Hi applecherry! Welcome to the forum!
I can identify with feeling blue during the cold months, even though here in California the winters are shorter and less cold than Germany I'm sure. I have a suggestion for you if you don't mind.
If you're looking for something to care for and watch grow during the winter months, especially being a beginner, cuttings are not the way to go. Because once you get those "sticks" potted, there won't be much happening with them to watch or care for, for a few months.
What would probably be more exciting for you is 1) buy a rooted plant online, which, after it gets potted, will show some progress much faster if you give it the right light and heat conditions indoors (i.e. put out some leaves or even an inflo), or 2) grow some plumeria seeds, which to me is quite amazing to watch. I actually did this last winter and loved it (the progress is something you can see! The seeds sprout within a week and you will actually see them grow into tiny plants. By the time the winter is over they may be 10 cm tall and by the summer they may reach 30-50 cm). The only drawback about growing from seeds is that it may take at least 3 years before you see flowers, however during that time you will still have nice green plants to care for. You will get a nice bonus if the flowers turn out to have a pretty color or shape (since you really don't know what you will be getting when you grow from seeds).
If that option sounds good to you, please send me an email with your information. I can give you some seeds to get started. I'll make sure to send you the kinds that sprout easily and produce big sturdy seedlings.

Apple, I agree with everything Sunseeker said. I also grew plumeria from seeds last winter and it was so enjoyable as you can watch their progress daily. It can be done entirely indoors and takes up little room. I used plant light bulbs set into inexpensive reflector domes and mine are all now between 8-20 inches tall, very different from each other in coloration, leaf shape, growth habit, etc. Definitely the way to go if you want to nurture something over the long winter!

Sun, you are so kind to offer your seeds to the poster--we all know you have only the best!

Jen

Hello Everyone,

Sun,

You are the best!!! Way to go and help!!! : )

Jen,

You would also be the one to help out as well!!! : )

Applecherry,

That name in itself sounds "happy" and "Cheery" I think Sun and Jen have the gret idea in starting seeds and watching them grow...doenst take up lots of space and will give you some great satisfaction!!!

Enjoy those seeds and GOOD LUCK!!!

Welcome to the forum, and lets us know how they progress once you get setup!!!

The forum slows down during the winter, so it will be fun to hear of the seeds growing and whatever else is happening with all of us Plumie friends!!

Take care,

Laura in VB

Thanks for your nice comments, Jen and Laura!

applecherry: I've attached some pictures for you to see my seedlings from the time I started them indoors last November, how they looked last December, and what they look like today.

ONE WEEK AFTER SEEDS WERE PLANTED - NOVEMBER 2010
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DECEMBER SEEDLINGS
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SEEDLINGS TODAY (A LITTLE LESS THAN 1 YEAR OLD)
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Hello all,

thank you so much for giving me such good advice!

I'd love to get some seeds, sunseeker, if you don't mind. I even have a US postal address (with a mail forwarder) you could send the seeds to. I'll pm you, okay?

Of course it would be great to have some blooms earlier but maybe I'll get a chance to get some cuttings next spring or summer from somebody out there.

Since days we have fog now, no sun coming out, it is too thick. My bees have already clustered, hope they will make it until next spring...it is really hard for me to "survive" winter as weather doesn't get better before april or may. This means almost half a year of cold, muddy, grey and dark days - sheer horror.

But you really had such a good idea with the seeds, I'm looking forward to it!

Thanks again,
applecherry

Hi AppleCherry!!!

Glad you are excited to start some seeds!!!

Good Luck!!!

Think warm thoughts and Sunshine...

Put on a Jimmy Buffet CD OR a ZAC Brown CD and think ..PARADISE!!!

Hope those days of winter go by fast for you!!! : )

Take care,

Laura in VB

Hi applecherry, sorry it took me so long to read your post, but it seems that our wonderful friends here on the forum have been taking good care of you. - Hi Sun, Jen and Laura, you ladies are amazing!
Applecherry, I have an additional idea for you. I am from Germany, but have lived in California for the last 26 years. I used to live in Bueckeburg (about 40 minutes from Hannover) and there is an amazing nursery there that specializes in tropical plants. I don't know where you live and if you could just go there or if most of their business is mail order. Anyway, I just checked their website and the selection is astonishing (even a lot of named Thai cultivars - anybody on this forum might enjoy checking it, too). This is their website:
tropische-pflanzenwelt.de
Let me know what you think and if this is of any help to you. Stay warm and do what Laura says: listen to island music and dream of sunshine, palm trees and warm water. I used to do the same thing. Hated those 5 months of nasty weather.
Take care
Iso

Hello again,

and thank you again for your warm welcome - I feel like having received some sunbeams!

