I had never ordered from EA before so had no idea what to expect! I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the plant. I love the looks of this one but am so worried that I won't be able to keep it alive! It just seems so delicate for a hoya! So different than what I'm used to, the hoyas with the thick fat leaves!
I was going to pot this one down tomorrow into a smaller pot but read a post on another forum that the linearis prefers a larger pot, it's apparently not a hoya that likes being root bound. So, when I repot it I think I will use the same basket, though it really depends on what the root system looks like when I get it out of the basket it's in, I just won't plant it tight in a little pot. I read that it likes being kept on the dry side too and it arrived very moist. I'm sure they water things well before shipping to keep them from drying out. I am going to repot it tomorrow morning, put it in it's place and then ignore it!
Hoya Linearis
Wow Lin, that is gorgeous!! I am way too excited to get mine on Monday!
Kelly, great idea. Using that plant-hugging pic will definitely lead the police in the right direction. Reward for finding me will be my hoya collection.
Gabi
Do you need to re pot it Lin if its growing well?
Kelly & Gabi, I hope you will post pic's of yours when they arrive too! I know you are going to be thrilled if they are as nice as this one. I was really surprised at the size, I thought it would be the real small hanging basket but it's the large one and the plant is a decent size too.
Dominic: Whenever I get a new plant, the first thing I do is remove the saucer from the bottom and throw it into the recycle bin. I don't like saucers on my pots because of the standing water. I also remove all new plants from the pot and check the roots but I always repot in my own mix because most plant nurseries seem to use a very heavy soil that holds way too much water. I'm assuming the reason for that is to keep the plants from drying out on their travels around the country to the different garden centers. I use a mixture of potting soil, lots of perlite and lots of orchid bark mix. It is a very chunky, fast draining mix but it seems to work best for me and I use it for almost every plant I grow.
My original plan was to pot the linearis up into a much smaller container but I will make the decision as to container size when I get out there in a little while and get a chance to get it out of the basket to look at the root system. Since I've learned the H. linearis doesn't mind a larger container I might plant it back in the same basket it came in. I'm also going to do as you suggested and take a few cuttings from the main plant. I think I will pot up a couple of small pots with cuttings and put them in different locations to see which do best.
Wow, what a gorgeous linearis! I saw Paul Shirley selling a couple of baskets like that, and I was sorely tempted, but since I already have a (very small) linearis I thought I would pass it up... perhaps I shouldn't have! Mine is not so happy in London - wish I had a conservatory to hang it in! Then maybe my boyfriend wouldn't keep complaining about my "hoya book case" - he did the thing with the eye rolling when I told him another couple of plants were turning up... (then he told me he'd actually thought about BURNING my collection - he wouldn't last long if he'd actually tried to do that, egads!).
Well, my linearis is on the plant bookcase, and I hope that it'll make it through the winter along with all my others, it's getting chilly here now... brr!
Hills: ^_^ I'd vote on getting rid of the boyfriend too ... some people just don't understand about the need to have lots of plants, do they? My husband of 39 years is used to it by now! He knows better than to even hint about getting rid of any of my plants. Since I joined DG and have been doing some trading whenever he is home and sees the UPS truck or the mail truck stop in front of the house, he says "Are you expecting a plant?" ^_^ With UPS it's mostly aquarium supplies that he has ordered but with the mail man it is usually a plant for me!
A new boyfriend is much easier to come by then a full 8 inch pot of hoya linearis or many other of the highly coveted hoyas! Opt for the plants, I say!
Although with the quality of men I've encountered recently (all wanting to be my new "daddy" - gag) you may not want to take my advice.....
Kelly
But Kelly...if you get a "daddy" he can buy you lots of hoyas!
Gabi
YAY....got my linearis today!! Kelly, did you get your's today?
Here it is..
It is a gorgeous linearis!
Congratulations Gabi
Hoya linearis is here! It's big- woo hoo! Will be interesting to see if the difference in the leaves of this one and my existing cuttings which are much lighter and much fatter becomes less noticable with the two in the same environment OR if maybe they really ARE different varieties!
Gabi,
Hadn't thought about that angle....ehhhh, still creeps me out....!
Kelly
Congratulations, gals!
I still haven't re-potted mine but will hopefully get it done tomorrow! It's dropping little bitty pieces all over the porch, which isn't good. I hope once I re-pot it will be a ^_^ happy hoya but I have a feeling this one might not like living in Florida. :(
Lin,
Wonder if it would do best indoors? Is this a cool variety? The little cutting I have is one of the cooler areas of the house in a north facing window and it's putting on good growth. It's also in hydro though! Do you want me to send you enough hydroton to start some cuttings for safe keeping?
