I'm going to order from here: http://www.alohapalms.com/cgi-bin/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=8143995.12942*WP3VD8&product=PLUMERIAS
I'm going to get :
Hot Pink
Apricot
Rainbow
Yellow
Pale Pink
Are these good choices? I'm going to get two of each to plant down my fence line (long fence). They will get full sun all year long.
Great prices!!!Even though I hang on my neighbor's fence and Ooh and Aww about his beautiful GROVE of Plumies, he doesn't offer me even a little stick! Just wait 'til he sees my fence line. Hah!
Pati
Good choices to buy?
Pati, you should ask your neighbor for some cuttings! Doesn't he have to prune? Those are great choices. I would recommend Celadine over the yellow though. Also, you may want to start the Hot Pinks, Apricots, and Rainbows in containers. If you haven't ordered yet, your order will take about a month to get here because they are slow so you are looking at getting them in mid-August. Plumies take about 90 days to root in the best conditions. They root much slower in fall and winter. If you plant them directly in the ground, chances are that they won't be rooted by the time cold weather and rain comes around, and they could rot easily during this time. I would pot them in individual one-gallon containers and keep them warm and relatively dry through the fall and winter and then continue to grow them in containers through the spring. Then, next summer, they will have a nice rootball, and you can plant them in the ground. August is pretty late to be rooting cuttings, but it can be done with the help of heat mats in the fall and winter.
Thanks so much Clare for taking the time to give me so much information. I know you are a busy person.
I plan to put all of the plants in pots until next summer. It probably will take me that long to find someone to dig my holes. The winters are our dry season, so too much moisture shouldn't be a problem. If I get them mid August, they will be out on my exposed concrete patio (read heating pad) which is really hot until late in October.
I'll get the soil for the pots from the nursery that I bought my Singapore from. They let me go into their baby nursery and their stock trees look like giant Redwoods! I'm getting really excited about this...can you tell. LOL
As to my neighbor, If he prunes any he just sticks them in the ground and adds to his grove. I really don't think he prunes anything much. They had to use a machete to clear the Carolina Jasmine off his roof to repair it, and a Passion Vine has eaten his shed! In fact, it grew through the fence and covered my son's motorcycle.
He'll be so jealous when he sees my fence line...Hah1
Pati
That is funny that your neighbor never prunes. Hopefully, one of his plumeria branches will grow over your fence line, then that baby is yours! Ha!
You'll want to follow the directions on Plumeria 101 carefully about rooting your Hot Pinks, Rainbows, and Apricots: http://www.plumeria101.com/cuttings101.html For some reason, those particular ones that AP sends out are, in fact, hard to root. They need lots of heat and need to remain very dry while rooting; although, you might have some luck watering rooting them if you care to. Your patio sounds ideal.
Some plumies you can just lop them off and stick them in the ground, and they will take root. Celadine is like that. But the rainbows, reds, hot pinks, and apricots can be a little trickier. I couldn't root them back when I tried a few years ago, but I was new to rooting plumies back then too so maybe that was the problem!
That 101 Plumeria link is great! I don't have pea gravel in my pots, but I can see where that would be an advantage.
I looked over the site and read the part about "plunging". That is a great idea, and the pictures are exactly how I imaged my finished row looking! I am a REAL newbie to planting, and can't dig holes big enough for the larger plants, soooooo....I cut the bottom out of the pots of a large Passion vine and a Mexican Flame Vine, scratched out a place in the soil and they grew out the bottom of the pots. I had seen plants outgrow their pots so I just thought I would give them a place to go. I guess I accidently did the right thing. LOL
BTW, the Passion Vine has grown around and up to the top of a Cabbage palm, and the Mexican Flame grew down the fence and up into an Oak tree.
I'm doing some serious thinking about how to handle the winter...heat, keep dry, etc. I think it might involve a frame with clear plastic over part of the patio, but I'm still thinking!
Pati