Hey Pug,

I wondered the same thing & in particular if now they might starting making more accurate labels (but if the EA portion of the business remains the same, then not likely), hum .....

Curious though.

Interesting...

My first reaction is that it's not good. Both are giant corporations (in the potted plant market anyway) - each was able to effectively dictate what we can and cannot buy at big box stores. And now ONE corporation will be dictating it. Potentially fewer choices, higher prices, lower quality and lower service levels are all in the cards. I'd love to be wrong on this, but it's a story that unfortunately repeats itself over and over in many other industries.

Honestly, we enjoy having a good natter about how bad EA's labels are, but it wouldn't affect anyone in this forum if a big box store labeled carnosa "he-man" and lacunosa "rainbow bright." In principal it's wrong, but in practice, they sell a zillion of about 10 different Hoya species & cultivars. At worst, someone who isn't interested in Hoyas will never know the real name of their plant⦠or someone who is interested in Hoyas will buy the same plant twice before they start educating themselves. I think we just talk about it because we enjoy feeling mock-outraged. ;) Not to say that labeling Hoyas wrong is no-big-deal, just that mislabeling carnosa is about as confusing as Brad Pitt showing up at a convention wearing Sean Penn's name tag.

I mostly enjoy the existence of EA because they are the gateway drug into Hoyas. If they didn't exist, there would be fewer people who discovered Hoyas and joined the ranks of those who further our understanding of the best plants in the world. ;)

And I'm pretty sure EA can continue to fulfill that purpose just as well run by Costa. Even if they cut a bunch of Hoya species, they'll keep KP/KQ, which are the two that 99.9999% of noobies show up here asking about. So, if carnosa still has the clout to get people in the door, that's all we need, as far as I'm concerned.

I can't say I was that impressed by the status quo regarding survivability of the plants, their packaging, their distribution/availability, or anything like that, so things may even go uphill on those fronts.