Kelly
That's just it ... I think someone said it is one of the hoya that likes cooler conditions. Mine is outside and it's warm and humid here most of the year. My plants stay out year round and I think it might be too warm and humid for this one but that is kinda contradictory since they are grown here in Florida in a hot greenhouse! Maybe the greenhouses have fans running and are kept cool? I don't really have a bright location inside for it. I will just play around and see what happens.
Thanks for the offer of the hydroton but I'm going to root in my regular mix right now, like I do everything else. I've thought about trying the hydro growing method for a few plants and may get around to doing that eventually but for the time being I'm going to stick with my usual method. I will just treat this linearis as an experiment - I'm going to repot in my chunky mix and take some cuttings and put some in water and some in potting mix to root. Will keep y'all posted on how things go with this one!
Wow, EA does make a nice linearis, don't they?
Really good specimen sized plants, you guys scored.
Kelly,
My other linearis (the 3 cuttings) are also fatter than this EA one. Hmmmm. Will be interesting to see if they are different. I like the EA one so much better!
Hope it does well for all of us. I never repot EA plants (seems to be their demise with me). But I always take the bottom saucer off - that helps a lot.
Gabi
Have to admit - I like both my little cuttings and EA! Linearis is just a really cool plant! It's one of those that I won't tire of the foliage if it doesn't bloom.
I read a posting a long time ago probably from you, Gabi, and have been ripping the bottom saucers off ever since. I think you're right about it helping!
Now I just have to figure out where to put it!
Kelly
Beautiful Kelly,
congratulations!
Gabi, I was reading through the posts and saw you mentioned placating Sam with a video game- in my house, I'm the one who floods the place with Hoyas AND video games.
Is this unfair?
Mark,
How do you find the time for both hoyas and video games?
From what I have read, you have a very sizeable hoya collection!
I guess I spend way too much time putzing with my plants; hoyas are sort of the cats of the plant world, just put a mealybug-collar on them and splash a little water in their direction every so often and I guess they're set. (:o)
Now, a hoya video game might be fun! You are THE hoya breeder extraordinaire and you start out walking into your greenhouse and you need to destroy the infestation of mealybugs, scale, aphids and assorted other nasties while preventing the surrounding jungle-growth from shading the greenhouse too much.
Of course, there will be "bonuses" that can be uncovered and that will magically produce spurs and umbels of flowers (this will also be the first holographic video game that includes smell-o-vision, so when the flowers bloom, you will also smell their scent). You need to find the bonuses fairly close together so you can have flowers open at the same time for hybridizing. Take too long and the opportunity to transfer the pollen from anther to pistil is gone.
There will also be a nasty neighbor/competitor that is trying to steal your "prize" plant - a hoya so rare that only one exists in the entire world (and you have it) and this plant can be hybridized with any other hoya in existance and will bring whatever qualities you desire to the seedlings.
The greenhouse will also need constant re-arranging to get the flowering plants next to each other and to keep certain plants in the sun (remember the jungle-canopy-shading thing!) As the vines grow and come in contact with each other (vines could also become a tangled mess) they will give hints that this may or may not be a good hybridizing combination.
You might even be able to get the hoya vines to help you defeat the neighbor/competitor, who is trying to sneak a nasty plant into your collection to de-rail your hybridizing program. Once you find the correct combination of plants to cross, a new level of the game will open with even more challenges.
Mike
had to bold the "THE" (:o)
This message was edited Oct 22, 2008 2:26 PM
^_^ ROFL! Mike, that is hilarious! I have never played any video game (I'm old!) but I know there are millions who love those things and I bet one like you describe would sell like gangbusters! LOL.
I don't have many hoyas in my collection but if I were like some folks with hundreds of these wonderful plants I'm afraid I'd be having nightmares after playing that game a few times. Paranoia would set in. Hmm, I can see it now ... greenhouses with electrified windows and doors, vicious dogs, alarm systems, armed guards!
Mike, I believe you just out-lined the plot of an old Andy Griffith show episode- Aunt Bea and her neighbor Clara fighting over a blue ribbon rose for the county fair.
I would play it.
Yes Mark - you are correct...Sam loves her video games. But now that I think of it, her video games take up practically no room (she uses the Wii system and buys most of the games online), whereas I take up TONS of room with my video games (I use Playstation and I'm obsessed with Rock Band and Guitair Here - that equipment takes up so much room...drum set, 3 guitars, etc.).
So not only am I taking over our place with hoyas, but also with video game equipment.
