Ah..great question, Brad!! For me, it would have to be a cross between a carnosa KQ and a rose...just imagine the perfect rose on a variegated vine...perhaps Mr. Lincoln..a deep red and very fragrant rose...mixed with the gorgeous cream, green, pink leaves of KQ. Awesome!! Patrick

I love this question, too! I'm thinking my choice would be Hoya x Episcia. I'm envisioning a version of, say... caudata with the soft luxuriantly plushy leaves characteristic of Episcias such as lilacina.

Not that I don't love caudata just the way it is. :3

My wickedly impatient side says kudzu. Or bamboo. Fast-growing and impossible to kill.

I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around a cross like this. For some reason my mind wants to preserve the laws of nature. LOL
There are many hardy vines related to Hoyas that you can grow in the warmer areas of the US, some even up into Canada. Plants like Araujai sericifera, Morrenia fragrans,and Matelea sp. I guess that means a vine is not really an interesting choice.
I think if I had to choose I would choose a beautiful grassy plant so my choice would be the African bulb genus of Dierama. I think a cluster of starry Hoya flowers at the end of a drooping flower spike, surrounded by grassy foliage would be a beautiful sight. Is it too much to ask that this plant also be hardy here in Canada? I figure if somehow we are going to get offspring from completely unrelated plant families then why not ask for a little extra.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pacific Bulb Society page on Dierama

My option would be hoya x orchid, I think the flower would be amazing!

Mitzi

lol! I have to say you guys are coming up with some brilliant ideas. Canada friendly Hoyas with a vigorous appetite for devouring the landscape.

I really like the idea of a grassy Hoya, too. I was trying to think of some way to mix Hoyas with dandelions so they would pop up all over our lawns, but I got stuck at the seed bit.

I have to agree with you, GG! I'm just loving these ideas! Patrick's idea of crossing a hoya with a rose would be sheer heaven for me!

I like the sound of a grassy hoya too. Sounds like a beautiful combination. Oh, and Mike, you're not alone with the idea of crossing hoyas with another vine. I wonder what a hoya crossed with a honeysuckle or a clematis or even a wisteria?

Another thought that popped into my head was crossing a hoya with it's cousin, the milkweed. I think a hoya crossed with the native Butterfly Weed would look stunning.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I was thinking it would make a good companion to lotus and waterlilies. Maybe we could 'cross' it with duckweed and then we'd have little Hoya stars sprinkled all over the water's surface.

Passiflora would be my choice.

GG the thought of a Lotus or waterlily with a big cluster of Hoya shaped flowers is really quite beautiful. Duckweed on the other hand, not so much. I have duckweed in some of my aquariums in it is literally impossible to got rid of. I have seen ponds completely covered in duckweed with no open water at all. I figure that when a plant can multiply like that it just becomes a pest and we don't want that for our precious Hoyas.
I propose Nymphoides geminata as the perfect size and with its beautiful little yellow star shaped flowers I can easily see it as an aquatic Hoya.

Mike

Here is a link that might be useful: Nymphoides geminata photo

I second the idea of a hoya being crossed with a Lotus or Waterlily. How gorgeous would that be? :D

Another vine I thought about crossing with a hoya was the Moonflower Vine (Ipomoea Alba). Could you just imagine what a cluster of Hoya buds would look like swirling open?

Brad AKA Moonwolf

lol I agree with you about duckweed being a jerk, Mike. I think that's why I was hoping we'd be able to turn it into something beautiful. I actually did some poking around, figuring there had to be a species of duckweed that was less aggressive that we could mate with our beloved Hoya and then I remembered: Oh, right. This is make-believe. And you are at work.

I'm glad you were able to conjure a reasonable Hoya-waterlily or Hoya-lotus cross. That had been my first thought but then I couldn't wrap my mind around it. That Nymphoides geminata is exquisite!! Great plan!

So, are you imagining a sort of soft archboldiana bloom that opens at night, Brad?

Archboldiana wasn't the one I was thinking of when I posted that. I was thinking of a hoya like carnosa or pubicalyx. Archboldiana (or any large flowered hoya) would probably be the better cross though, since Moonflower Vines produce large, elegant blossoms. I wonder how a carnosa or pubicalyx would look though? Or if that would even work?

Brad AKA Moonwolf

I'd love to see a cross between my Hoya compacta and my Peperomia graveleons. My Peperomia has the most beautiful coloring and it's growing really fast. A cross between that and my Hoya would be gorgeous.

-Jacob