Frangipani, Plumeria

On Jun 10, 2010, HolyChickin from Fort Lauderdale, FL wrote:

No matter if you call it Frangi Pangi, Plumeria; this tree is absolutely breathtaking! And the flowers smell SOOOOOO yummy! If I could, I would walk around with them pasted to my face!

They don't get very large but completely make up for it in how pretty they are! I saw one well taken care of (it had some age so it's owner definitely loved it) some years back and fell head over heels. It looked like an umbrella with perfect little all white flowers. It really made me feel like I was in paradise.

About 3 years ago, I was in a local nursery with my Mom and we found several 'sticks in pots' marked Plumeria. I knew EXACTLY what it was and talked my Mom into planting it in her front yard. She used to have a tree in the same place that was taken out by Hurricane W... read moreilma and was looking for something to replace it. Since it is a smaller tree, she won't have to worry about it taking out the house if it falls in a hurricane. This of course won my argument. We were warned by the nursery not to water it a whole bunch. Since we do get a lot of rain around here, it has pretty much been maintenance free. The nursery wasn't sure which color it was so we planted it in the ground and waited for the Spring.

Once Spring arrived, very pretty white flowers with a yellow heart appeared. Of course my Mom was extatic because yellow is one of her favorite colors. The tree is still going strong to this day! I went for a vist a few weeks ago and it was blooming beautifully! She is very happy with it as it doesn't take up the entire yard but still gives some shade to the front.

Unfortunately, it is VERY sensitive to colder weather... thankfully, we don't get very much of it here. This last winter though was pretty cold... it of course lost all of it's leaves but as soon as the cold passed, it bounced back as if nothing happened. I am sure though if it was a little colder for a longer period of time, it wouldn't have been good at all.

It also, sometimes tends to get blackspot... when it does though, it looses all it's leaves and after a few weeks, it's sprouts more. I am sure with regular treatments, it probably wouldn't get anything at all.

I probably could lop off a branch to start my own but, I recently placed an order for seeds from Thailand in colors I have never seen locally before. Since I know the Plumeria is pretty successful here, I am going to give it a shot! With any luck, I'll be the the only person within a several mile radius with an ORANGE Frangi Pangi!