My specimen of Hoya wightii ssp palniensis was collected in the the wild in Tamil Nadu, India by Nathalie Simmonson (now Juhonewe).  The collection number is NS04-002.  She gave a cutting of it to Julie Kennedy from the United Kingdom who was kind enough to share some of her plant with me.

The main difference between my Hoya wightii ssp palniensis and others is that this one was very difficult to bring into flower.  I’ve read all over the Internet how this plant is difficult to root , easy to grow, and flowers in a relatively short time.  It took me three and a half years with an extremely healthy plant to pull it off.  It has a tendency to grow peduncles which never bud up and eventually abort them.  I tried every trick that I know of including bloom boosting fertilizers, every wave length of artificial light, and different temperature strategies all to no avail.  I put it directly outside last year with no results to show for it.

This summer (2015) the plant went directly outdoors in May once again, but with a different location allowing for more direct sunlight to hit the plant.  It now received 2-3 hours of sun every day.  In addition the plant was heavily watered from numerous rain showers as  this was a very wet summer for us.  It withstood huge temperature fluctuations and finally put on strong peduncles which finally budded up and flowered in September.   The flowers are heavily perfumed, and the fragrance is amazing – one of the best in the Hoya world.  If you have the patience, I can highly recommend this Hoya to beginners and experts alike.