Iso, thanks for the name of the nursery. I've checked their website and they do mailorder as well. I will make myself a present and order a plant or two today.

One more question: how do I send a pm here? Didn't find anything, I'm afraid....

Thank you again,
applecherry

Sunseeker,
I have some seedlings that I started Dec 26th, 2010 and they do not look like yours. What is your secret? Mine are mixed Thai that I bought from BBB in Florida. I thought mine were doing good, but yours are awesome!
Thanks for any advice you can give me.
Jan

applecherry - to send a pm through GW, click on the member
name or the My Page on the address line of a post.

Posted by applecherry none (My Page) on Tue, Nov 1, 11 at 5:51

The blue above is what you click on.

On the My Page that shows up, there's a link at the top
that says 'Send me an email'. Click on that.

Your My Page doesn't have the 'Send me an email' link, so
you must have selected the 'no emails' when you registered.

sunseeker seems to also have elected 'no emails' since
there's no 'send me an email' link on their page.

Makes it tricky to contact one another!

You can change that selection by going to the members page
after logging in.

Here is a link that might be useful: GW members page

Hello everybody! Sorry I've been so busy and haven't been able to read and respond to posts for a while!

qaguy: thank you for figuring out that I didn't have a "send me email" link! Other members have sent me emails before via this forum, so I had no idea that the link had disappeared. I'm sure it happened a couple of weeks ago when I tried to make updates to my profile, since it had information that is very, very old. I may have accidentally unmarked the email box.

applecherry: I'm very sorry about the disappearance of my email link! I think I've fixed it now so please DO send me an email! I already have a bunch of seeds all labeled and ready to be sent to you.
From what you described, it sounds like you'll definitely need some artificial lights, and they can be very simple inexpensive ones. Last winter when I grew some of my plumerias indoors, even though I did have a sunny window, I supplemented the light with energy saving light bulbs at night, pointed straight down on the plants. A heat mat would also be very useful, but if your house is heated it may not be necessary. And I highly recommend a moisture meter (also quite inexpensive, but it will save your plants from "too much loving" - rotting from being watered too much!).
I'm glad Iso has found a nursery in Germany for you! Let us know if you've found and purchased some nice varieties from there! You'll have to be careful because this can turn into an obsession really quickly and you'll be overrun by plants and seedlings in no time (as in my case - and I am still starting new seeds soon :-)

Jan/Plumie Girl: My seeds came from BBB too! I started them indoors, and if I remember right, transplanted them into 1-gallon pots around March and April, when I noticed that the roots were visible on the sides of the clear plastic cups. I think that must have given the plants a boost in growth because they got more room for their roots. They were all moved outside to a sunny spot in the spring and got the same fertilizers that I gave to the larger plants. I mist them on hot days. I think they loved the larger pots and the heat of the summer, as that was when they grew the fastest.
I do notice that some varieties produce stronger, huskier plants than others. What varieties did you grow? If you want to try some of the ones that produced the seedlings you saw in my pictures, please send me an email, I'll be glad to share.

It is so wonderful to see so many of you so generous with seeds and such. =)

Bright Blessings to you all!

~Tina

Hello Everyone,

AppleCherry,

I wanted to post this pic for you that i took when i was in Maui..

When ever i want to think warm thoughts, i look at this! It is my screensaver.

I hope u like it!!!

Laura in VB

{{gwi:1566}}

That is a beautiful photo Laura, just gorgeous!

~Tina

Thank You Tina!!

: )

Laura in VB

I am sorry but what is BBB? I live in Florida and just getting started with plumeria and would like to try starting seeds. Thank you.

Minderella, "BBB" is Brad's Buds and Blooms, web link below, whom I believe is not too far from you in Florida. They carry over a hundred different cultivars of seeds as well as rooted plumeria plants. I've received many seeds from them as well and have been very happy with my results.

Jen

Here is a link that might be useful: BBB

That is a Wailea sunset.

Kms...

You are so right!!! : )

Grand Wailea as a matter of fact!!!

what a good eye you have!!! LOL..

You know the island in the background dont you? : )

I love that place!!!

Made my day... : )

Take care,

Laura in VB

Hi applecherry, now that you have had several days to think about which plants to order from that German grower, will you fill us in about your selection??? I checked the website again and I wouldn't know which ones to pick if I could only choose two. But I guess you could always look at it as the beginning of your addiction with room to add more in the future...

Hi Laura, you know you started something here with that lovely sunset picture of yours: I am pretty sure you have all of us dreaming about warm breezes and Hawaii! Not that I am complaining about that, it's just so darn cold in the mornings now... And to think that we were at the Grand Wailea last May... Can we skip winter and go straight to spring?

Take care everybody,
Iso

Kaho'olawi. that's what gave it away.