Two Exotic Angel plants I found at HD today

Hubby had to run in to Home Depot today for something and I went along for the ride. I had to go through the garden center - can't pass that up! Anyhow they had all these EA baskets labeled 6.6 snowflake house $16.99! I knew these little baskets were mislabeled. The label should have said 6.6 angel basket $7.99. Most were labeled/priced wrong. I saw a lady watering plants and asked if she could help me. I told her what I had found and she said she didn't work for HD but was the Vendor! She said it wasn't HD's fault, they came from the nursery labeled wrong and she was so glad I noticed and told her about it. She came to the register and had the cashier ring them up with the correct price and then she went back to remove the incorrect labels from all the plants. Anyhow, I found these, H. kentiana and H. polyneura. I haven't taken time to groom them yet but need to re-pot them right away since they are soaking wet and in a heavier soil than I like to use. I sure don't want them to rot.


Merry Christmas to me!

Lovely plants, Lin. I really love H. polyneura, but it's one I can't keep alive. I find it very prone to rot. Better to err on the dry side with it.

Thanks Cicada! It's a new one to me, as is the kentiana. I am going out to repot both of them right now. I am amazed at how wet they are. We had a good rain last night and it surprised me to see the lady at HD watering already soaking wet plants! Don't know why though, most of the time at HD & Lowes, plants are either bone dry or floating in water!

Polyneura also very prone to mealy bugs!!!

Great buys, Lin! Congratulations!

what are exotic angel plants? they were marked down at lowes today but i didn't have my glasses on and couldn't read the lable so didn't buy any--there were different kinds so i was confused-----i am sorry to say i don't really know what a hoya is either?!!

Linda...it's a long story. You might want to check the Plant Files.

ok

Here's a link to the website for the Exotic Angel plants: http://66.83.181.250/HEG/

They are sold in abundance at Home Depot, Lowes, Target and Wal-Mart Garden Centers down here in Florida. Usually mislabeled with the wrong name. I found one once with a wrong name ... not even close to what the plant was - totally different family of plants. I at first thought maybe a customer had pulled the little stake out to read it and put it back in the wrong plant but as I began looking ... tons of plants had incorrect name labels on them! I don't claim to know a lot about plants ... I grow them and enjoy them and usually just buy a plant that catches my eye when I like the looks of it but this particular day I knew the plant I was looking at was not the one on the label.

This message was edited Jan 21, 2009 9:42 PM

so exotic angel plants are a brand name? not a type of hoya plant? what do they specialize in? (besides mislabled plants!!) i went to look up hoyas and it seems they are tropical vines and there are lots of different kinds--can be grown indoors --perenial only in zone 10 and flower with nice scent--is that pretty acurate? it seems there are so many kinds!! are they tricky to grow? they seem popular --

They are wonderful to grow...but hard to explain in a thread. Suggest you bury yourself in the internet and fall in love...so hard to explain. LOTS of threads here on this forum....and lots of eager 'enablers'.... LOL

i really am trying --for some reason it seems overwhelming to me--i think hoyas are tropical vines that flower and smell wonderful--and that exotic angels is the name of a nursery that sells hoyas----correct? that is what i gather so far from the sites suggested

Linda: Hermann Engelmann is the name of the company (named after their founder) and they put the Exotic Angel brand on all of the plants they grow. Here's the information about the company:

http://www.exoticangel.com/AboutUs/

ok--thanks

Planolinda: There are 215 Hoya's listed in Plant Files ... some real beauties! You can see these lovely plants and read about them here: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=hoya&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

There are so many different ones and some are very fragrant! I am kinda new to this family of plants myself and have a few - never knew any were fragrant until reading about them here on DG. I have one that I found at HD - Hoya Lacunosa that has become one of my favorites because of the fragrance! The blooms smell wonderful! I also found H.nummularioides at HD not too long ago, didn't know it would be one of the fragrant ones until it bloomed and oh what aroma! My very first hoya was given to me by an elderly man I worked with back in the mid 70's. He and his wife had a very small home near the beach here in town ... teeny tiny yard but it was filled with plants of all kinds! I think that Hoya is Krimson Queen .... blooms every year for me but no fragrance on that one that I can detect. You will find small baskets of different types of hoya's at HD, Lowes, Wal-Mart. You should give one a try to see how it does for you. Some apparently are hard to keep without the "perfect" growing conditions but the generic ones found at your local garden center should be as easy as any houseplant. All of my plants get neglected most of the time and do well because I don't overwater as I did many years ago. I let just about everything get pretty dry between waterings!