Thanks for making me feel like the worst partner ever Mark! Ha.
Mike, I'd buy your video game in a heartbeat!
Gabi
Gabi, I also yell at Kevin if he gets too close to the Hoya that are in active growth, as he can be sort of a bull in a china shop.
Not to bore everybody else to tears, but I also have a PS and am totally addicted to Oblivion right now.
I bought a PS and asked for a game where I didnt have to kill 500 people and drive 35 different types of sports cars...and they suggested 'The Da Vinci Code' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean' .....Played them once, havent turned it on again in a year... recommendations Mark?
ps..whats PS got to do with H linearis, by the way?..:))
Nothing, Dominic, just demonstrating that Hoya growers can have other (nerdy) interests as well. ^_^
There are some puzzle/logic type games for PS3- one is called Portal, which is kind of addictive, where you solve increasingly hard 3-D puzzles as the game progresses. I don't THINK you kill anybody, but I have not finished it.
Civilization Revolution is a world-building kind of game, with war as a part of the (unfortunately) natural course of human evolution, but at a remove (i.e. you don't have to stick a sword in anyone).
Gabi's Guitar Hero I don't think involves bloodshed, except to your own fingers.
Speaking of hoyas taking over (and our partner's discontent with it), here is an updated picture of the jungle that is in the corner of my bedroom. I have a jungle in the living room too, but it's not as *bad* (well, *bad* for Sam...*good* for me!) as my bedroom!!
Gonna have to buy Sam the new Wii Music - such a fun game. That should hold her over until more jungle additions are added!
Looks like the "Perfect" room to me, Gabi! LOL, I think you should make a deal with your partner ... a game for her, two plants for you! Hey, aren't the games a lot more expensive than plants? ^_^
Here's ONE of the living room jungle areas - notice the row of the video game "jungle" in the bottom shelf of the bookcase - seems even, huh? :)
Haha...you're right Lin. Games are definitely more expensive than plants. 2 hoyas for 1 video game - gonna write up a contract!
Gabi
um, Gabi ... I think that corner needs maybe two more hoyas. ^_^
Gabi,
LOVE those plant stands in the living room (great floors, too!)! What's the really long hoya on top of the bookcase?
Kelly
The one on the right looks like H. carnosa Krimson Queen and I'm curious about the one on the left too ... can't make it out. Love those nice windows too! I would love to have a house with lots of floor to ceiling windows, but then I'd probably be blocking the outside view because I'd be hanging plants all along the window for the light. If I could, I would have plants hanging from the rafters in every room! ^_^
This is what my guest room window looks like this morning. I hung two iron plant brackets last winter when we had a cold spell, and used an old wooden closet rod running across. Perfect for hanging plants. My husband came home yesterday and checked it because he says its bowing in the middle from the weight ... but it's okay, the brackets are heavy and secured into the wall and the wooden pole is sturdy so the plants won't end up on the floor.
I did bring in a couple of hoyas too ... that's brevialata in the right corner. Others are scattered around the house. I left the ones on the front porch out there and covered them with an old thin blanket and a couple out on the back deck that are just there, no cover.
Lin,
That looks GREAT!
Well, Kelly ... I wouldn't say it looks so great but it was a quick fix last winter when I was hustling, trying to find places to put plants when getting them in out of the cold! I had the orchids in one of the bathrooms last winter and all the hoyas in the guest room, hanging from that pole and hanging from the curtain rod at the other window in there. I have a tendency to hang plants from curtain rods when I need to get them in out of freezing weather ... have actually bent/broken a couple of curtain rods doing that and plants ended up all over the furniture and floor! I have a couple of mini orchids that are lightweight hanging from the other curtain rod in that bedroom right now. And I have a couple of other plants hanging from the curtain rod in the study and from a couple of ceiling hooks. It has warmed up to 61 outside now so I could move them all back out but will wait a few days to see what the weather does!
I had thought about buying some more of those wrought iron plant brackets and wooden poles for other windows but never did. I have a feeling they are all stored away for winter now but I might just have to check Wal-Mart and Home Depot and Lowes when I'm out and about later today! My DH might have some work to do when he gets home, LOL.
Thanks Lin and Kelly.
That hoya that you're asking about is lacunosa. Hard to tell from the pic, I know.
Thanks for the compliment on my floors Kelly - just had those done a little over a month ago. I love them! And those plant stands are bamboo I think - got them from Ebay.
Lin, your guest room looks amazing!! I love how those hoyas are hanging. And gorgeous long brevialata you got there.
Gabi
Thanks Gabi, I forgot I had a H. australis and the brevialata hanging in there too!