Aloha Hoyas, IPPS is also Gerard Paul Shirley, there are others.

If you see, say, Hoya cv. Kamiku (MM) or hoya cv. Monette (EG), the letters in the parenthesis are the hoya hybridizer's initials...MM is Michael Miyoshira, EG is Ed Gilding.

Hoya 101!

Dug up my paper where I typed up all my hoya naming info:

AH: Aloha Hoyas

AP: Apodagis

BSI: Bilogical Science Initiative

CMF: Charles Marden Fitch

DMC: David M. Cumming

EG: Ed Gilding

EK or EKW: Eva Karen Wiberg

EWF: Estrellio Waterfall

ET or ETS: Eric Tauecchio

GPS: Gerard Paul Shirley

HSI: Hoya Society International

IML: Iris Marie Liddle

IPPS: Institute for Protection and Propogation of Succulent plants

MM: Michael Miyoshira

NS: Nathalie Simonsson

PG: Patrick Gozon

PNG: Papua New Guinea

PT: Li Ping'Tao

QLD: Queensland

RHM: Ric Morier

SE: Sabine Ericsson

SRQ: Joni Khan

SV: Stenasa Varberg

TG: Ted Green

TN: Torill Nyhuus

TOG: Tenom Orchid Center

USDA: United States Department of Agriculture

UT: Uthai Treesukhon

VL: Viggo Larsen

WMZ: Welsh Mountain Zoo

aff. , cf. , var. : closely related or similar to

cv. : cultivar of (either a natural or man-created hybrid/cross)

sp. : a discovered plant that is identified as a hoya, but has yet to be further classified (is it hoya siariae or hoya benguetensis or blashernaezii...or a new hoya all together...all the leaves look similar, but further examination needs to be done...such as research, magnification/microscopy, DNA analysis, or good old-fashioned waiting til it blooms, to get a definitive answer).

Hope this further helps!

It does, it really does! Alright, clearly it is time to stop slacking and compile myself a database of my hoyas and all this good info. And Mel, thanks for letting us hijack you! ;-)

AWA: Aurora WA, Hoya Mensa. :D

Lol. Not really MENSA, just overly detail oriented. I got tired of being confused and spent hours scouring the internet for info.

Thanks good people for your comments, Kim+ there are few things more exciting, I hope that's not sad, cause its true* :)

Aurorawa they came in GREAT condition, did you make the I. D tags yourself? I love them! I'm actually about mad my other plants don't have them lol the most amazing thing about these leaves is that they look AND FEEL like a tortoise shell, its kinda creepy a little bit; one those coincidence in life that make you wonder.

Yeah, I need this one. I spent the better part of a decade working for a reptile biologist, and my nickname to many of my friends (and kiddos I worked with) is "Turtle". Fun little turtle factoid... Most if not all on the carapace (top shell) have 24 marginal scales around the edge, and 13 bigger ones in the middle. Lots of native American tribes used shells as time keeping tools, 13 for every moon in the year, and 24 for each hour in the day. And I totally try to count the "scales" when I see pictures of eliptica... It's close enough to please my little nerdy heart. ;)

Where did the metal tags come from?

amazon. 60 bucks for 500 tags. Well worth it!

Thanks for the list, Aurora. It's good to have that info and I will save it. I love elliptica, and I keep trying to grow it. I thought I had it down-pat last year, then lost it over the winter. Grrr...

Denise in Omaha

Denise, I have a pretty well started elliptica if you want a cutting.

Kim* interesting info girl, you must get one, elliptica sounds like the plant for you! "turtle" cute

Right?! It is officially on the ever growing never shrinking wish list. ;-)

My sp. UT-002 clipping lost both the leaves already : ( that usually takes a lot longer to happen, Im not sure where I went wrong. One thing I did notice is that the stem to that one is Woody, I'm not sure if that makes a difference. I'm leaving everything in the medium in case it decides to root anyway. Any advise anyone?

Oh no!! Mine is still alright, I have it in a rooting tank, with a small heat pad and I mist it every day with Tappin Roots at 1/4 strength. If I have better luck, maybe I can send you some down the road when it is bigger. Hopefully yours bounces back. I have a variegated macrophylla cutting that did the same thing.

If it doesn't bounce back, I have a rooted cutting I will send your way. I have not notice a difference between rooting a woody cutting and a green one.

Some hoya do lose their leaves during or shortly after shipping. I think it is their way of throwing tantrums, but UT-002 has never done that (it's usually mindorensis or rintzii that tantrums). Odd. Does the stem look okay? Not rotted?

Aurorawa, what is your success rate for cuttings after leaf drop?

I have only had 6 cuttings (mindorensis yellow-red, rintzii, mappigera, cv. Michelle, mariae and sammananiana) lose their leaves. Out of those 6, mappigera is the only one that did not make it.

Because they have no leaves to photosynthesize, they can't effectively make energy. Since they have no roots, they can't really take in any nutrients. I find that the only way I can successfully root naked cuttings is bright light, bottom heat, and humidity. They take a lot longer to root, and are prone to rotting before rooting.

I water them once, just like regular cuttings, but use 1 tbsp of EM-1 and 1 tbsp of a fertilizer with higher phosphorus (for root development) AND magnesium (as it is the only metallic component of chlorophyll, and plants can't photosynthesize properly without it) in a gallon of water.

I mist once or twice a day, with a tsp of seaweed extract in my mister. If the potting medium appears to be too dry, I test first, using a finger, bone dry or dry an inch down, I use the mister to add a bit of moisture to the medium. Not too much, though.

Thank you Kim* and Aurorawa* I'm sorry about the response lag, my daughters getting married on Saturday/ I have family here AND arriving any day and we are all headless chickens!!

But as far as my beautiful cutting is concerned, I'm not sure where I went wrong, I don't have it down to a science like you do A* but I'm trying to soak up as much knowledge as I can by reading these post.

The stem is not rotted, but it's its not looking great. I think it was probably the a tantrum like you said, because it arrived so healthy and then boom... sighhh

I'll keep you guys posted, thanks again

Say the word and I will send a rooted cutting!

now i will be watching for elliptica and macrophylla "variegata"

Mel, I have not forgotten about you. Thought I had an extra rooted plant, and am still sure I do, but cannot find it. Am rooting one right now for you. Will ship it in a couple of weeks, weather permitting.

Adding to naming info:

MB- Mike Bernardo

And SR- Surisa Somadee