Greg, thank you, thank you for posting more pics! Love your rock star! And Waimea--swoon! I keep thinking I need that one but I have Leona and they look so similar.

Your picture of Aimhorn makes it much more attractive than the one on the FC website. Looks a lot like Ellen #15, which is a gorgeous flower. So glad that the iguanas haven't destroyed those beautiful inflos!

Thanks Greg, but it sucks to see how you east coasters get flowers in early spring. Out here in So.Cal it looked like we were going to have a fantastic early flower season and then the June gloom showed up and ruined everything. I hope we aren't looking at two months of damp, gray, foggy days as this is early for the marine layer to move in. I think we have to wait until July to see what you are seeing now. Thanks for sharing. Bill

Wow Greg, Jen is right, "Swoon"!

I have a feeling that the more pictures everyone posts, the longer my wish list will become. Unfortunately, the list is growing exponentially faster than my 'flex' account.

Bill, agreed, this weather is the pits! I used to enjoy cloudy weather as it paired so well with a nice glass of red wine... now all I want is sunshine for my plumie's! Luckily I am probably 8 miles more inland than you, it does help, although we've all been stuck in the dregs recently.

Thanks Greg, such pleasure ahead for all of us!
Wendy

Greg, those are all exceptional.... Nicely done! Hope you are staying warm down there... High was only in the low 70s here today so everyone had on long sleeves!

Thanks to all of you for your kind words! It makes it all the more enjoyable to be able to share my blooms with fellow enthusiasts. The more flowers I get, the more obsessed I become! LOL

Jen, regarding your Aimhorn observations: it's so funny--when I was creating the post, I thought about captioning the Aimhorn photo with: "this flower SHOULD be called 'Thai Ellen' " ;) I thought the exact same thing...I have Ellen 15 but it hasn't bloomed yet, so when it does we'll conduct a "side-by-side" comparison! LOL I also agree about FC's flower photos...many are unfortunately not so flattering...but I bought Aimhorn because I went down there in person and loved that flower.

I'm glad that you love my "rock star"! Haha I started calling it that because, while I have six or so cultivars that are blooming at the moment, the hot pink noID is the one that everyone in the neighborhood raves about! The inflo is ENORMOUS!

Bill, your photos have made me envious so, so many times!!! I have to pinch myself now that the tables have apparently turned! ;) In seriousness, your photos and your passion for these flowers has been a huge inspiration to me--thank you. Case in point--I took this photo of Teresa Wilder thinking of your famous "from underneath" inflo pics:

I've said many times that Cali would indeed be Heaven on Earth, if only that water off the coast were warmer!! How frustrating it must be for all of you out there...well, may the June gloom soon blow far away and the sun shine full on your trees. Can't wait to see your 2012 pics!

Greg

Hey Greg!!

You know how exciting your pics are and how much i love seeing your gorgeous blooms!!!

All of them are so impressive. I really like the Waimea.... but i told myself that i have enough!! Sheesh! You are killing me with those pics!!! : )

Your "Rock Star" is stunning!!

I totally agree with you about Bill and his flowers... He is the reason and (inspiration) for me wanting to have trees like his out in Cali. It really is like Heaven out there and i hope that the June Gloom is short lived for all of you .....

Greg..i love that pic of your TW...simply beautiful!!!

Thanks for all of the lovely pictures and for giving us something to look forward too! I only have a few blooming but hopefully in a few weeks, i will have some pics to post!! : )

Thanks again!

Laura

Greg,
Great flowers and photos. its fantastic to see a Waimea and Teresa Wilder blooming. I hope mine will look as nice. Thanks for sharing.

K.

Wow I love your Waimea. Makes me glad I just bought one off of ebay. And your underneath photo is stunning.

~Jen

Laura, K, Jen:

Good morning, and thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing pics of all of your blooms as well.

Laura, let's be honest: we're both addicts, and it makes me feel better about my addiction to enable yours! LOL Waimea is a "must have". Also, my point-and-shoot camera doesn't really accurately capture Hula Girl's bright neon pink color--wait 'til you see it with your own eyes! What a flower. You'll be thanking me ; )

Have a great day, everyone! 59 degrees here in South Florida this morning, what what?!? It's nearly May! Brrrr!

