I was thrilled this afternoon when I discovered my first fully opened flower. At the same time a littl dissapointed because the pic does not reflect the true color. In real life the flower is much darker, a very very dark red. beautiful.
Clare this is one of the two I bought from Florida Colors.
here is another pix. I need to work on straightening the stem.
A great start. The stalks usually bend towards the light. It may need more sun, or less.
Good photo.
trois do you have this plumie?
My cuttings has not bloomed yet. Yours looks very much like the ones I just posted. These blooms started as deep red. I don't know the name, but seem to remember something Mango--
Trois
fertilizing plumies weekly w/ hibiscus fert. is one of the few things I have been religious about. I think this is why they're doing so well. Hopefully next one to bloom will be Scott Pratt. I'm crazy about the dark red ones although they're all beautiful.
Congrats, Nery! That's a real beauty! You got two of the best reds: Scott Pratt and Irma Bryant. Hmmm, I see a Hilo Beauty in your future:-) That's a nice red too. By the way, I get bent cuttings all the time. They are easy to straighten out. Just stick a bamboo stake straight down right next to the plumie and use a green plastic stretchy tie to tie the plumie tightly to the stake at the bottom. Then put a tie around the top part of the bent plumie and tie it as tightly as you can. Each week, slide the top tie even further upwards and tie it tighter if necessary. You will have a straight plumeria in no time. This picture shows a couple that I've done like that, and they are nearly straight now.
thanks Clare, I was hoping you would see this. I have plenty bamboo sticks, so will do.
I am so messed up! I bought Scotty and Irma from the tip you gave about a guy sellling 10 cuttings from $50. The Hilo Beauty, which I consider my most special was from FL colors, a grafted cutting. That one has grown the best but no flower yet.
Nery, was that the Dutch auction on eBay? I have to be more careful about recommending eBay. It is an inexpensive way to buy plumerias sometimes, but there are also a lot of sellers who aren't selling healthy cuttings and who aren't selling the cultivars that they advertise. There are some great reliable sellers too. One just has to know which is which.
For example, Pooba (Darin) sold some cultivars earlier on eBay which were priced very well, and the cuttings were large and healthy when they arrived. I bought five different cultivars from him. His 'Kona Hybrid' has bloomed for me, and it is not the correct cultivar 'Kona Hybrid' which has a different petal shape. I don't mind though because I really like his flower, and it is the same flower that he showed a picture of when he sold the cutting, but I can't call it 'Kona Hybrid.' It shall remain unnamed, but it is beautiful. Here it is below. Now I have to examine those others that I bought from him to make sure they are the correct cultivars. I think they will be, and this one was just mislabeled.
One way to tell that you have a dark red plumie is that the leaves are dark red when they emerge. Scott Pratt has almost purple leaves when they emerge. Hilo Beauty has green leaves, but I think they are lined in red.
yep, I noticed they are blackish looking on the Scottie, and green/red lined on HiloB. I noticed that immediately. I'll come back and tell you who the special was from. They've done great.
yep. it was poobah. Well, I will watch very very closely. And just to clarify, the Irma Bryan is a very dark red, but my camera just didn't capture the true color. I am happy with it. I'm sorry that your Kona Hybrid wasn't what you expected. I had admired the bloom you posted, but it's never good when it doesn't meet your expectation.
BTW, I was lurking on the Daves Forum and reading the discussion about private mails. I have sent you and others PMs because I assume that, like me, those will be the first you read and would get prompt attention. I like getting those. I wasn't aware of the behind the scene harrasment that goes on because nobody had ever bothered me. Good discussion, I will be more careful about that.
Now I have to get back to googling about bunny pet care. Seems I have been killing him w/ kindness and I love him so much, I need to shape up!
Regards
Hi Nery! I'm not at all disappointed with the flower that Pooba called Kona Hybrid. I like it even better than the real Kona Hybrid, but it is important to identify a cultivar correctly so I just wanted to mention that. There are some unscrupulous sellers on eBay that will sell you one cultivar and deliver another so it is important to watch out for them. I don't think Pooba is one of those. I'm sure you have the real Irma Bryant. Your flowers are gorgeous! How is the scent? Here's one link: http://www.plumeria101.com/master_gallery/irma_bryan.html By the way, is it "Bryant" or "Bryan"? I think the correct name is "Bryan." There is a good description on Page 32 here: http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/OF-31.pdf
Nery, I don't mind p.m.'s at all from nice people like you and fellow subscribers. I really don't even mind when a fellow subscriber who I am familiar with from the forums emails me with an offer of a trade. It's getting requests for plants from nonsubscribers and people that I have never heard of that is the issue.
