You haw found the end of the "season" for plumerias to ask these questions. I am guessing that is why no one has responded. Many people are now getting their plumerias ready for winter. It depends on where you live as to who this species will be good for you. If you live in a warm area such as California, you have it made. There are three types of plumerias, p. Rubes, p. Pudica and p. Obtusa. P. Obtusa are more or less evergreen, in that they do not lose all of their leaves in the winter of milder climates. P. Rubric do lose their leaves. Pudica, I have never grown. I think most websites are good.

Two good books on the subject are "Growing Plumerias in Hawai'i and Around the World" by Jim Little and "The Handbook of Plumeria Culture" by Richard and Mary Helen Eggenberger. Boyhood are small books, with great pictures.

They are relatively easy to grow if you do not over water them. it took me my first spring/summer season to realize that my plumerias liked the morning sun most of all, getting the earliest part of the day sun, nut sun all day long. Placed on the west side of my house, where they didn't get much sun and warmth until after noon, they did marginally OK.

For your first plumerias, buy rooted ones ina pot. They are more expensive, but you can concentrate on learning with an already rooted plumeria, rather than taking a chance on trying to root a cutting, etc.

Because it is almost winter, you can usually buy potted plumerias for cheaper, since they will shortly lose all their leaves, and the nurseries don't want to take up space. I just bought 3 plants for 50% off. Good deal. The bigger the plant you buy, the more sooner it will blossom ( for the most part).

Good luck and welcome to an addicting hobby! Most of all, do NOT overwater your trees. In sunny Southern California, I water once a week. That is the number one rule!

This is a picture of a P. Obtusa, aka Singapore White, it keeps it's leaves all year:

thank you very much for the info. I will definitely buy one rooted and keep it inside until spring.
and your plant is gorgeous i cant wait to get my own!

As far as keeping it inside, in So. California where the nights don't get too cold most people just leave them outside. Once the leaves drop, stop watering. If you live In a cooler climates, look at the earlier postings about cutting off the leaves and getting them ready to bring in for the winter.

By the way, as far as blossoms, the S. rubra plants have the huge variety of colors available and are far easier to find. I am relatively new to the hobby, and currently have 5 Singapore whites and 10 P. rubra's of various colors.

Good luck!

Eric,

I agree you should only start with a pre-rooted plant if you want one now. Check out floridacolors.com (very nice people, good selection and prices for well-rooted grafted plants) or bradsbudsandblooms.com (ditto, grafted plus rooted, seeds, etc). I've bought from both and like the experience better than ebay, which I only use for stuff these guys don't have.

If you have the space to store for winter, you might start out with a Celadine or Aztec Gold. These never disappoint for bloom time, quality, fragrance, and ease (whites and yellows seem to be most care-free in general). If you need more compact, Thornton's Lemon Drop and Penang Peach are also very popular from what I've learned on this forum. For pinks I think Miami Rose is good, though it gets large.

Reds and rainbows are more sensitive, difficult to root and generally don't bloom as long or prolifically. If there's one that catches your eye, check online for as many descriptions of the plant as possible to see if it's going to work for you, otherwise you may end up disappointed or with so many varieties that you can't store them all, as most will get pretty large. It's easy to get caught up in the photos of these gorgeous flowers and find yourself with two (or twenty) dozen before long!

Well i just ordered a grafted Aztec Gold from floridacolors.com. Its a pity that i will have to wait till spring for it to bloom.

I am also a newbie and am thinking of starting some from seed that i have aquired in trade. Is this not a good idea because it seems that alot talk of cuttings and pre-rooted plants. I am not new to seed starting in general. Thank you in advance. These are some of the varieties of seeds that i have and am not sure of some of the spelling on these packets but if anyone knows anything about these particular varieties any input would be appreciated.

India
Rimfire Hybrid
Curled White
Chow Pung
Helena
Pinu 56 (?)
Madam Poni
Yellow Thai Mahavirt (sp?)
Charlette Ebert
Red Hybrid

Dale

Here is a link that might be useful: podpipers pics

Eric, that sounds like a great choice. Aztec Gold seems to be a "must-have" for plumeria lovers.

