For anyone who wishes to order hoyas from Thailand or any other foreign country for that matter,make sure that you can get a phyto certificate to accommodate your shipment before you pay for it. Customs has been getting their panties in a twist lately and destroying any shipments that are not accompanied by proper documentation. I had a rather large order of rare hoyas coming from Thailand that were shipped on 8/11. The box finally showed up at my house on 8/26. EMPTY!!!! All that was in it was a piece of paper from customs stating that the cuttings had in fact been inspected,were found to be insect and disease free but due to no phyto ( my fault) with the shipment ,my hoyas were destroyed. Bad part about it was that instead of the idiot inspector destroying the box as well, I mean hey if you trash the plants,trash the box too,they found it amusing to go ahead and send me the empty box. A letter would have been fine, my name and address were right on the box!!! The Thai vendor who is someone that i've dealt with for several years now was gracious enough to replace the shipment for me,with a phyto this time. That box was mailed last Monday 9/14,it arrived in N.Y. Saturday 9/19 and it was at my house yesterday 9/21,sent EMS. It took exactly 1 week from the day of shipment for me to receive the order and everything was in excellent condition. david

There are certain hoyas, especially those from the eriostemma group that seem to like a little lime in their mix as they come from places that are sitting on limestone beds. However, how much lime and in what form is unclear, and you may be taking a big chance of losing them if it proved to be too much, or it was a variety that didn't want ANY. Some hoyas like their mix on the acid side, so I really don't think it is a wise idea to plant them directly into those pots. However, there is no reason you could not set the pot they are in INTO the concrete planter. Lots of people "double pot" for other reasons like keeping spills in check in the house. I do it for the reason that I like to use plastic pots for the plants because they are easy to clean and repot, however I also like the looks of the fancier planters all over. So I just add pebbles to the bottom of the new pot (to keep the plant from sitting in water) and then put the plastic pot inside. You can even put a little moss around the top if you want to hide the inside pot. This is what they do for interior design in public places also. This would stabelize your plants fine and be a lot less trouble to work with. Marcy

You can do that. Or..you can wind it up & over the top of the pot or around the hanger. I have made mine very impressive looking by winding it around & up & over. You can secure with orchid clips. If you do trim, you can start cuttings, but beware this variety is VERY slow to grow. I have cuttings I made 2 years ago & they have hardly grown at all. :-( Just thoughts on the matter. It will not harm it to cut away. Marcy

People here are very generous with cuttings, but it comes at a cost! The more you trim to make cuttings the fewer the flowers and the longer it takes to get flowers. YOU having something to trade, makes it hurt a little less to cut off a vine. Most folks here would give up their left arm for something different! But just for postage? hummmm.... We don't just trim and throw away any cuttings!! Mostly do not trim at all! (We even try planting broken leaves:-) We all started off with just one or 2 Hoyas. Be patient! Diane