Oh, and I don't remember if I answered your earlier question. Exotic Angel Plants are the brand ... you will find all kinds of houseplants at the local garden centers with that brand on them, from Philodendrons, to Hoya's to Ferns, etc. It's the brand that Hermann Engelmann Nurseries has on their plants. Just beware of the local big box stores garden centers - a lot of their plants will be rotting from too much water, wilting from absolutely no water and sometimes buggy! So, you have to be very selective sometimes when shopping for plants there. That is just my experience with the stores I have been in here in Florida .. maybe it's not the case everywhere!

thanks so much for the info--they sound very pretty and i will try some--you are right --the ones i saw at lowes were in little baskets! some of them were in terrible shape--as in possibly dead! but some were pretty good--i think the change in weather is hard on them and we have even had a few nights of near freezing temps---

Oh, wet and outside in near freezing temps? hmmm ... I think that would stress most house plants!

I keep my hoya's on the dry. I have one - H. multiflora (shooting star hoya) that someone told me likes lots of water, so I do water that one more often than the others. Just make sure if you buy one, you repot it into a very well draining mix or you might end up with root rot and a dead plant.

Lin, you lucky duck!
I found the polyneura last summer and it is still at my friend's nursery.......need to check on it. I am in the process of using Bayer's Advanced Tree and Shrub on all my hoya baskets as that front porch is acting like a greenhouse (a warm one with not the best circulation) covered in poly.
I try to leave both ends open everyday......the doors on each end.

Did you have to cover the porch because of cold weather in your area? I don't know why but I was thinking your temps in winter were like ours here? We had two cold nights last week - 36 one night and 38 the next but then it was back to warmth again. Our days are supposed to be hanging in the high 70's and nights in the low to mid 60's for the next week or so!

Lin, we do have your same weather but the winds combined with temps below 55 just trash any plants here. This past week Corpus Christi had winds of 45mph and over here Jimmy clocked it at 55 mph on a pretty day with the sun shining.

It comes from the southeast and does it every spring, too until about May.

Wow! I do remember you talking about it being very windy at times - that's a lot of wind! Strange that I am SE of you and we don't get wind like that very often. We had a windy day yesterday but only @ 20 mph winds. Now on occasion we do get the Nor 'Easter's that blow in some good strong winds!

The ONLY good part is that the summers are not too bad because there is always a nice breeze (which you probably have, too in Florida)

Ya'll should have had the winds we had today in my 'neck of the woods'! It actually blew down a wall at work! We've been doing some construction and they had taken the fiberglass roof off of the middle part of the lot- leading to the outdoor garden area. Theh wall leading along the front of the store came loose and started wobbling! I had the guy working the Christmas tree lot put the forklift bracing the wall. It was an interesting day! I missed the weather to see what the wind speeds were but I can attest that they were high! But we missed the snow and ice so that's good news! Have I mentioned lately that I hate winter?....

And Lin- Did I tell you I went to HD to look for some new Hoyas or ANYTHING and they didn't have sqat?
I looked at my fishtail Hoya and the lower-setting Southern sun was burning it a little so I adjusted the blind. Soon I'm going to take some cuttings of it to hopefully trade later. Got to have something!

Today I put together a piece for new collectors. Turns out I am suddenly barraged by questions like: Do hoyas come from Sweden? I live in Wisconsin, what hoyas can I grow? It seemed to be the time to put together a bunch of information with links and info.... Planolinda, I hope this helps... I sincerely hope the new growers who wrote me will join DG and learn about the great support here.

