Andrew,
Congratulations!! K Morange and Leela are beautiful.
Very sweet of you to send Laura the Leela, I know she will love it as it is a must have for a serious plumie collector :)
Cheers

Andrew, congrats on getting 2 great plumies! I saw pictures of Leela and they remind me of Sariah's Curly Pink (the long twisty petals). You've been on the roll :-)

Hello Everyone...

Hi Andrew...

You are so sweet to send me the "Leela..." I cant tell you how happy that makes me...WOW!!!

I have loved that Leela since i had seen the picture posted from James...What a beauty it is!!!

Thank you for your generosity and for thinking of me!!!

I am so grateful to have you all as friends..

Plumeria people are the best!!!

You have made my day Andrew....

Thank you so much!!!

Hi James!!!

Take care everyone....

Laura in VB

Hi Laura,
You, I owe a ton too! You had no problem with me asking if you could pick me up some cuttings in California! You also had no trouble with sending me 4 cuttings earlier this spring, and to top it all off, you told me that the cuttigns from CA were a gift so, this I felt was the least I could do.

I also have another BIG surprise in that box for you. I will have to go thru the old posts from the C and S forum. Last fall I bought 2 jade varieties that don't even EXIST in the United States.

Yes, they were VERY expenisve. 1 is called 'Red Horn Tree' jade and the other is a japanese cross. I will have to forward you the post, as I don't remember exactly what it's called.

For those 2 varieties, I paid around $100!!! I am including a small rooted cutting of the japanese hybrid. You will be the envy of the C and S forum Laura!!

I also have a cutting of Dwarf Singapore Pink, and then your Nebel'd Rainbow, and your Mimi's Home Pride. That MHP is one of the hardest to root plumies I have had EVER!

Laura your one of the kindest, most sweetest genuine people I have ever met. I predict that you and I will have a long and happy friendship filled with many plumerias!

Hi James,
I am going to be emailing you. I need some advice on where I could find a Bill Moragne? I checked Brad's and when I ordered from florida Colors, they told me that there tree was not looking so great so they didn't have any to offer.

Maui Plumeria gardens doesn't have it either, and the only source I have found for it was Ebay and they want $44.00 for an unrooted cutting! That's a little too much for me.

I didn't mind sending this 'Leela' to laura for the reasons I gave her. She had really gone above and beyond to help me expand my plumeria collection.

You James have also helped me out a lot and I am VERY greatfull. Especially with helping me with the Jungle jack's Orange situation. I am hoping I can get that ordered today. John's wife was supposed to call yesterday but she didn't so I am going to call again today. I really want this plumeria very badly!

Hi Sunseeker,
Yeah I certainly have been on a roll with getting more plumerias but honestly, I was gifted a bunch of cuttings. In fact, probobly half of what I got this year was given to me, an I am eternally greatfull for that.

I have met some truly wonderfull people on this forum. I have to say, out of all the GW forums that I have gone to before, this has by far been the best in terms of the people. You all are an awesome group of people and thanks to everyone here who has helped me along the way!

Take care everyone!
Andrew

I have a question now to those plumeria growers who do grow Leela(James I know you do, so hopefully you can help me out!).

I have heard conflicting info on this plumeria. Some say that it has to grow tall(over 6ft) to bloom, while others say that'd not true at all.

I have also heard that it's a leggy grower. Is there any truth to any of this?

Also, (I hope I don't sound dumb saying this!) since Laura and I have grafted Leela plumerias, is there a chance that because there grafted that maybe they wont have to grow so tall to bloom?

Thanks guys!
Andrew

from my notes...
Leela aka Rainbow Starburst, Big Mountain Rainbow. Thai Large bunches of huge 5-6" multi colored flowers with thin red stripes radiating out from the centre thru the pastel toned yellows, oranges and pinks. Huge leaves. Flowers often twist. Highly colored on backs of flowers also. The flower has long, gracefully curled petals with a fiery yellow orange center fading into a pastel pink. Leela has a mild scent and a medium texture with an upright growth habit. Medium size tree. 5.5" with curling tips on the petals. Lavender/pink along with orange, yellow and white. 5-6" flower with soft pastel colors of yellow, orange pink and white. The flower shows heavy orange veining, with high petal separation. The petals are long and sometimes twist. It grows very fast with very beefy branches, with good branching habit. Seedlings tend to inherit its traits.

Andrew,

I don't know of any plumeria that HAS to grow tall in order to bloom. I think it all depends on the age and maturity of the mother plant that the cutting was taken from.

The benefit of grafting is that you do not have to wait for a root system to develop. This is not to say that your Leela's root system won't continue to develop further. Her root system is most likely from a 1 or 2 year old seedling.

I have found that multi-tipped large cuttings taken from very old trees higher in the canopy bloom the fastest and do not tend to elongate as much before blooming.

Your Leela could possibly bloom this year but based on the info, probably not.

Good luck,
Tony