Big ole thank you to Hetty for this one!! She just keeps on blooming for me...and I LOVE the scent!!! As ya'll know this is my first year w/Plumies...the MR is the only one to have bloomed for me & she's certainly made up for the others!! Hoping next year that the Duke & Celedine will be so gracious...who knows maybe even the 2 unknown whites will make a showing so someone can tell me which one they are. I love suprises!!!
Very nice Chantell!!
Congrats on your blooms they are great!!
Im hoping my Miami Rose Blooms next year.
Thank you Michael...she's so pretty...and the scent is a "soft" one...very nice!!
Edit to say: I can see why ya'll love these plants so much...beauty plus scent...doesn't get any better!!!
This message was edited Sep 2, 2006 5:46 PM
You aint smelled nothin yet
Wait till your celadine and others bloom too
SCHNOIKIES!!
Youll go nutzo for them al!!
Congrats, Chantell! My MR has an inflo too, and I'm hoping she'll bloom before the cold here hits. I may have to move her into the greenhouse for winter so she'll keep blooming. I'm really excited for you! Michael is right that you will go nuts for the Celadine and others too. It's just the beginning of your addiction...LOL!
I can't wait...I've gone nutso for this one...I can only imagine!! LOL
Thanks again Hetty!!!
Something about the rain...brings out the colors so nicely...think we've had enough though...time for it to cease! LOL
That's gorgeous, Chantell! I agree that rain water seems to have magic qualities to it. The plumies love it -- in moderation, that is.
How could it not be happy with a dodding MAMA like Chantell? ;^P
LOL Thanks Michael...more like suffocating mom if you ask me! :) But she looks pretty and smells heavenly so I'm a "happy mom"
Chantell, whatever you are doing as a plumie Mom keep it up. I still do not have any inflos and it is tearing me up. The plants look great and I suspect the inflos will start just as it gets cool and their development will slow down (at least that is what happened last year).
I now know of 3 people nearby who have blooming plumeria and none of them use a high phosphorus fertilizer (or even much of any fert.) and my neighbor's blooming plant is still in the shade. :-((((((
:( I'm so sorry...that would bum me out for sure. Do you start them inside a bit earlier then when it warms outside for you? Or do your neighbors? That is just so sad! I know that I've heard the others say some types are more dependable bloomers then others. I'd ask them about the kind you have and see if anyone has suggestions. I know none of my others have even the beginning of any inflos on them & one's a Celedine (good size too)
I did not start them early inside but remember, I live in a hot climate; they were outside on a hot surface by mid March. The biggest one (4', 8 branches) which should be blooming is a Francoise from FL Colors last year. The others are unnamed well rooted cuttings so perhaps I will have to wait a year but at least two are quite large - you would have thought........
I sprayed them with Messenger today, that stimulates blooms on everything else; we shall see. While spraying I stood out in the yard saying "Bloom " A home is being built on the lot behind mine and I could see the workmen shaking their heads and thinking there goes the loco plant lady again.
Ah the loco ladies unite!! My neighbors are sadly used to it....LOL Even my neighbor's (young adult males, no less) friends that come over will start talking to me about my plants as I'm trying to tend to them on my deck - MY kids are the ones that shake their heads...saying please don't encourage her. ROTFL I'm so jealous...you have a 4' w/8 branches? Wow!! Thought my 2-3' were big...that certainly puts it into perspective eh? LOL
You package that is leaving tomorrow will help you practice rooting and rotting lol!!
Oh Michael *gulp* you trusting soul...although I prefer the extra "O" over the extra "T" in those verbs...LOL You're a sweetheart...can't wait!!
Alice, you are so funny! That made me LOL! Sometimes, plumies just skip a year or two for no reason. Sometimes, they put on growth in lieu of flowering. Maybe that's why we collectors want hundreds of them to be sure that we get to see some flowers! LOL!
I was not consistent at all about fertilizing this summer. I think I fertilized three times total. I am making notes of the good bloomers and the ones that are not blooming for future reference. When you add up the numbers, it seems that only about 20% of my plumerias are blooming or have inflo's. That means 80% are not blooming.