Carol

OOOOOps...gotta fix the format...later...

This message was edited Dec 22, 2007 6:47 PM

Carol: I sure will be looking for your piece with the info on hoyas! I have been growing all kinds of plants for 40 years and had heard of Hoya's but the only ones I knew of before joining DG is the Krimson Queen and the Hindu Rope (that curly q type). Since lurking on the hoya forum I have found there are so many different hoya's and that some are fragrant ... some like heat and humidity, some take more sun than others, some prefer cooler temp's than others! Some prefer to climb while others like to hang down. I have printed out the info from Plant Files on each hoya I have and am just so enamored with these plants! I will be watching for your information sheet for all of us newbies/novices! I thank you in advance for doing something like this!

Lin

I am not a computer whiz...gotta get DH in on this....later. :>)

Yippeee Kiaaay!

I will be so excited to learn anything. No one has more hoyas than I do and have no earthly idea what I am doing nor do I really know their names or special needs.

Back to the wind, ladies. I couldn't go to sleep because the wind had torn some of the poly loose and I wasn't in the mood to go find the electric stapler. I just duct tape and secured it for the night. The accu weather says we are having winds of 20 mph with gusts at 40 and that is NOT THE TRUTH. The winds are blowing at 40 and gusting much higher.

I know you all get winds in west Texas.....I drove through west Texas on the way to NM every summer and winter for year and years

yes carol that article sure will help--i know i am frustrating in my questions ! i am not a detail person-i like the big picture --so i guess what i am looking for is what makes them all a group--it's pretty easy when it is roses, or succulents etc--do not worry about explaining that since i will watch for your article--thanks for taking the time to write it up for all of us---happy holidays!

Gotta figger out how to turn a word file into a jpeg.

Linda..one strong suggestion is to go to the links at the top of the list of threads...and find one discussing where hoyas are from and about the genus. Also Google Hoya Plants and look for information.

BTW...here is a link I really find useful:

www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/botanicalterms

Hope this works.

Learning about hoyas, for me at least, has been a long process where I have read everything and anything I could on growing them, growing epiphytes and other tropicals and following all sorts of links. After a while it is easy to sort out the misinformation....

Carol

Here is a good, short link:

http://www.succulent-plant.com/families/asclepiadaceae.html

Carol: That first link didn't work but that second one has some great info! Thanks Carol!

Carol, what a wonderful site! Thanks.
gail

that is a great site--i liked the picture gallery too--i understand now why it was so hard for someone to give me a quick answer!!! they cover a lot of different plants and the only thing they all seem to have is a special way to polinate

HI...I am working with ADMIN trying to get my information up.

Yes...Hoya is complicated as there are so many aspects. If you all haven't signed up to receive STEMMA...you should.

I don't know if I'm still on the list for Stemma. I remember getting one issue and then another DG'er e-mailed 3 others to me. So, I have four total, the last being Autumn 2007. Do you know when the next issue will be out? They contain some really good information so I have each issue printed out and in my plant file drawer. Printing it out makes it easier for me to refer back to so I don't have to go searching through my e-mail trying to find it. I hope I'm still on the list for future issues!

:)

Lin- Let me know what you find out about the Stemma. I too got the last 4. As a matter of fact, I finally got a wireless printer/copier for my laptop for Christmas that I opened last night. Merry Christmas to me! The Stemma was the first thing I printed on it last night! I was afraid something would happen to it and I didn't have a printer to copy it.

Next one out will be the first part of next year....

Thanks Carol! I will be watching for it!

I think that when I got the first one I blocked the sender and bounced it back to him!! I totally forgot about Stemma and how nice he was to send it to me.

No wonder I don't learn any more than I do.......Lin, do you mind forwarding me the ones you have and maybe I can get my name signed up again.

Ok Gail, I just forwarded them to you! Be prepared for lots of pages!

Thanks again, Lin!