yeah, I have been hearing about those unsolicited communications, didn't realize they were so rampant. It is Bryan
I'll tell you a story. about 3 years ago I discovered GW and their trading database. I was so impressed with it that I started emailing everyone that had plants I wanted and offering mine, out of the blue. Easily 100 emails. Most didn't respond, just ignored me. The few that responded kept me busy w/ trading and turned out to be successful. One time I offered this lady one of my nicer EEs in trade for her black fennel. At the time I didn't realize I could buy black fennel at my local nursery for $1.50, so you guessed: she was extremely suspicious about my offer and let me know so, in no uncertain terms. In spite of all her "I don't trust you" rhetoric she went ahead and did me the grand favor of trading. Her plant arrived dead. I let her know but never heard from her again. The short of it is that some people solicit 'cause they don't know any better. Ignoring them usually takes care of the problem. I didn't know any better but lucky for me I'm a quick study and this was less than a $10 mistake. I can happily live with that.
A corollary to the story is that I occasionally read postings from this person bellyaching about "traders that do her wrong". I wonder why...
Anyway, it's too hot outside to piddle in the yard, so instead I'm writing dissertations. sorry, blame it on the weather, LOL.
LOL, Nery! Thanks for sharing your story. I've been lucky enough to find a couple of really wonderful traders, and I have traded with them exclusively for the past couple of years. Occasionally, I've traded with someone that I am familiar with from the various forums, and usually, those turn out fine too. I've been burned a few times, but for the most part, I've been happy with trading.
But, that being said, I've decided not to do any more trades. It takes an awful lot of time to take the cuttings, label them, try to root them, keep the water jars filled, etc., and I become stressed out when they don't root or when they don't make it or when something happens to them while rooting. It is also time-consuming carefully wrapping the roots with moist paper towels and then plastic wrap, labeling, packaging, and mailing. It will take me several hours just to mail out one large trade. And then I hate standing in line at the post office, which could be 30 minutes or more, and since I always send Priority Mail, postage is expensive. There is also so much email correspondence for one little trade, and that is time-consuming too.
My garden space is maxed out anyway, and I'm not taking on any new plants so that makes it easy to stop trading. Trading has been a great experience, and I have gotten some really nice plants from it, and I really appreciate those that I've traded with in the past, but it is just something that I don't want to do anymore. If someone asks me where they can find the plant that I have, I usually do my best to find a mail-order nursery that sells it for them.
Plumeria cuttings, on the other hand, are one of the easiet plants to trade because you can just lop off a branch and send it without worrying about the roots, etc. One cutting by Priority Mail is usually around $3.95, which isn't bad. I may consider trading plumeria cuttings some time in the future. A lovely man in Thailand, whom I've communicated with for a long time, sent me some plumeria cuttings, and I intend to send him some of mine next year when I have some branches to cut.
I finally got a couple of good pix on Irma Bryan. This one captured the color pretty well. The older flower has faded some but for the most part it retains its rich color. I love it.
here's another one
That's a lovely red, Nery. Congrats!
Well THANKS Clare.....now I know how to straighten my wayward plumies. I have a few. LOL
Nice plumies, Voss.
What a lovely red color!!! Enjoy your blooms.
Thanks for the straightening advice Clare..I will have to try that!!!
Kell and Kim, check out my article at http://www.plumerias.com if you have time. Go to the "Clare's Garden" link at the bottom of the page. My article has more detail, I think, about straightening crooked plumies. Once a plumie is straightened, you can remove the stake.
I will in the morning. I am beat. Time for bed. Thanks Clare.
Great info Clare...thanks!!!
I'm confused (which is not unusual for me). Vossner, you say you fertilize weekly with hibiscus fertilizer to keep your plumerias blooming? I was under the impression that hibiscus fertilizer is low in Phosphorus and that plummies prefer the high phosphorus ferts. What am I missing here?
Ardesia, pls disregard the above comments. I have confused myself. What I should have said is that I sprayed religiously (meaning weekly during warm season) with water soluble Bloom Booster fertilizer.
For year 2006, I applied granular fertilizer formulated for tropical flowering plants early in March. Probably due to apply again. I have been applying Messenger to the plumies and have notice inflos earlier than in previous years. I can't say categorically that it is because Messenger, but there is a change.
I started applying Bloom Booster as a foliar spray last Sunday and will likely do that on a weekly basis til warm season is over.
Again, my apologies for the confusion.
Kell, you were up late last night, you, night owl, you! I was too:-) I hope you got a good night's sleep.
Thanks, Kim! I'm glad you liked it!
Nery, it sounds like you are doing some good stuff there! I know other people that use Messenger on their plumies too, and they too really like the effects of it.
