Yes and no. Yes, I have given it some thought but nothing serious yet. Mainly, I've thought of the possibility but not of where they would go, I think right now that I have enough difficulty finding someone I trust to plant-sit, let alone inherit. More pressing for me right now is the fate of my cats. The younger one has food allergy issues and may also be more prone to upper respiratory infections, since she had a fairly bad one when I got her from the shelter. Not everyone would go to all the trouble she would require, food elimination trials to figure out her allergy triggers, dealing with her skittishness. So sometimes I worry about her. The much older one has charmed more than one person who claimed to be a non-cat person, is shameless about begging for food and is incredibly cute (and uses it!); also, more than one person has joked that they were going to take my cat home with them when they left, so despite her age, she has many options.

I guess it's not morbid, really, but normal to think about when you end up being responsible for the care of other living creatures, plant, animal, or human.

I love the botanical garden idea! There's not one around here, I would trust . . . I know, when we move, I'll take cuttings from each plant to take with me, then I'll ship the plants off to my hoya friends or sell them on ebay. :( Sad, but true. Cuttings are easier to transport than plants!

;)

Carolyn

Botanic garden is a good ideal, or a hoya society. There is a time, I want to donate my orchids and plants for Triangle orchids society, in case I can not take care of it. There are a lots of people who are involve with plants, I'm sure they know what to do to help.
David, don't forget me, I'm about 4h drive from you ...I can help

That is a good question. I have thought about giving them to any grandchildren I may have.

David...a very interesting questions, and one I think about every single day...not only for my plant collection, which numbers over 500, but my 8 chihuahuas and my 4 pet parrots. Like you, David, there's no one in my family that could even begin to know how to deal with all of these "living" creatures. My partner would be able to handle the dogs/birds, but the plants would surely die within a few months...thinking optimistically! I guess I should check into botanical gardens...if there are any that can take on 500+ plants. This is a topic that worries me constantly...I'm hoping to hear of other suggestions...as the botanical gardens I'm familiar with are already stocked to overflowing. Ebay is out of the question, as I don't know how to take/post pictures, and am rather computer illiterate. I guess I'm just hopeless!!

David.. et al!... I work in a law office, so my suggestion is paritally a sound, legal suggestion, but also partially from my heart!.. With so many plants, why not decide on someone or maybe even 2, who could immediately administer to the transfer of your plants to ppl you already have on a list of beneficiaries.. ppl who know that someday, they might need to be ready.. Be sure you have funds available to your administrator/executor so they can ship plants to those who cannot just drive over. The care and administration of the plants would require some time and money. Be sure you choose ppl to administer this service for you who understand the care needed. I think most of us think about that time when we're no longer here to care for our living creatures/critters. I adopted my pug 3 years ago.. and should I suddenly leave here, I've directed my adult children (wonder if they even listened) that she be returned to the Green Mtn Pug Rescue so that they can place her somewhere perfect for her.. There is no one I know of who'd want her! How sad for them!.. As for my plants...no where near what all of you enthusiasts possess.. but.. again.. no one I know would want or know how to care for them.. Unfortunately.. unless we prepare ahead.. and your so smart to do think of that.. we have to remember that finally... we have to give up control!!!!! OH NO!.. If there's a way to continue doing just that.... I will for sure!...LOL... Just stay with us hoya/plant lovers a lot longer please! Eileen

Another option might be to check out colleges/universities/tech schools that offer horticulture programs. Maybe even a high school if they have a greenhouse?

Lisa

David, I hope and pray you will be with us for a long, long time. But I know you love your plants and want what's best for them. I think the idea of a botanical garden or even a college/university/tech school with a horticultural program would be happy to receive them.
I have never thought of what would happen to my plants. I worry about all the other stuff I have in my house, that I've collected over the years. I don't think my children would want any of it and would sell it all. They have their own 'stuff' to worry about. I'm trying to get my hubby to sell or donate all his musical instruments (clarinet, sax, trombone, accordion, guitar, mandolin) that he has collected over the years. He can't read music, but can 'play' all of them. We also have my father's massive collection of stamps (five large albums, foreign, US, UN stamps, etc.)
My plants will have to stay on the 'back burner' for now.

