Perhaps it's just me...

Aloha Hoya. Aloha = love in Hawaiian. We retired (again) here in 2001 and I began growing hoyas...and brugs, and epis and everything I could get my hands on. We came here when land was st ill very inexpensive...we have 12 acres, lots of orchards, grow coffee, watch the rain and listen to the birds. I am a human to 2 wonderful dogs, Thelma and Louise and two goofy cats...DH and I work the gardens ourselves...I have learned to think differently about weeds...they are just recalcitrant plants. I grow as much as I can on trees...hoyas, epis, vireyas etc..... Here is Louise with her big smile...after 5 years it still cracks me up!

Carol Noel

KaBob = Karen (Bob is my DH) from Macon, Illinois (read middle of corn and soybean country!) We bought this 106 year old farm house on 4 acres almost 3 years ago, and are rehabbing it slowly - we love it here. We have 4 grown children, and 7 grandchildren who are the absolute center of my heart! We have 4 horses, 2 dogs and 2 cats, all of whom (even the horses) were in some way or another "rescued."
I have spent my time for the past 25+ years working in private practice as a therapist, but, now, I am only working part time, and have time to do what I love - play plants!

Sofi is my cat's name. Mine is Louise. Carol, I just love the picture of your Louise!

blue_eyes = well....I have blue eyes! Lol.... My name is Kim and I currently live in Bryan, TX. I'm originally from northeast Ohio. I'm working on my PhD in reproductive physiology which keeps me very busy. I have a potbellied pig named Cleo, a puppy named Jasper, and two kitties, Sebastian and Ivy. Besides hoyas, I also like cacti and succulents and have been able to start developing some flower beds around my duplex. I'm enjoying the mild winters of TX but not so much the heat of summer.

:) Kim

Chris_Lorry = Lorry (Chris is the husband who frequents the bamboo and palm boards)
We are in FL :_)

Rose318 = Rose is after my decease mother Rosemary, and 318 is my birthday.
Real name is Patricia or Patti orginally from South Jersey, and now living in Houston ,Texas and loving it. I am married, and I have four children and two grandchild . I am also a LVN. We are animal lovers here. I have three cats , two dogs , four small birds, one turtle, and two mice. My garden is tropical plants ( love cannas, hibiscus), and container garden is cactus and succulents, and hanging basket mainly of hoyas. I just started collecting hoyas this year. My friend Susan got me hooked on hoyas, and my friend Shirley got me hooked on C&S. Thanks ladies.
Patti

epiaddict= Joanne, in Philomath, Oregon. My previous plant addiction was Epiphyllum or incorectly known as "orchid cactus". I still love them but now I'm focused on Hoyas. I can keep them inside in the winter and not loose them to freeze. This forum has only added to my addiction....THANK YOU ALL!!! -joanne

suzmyers = Sue from Burr Ridge, Illinois (suburb of Chicago) soon to be a resident of Northeast Georgia. I am a hoya addict from way back whose addiction was interrupted by babies and a house that didn't support any plant life. My kids are now about grown and I live in a house with lots of light, so the addiction has rekindled itself. I never knew there were so many varieties of Hoya until I found the internet...and so my house appears to get smaller with every shipment I receive. ...

Oh Carol, The picture of Louise is too Funny, that just made my day. LOL...

GreenGirl58 = Denise in Omaha, Nebraska, absolute center of the USA. Land of cows, corn and soybeans... It was a Hoya that got me addicted to plants 30 years ago as a senior in HS. Around 1978 or '79, a magazine called "House Plants and Porch Gardens" did an article on Hoyas that mesermized me. I still have the article and get it out now and then... I believe the article claims "there are about 80 species of Hoya"... I guess there have been new discoveries and hybridizing since then!

Denise in Omaha

Louise is a riot. She is 'Miss Social' here...and when locals come they won't get out of their car with her at their door smiling! #1 they are usually terrified of big dogs and #2 they have never seen a dog smile! She is really a hoot!