Thanks for your prompt reply ; I am glad to know I am not the only confused one around here L & LOL :-).
We are in a tiny community here and things like fertilizer specifically for tropical plants is non-existant. WIll have to check for that when I get to a big town again. Tomorrow is my "spritz everything with Messenger" day so I will make sure the plumies get a good hit of the good stuff.
alice
Alice, your plumies will love Messenger! They do not seem too picky to me so I think any fertilizer will do. Many plumeria growers use many different kinds of fertilizer with varying formulas. I know one guy that uses orchid fertilizer on his plumies and loves the results. Some growers use the slow-release granules when they transplant and then use the water-soluable kind throughout the season. Some use all even numbers like 13-13-13, while some start out with a number high in nitrogen and then switch to one high in phosphorus. Some start out with a Bloombooster/Bloombuilder formula and then switch to the regular formula as the growing season progresses.
Happy I found this post...Clare as always...educating me!! Going to tie my Duke up to a bamboo stake ASAP...I wasn't sure what to do...ghetto me...I kept her curve turned away from the sun thinking she'd straighten up with time. No such luck...LOL. And I'm happy to report when her leaves have been coming out they are a deep purple...yippeee!!!
Chantell, I learn somerhing new every day here at Dave's place. I was a docent in a lovely garden on tour recently and the homeowner had a plumie; I was able to somewhat intelligently answer most of the questions about it - only because I have learned so much from Clare, Malestrom and others here.
Thanks guys :-)
Chantell, my article over at http://www.plumerias.com gives instruction on staking plumies and how to straighten them also if you get a chance to read it. You can click on the pdf version and save it to your computer's hard drive for future reference.
So glad to help:-)
Thank you Clare! Went to look at my Duke and guess what? She is straightening up! LOL How funny is that? Went by my HD and they were clueless as was Walmart as to what the green tie stuff was...grrr!!! I get so frustrated when I don't feel I'm explaining it right. Do you know what the brand name of the stuff is?
chantell you just had the misfortune of asking a nitwit. I know HD carries it because that is where I bought it. Perhaps if you say "tape used to fasten/train vines" it mighg click w/ them. If you don't want to put up with the aggravation, I won't mind getting it for you and mailing, for reimbursement. But I really think this should be an easy find in your area.
very useful stuff. I, too, used it to straigthen a plumie and, with wonderful results
vossner,
Thank you...I will keep that in mind if I can't find an intelligent life form tonight...LOL BTW how are your gingers doing? I made the mistake of putting their pots outside for a bit to acclimate them to outdoors (before putting them into the ground) and picked the hottest days we had!! Add to that - I thought I had them in a place that was partially shaded....grrr! Not!! Found some burned leaves when I got home!! Put them quickly under my dwarf magnoila and now they're in the ground under the same tree - just pruned the tree some to give them room for height. I think this will be a better place for them then the flower bed that gets full sun - even though I'd been told the Butterfly Ginger can tolerate full sun...done rambling now...LOL
started slow but they are up and running, about 2 ft tall now. Yep, yours will recover.
I thought they looked a bit better this morning!! Poor things - after all that babying for months inside I thought I'd "done it!" When is the norm for blooming - do you know?
Chantell, Where is Stafford? Not sure if you ever get to the DC area but there is a nursery there called Merrifield's that is huge and has all the supplies you could ever need. Not sure if it is Fairfax or Falls Church but it is near the intersection of Rt. 50 & I-66.
They have wonderful plants also but beware, they are pricey and you might wind up with "emptyous purseii", the dreaded gardeners affliction. My kids live nearby and whenever we head up that way my husband makes excuses why we can't stop at Merrifields; he is afraid we won't have enough money to get home afterwards. LOL
Too funny...yes Empty Purse Syndrone is sad indeed!!! Don't know why I didn't think in terms of nursery - we have a good one right where I live...duh!! MIA brain...again
LOL, Ardesia! Love the "emptyous perseii"! That is funny! Yes, the dreaded gardener's affliction! Ha! Good one!
Chantell, I'm afraid I don't know the name of it. I usually just call it green stretchy nursery tape or something like that. Nery is right that "vine ties" is a a good way to describe it to the uninformed clerks. They have a whole section of similar things at Home Depot, and it is usually in the stake department. They have a velcro roll too that is nice. It makes the tightening each week a little easier.
I'm almost afraid to ask, ardesia - does Merryfield carry cactus and succulents? THAT would surely be my down fall!!!
It has been a while since I was "allowed" to venture into their hallowed greenhouses but I am pretty sure they do. This place is really your full service garden center, they have everything. The plants I have bought there were all very healthy and they were plants that would be hard for me to find here. Of course, there are plenty of good nurseries in that area. Have fun :-)