It's something I think about, too - I don't think it's morbid, just practical. I belong to a cactus & succulent club and I've told my husband that if I drop dead, one of his very first calls needs to be to the president of our club. I think they would do what was necessary to come in and dispose of my plants where they will be taken care of. I think I've stressed to him often enough that if he allows my plants to just die, I will surely haunt him!

But I like some of these suggestions. I've gotten a lot of my Dischidias from the University of Nebraska - the GH manager is a member of the cactus club, too. I bet they would take some of them, though he thinks a lot of Hoyas and Dischidias are just invasive weeds! I'm trying to get him hooked on Hoyas, though - I rooted him a cutting of callistrophylla after he ooooed and awwwed over it. So maybe if I get him hooked, he'll take my collection...

And we have a desert dome and jungle at our local zoo. They might take some. And we have a botanical garden. These give me more ideas and I appreciate the inspiration!

Denise in Omaha

An EXCELLENT Topic David! I have NO idea what I would do either...but its great to read everyone's comments and suggestions. Since I live in FL, I'm guessing there's several options I have (many nurseries/Botanical Gardens/Universities Garden Clubs) around. Its a scary thought, not one I'm willing to make a decision just yet...but I know I really need to!

I always told my sister that when I die, I'm going to leave instructions that I be cremated and have my ashes distributed among my plants so that if she kills any of them, it's like she killed a little piece of me.

It makes her really mad.

But, seriously speaking, I think Denise's points are very well made. With a good sized collection, what you really need is an executor to the plant portion of your will. Someone outside ones immediate circle of mourners, who could make the arrangements for intermediary care and coordinate with named recipients.

My guy is really getting into Hoyas, (which is super cute) and I think if I checked out of life early, he'd want to keep a selection of them. But mainly I'd want to disperse them amongst the Hoya friends I've made, without really leaving them all in any one person's hands.

Or maybe I'd start the most giant round robin ever...

jk ^_~

I don't think it's morbid at ALL David, I think it's the responsible thing to do, especially for someone w/ such an extensive collection. I am in NYC & had to think about this right after 911 (had about 150 plants at the time).

I know folks who neglected to do this for their birds; Macaws in particular can outlive their humans & have this happen sometimes.

(So sorry to hear about your Hoya "friend", hope they're not someone here. I can imagine that must have been quite hurtful, a betrayal like that, so sorry you had to experience that.)

I'm single, have no kids & very small family. While I have no formal will, I made an informal will (parked /w my best friend of 30 yrs.) & instructed all my plants to go to my C&S Society (which membership I have since abandoned for political reasons) or into the care of my now deceased friend & mentor Roger. So clearly I need to do an update.

I'm thinking my local Botanic Gardens (am lucky being in NYC, have 2, the Brooklyn & the NY, which is up in the Bronx). Sadly, neither of my Botanic Gardens does much w/ Hoyas (yet).

I suppose the fact that I've been a Board Member of my local Indoor Gardening Society might give me a bit of standing to donate my C&S collection (more standing that a stranger or unknown casual collector).

I can't tell David, what part of the country do you live in?

I had a friend in San Diego w/ whom I used to go to their Zoo. There, we learned that the plant collection at the San Diego Zoo was actually more valuable monetarily than their animals. That might be a place to consider, or something like that.

Anyway, Kudos to you for trying to be responsible. Many folks are not.

My father left a will but never fully decided his final disposition other than cremation. He just told us he'd like to be w/ his family. That left my sister & I to decide if he wanted his ashes buried w/ his family or sprinkled over them as he'd never said. We buried his ashes w/ his family in their plot. But an interesting side effect of this dilemma was that my mother (they were divorced for 12 yrs.) saw the problem & told us she wished to be cremated & have her ashes sprinkled over the botanic gardens which have given us so much pleasure, so now we clearly know her wishes.

I don't think it's morbid at all, I think it's about being well prepared & making it easier for one's survivors who are left to carry out these wishes or, (like my Dad) in absence of instructions to GUESS at them (which I personally would NEVER want).

