GORGEOUS!

Love it!!!! I had motoskei before, but it died and was being plagued by the mealybugs. I would love to try it again someday.

Brad AKA Moonwolf

lmao she was fat, huh?

I didn't get many ladybugs in the house this year. Just a bunch of boxelder bugs, which are useless to my Hoyas! ;P

I love a good lady bug story, Shelley! I found one once on my plants in my apartment (which is in New York City, you know, not a small town). No idea how it got in there through all these multiple building doors and stairs and elevator shafts and insect screens. I think I was happier when I saw it than I generally am when I find buds or flowers!

Gorgeous flowers. It makes me want one! I have seen Motoskei, but never knew it to be fragrant. Can you describe the fragrance?
Thanks, Kathy

Beautiful!

H motoskei is basically like carnosa on steroids--some people think it's the original carnosa from the 1800's--and its fragrance is exactly what you'd expect--intense carnosa...It has only a slight fragrance during the day, but somewhere between midnight and dawn it "turns on" and is then intensely fragrant...this means that when I get up in the morning and am stumbling around in the dark kitchen the whole room smells wonderful...gets my day started better than caffeine!

My plant never bloomed, but it still was pretty to look at (love those speckled leaves!).

Brad AKA Moonwolf

> H motoskei is basically like carnosa on steroids-- [...] --and its fragrance is exactly what you'd expect--intense carnosa...

Is the motoskei fragrance the same but stronger / carries farther? - is that what you mean? Are the flowers larger than carnosa, would you say? I think the leaves are. And those motoskei leaf speckles are very attractive. Only some clones of carnosa have them. What are some other differences between the two that you noticed? (Anybody else who grows both is welcome to comment as well, of course.)

This conversation gave me the idea of maybe replacing one of my carnosas for motoskei. The latter seems a winner in every category...

Yes to both-- the flowers are slightly, but noticeably, larger than carnosas (as are the leaves and the plant as a whole) and it's scent is stronger and carries further than most carnosas I've known...that being said, I'm sure there are less fragrant motoskeis and more fragrant carnosas around...I have a "hairy carnosa" (I can't remember its IML # and I'm not at home now) that smells strongly of carnosa and bananas and some sort of spice...it's definitely more fragrant than the "normal" carnosa, but still doesn't top motoskei...the trouble with trying to pin down hoya fragrance is how it changes at the drop of a hat due to time of day, age of the flowers, number of flowers open, etc. etc. I have Hoyas that smell totally different from day 1 to day 2...If you came to my house at 2 p.m. and sniffed the motoskei and then a carnosa you'd probably think the two were about the same...but re-sniff at 7 or 8 a.m. and the motoskei would win by a mile...

So, there are different clones that smell different, and just differences due to time, temp, and who knows what else? I've read stories where people claim they had to get up in the middle of the night to put their carnosas outside because the scent was so strong they couldn't sleep...I have never noticed anything even close to this with mine, all of which have been quite mild and have to be leaned over and sniffed to catch the scent at all...

Motoskei on the left, carnosa on the right!

That is a good comparative flower picture, thank you.

And yeah, scents are a very tricky, fleeting and subjective.

There is a hairy carnosa??? Hairy flowers or hairy leaves? Got a picture? I do not find anything on the googles.

I'm also intrigued to learn of a hairy carnosa! *sighs* Seeing motoskei in bloom just makes me want it even more. I've heard that it blooms more readily than carnosa (my plant hasn't bloomed yet, which is typical seeing that it's only 6 years old).

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Well, turns out "hairy" is a bit of a stretch...I ordered it a few years ago from David Liddel based on the description in his catalogue, but the leaves are really more rough and fuzzy than hairy---you can't see the hair, but you can feel this sort of coarse peach fuzz on both top and bottom of the leaf if you run your fingers over it...since other carnosas are really smooth and glossy there is a difference, but not as much as I'd hoped for :)...The flowers look just like all the more conventional carnosas--in fact, that's them in the picture above with the motoskei...they do seem to have a more intense and tropical-y scent--very spiced banana and something else--guava? breadfruit? Anyhow, I like it---and it blooms quite heavily for me over the summer out on the deck...it's sleeping now...shhhhhh..

I'll get you some photos of the leaves and the IML number tonight....

Wow, all I can say is you really are a carnosa connoisseur! I've never smelled anything like guava or spicy banana in my carnosas. Wish I did!

Well, I really meant "various tropical fruits unknown to me", and those two were the closest I could come :-)...I AM a fragrance freak--that's actually what got me started in Hoyas--learning that most of them were fragrant...and now I sniff and analyze every one that I'm lucky enough to get to bloom--can't help it...just LOVE to sniff flowers...there's a very old book out called "The Fragrant Year" that tries to describe and analyze all the scents of flowers and herbs (there's even a little section on Hoyas in it) and whenever I feel uptight or depressed (like November - April) I like to haul it out and read it again...very soothing...

That's really neat. I hope you will keep growing Hoyas so I can look forward to your descriptions. I am nose-cognition-disabled. I can smell fine, but I am terrible at connecting the dot between what I am currently smelling and what it reminds me of.

I do think that Hoyas have diverse and complicated fragrances, though, so they are perfect for your interests!

Wow shelley. Its good to hear there are other scent driven plant growers out there. I pretty much base my plant choices around scent. Ive only recently started aquiring hoyas. I have a large collection of a small japanese orchid called neofinetia falcata or fukiran. The blooms are intensely fragrant. Described as vanilla,coconut,jasmine,lily scented. They grow indoors and unfortunately only bloom once a year but are worth the wait. My new hoyas seem to take a similar watering schedule and bloom more frequently so its nice to have scent around all year. Reading your thread made me pick up a nice pot of motoskei which coincidentaly is known to come from okinawa,japan. I also currently have lacunosas royal flush/langkawi island, ds-70, australis lisa and brookfield, obscura, cagayanensis, publicalyx purple hawaiian, limoniaca. Cant wait for them all to bloom. Hers a growing area pic. I hang my hoyas from a vintage tension pole plant hanger from the 1970s.

I'm glad I'm not the only fragrance freak around :-)....I don't care how beautiful and easy a flower is, if there's no scent I'm not interested....

You might also like to try H. nummulariodes (hot honey) or H. incrassata (fresh cut lime)...both pretty easy and both really nice to sniff...

Your orchids sound interesting too--I may have to check those out....

Thanks shelley! Not only did i nab up an incrassata this week, but i also ordered a copy of 'the fragrant year' :))