Greg

Hula Girl is on my wish list. Maybe they will have one at the PSA sale in June. I got a Waimea last August and a Teresa Wilder last month. Both are from the Jim Little kiosk at Dole Plantation. The TW is rooting right now.

KMS, you've got me all excited now- Thurs I am HI bound, and you beter believe I'll be heading to the Dole plantation. Greg's Waimea & TW are breath-taking, I hope they have one for sale!! Already mentally crossing those two off the list, lol.

K and Wendy:

I bought my Teresa W cutting from Matt on eBay last summer, unrooted. Within days of placing it in soil, it popped an inflo which I did not cut. That same inflo held on all winter and is the one that is blooming now. When the tree woke up last month, the other tip immediately popped an inflo--2 for 2! Gotta love that.
And, K, for what it's worth, my HG popped its inflo in the dead of winter, like the child that cannot sleep on Christmas Eve. This cultivar is awesome; my camera just doesn't depict what it truly looks like.

Greg

thats great to know.

I had a Wamiea cutting from a friend who was sending cuttings from Hawaii... i wish that mine rooted, but it was a goner . Couldn't save it. SOooo...

Greg has my arm twisted to my back and says that i "need" one..LMAO!! OK, OK, Im looking Greg!!! : )

Do you really know how bad this is Greg? I might have to come and bring my other half and let him see how other addicts have it bad..then he may settle down a bit!!! Next...its off to Jen's and K 's house... i know you guys could help me let him "see the light..." LOL....

If not, Gregs Iguanas could "talk" to him!! Right Greg?

I just received some rooted trees from Ebay... They have inflos and are looking good. Vera Cruz Rose is amazing... Victoria Princess has an info as well as Apricot. Yolanda does too! They all smell wonderful...

He only saw one pkg get past the postman!!! LMAO The others arrived at the "perfect" time!!! : )

had to chuckle with you Greg!! ENABLER!!

Have fun on your trip, Wendy!!! OHH MYY! How nice...

Take care,

Laura

Great, we're all going to be bidding against each other on ebay for Waimea! Unless, of course, we can persuade our Hawaiian travelers to bring back a suitcase full of cuttings, lol!

Laura, you should definitely bring DH down to see K's place--between his office and home I'm sure he has me beat. I'm still under 60 plants but will still attest as to the helpless nature of our addiction. Eyes are sure to roll!

Wendy, have a fabulous time and take lots of pics for us poor schlubs back here on the continent!

K,

In rereading my post from the other day, I think: man, I am such a DORK sometimes. I should have just said, "they're great bloomers." (HG and TW)

Anyway...
Laura, hopefully DH will see the light without having to resort to my iguanas, because it could get ugly...check out my poor Lilikoi and Julie Moragne:

Ugh! My heart is broken. Just when I was thinking that the problem was solved, the bird netting stopped working. They're going at the trees now despite the netting :( The only bright side is that both of these trees have inflos that, so far, have escaped being broken off by these spawn of Satan...but I think it's only a matter of time...

I actually for the first time yesterday caught one of the devils in the act...oh, it was terrible. What made it especially horrific was the fact that I didn't realize it was happening until I was practically on top of it. The 3-foot iguana was SHREDDING my poor Kaneohe Sunburst, and jumped into the water with a leaf in its mouth. I'm at a loss as to what to do, and I'm feeling like I could "go postal." Perhaps I should jump over to the FL Gardening forum and ask for advice.

On a happier note:
all of our spouses just need to love us despite our addiction LOL just buy some "eye drops", right, Laura?, ;) and get over it!

Greg

Oh Greg, how terrible !!! At least they didn't get the inflos. Reptiles rely on smell so maybe try moth balls or something else smelly. Hope someone will be able to help here. Good luck. Peg

Greg,
have you tried hanging CDs like Christmas ornaments on your plumeria? I could send you my collection of music CDs from 1990s...since we all use ipods now... It may make your plants look like gypsies but it may work.

Also my recollection of other methods included elevating the plant 1-2 feet above the ground on something with a smooth surface which the lizards cannot grip and climb up. I have seen sheet metal wrapped around posts used for this purpose. It will have to be galvanized. Maybe wrap for dock pilings (maybe West Marine carries it) or even air conditioning ducting. You would need sheet metal snips and self tapping sheet metal screws and a driver to wrap a post like a burrito and screw it down. All can be found at HD or Lowes.

