GG, I love your posts like this.

1. Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch - Because if I could do this, I would know what the plant wants/needs, so I wouldn't have to bring any back to life.

2. Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world - This one was hard, but I like watching them grow, so waking up to it huge takes away from that.

3. Have a stone that made all plants within a 1 mile radius grow 2x faster than normal. - Another hard one, but I don't really have insect problems as I grow outside and the local anoles take care of any of them. So had to go with the other choice.

4. Have the ability to snap your fingers and acquire a cutting of any Hoya you wanted for free - Oh my Oh my, in my best dreams, I'm still on the lookout for so many of them.

5. Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted - My husband has survived with me for 16 years now, and to be honest, sometimes I'm not sure I want to know what is on his mind. lol

Renee

1. (B) Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch.

2. (B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world.

3.(A) Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs within a 1 mile radius. (I HATE mealybugs)

4. (A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection. (B) is not necessary when you have wonderful hoya friends to trade with!

5.Hmmmm. I think I should plead the 5th on this one. hehehe

Carolyn

Oh I just loooove these posts!

1. (B). Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch. So you know what makes them feel at home.

2. (B). Wake up tomorrow and have 10 of the most rare Hoyas in the world.

3. (A). Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs in a 1 mile radius. Who wouldn't love that? ;)

4. (A). Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection. My own "crystal palace" just full of my treasured beauties! Yes please! I'm with Carolyn, if you want a hoya, just ask here! People are very generous with cuttings!

5. (A).Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted. I chose this because I could find out what makes them happy enough to bloom. Plus I'm single lol. Still not a bad thought *^_^*.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Well it must be me, but I just don't get it. What's the point of posts like this pls?

The point is to have a bit of fun imagining wonderful possibilities. The point is to learn about what other people value. We might never get magic wishes, but it's so entertaining to hear people's thoughts and justifications. Like do people here most like growing a plant to be huge and beautiful, or do they most like seeing the strange and elusive? Hoyas are interesting to me, but getting to know the people here has made it twice as much fun.

So, if you posed me this question:

Would you rather...

(A) Have every Hoya on the globe AND a cost-free greenhouse to keep them in, but you could never speak a word of it or show a soul.
(B) Keep things like they are.

I'd choose (B) because I could never have as much fun growing these plants without you guys to share the ups and downs with.

And that is the point of these threads.

I truly am sorry if they bug you PG, but I'm not trying to irritate anyone. I know some people are more serious minded, and I just figured they could ignore my threads and no harm done.

I myself look forward to threads like this started by GG for the exact same reasons as she stated. There needs to be a little fun on the forum sometimes,it DOES not have to be all about hoyas 100% of the time,though I do think GG's thread does pertain to hoyas. Certainly it's not written in stone anywhere that we can't have fun on this website or speak out of text on any of the forums. My thoughts on it are like this. If you don't like it,don't look at it and you certainly don't have to respond to it. I do it every day. If I don't want to respond I don't simple as that.

I still haven't figured out why some people only come out of the house just to throw rocks ,and then run back in.

Now i'm gonna answer the questions!!!

1.(B) Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch. ---Pretty much for the same reason as rennfl

2.(B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world. --my hoyas grow like weeds already!!!

3.(A) Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs within a 1 mile radius. --this stone must also repel mites and aphids as well!!!!

4.(A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection.
(B) Have the ability to snap your fingers and acquire a cutting of any Hoya you wanted for free.---this was a no brainer for me I had to go with both!!!!

5.(B) Have the power to read your partner's mind and know exactly what they wanted.-with the exception of just 1 or 2 in my collection, i've pretty much got the hoya thing figured out.

Just had to stop in and answer with my two cents :) GG's threads always make me laugh!

1. (B) Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch. -- I am fairly new to hoyas, and have extremely good luck with the dozen or so that I have, so I would rather know the "histories" of my plants.

2. (B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world -- My husband already grumps about how large my hoyas are now, so I would rather acquire rarer species

3. (A) Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs within a 1 mile radius. -- This one was tough, but since all my plants seem to grow like weeds, I guess something to keep them extra healthy would be better

4. (A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection. -- For me, a no brainer. I would love to have a greenhouse that grew to just the right size!

5. (A) Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted. -- As rennfl said, I'm not sure I want to know what's on my husband's mind......

Mel

GG thank you for the 'poll', It's a nice diversion - and always entertaining to read your posts!

1) (A) Have the power to bring Hoyas back to life.
My dead-plant-tag bone yard can fill several 5 gallon buckets - no shame here, I learned a lot from all of those poor plant corpses. But I've killed my fair share of hoya until I got the hang of it. Gee, that only took about 4 years and dozens of poor pitiful cuttings in the compost. I guess the hard part of killing hoya is that they like to be treated like begonias! Now those I can grow! Now they tell me....