Now, I'm a relatively new grower so I don't have really mature trees. All of my oldest ones, ones that are older than three years old, are blooming so that is a good sign. I think it just takes time and patience to see them bloom. Most of my oldest ones are from Florida Colors, and those are all in bloom. Those include Tahitian Sunset, Marion B., Duke, Nebel's Rainbow, and Intense Rainbow. All of these are blooming on more than one branch.
Kukiat (my mentor and personal hero) has mentioned that phosphorus may actually not be the beneficial element that we have thgought it is in the past and that potassium is actually more beneficial for the plant. I plan to follow this advice in the future and not use any more Bloombooster/Bloombuilder formulas in the spring. I'm going to stick with fertilizers that have even numbers or ones low in phosphorus.
Thanks Clare, guess they just need time but at my age that is a problem. LOL
Funny you should mention the phosphorus issue. They have determined that hibiscus bloom better with low phosphorus fertilizers and plumies should have similar needs as they come from the same regions. I am using 24-8-16 + micronutrients on my hibiscus right now and they are blooming heavily. Hmmmmmm, something else to think about!
Geez...glad I have ya'll to keep up on these things!!!
Thanks for that info., Alice. Here is some information from Kukiat for anyone who is interested. I find this to be very helpful information to know:
"As for P and K, there is no need use a lot of P since most plants need it only little as compared to K. However, the P is also important for the growth of plants. Large quanity of P can be used to slow down the growth of the plants since it lowers the availability of N. Once the growth slow down, the plants accumulate food (in term of Carbohydrates) and increase the C/N ratio. (Note that C=Carbohydrate, N=Nitrogen.) This means that plants have lot of food and may be ready to bloom if the condition of the plant is right. In citrus, I have to lower the amount of water too (meaning lower the N since the N is the most water soluble one) in order to get the high C/N ratio. We are able to get our citrus trees to bloom at a specific time this way.
"However most P is generally fixed by clay particles and accumulated in the soil. Over a period of time, there will be too much P in the soil and make other elements like N and K less available for plants to absorb.
"I think it is important to note here that not all plants are the same. Their requirement for food elements also differs from plant to plant."
-Kukiat
okay chantell it's stupid question time. LOL does that one really smell like a rose? i got a whiff of vera cruz rose at florida colors this summer. now that one's on my list for the rose fragrance. neat to smell that in a plumie.
thanks for posting the pretty blooms. btw, it's nice to see plumies bloomin' in virginia.
dete
I'm gonna have to do another sniff test...I now know why it so hard to describe their fragrances. It's a very soft pretty scent....rose isn't what first comes to mind though - I think of rose as having a stronger, more intense scent.
I would agree with Hetty; it's kind of a suntan lotion coco-nutty spicy fragrance to my nose, but fragrance is subjective so it could very well smell differently to someone else.
Chantell, I had to find this thread again because my 'Miami Rose' is open for the first time. I don't know why, in the past, I thought it smelled like coconut suntan lotion, but maybe that is because that is what everyone told me. I thought 'Miami Rose' and 'Key West Pink' were nearly identical cultivars except for the inflo stem color. I am definitely not getting that fragrance from my 'Miami Rose.' I do get that fragrance from 'Key West Pink' however. Maybe there are a couple of different 'Miami Rose' cultivars floating around. That wouldn't surprise me a bit. Anyway, mine is a very soft perfume, as you said, and a little bit like a rose. I'll sniff again and report back!
Thank you Clare...believe me I kept sticking my nose in the blooms and thinking....this does not smell like suntan lotion. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all...I love the scent mine has!!!
Yeah, I actually got a dandilion smell from it -- at least I think that is dandilion. It's hard to say. It's sweet but not coconut suntan lotion like Key West Pink.
Beautiful color, Chantell!! My three plumies did abit of growing but not buds. Way to go with the cuttings!!
:) Donna