Seeds are great fun, Dale, they just don't always grow true to the parent. In fact, many will be quite different which is why if you love a particular variety and want its traits it's best to get a cutting with that exact DNA.

I started about 30 seeds several weeks ago and am already seeing wide variations in batches from the same parent. This is part of the excitement for me, but you don't know the true nature of the plant until it's a few years old at least.

From your list, I only know a little about India (tall, spindly grower), Charlotte Ebert (very big pink flowers), Rimfire (a desirable tri-color flower that may produce many different colored offspring), and Madame Poni (unusually shaped petals). As Bill here has stated, whites and yellows are least likely to produce different colors.

As I mentioned, all this may be academic as the wide pool of genes for these plants could produce very boring or very exciting. Enjoy the process!

Hi Eric,
I too got the plumie bite but I cannot claim that I am a pro either. I bought cuttigns many MANY years ago, and had no luck what so ever. I decided to throw in the towel to rooting cuttigns and decided to buy rooted cuttings. I bought from Stokes tropicals when they were offering plumeria at HUGE savings. I want to say I pais $20 something for a very nice dwarf singapore pink. I highly recommend this plumeria. I will say that it doesn't have the bright awesome colors that I have seen on some of t he others, but it for me was VERY easy to bloom, and had a nice light fragrance,plus, if you have enough light it can be kept growing and blooming all winter.

I also am a big fan of the Celadine. The flowers are yellow and white and have a nice stong fragrance. I am not the best at describing scents but this one is heavenly and to me another easy grower.

Your going to meet some great people here. I don't post a lot because I really don't know a lot, so I stay behind the scenes and just read as much as I can and try to apply what I have learned to my plumerias and I have to say this was the best year ever for me and my plumie collection!

I actually had a close friend convince me to join another plumeria forum. THE ALOHA PLUMERIA GROUP on Yahoo. I was convinced to buy unrooted cuttings which I really didn't want to even try again. This is where I got my Celadine, 2 pudicas, and Intense Rainbow. I only paid around $25.-$30. for these cuttigns and they were really nice large cuttings. I tried the baggy rooting method which never worked out for me. I did everything I was told to do but after a few months, NOTHING!! I was so angry that I wasted this money again on cuttings I was detined to never root.
Once I changed my method to the raw egg method, PRESTO!! I had rooted cuttings, and not only that, I had buds on all the cuttings!! My first year with plumeria cuttings and I was enjoying celadine flowers. I couldn't believe it!!
Mimi is such a great woman and very generous. She really encouraged me to not stop trying to root my cuttings. I had a heck of a time with my pudica and she told me to not give up and it rooted.

Bottom line, both these forums are great and you have the chance to learn from some of the best people on both forums. With this info, you will be well equiped to grow some great plumerias. The #1 lesson I learned, NEVER GIVE UP!! Even if you try rooting the first time and it does not work for you, try TRY again. It took me 3 attempts and then I got it down. I never hada cutting fail on me. I gave up on one of the 2 pudicas but it would have rooted. I got some great cuttings from memebers and they rooted for me using the raw egg method.

Good luck and great to have you here!!
Andrew

Hi! I'm no master yet but I'm really successful in cuttings. I've just seen a seed for the first time . A friend bought it in Oahu . I live in Venice beach CA .Full sun , super hot. I simply cut a brach off soaked it in a bucket of water. THE KEY IS: fill container with only enough water to cover entire cut surface or it most likely rots.) To be sure wait to you see a healthy root system. (or 2 weeks when i know its out if shock) with extra mild fertilized water and or root stimulator i found at hydro stores.
As far as care I've been to Hawaii countless times . I only mimic the weather there. Full sun,rich mixed variety soils, it rains there at least 2 x a day if but for a second. So I water few times a week and soft mist entire plant like a quick rain.
I have also had trouble with reds over watering the new clipping and rotting . I'm going to stick to rooting them first and rainbows to try later...

Mid Sept here and plumerias still in bloom everywhere:)