2) Hmmmm... I suppose I'll take
(B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world.
I'd like to be the cool kid in the garden just for once! But I promise I'd share all of those cool rare hoya with you all.

3) For sure (B) Have a stone that made all plants within a 1 mile radius grow 2x faster than normal.
No real problem with mealies so I'll take rampant growth any day. One caveat though, I'd like some leaves along with all these long vines that are taking over my living room.

4) This ones easy, (A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection.
Oooh it's like the Everlasting Gobstopper of greenhouses combined with some other Willie Wonka candy. But if I choose (A) it must also house my begonia collection too. And my gesneriad collection and my peperomia collection and my succulent collection and my ......

And I'm kind of with Renee on this one, but may need to pick
(B) Have the power to read your partner's mind and know exactly what they wanted.
But I would like the mystery solved of why he insists on putting the kitchen towel wadded up in the corner of the counter all wet instead of hanging it up to dry? (What is that?!)

Thanks GG!

Ok, I'll play!

1. (A) Have the power to bring Hoyas back to life.
This would be awesome. And I could help others out too. It doesn't say the hoyas have to be mine personally to bring them back to life, does it? :)

2. (B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world.
I was very tempted by the other choice, but I have no idea how large the largest specimen would be. What if it's in the middle of a jungle somewhere and covers an entire block? While I like my hoyas, that might be a bit much. Also, in conjunction with the first talent, I won't have to worry about losing these 10 rare hoyas, because I could bring them back to life!

3. (A) Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs within a 1 mile radius.
Again, I was tempted by the other choice, but the answer to the next question made the answer to this question easy...

4. (A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection.
This would be a dream come true. And if I had this, the hoyas would grow really well anyway, so I'd rather keep the mealies away, since they are such a pain to deal with.

5. (A) Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted.
I'd like to say (B), but I don't have anyone else right now, first of all, and second of all, I sorta feel like that would be too much pressure. Plus isn't a little mystery good in life? Now maybe if the other choice was being able to read my cats' minds... well, maybe the younger one. My older cat would pretty much read as 'want food!' almost all the time, ha.

Very interesting thread GG! Fun thread!

1. (A) Have the power to bring Hoyas back to life.

2. (B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest
Hoyas in the world.

3. (A) Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs
within a one mile radius.

4. (A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that
magically expanded to the size of your
collection.

5. (A) Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and
know exactly what they wanted.

I'm glad you guys are amending the questions, because of course as soon as I hit "post" I was thinking some of the same things.
-The stone definitely should repel all pestilence.

-I think the questions are meant to be taken as independent scenarios, but I thought about stacking them like Quinn did, too, and it totally changes some answers (for me)! I mean, if you could bring plants back to life, maybe you wouldn't have to worry about pests @_@.

-Definitely both powers in No.1 apply to all plants, not just your own, b/c when I was writing it, I was imagining people sending their cuttings to give your verdict on LOL.

-I was also trying to figure out whether I would be able to keep the 10 rarest Hoyas alive if I had them. Also, I wondered what would happen if the "10 rarest" list changed over time. I think if it changed an extra Hoya would pop into your hands. Hmmm maybe that means if you killed one a replacement would pop into your hands. I'm headed down a rabbit hole now...

My answers are:

1. (B) Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch.

This one was the hardest one for me, but in the end I felt like I'd learn more and be more engaged this way. Still, the ability to give life would make you dead sexy in my eyes.

2. (B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world.

I find it hard to get attached to Hoyas I didn't grow from a little sprig. On one hand, I love the idea of megalantha carpeting every square inch of my walls, but on the other, I feel like it would be a bit like waking up one morning and your baby was an adult and you missed the whole thing. Although according to my parents that is how it really happens.

3. (B) Have a stone that made all plants within a 1 mile radius grow 2x faster than normal.

This one was really tough for me too! I don't experience pests that often, but I still have nightmares about mealies. I just feel like it would be a load off my mind if I just never had to sweat it again. On the other hand, if my plants grew 2x as fast, I could be the cuttings queen. I'd never have to feel all bummed out when I had to tell someone my plant wasn't ready to cut yet. I'd just be like: Awww yeah, Black Dragon for everyones! Plus, can you imagine how much fun it would be to walk out into the middle of a field of corn half drowned in the Missouri river and just watch it shoot up to the size it should be? My mom says you can hear corn grow, but I'm not farmgirl enough to have experienced it myself, but I want to someday.

4. (B) Have the ability to snap your fingers and acquire a cutting of any Hoya you wanted for free.

This is a tough one, b/c my question really pimped that greenhouse out. But I had to go with (B) because whereas I can dream of one day being able to afford a greenhouse, I'd never again get the magical snapping fingers option LOL.

5. (A) Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted.