Keyring = Ki (pronounced "key")
Apartment grower near DC with an insane number of plants and a growing hoya addiction. Other faves are orchids, gesneriads, and tillandsias.

Wow...good that you bumped this one up too. Nice to hear about everyone.
That dog is GREAT Carol. I have 2 chocolate labs also. They can be soooo funny sometimes. This is my "Mocha" at Christmas one year. She always has trouble with her tongue being too long. Ha.

"Weezie" is actually Chesapeake Bay Retriever and 'Lab Mix'...Her sister looks just like a Black Lab...and the rest of the little looked everywhich way from Sunday. She is too smart!!! Your Mocha is great....great outfit!!! Doncha love the labs...heck...I love them all.

guess I better jump in...

begoniacrazii = Lali, I'm a spaz about begonias but can't seem to stop there. I dabble in just about everything now! LOL. I have a growing Hoya collection and have been asked to care for and propagate them at the arboretum where I volunteer so I've been lurking here more lately to learn as much as I can. I also work with the begonias and gesneriads there.
I collect gesneriads and AV's, tropicals, succulents, epi's, and anything that is an odd-ball.
I'm owned by three spoiled rotten basset hounds, Miss Sophia, Ellie Mae Waddlebottom and Amber, and they are owned by a passel of c@ts.

I have two kids, my daughter just turned 18 and graduated HS and my son is nearly 14. Married 17 years. Profession, well, I'm a professional plant addict (dontchya just wish we could get paid for that!), but in 'real life' I'm a designer.
Most recent photo is posted over in Kell's brug thread. http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2485991

p.s. Carol, when Louise needs a vacation, please send her to me. That smile is hilarious!!! I need her to teach Miss Sophia how to do that! Can you imagine, these ears and that smile?

YES!!! I used to have a great dog named Clyde - 1/2 Bassett and 1/2 GREAT DANE. The body was by Bassett...the head and coat by Great Dane. We always said he was created by a committee who never met in the same room at the same time!. Stubborn, aren't they. Love your pics!

lainielady = Elaine from Ohio

I'm a plant and animal lover. I definitely have a plant addiction, which is getting worse since retirement, have a collection of sansevierias, many African violets, philos and have been falling in love with hoyas for several years now. It started with a couple carnosa variegated ones, never any blooms, but beautiful foliage and I keep adding new ones as I find them. After my nummulariodes(sp?) bloomed heavily last summer(sheer luck) I've been totally hooked. I now have about 10 and would like to add many more.
My husband and I have five acres so lots of space to garden. Our children are grown but they live close and we get to enjoy the grandchildren frequently. Our lives wouldn't be complete without our two doxies, an aged cocker spaniel (or at least a relation to one), two cats and two conures. I've been reading this forum for awhile and have learned so much, so thank you!

Oh, I am so happy everyone is introducing themselves. This is truly wonderful!!!
Ann

Hi Elaine! Don't lurk! Post! There's a ripple every now and then but we're pretty much all plant and animal loving people!

BocaGinger - Ginger (the name my grandfather gave me when I was 3 - I've used it ever since) Boca, because we have an office in Boca Raton,FL and used to live there - now live in Coral Springs, FL Thanks to this website, I've gone from 8 hoyas to 18 and growing!!

I see this thread began 2 1/2 years ago!!

I was taking a break from Cookie Baking, lurking about the Garden on different forums, including the hoya forum and somehow found myself here!

So, I will bump this up to see if we get anymore folks stopping in to give their "real names".

I am:

Plantladylin = Linda = Lin (have also been known as Cookielady in the past because I used to bake all the time! Right now I am in the process of baking Christmas Cookies.)