I'll implement any instructions one wishes, but I would prefer not to be left to guess at them, so if we were related David, I'd appreciate your having thought ahead.

I have thought about this numerous times and whenever I bring it up I get a "I think I would be worrying about things other than your plants" response. I understand that loved ones would be more concerned with grieving than plants and that's why it makes more sense to have an outside (of family) party take care of the plants. I think I will make a list of phone numbers and email addresses for this sort of occasion and if all else fails the university could use some more exotic plants in their greenhouse.

Mike

WOW!!!! I never thought while typing the opening to this thread yesterday that it would ever get this much response!! I thought for sure it would end up dead in the water.

I'm hearing some really great ideas here as for how I/we should handle the plant situation. Everything else is laid out in the will as to whom the $$$,the house the animals etc. should got to. Another issue of concern aside from the hoyas is my Fenton glass collection. I have in the neighborhood of about 180-200 pieces of burmese glass and no one to leave it to. My parents don't want it and my sister would sell it before I was in the ground good!!!

I think I really like Mike's idea though of leaving a long list of names and numbers of people who may be interested.

Hopefully all of us will be here for a long time!! I know i'm not planning on checking out anytime soon but stuff happens and we can be here one minute and gone the next with little to no warning.

Neither of my parents have a will and i've asked them over and over to make one if they do nothing more than write it on an old paper towel. I can only imagine when the time comes if they still don't have one, what i'm gonna have to go through with my sister.

PG I live in SC right on the immediate coast. Speaking of the San Diego zoo I have a first cousin who works in HR there and has for some years now.

David,

I know we're a plant forum, not a legal clinic but:

if your parents have assets (property &/or money), it can get complicated w/out a will. I wouldn't want the govt deciding my stuff.

Maybe if you just ask the key question, how/where they wish to be disposed of, maybe you can bring in a lawyer after the fact.

AT the height of the AIDS epidemic, I did a lot of volunteer work for GMHC in their legal dept., where I learned that w/out a will, the gov't can decide who gets what & the children of the deceased (even if adult) won't have anything to say about how things are divided up &/or shared.

FYI everybody: I'd rather be prepared.

Hi everyone... I just want to add, with all the wonderful suggestions, no matter what you want to have happen.. even that list of names, phone numbers and emails, family and friends will be grieving... you will still need to have someone execute those phone calls, emails and your wishes... and that does mean you'll need to designate an administrator/executor...even if you want to leave it all to a botanical garden, a special university, or whatever/wherever! Your administrator will need to be someone who will understand the need to act immediately.. for how long will your beautiful, very lovingly cared for plant collection last without that care, water, etc. I would guess it wouldn't be long and many would begin to suffer! And, for what its worth... I hope we're all here a very long time after this conversation!... and I'm no spring chicken!... and I think this was a remarkably human thread to begin with!.. hugs to all! Eileen

Hi Eileen, I will talk to my sons tomorrow about what they should do with my hoya collection in case something happens to me.

Great idea Tammy!

My beloved carnosa (from my grandmother) is provided for in my will. It's going to my brother and will reside in FL. He currently lives in MI, but also has a place in FL and will eventually retire there. He has agreed to take the plant should something happen to me. It makes me happy knowing that it's staying in the family and will have such a sunny home.

My other plants (I don't have that many) are to be given away to friends/family/neighbors and/or sold (depending on whatever is easier for my brother as he will have to deal with my estate). My brother said he wouldn't throw any plants away and I trust he will handle appropriately.

Should something happen to my brother preceding my death, I have no idea what plan B will be ,,, will deal with that situation if/as needed.

I was curious about this topic too ,,, especially in regard to those of you with such large and/or exotic collections. Interesting thread.

