Hoya sp. EPC-209 NRT 1 is endemic to the Narathiwat Province of Southern Thailand.  I did a little research on what the climate is like in that area, and was shocked at just how warm and humid it is.  For every month of the year the temperature at night does not usually drop below 73°F and the daily average temperature is around 90° with humidity rarely dropping below 82%.  Talk about living in a pressure cooker!  Without my grow tents, I would have virtually no chance of ever flowering this species.

I bought this Hoya last year (Spring 2014) from Ric Morier on Ebay.  Its most remarkable feature is its very large and beautiful leaves.  I don’t think many people have flowered it, as I can only find one picture of the Flowers on the Internet.  It took around 16 months for me to flower the plant from cutting.  I grow it conventionally in my regular grow mix, and like most Hoyas be careful of the watering with this one as it is easy to rot the roots.  I cannot stress enough what wonderful leaves this plant has with some now approaching 10 inches in length.  If you have the conditions for it Hoya sp. EPC-209 has my highest recommendation.

The flowers last about a week and drip copious amounts of nectar.  They have only a slight, rather unpleasant fragrance.  The unreflexed flower is around .5 inches (1.25 cm) in size with the fully reflexed blooms around .375 inches (.925 cm) in size.