Heys Kids and Cats. Which Merrilli did u get? I noticed there are a few clones(all green and reddish). My favorites are still Lacunosa and DS-70. Maybe Obscura will get to the top once it flowers or turns red. What is the IML of the Obscura which turns red btw? I don't even think I have that one...lol

-David

David- I don't know! It was just labeled merrillii. It's currently all green, and VERY glossy and beautiful. I think it's my favorite of the cuttings I have at the moment. I'll have to check up on that one. My lacunosa is flowering again, but I haven't had any buds at all on my DS-70.

Hi K&C...Congrats on all your new hoyas and cuttings! So exciting for you!

Its so hard to pick a favorite (I have SO many favorites and it changes daily,lol). Imperialis for me has been a pretty easy one, grew very quickly and took about 2 1/2 years to bloom. This one can get pretty large so make some room down the road.

Good luck with all your new hoyas!

K&C,

You got some good ones, there. Diversifolia is one that doesn't really light my fire, but the others... I love imperialis, though I have a lot of trouble growing it. It doesn't seem to like the winter for me. I'm going to try something a little different when winter comes this year and put it in a south window - see if it doesn't do better for me. Nicholsoniae is a good grower and a very generous bloomer. I love the flowers on meliflua. And mathilde is a pretty little plant with surprisingly large flowers. I've had my merrillii for 3 years now and it hasn't grown much for me, but I love the veined leaves. Lobbii is a crazy grower and takes up a lot of space, but the blooms are gorgeous and worth it. Seems like since it started blooming a year ago, it almost constantly has a cluster coming on or open.

As for favorites... hmm, let's see. For flowers, probably the pubicalyx cultivars so far...

For fragrance, either verticillata or australis ssp. tenuipes.
For leaves, which to me is most important, macrophylla...

'Jennifer' (which I wasn't sure of at first...)

sp. Nong Nooch...
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merridithii x crassicaulis

macgillivrayii (and related species)...

... and anything "splashy" like 'Pink Silver' or 'Sno Caps'...

I could probably go on and on if you let me!

Denise in Omaha

I love nice and unique leaves too- I had originally started my Hoya collection based on leaves, not flowers, because I doubted that I would get any. lol Love that macrophylla and the sp. Nong Nooch, very cool leaves.

I don't really care if they bloom, the leaves are the most important to me. I do have to agree that the Lacunosas spell heavenly at night with their blooms.:) Nice pictures.

Susan

/Kids Congratulations - it sounds like you had a wonderful trade. Those are some really good ones.

I didn't care for diversifolia at first and acquired it primarily because of its area of origin, but I have to confess it's growing on me. I'm amused by how it looks like a bunch of different plants all at once. Plus, it's tough, so no matter what you do (or don't do) for it, it always looks glossy and brimming with health.

/Denise I can't believe nicholsoniae grows so well for you. Either I have a real dud, or it's taking its sweet time getting used to me. Maybe after it grows a few more leaves I'll cut the top off and see if restarting it changes its tune. I'll just keep pointedly leaving my scissors near it in the meantime.

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My favorite Hoya is megalantha, I'm afraid. I think it's because I was terrified I wouldn't be able to root it and then it always behaved so dociley toward me. Just a really exhuberant grower from day 1. I'm really attached to it. I've also gotten really fond of mitrata, because it seems like I should be killing it, but it likes me. I'm flattered by that and I am determined to get this one to bloom.

My favorite group of Hoyas are my rigidas. If I get an opportunity to acquire a new rigida, I always do. I just love them all. In my head, I think of them like our Great Pyrenees farm dog. Big, untrained, and a shade overconfident, but hard not to like because she's so darn striking and self-sufficient.

/GG- Thanks for the observations, and LOL @ your scissors bit. If only my Hoyas were that observant. lol Oh, and I looked up both megalantha and mitrata, and both plants are really beautiful. They are also both on my list now. lol I can't believe the size of the blooms on the megalantha- I think I will be shocked if I can ever get the imperalis to bloom.

A little update- everything that I've tried rooting so far, except the diversifolia and caudata, has rooted! I think the diversifolia and caudata will too, or at least I HOPE so, since I really like them! So far I have rooted a lobbii IML 1524, a RHP, a few pieces of nicholsoniae, nummularioides, mathilde, meliflua, merrillii, and a panchoi, and I'm terribly excited about it :)