Jennifer

May I just say that the botanical garden idea is a bad choice. I have left a real awesome collection of hoyas to a botanical garden who for the most part grew them all mixed up in a shade house that never left it, grew into a tangled mess and tags lost and plants died. If you know of someone who loves and grows hoyas, this would be your best bet for continuing the line. If you are just talking about carnosa Exotica or lacunoas. Then just give it away. But if you have many undescribed species, many unnamed stuff, don't send it to a botanical garden. They're really not interested in it and look at them as potential VINING weeds for their conservatory which would mean more labor and more work for the already low staffing and volunteers they already have in place.
I sold my entire collection to Dennis Cathcart, who lost the entire collection from a storm they had in the late 80's/early 90's. Everything was lost and none was ever seen again, except only in circulating photos of people asking each other if they know where they could find this or that.
The collection I collected had many clones of a particular species. Today we see mostly a single clone of a species. This is a shame because what we grow in captivity is a unique form that if you were to go into the wild, you will never see or even get anything like it. Vice/Verse.
The original collector, ted Green just brought back one of this and one of that. He should have brought back ten different of each so we can see the variation nature has intended for this genus. Thus you will not see the speckled leaf Hoya caudata in the wild, usually a plain brown or reddish leaf. But nobody collected the hoya caudata that makes shingled leaves like hoya maxima. And you probably never saw a hoya caudata with white flowers with red centers or probably the hoya caudata with large 12 inch linear leaves with a fine mist of silver over it. These were lost in the storm that Dennis Cathcart had a while ago.

Wow..that is so sad. It really makes one think about this and I for one don't know what would happen to mine. No one in my family really cares that much about a mass of plants. Oh each one would maybe take a couple, but certainly not the bunches I have. And your right...most of the little guys like cuttings and newly acquired ones would have less than a week before they joined ME. So I guess we all need to think about this more.
So sorry to hear about the loss of all those one of a kind plants.

Dennis Cathcart was planning his millions when he bought me out. I would have left it to our botanic gardens here, but they have already made a mess of our local Hawaiian endemic species let alone want to care for invasive vining species from the tropics.
I also donated some to CB who in turn sent them to the Atlanta BG but not sure if the contact there is still alive, working or even employed there. This is the issues one needs to address when donating a private collection of plants to a public institution, like a Botanic Garden. You see the plants being neglected but can't do a thing about it unless you're a volunteer. And even if you do volunteer, once in the union of the gardens, you have to follow strict rules and conditions.

But alas, many hoya species have been lost and even wild populations lost to civilization. An area I once visited back trhen had vines of hoyas and many more that were not collected. Today the area is a size lane highway with all newly planted jacardanda trees lining the landscapes. Not a single hoya remains.

I inherited my mothers hoya in 1984 I am so heartbroken I have never got it to bloom again after her passing. The plant is healthy and I have taken cuttings off of it and none bloom

Hi Teddybear_2009, you might want to repot your mom's hoya with new potting soil. The new cuttings, may have to take several years before growing spurs. Good luck.

I like the one suggestion about scattering ashes amongst the plants. I've been thinking about it, and here's one problem I see- many times I've read in these forums that someone has a plant of sentimental value because someone passed away. The plant isn't going to make it, and it's devastating to the person attempting to keep the plant alive. Maybe it's better if it's left with instructions, "If it doesn't make it, then it wasn't meant to be. Buy yourself a new plant you like if it doesn't work out and just remember, that I would've liked the new one too."

Since this thread first came out, I have set up a trust. Believe it or not (and I'm sure many of you know this - I did not!), even if you have a will, your estate goes into probate and it can take a year for it to all get worked out. A trust is expensive, but once you have one in place, there is no probate and your wishes are quickly administered - money distributed, etc. So I made it part of my trust that a plant friend in the local C&S club be contacted immediately and takes on the task of distributing my plants in whatever fashion she can. Any money she makes if she chooses to sell them goes to the club. This takes the "heat" off my husband (or any other family member) of making that a priority, and I have accepted the task of doing the same for the friend. Now what would be REALLY great is if I had a list to provide her of my HoyaPeeps that could be contacted - I had a list of a lot of you in my computer that I've sold to in the past, but it crashed due to a virus, and the list was lost. I suppose I will leave her instructions to post to this forum in the event of my demise!

Denise in Omaha