Duh. I'm with the others here. There are some things that are best left a little bit fuzzy. Even if in reality you know darn well what's in their heads, it makes things more civil when you have a little coverlet of mystery as to why when they're being such punks.

Begonia, for me, it's why do they leave their socks and shoes lying about in little clusters near the couch. It's like the act of bending over to unlace your shoes at the door would be too degrading to bear.

OK my turn! I have to agree that being able to talk with and meet others that share the same interest is much of the reason why we enjoy this hobby. I had this conversation with some long time Orchid Society members and they all said that the keep coming to the meetings and continue being members because of the people. Any of us could grow Hoyas and have great success but without the ability to share our successes and our failures our ability to learn and our capacity to enjoy this hobby would be much diminished. The most fun I have had growing Hoyas has been meeting other growers in person and I believe that the degree of influence and encouragement we provide each out is substantial. If I were doing this alone I seriously doubt that I would have the number of Hoyas that I do.

1. The first one was easy for me and I choose it because I would love to be able to learn as much as possible about Hoya species and their habitats. I would love visit Hoyas in their habitats as well.

(B) Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch.

2. The thought of one huge Hoya taking up all my growing space is not very appealing when there are hundreds of other species out there to enjoy. This was another I didn't have to think long and hard about.

(B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world.

3. I don't think I have struggled with any other insect pest on my plants quite like I have with mealies on Hoyas.

(A) Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs within a 1 mile radius.

4. The thought of rare or hard to get Hoyas appearing at the snap of the fingers is appealing but I think all of us dream about having a greenhouse so this was another easy one. I also find the searching for and acquiring of new cuttings to be part of the fun.

(A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection.

5. I think being able to read a persons mind would be problematic at times because sometimes not knowing is just better for a relationship, everyone needs their privacy.

(A) Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted.

Mike

OK, I'm game!

My answers (A or B) is between the questions.

1. Would you rather...

(A) Have the power to bring Hoyas back to life.
(B) Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch.

(A)

2. Would you rather...

(A) Wake up tomorrow with your favorite Hoya grown to become the largest specimen in the world.
(B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world.

(B)

3. Would you rather...

(A) Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs within a 1 mile radius.
(B) Have a stone that made all plants within a 1 mile radius grow 2x faster than normal.

(A)

4. Would you rather...

(A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection.
(B) Have the ability to snap your fingers and acquire a cutting of any Hoya you wanted for free.

(B)

5. Would you rather...

(A) Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted.
(B) Have the power to read your partner's mind and know exactly what they wanted.

(A)

I was too tired last night to post, but here's mine.

1. Would you rather...

(A) Have the power to bring Hoyas back to life.
(B) Have the ability to ascertain the identity and origin of a Hoya with a touch.
I want to choose both, but chose B. I like to know the name and where it was found.

2. Would you rather...

(A) Wake up tomorrow with your favorite Hoya grown to become the largest specimen in the world.
(B) Wake up tomorrow and have the 10 rarest Hoyas in the world.

B on this one--- Would rather have the 10 rarest Hoya in the world. I don't have unlimited space to house the largest specimen. LOL

3. Would you rather...

(A) Have a stone that repelled all mealybugs within a 1 mile radius.
(B) Have a stone that made all plants within a 1 mile radius grow 2x faster than normal.

B -- toss up between the two. I don't have a problem with mealies (knock on wood) and so I chose B. Not sure if that is a wise choice.

4. Would you rather...

(A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection.
(B) Have the ability to snap your fingers and acquire a cutting of any Hoya you wanted for free.

A is the choice for me. I can always hope a generous hoya friend will send me cuttings.

5. Would you rather...

(A) Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted.
(B) Have the power to read your partner's mind and know exactly what they wanted.

B -- this has got be B. I'm married 56 years and still can't read my hubby's mind. He thinks in his head and I'm supposed to know what he's saying. He does this all the time. I keep telling him I don't read minds, and he insists he said it out loud. Go figure men!!!

1. Would you rather...

(A) Have the power to bring Hoyas back to life.

2. Would you rather...

(A) Wake up tomorrow with your favorite Hoya grown to become the largest specimen in the world.
(because I would be sad when I killed the 10 rare ones, lol..)

3. Would you rather...

(B) Have a stone that made all plants within a 1 mile radius grow 2x faster than normal.
(Because I would feel like I had magical fairy powers. I would keep the stone secret so other people thought I had powers, too.)

4. Would you rather...

(A) Have a state of the art greenhouse that magically expanded to the size of your collection.
(Because I would want to go into my greenhouse and be surprised with new things! It's more exciting than choosing my own.)

5. Would you rather...

(A) Have the power to read your Hoyas minds and know exactly what they wanted.
(..because honestly, this one is a lot less creepy, lol.)