I live in East Central Florida where we are fortunate to grow most plants outdoors year round. I have been gardening and growing house plants for 40 years. Received my first hoya from an elderly friend back in the mid 1970's (still have the plant) ... didn't aquire another hoya until a couple of years ago and have really become interested in them since joining DG last year and finding that there are fragrant varieties! I now have @ 26 or so. I should get them all together and get a count! I just began writing down the names of the ones I know I have and am shocked! I didn't think I had more than maybe 8 or 10. I know some folks hoya count goes into the hundreds! I have lots of other plants - Gesneriads (African Violets, Chirita's, Episcia's) and generic house plants! I love plants! And animals! We currently have 4 cats in our family and a 150 gal marine (salt water) aquarium. I so miss having a dog! Years back we were a family of 3 dogs, 3 cats, 2 birds and lots of fish. Our pet family has slowly decreased over the years. Once some of our cats have gotten older and are no longer with us we will get another dog! My hubby of 38 years and I love large breed dogs ... all of our past canines have been big with the exception of a little resuce mutt who was part toy poodle and the other half was Heinz 57 variety, he had the poodle temperament - did not like the large dogs and we had to keep him separate from them. We have talked about adopting a dog and love Lab's a lot, have had them in the past, but would also love a Newfoundland or an English Mastiff pup. I am steering towards the lab ... a bit smaller than the other two. My nephew has a pure bred English Mastiff - huge dog that weighs 200 lbs and he's on a diet to gain weight. The vet told him the dog is underweight! The father dog weighed 280 and mama weighed 240 - really huge dogs but very gentle. They are called "Gentle Giants" and it is so true. My nephew's dog "Bubba" is such a sweetheart. Who couldn't love this face?

Nice to meet y'all. So many wonderful and knowledgeable folks in this Garden who so generously share their knowledge and experiences with their plants! I feel fortunate to be a part of it.

Meet "Bubba"

for all the newbies and I guess all the oldies:

I'm imadigger aka Eileen. I dig in the dirt and also dig into geneology

I live in Central Florida on the East coast. I'm originally a Brooklyn (NY) girl with a great love of plants. When my hubby and I re-located to Tamarac in South Florida 20 years ago, I had close to 150 houseplants. We packed them up in cartons and stuffed them in the stationwagon and drove them down. Didn't lose a one. Then 14 years ago, we moved up to Palm Bay, and had to bring them up. My son put most of them in his pick-up truck. The scheflera, ficus, plumeria and few other very large plants ended up denuded. Lost all their leaves. They survived and now I'm mostly into hoya, plumeria, and some succulents. I had a nice cactus garden, but weeds took over when I was working 50+ hours a week. The weeds were the last thing I wanted to see. I rescued a few in small pots and they are in the screened-in pool area.
I've enjoyed finding out who everyone is. Keep it going.!!!
P.S. also have a dog, Shanghaii, who is 2 years old.

Nice to meet you Imadigger! Love your user name! Love Shanghaii too ... so cute! Happy Holidays to you and your family!

I am Susan from Bethlehem, Chainsaw is the oldest of my babies. The photo is of my other two. Nibbles is the taller one and Troubles is the baby.

Hi my screenname is jeri11 and my name is Jeri. Thanks for this thread I have found it very helpful!!!

Jeri

Lily_love = I love lilies, hoyas, brugs, roses....and the list goes on, lol. Also furbabies to include peacocks, even Emu. (Carol, Emu = big bird, and not the Emu in Hawaii. :0)) But friends and family called me Kim, most time Kim2.
Kim

Hi all - I am Kaelkitty or KK everywhere I go online. It is short for Kael's Kitty, because Kael thinks I am HIS kitty. THat is Kael in the attached photo. He is just over five years old. He also gets called "monsterkitty" and "bossyboots" because he weighs 14lbs/6.5kg and measures 33in/84cm from nose to tail tip. I take him to work with me (I work part-time in a bookshop), and he also "owns" all the customers! My real name is Jacq - just Jacq. It is NOT abbreviated and is pronounced with a very soft "gj" sound, like gjarc. It's too hard for most people, and I HATE being called Jackie or Jacquelline so I for one am going to stick to KK. It is easy to type and easy to remember!

Ciao, KK.