Crafty little devils! Aargh! That's worse than the deer are doing here.

Peg's idea of mothballs is a good one. Serrano pepper and garlic spray works for me on the squirrels.

Of course, K is going all Mad Max in his approach, lol. And, hey, some of us still use our CDs, buddy. ;)

Hey all,

Thank you to Peg, K, and Jen for your suggestions--and for the chuckle: gypsies, hee hee...turns out I needed a bit of a laugh. I just came home from work to find the latest carnage: my Hawaiian Coral, which I had caged up as well as any of the trees because it's so short and easy for the iguanas to reach, was shredded sometime earlier this afternoon. The leaves are gone, eaten somehow right through the netting, and the 2 tips are damaged and bleeding sap. :( :(

This is really depressing, y'all...

OK, since K's suggestions, though great, are also more labor-intensive, I'm going to start with the garlic-serrano spray...and when I can, I'll go get some mothballs.

Maybe you should use my method, which I use for squirrels. I have to put my seedlings in wire cages to keep them from digging everything up. They dug up all my avacado plants up and just ate the seed. But I have two big cages and put anything in there I can't stand to lose. Clara

Clara,

Thanks for your suggestion. I would do that, but the problem is that the cages would have to be rather large, and I'm dealing with common areas in a condo, so I don't know how receptive the association would be to that.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE:

The plumie gods must have felt my pain today, because, as the sun set this evening--and I can't believe how quickly this happened--my Kelly Moragne bloomed!!!

It's quite the beauty, isn't it?
:)

Greg

Hey Greg,

Your Kelly Moragne is simply beautiful!!!!

The Plumie gods did reward you for all of your suffering.

I can feel your pain and we all know how frustrating it must be to check everyday to see if they are all alright.

Did you ever try the salt? I also agree with the Moth Balls and the garlic. I just can't believe they can attack your trees like that. It must be the same ones coming back because they know where the source of food
is...

I am so sorry for the mess they are creating for you..

This sounds a little crazy... but this just popped into my head. What about taking some Vicks Vapor Rub and smearing a ring around on the outer (middle) area of the container? Using a little to hopefully make them decide that this isnt what they thought it would be?

Do they jump onto the tree..or do they crawl up onto the container? Little devils...

I hope someone can help you with this problem..

Laura

Greg
I have followed this post in awe and then horror as you have given accounts of your pesky iguanas! Maybe you could start selling iguana belts...LOL JK

I was taken aback by the beauty of your Waimea and Aimhorn and I must tell you I agree with the others, in that the pictures I've seen of these blooms simply didn't show the true beauty! I think I've looked at Aimhorn no less than a million times on FC site! So now like any good plume addict I'm helpless to stop myself from adding these to my collection. Thank you! I'm holding you responsible:).

Glad the Plumeria Gods shined on you today! Your KM is a real stunner. Please attach scents to your posts...LOL

Take care-Nicole

Hey Laura!

Thank you! If there was anything that would soothe the frustration over feeling powerless to stop the destruction of my dear trees, it was watching Kelly M bloom for the first time at dusk, practically before my eyes, as I worked on my laptop. Really awesome! :)

I appreciate your sympathy and suggestion--and everyone else's as well. You know, the most frustrating thing about this is that I have so much work to do right now and just don't have the time to deal with this!!!

Because major iguana-barrier construction is not feasible in the short term, I think that I just have to try repellant options. (LOL and K, if I lived on my own property I'd give your CD-plumie-gypsies idea a try haha I just can see the look on the other condo owner's faces if I did it here hahaha)

ANYway, so I googled "repel iguanas" and found this website that said they don't like the taste of garlic (touche, mon Jen) or neem. Since I have both of those on hand, I crushed a big ol' clove of garlic and mixed it up with my neem concoction, and sprayed 'em good tonight. I'll be up early tomorrow and will give just a light follow-up spritz. If that doesn't work, I'll try a serrano spray, mothballs may work too.

VapoRub actually isn't a bad idea, Laura--I can't imagine that they would enjoy contacting that. I wish I could answer your question--I didn't see the one eating Kaneohe SB until I was right on top of it--so I can't really say whether they slither or jump up. They can probably do either--suckahs.

I

Jandy,
let me get an official Madmax mullet haircut and the ubiquitous feral kid sidekick and I'll fix the problem.

