Plumeria
Plumeria
A smell of plumeria's warm fragrance and I am back to Hawaii. The beautiful plumeria lei and the trees full of yellow, pink and white flowers with fragrance hanging in the warm, moist air forever linked the plumeria with tropical Hawaii. I liked the plumeria so much that I bought a small branch of plumeria in a plastic bag in the Honolulu airport. The branch rooted in a pot and happily sent a few leaves and next year yellowish-white flowers appeared. The plant was transplanted into my yard and it is 8-feet tall. It blooms profusely every year and the sweet smell fills the garden. I also bought a "Rainbow" variety with hues of pink, yellow and white on the same flower in a San Diego Plumeria Society exhibition at the Balboa Park. It grows side by side with the yellow-white plumeria. The"Rainbow" flowers are also fragrant, but not as strong as the other tree. The thick-petaled flowers arrange themselves in a pinwheel fashion that reminds remind me of a royal crown. They tend to drop to ground with shape, color, and fragrance intact. The flower do not have long stem for cutting flowers, but individual flowers can be floated in a a shallow glass dish filled with water. The beautiful display and the fragrance in the glass dish is very practical decoration in the bathroom.
For a tropical plant, plumeria grows surprisingly well in San Diego. My plumeria plants grow on the clay soil with minimal amendment in a South facing spot. It is deciduous here, dropping leaves in February to March and start sending new leave in mid-April. Flowers appears in early June and bloom for several months perfuming the air for a long time. I sprinkle 20-20-20 sustained-release fertilizer twice a year. They have been blooming more profusely every year.
Plumeria is one of the easiest plant to propagate. In the summer time, cut a branch about 8 to 12 inches long. Keep the branches in a shady dry spot for a few days to dry the wound. Insert the branch is a pot with a good potting soil. Keep the soil moist and the pots in the bright shade and the branches will root in a few months. Some of the branches may bloom the same year. Seed pods will sometimes formed on the branches. The seeds from the mature seedpods can be planted in a potting soil and usually sprout in approximately 2 weeks. I have not personally grown plumeria from seeds, But it is an option if you want a lot of plumeria plants which may be somewhat different from the parent plants.
A smell of plumeria's warm fragrance and I am back to Hawaii. The beautiful plumeria lei and the trees full of yellow, pink and white flowers with fragrance hanging in the warm, moist air forever linked the plumeria with tropical Hawaii. I liked the plumeria so much that I bought a small branch of plumeria in a plastic bag in the Honolulu airport. The branch rooted in a pot and happily sent a few leaves and next year yellowish-white flowers appeared. The plant was transplanted into my yard and it is 8-feet tall. It blooms profusely every year and the sweet smell fills the garden. I also bought a "Rainbow" variety with hues of pink, yellow and white on the same flower in a San Diego Plumeria Society exhibition at the Balboa Park. It grows side by side with the yellow-white plumeria. The"Rainbow" flowers are also fragrant, but not as strong as the other tree. The thick-petaled flowers arrange themselves in a pinwheel fashion that reminds remind me of a royal crown. They tend to drop to ground with shape, color, and fragrance intact. The flower do not have long stem for cutting flowers, but individual flowers can be floated in a a shallow glass dish filled with water. The beautiful display and the fragrance in the glass dish is very practical decoration in the bathroom.
Plumeria bought in Honolulu airport
For a tropical plant, plumeria grows surprisingly well in San Diego. My plumeria plants grow on the clay soil with minimal amendment in a South facing spot. It is deciduous here, dropping leaves in February to March and start sending new leave in mid-April. Flowers appears in early June and bloom for several months perfuming the air for a long time. I sprinkle 20-20-20 sustained-release fertilizer twice a year. They have been blooming more profusely every year.
Plumeria is one of the easiest plant to propagate. In the summer time, cut a branch about 8 to 12 inches long. Keep the branches in a shady dry spot for a few days to dry the wound. Insert the branch is a pot with a good potting soil. Keep the soil moist and the pots in the bright shade and the branches will root in a few months. Some of the branches may bloom the same year. Seed pods will sometimes formed on the branches. The seeds from the mature seedpods can be planted in a potting soil and usually sprout in approximately 2 weeks. I have not personally grown plumeria from seeds, But it is an option if you want a lot of plumeria plants which may be somewhat different from the parent plants.
A plumeria seed pod
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