I've been looking through houseplants a lot lately and I was a little surprised that we don't have a forum dedicated to hoyas yet. My experience running into posts mentioning hoyas might be fluke, so maybe they aren't as common as I've been beginning to think they are over the last month. I would love to see a bunch of pictures of ATP members' hoyas, but I don't have any hoyas of my own (yet...) to talk about or show pictures of, nor do I know how many people own them on here, so I don't feel right declaring the need for a hoya forum yet. Maybe there aren't enough hoya owners to warrant a hoya forum? And maybe there are...

So...

Show of hands...who thinks hoyas are popular/common enough at this point to have their own forum here on ATP?

(Maybe a show of hands for who owns them would be a good start? )

me

I own a couple of Hoya plants but I'm not sure how active a specific Hoya Forum would be. I don't remember for sure but I think someone asked about having a Hoya Forum in the beginning days of ATP but maybe it was decided that the Houseplant Forum was the best place to discuss and share photos since most folks grow them as houseplants? I went to the houseplant forum and did a search for Hoya and got a return of 58 matches found so I'm assuming Hoya's were discussed on all of these threads even though some subject lines were about other plants: http://garden.org/forums/searc...

edited to add: oops ... I couldn't edit to add a thumbs up icon. I'm sure if there were a specific Hoya forum, I'd more than likely participate in discussions and sharing photos.

In my case, Hoyas are 'Tropicals' not 'Houseplants'

There are a couple that I can grow outdoors here in zone 9b as long as we don't have any lengthy freezes and I know they grow outside year round in South Florida, Hawaii, Australia etc. but folks in many areas have to grow them as indoor house plants.

I did a search for Hoya on the Tropicals Forum it came back with 18 hits: http://garden.org/forums/searc... and on the Florida Gardening Forum it came back with 10 matches: http://garden.org/forums/searc... so I guess they are sometimes discussed on those forums as well.

Maybe that shows that a Hoya Forum would indeed be active.

plantladylin said:
I did a search for Hoya on the Tropicals Forum it came back with 18 hits: http://garden.org/forums/searc... and on the Florida Gardening Forum it came back with 10 matches: http://garden.org/forums/searc... so I guess they are sometimes discussed on those forums as well.

Maybe that shows that a Hoya Forum would indeed be active.

Not necessarily. In the first link you showed, the newest thread is six months old and the rest are well over a year. In the next link there is one from this month and the rest or six months or more old. Then you got hits because Hoyas were mentioned somewhere in the threads but there were not really discussions about Hoyas.

Here's a thought:
Since you don't yet own any Hoyas, why not just start a thread in the Houseplants Forum and ask folks to share photos of their plants on the thread. Hopefully you will get a good response and then, maybe later, the group that shares discussion on your Hoya thread can bring up the idea of a forum.

Edited to add:
If you go to Google Images and type in "all things plants hoyas" you can see tons of photos. Hovering over each picture will show if it is on our ATP site.

No need to Google, just click on the ATP database link on the left side of the page and type in Hoya. There are lots of Hoya's listed and many photos to browse: http://garden.org/plants/brows...

Greene - good idea. I think I will. Actually, there may already be a thread as I recall, but maybe starting a new one will inspire some new pictures and new participants.



I do notice we have forums for other, lesser-known plants. Maybe that's not necessarily an argument for adding hoyas--there's no sense in adding more forums that don't get much traffic on a weekly basis--but I wonder if hoyas are any less common than adeniums, fuschias, heucheras, etc...

Are there other hoya enthusiasts that are just lurkers at the moment, but would pounce at the opportunity to post their pictures and would enjoy chatting about hoyas fairly often?

I'm just curious. Seems the answer may well be that there aren't enough hoya owners to start a new forum, but it's worth asking.

plantladylin said:No need to Google, just click on the ATP database link on the left side of the page and type in Hoya. There are lots of Hoya's listed and many photos to browse: http://garden.org/plants/brows...

thank you for the suggestion. I've browsed through photos in the ATP database, but there's just something different about browsing a database (or online pictures) and browsing pictures of friends' hoyas. There's something about the ability to jump in and say 'hey so-and-so, that plant is AMAZING!'...

There's also something about knowing that the photos were recent...it sort of makes it feel a little more like you're viewing the flower in person. Does that make any sense? Anyone else feel that way?

I have a site dedicated to Hoyas over on Cubits...the site Dave created temporarily until he could start ATP.

Please visit. It is chock full of information, hasn't been very bust lately since everybody came here but you're welcome anytime.

http://cubits.org/Hoya/

I just posted on the Houseplants Forum asking if anyone there would appreciate a Hoya Forum and I posted a link back here.

, Lee Anne, for the warm welcome! I may wander on over just to take a peek.

me
I have asked that question a few weeks back. I have as of today 11 Hoyas mostly in their early stage. One is blooming since July , Hoya breviliata and doesn't seem to want to stop. Although the flowers are relatively small, it has a very strong smell of caramel. Here she is...

Very pretty! ...and caramel scented? That might have to go on my wishlist...where did you get it from?

Eileen, that is a lovely Hoya but I don't think it's brevialata which has blooms of a lighter color. For comparison check out more images of H. brevialata here:
Wax Plant (Hoya brevialata)
http://www.myhoyas.com/B/brevi...
http://vermonthoyascom.fatcow....
http://www.rareflora.com/hoyab...

To me your plant more resembles:
Wax Plant (Hoya 'DS-70')
http://northernhoya.blogspot.c...
http://www.rareflora.com/hoyat...
http://vermonthoyascom.fatcow....

Eight or so years ago Home Depot, Lowes and Walmart garden centers always carried lots of Hoya's from Exotic Angel Plants; H. brevialata, H. bilobata and H. DS-70 as well as the variegated Hoya carnosa's and the Hindu Rope Hoyas. There always seemed to be lots of confusion with Hoya brevialata, bilobata, tsangii and DS-70.

Lin, you might have just made my day. If that is DS-70, I just got a cutting of that from SRQ Hoyas! Do you know what the scent of DS-70 is supposed to resemble?

They say that bloom fragrance is subjective so I guess it depends on whoever's nose is doing the smelling. It's been a few years since I grew DS-70 so I don't remember the fragrance. I've heard some describe it as having a slight honey fragrance but I don't remember it smelling like honey so I will be curious to hear what others say it smells like to them.

In my experience, with my Hoya's, when they are hanging outside I can't detect much fragrance at all but WOW, with some of them, when they are inside the house, the fragrance is quite strong! I had a few Hoya lacunosa's and Hoya australis plants awhile back and moved them indoors during a cold spell in winter and the fragrance was really wonderful but so overpowering that I had to put them back out on the enclosed porch.

plantladylin thanks for the info. I bought it at Lowes and labelled as Breviliata. Good to know it is not. It does look like the DS-70 but the smell definitely is caramel not honey. Either way it is a very nice plant ;-)

Dogsndaylilies, if you got the same one I got as the mislabelled breviliata, it smells of caramel so sweet and heavenly! It has a lot of nectar too ;-)