Greg,
Have you checked to see if there are some specific repellants at local nurseries? I hope it doesnt ruin the fragrance from your beautiful flowers.

Whoa, if you ever sell Waimea cuttings I would love to buy some xD where can you get them?

Greg, the Kelly Moragne is awesome! Really nice.

In Home Depot/Lowe's, they sell different products, e.g. things like "snake away." They are granules that you form a perimeter with, so that might not work for you.

I also recently invested in a different critter spray that contains hot pepper and that sort of thing. Something was digging holes in all my potted plants of a night. Whatever it was stopped when I started using this.

I would think if you could make the leaves taste bad w/o hurting the plant it might help. But then again I can't imagine that plumeria leaves taste good to begin with.

Hmmm....

Nicole,

I missed your post last night. Thanks for your kind words, and for the laugh--"iguana belts" LOL you KNOW that's right!!! I would love to sell a few of those! I'm glad to hear that my photo convinced you to buy Aimhorn--you'll love it, it's a great tree--and I happily accept any and all blame. I love being the Enabler! :)

K and Brian,
thanks to you gents as well. I have not asked about repellants at nurseries, but should. One of the reasons iguanas are such a problem down here is because they're so hard to get rid of.

Our handyman was around the other day and suggested the "snake away." He said that they might just eat it because it tastes good (?). It might work--it would certainly satisfy my "thirst for revenge." LOL yes, I'm getting in touch with my evil side...

I won't be able to go out shopping before Sunday, so in the meantime, I'll hope the garlic-neem "Surprise" will keep them off.

Snowlynne, if you search for "Waimea" on eBay, you should be able to find it. There are two sellers on there that have them from time to time. If not now, try again in a week or so. Good luck!

Happy Friday, everyone.

Greg

Hey Greg, I hear they taste like chicken !!! LOL Peg

Peg,

some jokes never get old!! LOL yes that's what I've heard too, but the thought, personally, makes me want to hurl!

I can't resist posting one more photo of Kelly M, fully open this morning...check out the veining. What a fab bloom!

Greg

DARN IT, GREG! Now I HAVE to get Kelly Moragne! Holy cow, she's beautiful! A fabulous consolation prize!

Laura, Vick's is a brilliant suggestion! I'm going to try that next time.

I don't think a cage would work since the iguanas probably would just climb it and sit on top where they could eat the tender tips more easily. They must've just worked their way under the netting like many birds will do. Hope you find the smelly stuff works for you, Greg!

I've had my share of critter damage this spring. Look at what the little caterpillar %*?@s did to my back-up Makaha Sunn:

Anyone know if there's something I need to put on that wound? I sprinkled cinnamon on it and it seems to be drying up and remaining white, no rot.

Here's a Veracruz Rose seedling with similar tip damage, and the little buggers left some poo behind to add insult to injury:

Shortly after discovering these on my morning rounds I went on a caterpillar-squishing rampage. Sorry future butterflies and moths: plumies are where I draw the line.

If they keep eating Greg's plants after he sprays...they will taste like garlic chicken.

Jen - I keep sacrificial Butterfly Weed around to keep caterpillers away from the plumeria. Grows very well in our soil, seeds itself and is quite xeric. If they can devour this they don't care about any other plants.
{{gwi:1158914}}

Its very lanky but has great color and works very well in a mass planting.

K, would you believe I have butterfly weed and it's completely untouched? I kept expecting 'pillars on there but they zeroed in on everything but, even sages. The Gulf Frits have eaten up the passion vine, which is no big deal, but none bothered the butterfly weed or even the fennel.

Plumeria leaves were no concern but I went ballistic over the tip damage. They weren't caterpillars I recognize, either; kinda dull and ugly, probably moths.

Greg, I don't know if this would work, but many years ago when our little terrier puppy decided to chew on the bathroom door frame (I had put him in there for 'safe keeping'), I put Tabasco sauce on the wood. The next time he was in there, I came home to a very thirsty puppy, but he never touched another piece of wood again! I wonder if you could put some Tabasco on a piece of lettuce and wrap that around the middle of the pot? Or would that be considered 'abuse'?... Just an idea. Good luck and let us know when you finally find something that works,
Iso

OMG the flowers are to die for! I WANT Waimea! I MUST have Waimea! How do I get my hands on that Plumeria?

