A GREAT YEAR FOR PLUMERIA

After many, MANY years without plumeria blooms, I now have three different colors blooming at one time. Until now, I had resigned myself to growing them for just the foliage.

The lesson here is to NEVER GIVE UP on a plant. Let me give you a tour of 

PLANET PLUMERIA.

This is the first time I've ever seen this one bloom in my garden. It is raspberry pink with white highlights and raspberry veining. The throat is a deep yellow.

The reverse side looks like this. This is one of my favorite features in a plumeria; the back is almost as nice as the front!

Here is the yellow plumeria that bloomed this year for the first time.

And here is the white plumeria with a a hint of pink. The fragrance is similar to gardenias.

It is hard for me to decide which one is my favorite. It's like giving birth to triplets when you expected only a single baby.

Even when not in bloom, I find them very beautiful.

Here's a close-up of the unusual veining.

Here's a view of the leaf scars and thick stems.

If you put your plumeria up on a wall you can also enjoy the sun coming through the leaves.

Mine are only 5 feet tall, so I crawled underneath to take this shot.

Plumeria look best growing in clusters or a set of three.

Larger plants can of course fill an entire large pot and be grown as a single specimen.

A view of our front garden

If you grow them in a landscape, put them in the very back for vertical interest. Remember,many plumerias can add 12 inches (30cm) of growth to each stem in one season!

There are hundreds of varieties. Here's a page from an old  Stoke's Tropicals catalogue to give you a hint of  what's out there.

If you are a tropical gardener, follow the link and enjoy drooling over the photos.

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Plumeria prices are high, but if you join a Plumeria Society, the prices are more reasonable & most of the members swap plants with other members.  Some may even give a novice member a few starter plants to enjoy and most meetings have a raffle drawing or a door prize. Gardeners are the nicest people.

Sadly, I just missed a Plumeria tour and sale here in Houston, but I'll give you the link anyway. PLUMERIA SOCIETY TEXAS GULF COAST.  

(Details are at the bottom of this post)

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If you don't have a society near you, then try buying some from Florida Colors Plumeria.

They have been around for a long time and the prices are reasonable. Call first and get to know them.

Remember: Plumerias hate cold weather, but are easy to store when they go dormant in the winter.

They make easy pot plants in many regions that are not even tropical!

I love the botany part of gardening, so of course I had to track down a few facts for you.

As much as we would all like to believe that plumerias are from Hawaii, they are in fact from regions of the Yucatan Peninsula southward to Central America and northern South America.

One species is from Cuba and the larger islands of the Caribbean.

The Singapore plumeria is not native to Singapore.

Most Hawaiian leis (flower necklaces) are from flowers grown in Thailand.

Sharing plumeria between collectors is simple; you snap off a branch and hand it to them!

The woody stems will set roots and grow after a few months.

I am NOT a collector, so I'll not be snapping off branches for you any time soon.

Please forgive me. I don't want to spoil the show and make the plumerias angry.

(How would like someone to snap off your arm while you were singing an opera?)

That's it for today.

Thanks for stopping by and I hoped you enjoyed Planet Plumeria.

In the summer, I put these delightful flowers on our bed stand so that I can smell them as I drift away to pleasant dreams. 

Ahhhh....this is why I have a tropical garden.

David/:0)

DETAILS ON THE GULF COAST PLUMERIA SOCIETY in HOUSTON, TEXAS

Here are the dates, but CALL the garden center FIRST to see if they are meeting: