Best book on Hoyas

What are the best books on hoya? What book would you recommend from the beginner to the most experienced?

Hayu - don't know about books, but would recommend STEMMA as a great place to start. It's a publication published by Markroy - you can dmail him here on this forum to find out about signing up for copies. HTH!

Karen

The Hoya Handbook, by Dale Kloppenburg is a really good place to start. It has good pictures and nice verbal descriptions of a lot of the more common Hoya. There are also sections on cultivation and history. There are newer books with his name, The world of Hoyas and The World of Hoyas 2, but I don't think they are as good as the Hoya Handbook. I think you can order it from the Rainbow Gardens book store. Just google that name and you should find it easily.
You should also visit our forum member Christina's website, it has fantastic pictures and some good specific information about each species. And its free!

http://www.myhoyas.com/index%20ENG.htm

Looks like kabob's computer had a case of hiccups! ^_^

I have had Hoyas for years and just liked the common ones. My mother has decided to get some more hard to find and more challenging types of hoyas. I am wanting to get her a Hoya book for Mothers day. I'm not sure what to get.

Heres the list she is looking at:H. coronia,dishorensis,graveolens,lyi, obscura and erythrostemma. She wants to get all or part of this list. She's not sure on some.

This is why I am looking for a range of books.

Well what happened there?? Don't have a clue why it posted 3 times!! Sorry about that!

Karen

Thats all right.I just thought you really liked that one book. Now scare your computer say mother board or I really need a new computer to stop the hickups.:)

I think the best book on hoyas is waiting to be published by Carol and Mark! Seriously. With Mark's photography skills and Carol's knowledge, it'd be fantastic.

Julia

I'm pretty new to hoyas, but I agree with Julia. I have the new book from Kloppenburg
and it has a lot ( A LOT ) of mistakes and the grammar is terrible. We are in much
need of a well-written book with correctly identified species !!

Any takers there, Carol and Mark ? ^_^

^_^ - not in this lifetime...I will schedule it in for the next one!

HOWEVER....What would you look for in a book....the subject is endless. Descriptions, How to Grow, How THEY grow, troubleshooting?

One of the BIG obstacles is to get someone to publish it....a friend of mine proposed it to a small publishing company and they nixed it due to small market...not enough interest 'out there'. Now orchids..a different animal!!!

The book from Kloppenburg is it Hoya Basics or The Hoya Handbook.I don't think Carol and Mark's book will be out in time.

Oh, what a terrific idea re: Carol and Mark publishing a book! How long ago did your friend propose that idea to the publisher, Carol?

I would think with the increasing interest in Hoya there would definitely be a market for it! I know I would buy a copy!! You two have such great knowledge regarding these plants and have been such a great help here on this forum ... Please, Please ponder it more?

I've even wondered why Stemma is free and was thinking it would be great as a hardback book or printed on quality stock like a magazine. I have printed out each issue and keep it in my plant file box to refer back to. It would be great to have a Carol & Mark book with info and beautiful photography ... I can just picture a copy sitting on my coffee table!

The one I was talking about was the Hoya Handbook. It really is better than the later ones, I think. There are a few species in the book whose names have since changed, but it is easy enough to figure out which ones. The photos are a bit small but are for the most part quite sharp and clear. The descriptions are well done. I think it is the best book, overall, to date. Christine Burton is working on one, that will probably set the new standard, but I have no idea when it will be available.
Probably next year at the very soonest?

I'm still learning about Hoya, I don't know nearly enough about them to write a decent book. Maybe someday...

As for what I would like to see in a Hoya book, yes, descriptions and troubleshooting.
How TO grow them, but now how each one's individual likes are. I find that , for me,
to be unnecessary because everyone lives in different climates and such and it
depends on the methods each person uses.

I would enjoy a precise, concise book with correctly identified species along with
recent pics of foliage and flowers. A book you could trust and only had to flip to the
page of .... to identify a hoya. Tips to remember and methods of rooting and potting,
fertilizer, etc... would be good too.
AAAhhhhh, I could go on and on - too bad I'm just dreaming ! ^_^

All it would need to be a bestseller is amazing photography (check), oh, and basic facts about each plant (where from, care, temp. tolerance, etc.). But most of all great photographs that will inspire people to buy more plants...or hold on to that stubborn little cutting that refuses to budge instead of composting it.

Julia

As for correct IDs....Oh HO...we are dreaming. So many of them change so often...as in any genus...it is an evolving world.

The important aspect for me has been to know where the plant comes from...how it grows in the wild (dry, cold, understory etc.) and to try to mimic them in 'my life'.

I am sorry to relate that I think we have ourselves to depend on. Chris Burton does have a book coming out...and it has been coming out for years. The pictures/illustrations are her drawings and it will be fairly technical...not very warm and fuzzy but very botanical and as correct as she can make it. I look forward to it coming out.

I am encouraging a buddy of mine to write a book...and he is the person who can't find a publisher. We hoya nuts are few and far between!!!! I agree that i think it needs to be a coffee table book with incredible photos and a different twist, like connecting all the dots to Capt. Cook, and Schlecter and the early botanists and their lives....

Hmmmmmmm

Hmmm what I would like in a book.... Since I love cactus. A very good picture of the flower and the cacti, the name and syn.The common name so my neighbors know I am not cussing in a foreign language. Where it came from,the soil mix it likes this includes the Ph level. The temp extremes including the frost. Watering summer and winter. Light requirements. What to do when things go wrong. How to get it to flower.....Oh yes propagation. It would be very nice to have it in large print or on a cd so I can enlarge the letters. Oh one more who wrote it and where they got the info for the book from. If the cacti has a field number and what is it. If its a hybrid the exact plants crossed and who did it and when. When its rest period is and what is needed for that time. I'm forgetting something.... Fertilizer and affordable. Something on the history of the plant and it's evolution. No generalizations. Gee that should be easy.LOL

For Hoyas a picture of the leaf, individual flower and one in its natural habitat if possible. A very defined written description including length of leaf, flower and the flower bundle( is that the umbrel?)and colors. And all the above where applicable. Ok thats it unless you can think of something else. Yes I know its rambling but it took abit to think of the perfect book... One more up dates on who is putting what in a different genra and why. OK I think thats covers it.

I thought of something else no book does a website with all the updates and new hints to grow stuff even better. Ok, Ok I just described Dave's Garden.

I know it isn't a book...but there are a number of websites where you can get the information you want. Look at the sticky threads at the top of the Hoya Forum.

www.myhoyas.com has a wonderful website...with the pictures of leaves, flowers, umbels etc....with copy. Christina (yes our very own MyHoyas) also has a great section on starting cuttings which can be adapted to other forms: in pots, not using her pitcher but using a bottle....etc. Remember, Christina lives in Sweden...so her humidity is NOT high and she really needs that particular method. One of the fun parts, for me, of growing plants is adapting different 'methods' and systems for my own use and need.....

Thanks