As for all the problems with Satan-like-creatures eating our flowers... I thought I was the only one. Something ate ALL the leaves off my Hibiscus plant last night!! I am guessing it was a bunny... but I have no proof. All I got left was 2 blooms... the whole plant is bald! So strange.

Hey everyone,

I hope y'all had a nice weekend. It rained all day Sat. and Sun. here, which had the effect of keeping the devil-spawn from coming out onto the dock. It was nice to have a break from the carnage.

Brief update: my garlic-neem application does not appear to have worked. I sprayed it Thurs. night, and on Fri. when I came home from work there was more damage...Kaneohe Sunrise this time...

I want to thank everyone again for their suggestions. Jen, is it ok if I say that seeing your awful caterpillar damage made me feel a little bit better? :) What a bummer about your MS; I would be flippin' out too!

Iso: 'abuse'? I have to laugh :) because I have imagined inflicting far, far worse torture on those critters over the last two weeks than merely burning their wretched mouths!!! (In all honesty, I've been eyeballing BB guns online! ) But to your point, and Brian's: I did manage to stop by Lowe's briefly today, and saw that spray that Brian mentioned. The main active ingredient is capaiscin (sp?), which I believe is the chemical that gives hot peppers their heat.

And btw, K, at least at Lowe's, they had no product whose label claimed it repelled iguanas...I'm beginning to think you CAN'T repel iguanas...

Anyway, I think I should have taken Jen's advice weeks ago about the hot peppers. So, Jen, if you have a chance, please tell me how to process the serranos so as to maximize the heat that I extract from them...I have a feeling it might work, at least better than anything else thus far.

Oh, and for the heck of it, I might try a smear of Vick's VapoRub around the rim of the pots too ;) Why not?

Thanks again for the advice, all. Much appreciated.

Greg

Shoot, I was really hoping the garlic and neem would do the trick! Maybe your Kaneohes have a milder latex sap than some of the other cultivars. Hm. Or it could be they're in a more iguana-adjacent location.

To make the serrano spray--and I always put garlic in with it--get three or four fresh serranos, dice them finely, seeds, membranes and all, and put them into about a pint of hot water. I usually get water on the stove almost to boiling, then take off the heat and let the garlic/pepper steep like tea to extract the oils. Strain the mixture into a spray bottle when cooled and spray the underside of your leaves so it'll be more likely to stick in a rain and not burn your leaves in the sun. Oh, and wear gloves 'cause serranos hurt!

Most birds are not affected by capsaicin, but I don't know about reptiles, so I think you'd be wise to try the Vick's in addition.

On an unrelated note, Greg: are your plumeria in some dappled sun? Do they get a full six hours of direct sun a day? You seem to be getting an enviable number of blooms from some very young plants and I wondered about your sun exposure.

Jen,

Thanks for the recipe. I'm going to try it this evening...and, oh YEAH, will I wear gloves! Like all lessons from my life, I learned that one the hard way...ouch LOL

As for which plants they go for, I think they're just making the rounds. I'm sure that unless I find a way to repel them, eventually they'll destroy all 16 plants down by the dock.

It'd be one thing if they were just nipping here or there, but this is ridiculous. Here's Kaneohe Sunburst:

At least the tips to KSB are still intact...my Hawaiian Coral was even more thoroughly destroyed:

Between those two trees lies Waimea, still providing some comfort in the way of eye-popping color:

And then there's Rock Star, which is still blooming with a vigor that floors me:

That's life: we take the good with the bad!

To your question about exposure, Jen: there are 16 trees on the dock, and the remaining 45(!) are up on my terrace, which overlooks the dock, facing west. (Rock Star sits by itself, on a corner of the patio by the pool.) The dock gradually curves around the property in a northerly direction. Some of the trees on the dock get what probably amounts to 6 hours of sun per day--Waimea is one of those--but the ones more to the north, including Hula Girl and Lilikoi, get nothing close to that, and some of them were just recently waking up, until the d#%$ iguanas picked off their new leaves and set them back another month or so.

The ones on my terrace get at most 3-4 hours of sun per day, yet I've got close to a dozen inflos up here.

Who knows? I chalk it up to the strength of the subtropical Florida sun, and to the fact that those who feed our addiction--Matt and Fuzzy on eBay, Carol and Luc at FCN, and Doug at MPG--sell high-quality, mature plants. (And as for Rock Star, there's something a bit unearthly going on there--ain't no 6 hours of sun coming its way.)

Thanks again! Happy Monday!

Greg

Greg,
It may be time to go vertical. See if you can get the most prone plant 18 inches or more off the ground on some sort of stand which they cannot climb up.

between the capsaicin and Vicks your plumies will have clear sinuses.

Hey Greg, how about an off-the-wall solution (something to make you smile): go to the nearest animal shelter, rescue a feisty little jack russell terrier, build a narrow dog run around your plumies - problem solved!
Sorry, couldn't resist. I watched my border terriers this morning keeping our hillside squirrel-free...
Iso

K and Iso:

Laughs all around ;) it is amazing what we'll do for our plants...VapoRub?!? Too funny...the neighbors already think I'm weird LOL wait 'til I start greasin' up the pots!

Iso, love your idea too, although, these iguanas are like four or five feet long--they're huge (and ugly as sin, too). I'm not sure I'd send my puppy out to tangle with them!

K, for the long term, you're probably right that creating height will be the answer...but it's gonna take me a while to make that happen. For now, let's hope that iguanas hate spicy food. It's been pouring non-stop for 3 days, though, so for now I sit and wait.

G.

I was gonna say, looking at that damage: how big are those damn iguanas?! Are they standing on hind legs and just eating the drooping ends of the leaves? Yikes!

Greg, thanks for letting me know about sun exposure. I get my plants from the same places you do, and they get between 4-7 hours of direct or slightly filtered sun but aren't blooming yet. Most are 1-2 years old so maybe they're just not ready yet.

Iso, I have thought many times about getting a small, vicious dog for the squirrels here. Sounds like Greg would need a Doberman!

Greg
I would like to thank you(kind of)LOL I am now the proud owner of Aimhorn! Don't you know 3 other plumerias jumped in my shopping cart at FC. I really must stop! :)

Nicole:

please--no need to thank me ;) LOL congrats! Like I said, it's a great tree. It was one of my first purchases and it's taking on such a lovely form. Also a great bloomer.

So, what else did ya get? Huh? So much to choose from at FCN!

Greg

Well if you're gonna twist my arm....LOL Leona Hoke(had before and gave to a friend) Musk Rainbow(my first oz plumie) and a Thai Variety they only refer to as pc-33. The disclaimer here is that this is NOT my first shopping trip this season. Waimea is elusive, there is one on eBay but it's likely that I would be bidding against half of the forum members:) Thank you for helping me to expand my horizons and collections. Very excited about Aimhorn! :)

Nicole

Just trying to pay it forward....if you don't have JJ's Jenny...its a must I imagine you would get spectacular color in your area :)

Nicole,

You must have been able to intuit my tastes in plumeria, because of all of JJ's plumeria--and he's got seemingly hundreds--Jenny is one that I covet most.

Yours is lovely!

Great choices, too :) LH, as Jen pointed out, looks a lot like Waimea. But regarding Waimea on eBay, if you are patient and willing to bide your time, you will be able to find a good price on it, I would think. Over the course of 2011 there were quite a few for sale.

I didn't see MR when I was down there last--Carol and Luc rave about it, I'm sure with good reason. As for the Thai, I'll have to look at the photo again...that's the problem with those letter-number names...

Just "hollah" anytime you need my Enabling powers! LOL I intend to post pics of every bloom I get this season ;)

Nicole, that last Waimea on ebay went for a big price, so word's out now! You'll have to satisfy yourself with all the fabulous JJ's available to you. Jenny is gorgeous and I hear great things about Leona. Mine hasn't bloomed but the growth has been vigorous.

Greg, I hear mixed reviews on MR, especially about it being an unreliable bloomer. Should do well in FL, though. Can't wait to see more of your photos!

Greg
I'm going to suffer looking at all your upcoming blooms! Your plants are WAY ahead of mine.

jandey-the Waimea got too rich for my blood!! I'm going to have to exercise some patience(very, very hard) I hope the MR isn't a disappointment. I usually give the disappointing one's away to friends and then they take off and become beautiful. Maybe plumerias like to pick their owners. LOL I'll try not to take it too personally :)