LOL, Brad! I think you won the race:-)
A contest early and late
Clare_CA:
Don't give up! Your's may get a spurt. It's never over, 'till it's over. Anyhow, it's the first photo, and I won't be around this weekend.
I'll be braving the frozn tundra, up North.
Brad where up North?
My only one showing buds so far is "Mango Blush"..has 5 bloom stems just showing..
Lilypon~
Princeton, NJ. I hear it's going to be cold and rainy.
Eclipse~
Keep the sun on them...... The race is on!
Oh.. no fair... I just took mine out of their winter hibernation in the garage (bareroot) two weeks ago and plunked them in the ground. Strange.. mine always seem to set their buds prior to the leaves coming out.. but.. hey, I'm not complaining, I will have blooms within one month.
MzMunchkin~:
How far north are you?
Why don't you just leave them in the ground, year long?
Flyboy.... go to the furtherest end of Florida from you and that is where you will find me... I'm in the coldest part of Florida... the panhandle up by Alabama.. we get deep hard freezes here.. if I left my plumies in the ground they would be toast... this is NOT the Florida that folks envision.. nope, no tropical haven here... not by a long shot.. our last freeze date is around the end of March.
This message was edited Apr 21, 2005 6:00 AM
MxMunch~:
Bbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
You sure that's Florida? I guess I can agree. We drove thru there like 100 years ago, the day after we saw the Patriots getting creamed by the Bears at the Super Bowl in New Orleans. I remember there being ice at the bottom of the buckets in the gas stations when we stopped to refuel,
That was the same day that the Challenger blew up. We saw it happen up in the sky as we drove thru Northern Florida.
Hope you're warm today.
OK guys. Here's your chance. I'll be away for four days. My pregnant TW has still not bloomed, and I'll not be able to claim any prize (IF it opens). So, good luck.
I probably missed the blossoming by a couple of days -- but this is what I found this morning:
Magnificent, Brad! Congratulations!
Clare_CA:
OK. Now, how do I pollenate them?
I think you had the right idea with the q-tip and exchange of pollen. Get your q-tip and act like a bee! Seriously, I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure you need to pollenate your TW flowers with the pollen of a different cultivar so you would need two different cultivars flowering at once.
Clare_CA
Yes -- but where do I find the pollen? All I see are petals.
Remember, "Where's the beef?"
Well, where's the pollen?
Brad, you probably have to carefully cut open the center/base of the flower to get pollen from an anther. I just did a quick Google Search for you, and here are some related links that I came up with. It looks like artificial pollination is difficult. You may have to rely on natural pollinators to get seedpods.
http://botanictreasures.com/psa/pcb5-1.html
http://www.io.com/~jrm/plum006.htm
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/plumeria/msg0320442618459.html
http://starbulletin.com/2002/04/12/features/garden.html
Clare_CA:
Thanks for taking the time to help. I guess the pollenator has to be a tiny varmint to get the job done. Have you ever had any seed from your plumies?
I'm going to snip a white blossom and tap it onto the TW -- and then vice versa. That's about it. I'll report back to you.
Good luck gettings some seedpods. You may get lucky. Those are very gorgeous flowers. I didn't get seedpods on any of my flowers last year, and the year before that, I only had one Celadine blooming. I'm still fairly new to growing plumerias. I think, as these trees get bigger and more mature, they tend to have more and more seedpods so it may be just a matter of time before you get some.
What the TW inflor looks like today
Brad, you have to upload that picture here (please, please, please): http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/101488/index.html That is absolutely stunning!
Clare_CA~
Thank you for your enthusiasm. I dutifully did as you suggested -- and I am happy to report that it was painless.
LOL! Thanks, Brad:-) That pictures is fantastic.