AZ Grown Plumerias

I am from Arizona and have had very good luck at growing plumerias in the ground and in pots without moving them inside. How much interest is there in Arizona grown plumerias? I have heard there has been problems with importing Plumerias into AZ. Is this true? Trying to get more info on people growing Plumies in AZ. Thanks anything will help.

dbrooks, we have Dete and Mickey in Arizona here on this forum, and there are others as well that I am forgetting, but since it freezes there in Zone 8 and Zone 9, bringing them inside is a must to prevent frost damage unless you have got them sheltered somehow. There is also some talk about plumerias on the Southwest Gardening Forum: http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/region_sw/all/ When you say "problems with importing plumerias into AZ," do you mean from other countries? Within this country, there shouldn't be any problems. Florida Colors is an excellent nursery if you are looking for more varieties at reasonable prices: http://www.floridacolors.com/ They have regular inspections and all the correct paperwork showing inspections so there shouldn't be any problems with getting them shipped into AZ. Mickey has gotten together with some friends from Arizona and driven to Southern California a couple of times to attend the Southern California Plumeria Society plant sales. I think some people have gone to Texas to attend the Plumeria Society of America plant sales and convention as well.

Luc of Florida Colors Nursery just wrote this to Mickey over on another forum:

"...If you buy from a certified nursery in Hawaii, they can ship you cuttings. If you buy from us in Florida, we are certified to ship grafted plants to Arizona. Got a nice selection of Thai grafted plants.

Good luck.

Luc
FCN"

Dbrooks,
I have only had problems with one vendor that wanted to charge an extra $20.- to send plumeria to Arizona. I have gotten tons of plumeria without any problems. I've done well on e bay and Florida Colors is a wonderful place.
Arizona has a problem with nematodes and the plants must be treated for them. However I just got some cuttings from Hawaii theat didn't even have an inspection. The dept of Ag opened the box ant left me a note inside. I was lucky that they didn' t take them. It wasn't my problem it was the sellers problem.
We have several groups here in arizona for plumeria. I have many friends in the PHX area that grow them. A gentelman from California moved to Sedona and there are several in Kingman.
If you are ever in Phoenix area I'm in Cave Creek; you're welcome to stop by.
Mickey

hi dbrooks,

i think i might have seen a pic of your plumeria in yuma if you're growing them in the frontyard. i grow them in tucson. i'm slowly getting people hooked here. i cuttings from all over the place. i highly recommend florida colors. i have friends in socal that send me cuttings when trees are trimmed. i trade with different plumeria enthusiasts, too.

dete

Thanks for all the info. I have started to turn my hobby into a small side business. I have started to sell my plumerias to friends and friends of friends. Was losing too much money giving them away! I would like to turn it into a larger scale business, but was trying to see how much competition there is locally. Would hate to venture into a saturated market, and turn a hobby into a nighmare. With the limited responses, and thanks again for replying all, it does not seem like there are many people growing them commercially in AZ, and maybe not that many growing them peiod.

Clare thanks for all the great information and links, very helpful. Florida Colors has an awesome website.

Mickey. I, for the first time, had to pay for a Phyto cert from Hawaii the other day. They said that the Ag department is cracking down on shipments. $20, but covered all the cuttings shipped. I know it was not a scam, was sent a copy of the cert.
The people growing in Kingman, is it large scale or small scale? Do they offer many PSA registered varieties, or just norm pink, white, red, and yellow?

Tucson, may have been my Plumeria, I have a few in my front yard. Not very big though. Early experiements with where to take cuttings from has left them a little short!

i think that some nursery in yuma used to sell cuttings back in 2001 when i first started growing plumeria. i'd like to see a nursery here in arizona!

There are two nurseries here in Yuma that get Plumerias every now and then. If you are not there within the first day of them arriving, they are gone. Plus they only sell the norm. I take that back, rainbows from time to time, but never know what you are getting. Sometimes they are not even marked as far as color. Well if I do start it it will be gradual, but would love to have you as a customer.

do you have lots of land? will you be growing them outside? ground or pots?

I work for a company that has access to some land and I have access to use it for the short term. All will be in pots, for now. They will be outside. Even with last years frosts I did not lose a plant, nock on wood.

sounds like fun!

i'd definitely recommend aztec gold, celadine and singapore a varieties fit to grow in the low desert of arizona.

a buddy and i are going to make some trips into the interior of mexico to look for palms and plumeria. i'll keep you posted on what i find.

dbrooks,
Check on the Plant Shed. The sell them to Home Depot. They're carrying lots of them and in 2 weeks will be starting to bring them in to the PHX area.They carried some very nice ones and they were cheap last year, I think many of us sell them but not maybe on your scale. They aren't easy in Az.
Dete I'm looking for a Mexican Orange.
Mickey

dbrooks,
You never told us what you have in your collection. Anything for sale? I'm always ready for a road trip for something I don't have.
How cold do you get in the winter. I know you're warmer that we are in Cave Creek.
Mickey

I am in the Yuma area and interested in plumeria. Do you have any available for sale. Do you have a web site with pictures? Or a location where they can be viewed?

thanks

I will have some more for sale in a few weeks. I will contact you through this thread. You can come down and take a look at what is available. Thanks for your interest.
Davie

Hey, guys! If you don't mind, let's stick to the no solicitation, no selling rule that Dave's has. It is so nice to have it that way. Feel free to contact each other off Dave's for buying/selling discussions.

By the way, I hope everyone understands that I copied/quoted what Luc wrote not as an advertisement for Florida Colors but to address the issue of problems shipping to Arizona, which is what I thought this thread was about initially.

Here are some pictures of my large hobby! This is the shade structure I built.

Some of my seedlings.

Wow! Fantastic! I love it!

Beautiful! Those puppies look thirsty! Do you have an overhead watering system? That would be really cool.

More seedlings, I know they all look the same!

Even more seedlings!

That mix looks very dry. Now I see the watering things. I water my seedlings very liberally because they have a tap root and seem to love the water. They look great.

Some of my plants.

Rooting cuttings.

Backyard cuttings.

Patio plants.

Side yard plants.

Bali Whirl.

Washing machine. Hope I am not boring anyone.

Now some flowers. This one has six petals. But not all the time.

Another of 6 petal Yellow.

OK I lied 1 more.

Large yellow

Another.

Last of large Yellow.

Tiny pink, just rooted, struggling to push out flowers, but I refuse to cut it!

Just opening, bright yellow so far. The yellow reaches out further than other yellow I have. Yellows seem to love the Arizona heat. Funny thing is it was sent to me as a pink. Gotta love Ebay. Good thing I flower all my plants!

Calre, first off thanks for the words of enthusiasm!
The plants are all on drip. They get watered everyday to everyother day depending on the weather and soil moisture. The soil may look dry on top, but has plenty of moisture just below the surface.
They may look a little pale because they were just transplanted and have gone through a litlle shock. It is also is very dry here, and we may not get as much of a waxy sheen as you get. It may alsobe because of the intensity of the sun and high temperatures.