Greg, they are lovely! Happy and Blessed New Year to you and your family, too!

Awesome! Thanks for the pics. I simply must have Tidal Wave, I love those petals.

Happy New Year!
Tally HO!

Welcome back Greg. We've missed you. Never fail to impress with the pics either. Thanks for the eye candy. Peg

Thank you, Kay, Tally, and Peg! Glad to be back.

Peg: good luck with the new Cyber-Shot! You're going to love it :)
Tally: TW's petals are as thick as pigskin too...easily one of the most striking displays I've personally had thus far.

Here's to a warm winter and an early spring!

G

I'm so envious of you --- still blooming in late December.

I wish monitors had the "scratch n sniff" option LOL.

Lovely as always! :)

Hi Greg!!!

So GLAD to see you again...

You and your blooms always make my day brighter!!!

Mahalo my friend!!!

Happy New Year to you and Yours...

Laura

Hi Kim and Laura! Thank you to both of you :) my pleasure to share.

Kim: wish I could share the scents too! Each one of these four has a particularly lovely fragrance. And as for blooms in December: I know :) This is why, even though I'm far from most of my loved ones, I absolutely love living here. Heck, I even get grumpy when, like today, the temps go down into the 60's LOL it was 55 this morning--brrr. Hate.

Laura: my dear friend, so nice to see you again as well! Glad I could brighten your day. I will send an email to you soon...I heard you had lunch with Peg the other day. Did she tell you she now is the proud owner of a small VCR tree with an iguana scar? ;-)

Greg

Greg, wow!! Doesn't appear to be winter at all when you look at those beauties. Love the nice flowing petals of Tidal Wave, and Coral aint bad either!!

Ha, made me laugh mentioning the tree you gave to Peg with the Iguana scar, that tree is a real fighter.

Happy New Year, Greg!!!
Wendy

Greg!! I'm so happy to see you here again! Been wondering where you were...hope it was someplace good!

I had the most wonderful dream last night that since I haven't been able to tend my trees for a few weeks, I hadn't noticed that they'd all opened tons of blooms, and here you go posting so many beautiful blooms for us this morning! A dream come true.

That Tidal Wave is so like Daisy W., but even more glorious. Do the petals start wide open and then curl in, or vice versa? I was lucky to pick up one more from 1-stop, but didn't get this one. You sure know how to pick 'em!

Jen,

thank you for the warm welcome back--it's good to be back, and I'm glad that my blooms brightened your New Year. Your dream was that of a true addict ;-)
To answer you question: Tidal Wave's petals open with the fold--those flowers that have it--in place. It's a knock-out for sure. Me likey! I wish you all the best at your new job, and will hope to still see you on here from time to time.

Wendy, saw you on FB, of course, but thanks as always, and wish you all the best with your new business!

Greg

Hi Greg,

Anyone of us would love to have tree from you with an Iguana Scar!!! It adds personality and shows us that your have defended this tree at 'ALL" costs!! ;-) The tree "WON" Yes... ;-) Bye, Bye, Iggies...

She loves that tree and yes she told me about your generosity!!! What a great person you are...

Peg too! ;-) I am so lucky to have her close to me!!!

Thank you Peg for all that you do for me and for others here as well...

Of course, we already knew that!!

That you for the beauty at this time of the year. Most of us have dormant Plumies and or ones that are not blooming, so thank you for keeping up our spirits with your gorgeous blooms!!!

Happy New Year to you and Yours..

Laura

It's my pleasure, Laura! My New Year's best wishes to you and Yours as well!

I am tickled to have these awesome blooms at this time of year!! What a tremendous January surprise. Wish I had a new one to share, but these two are putting on a display that makes sharing more pics irresistible...

I did not have the highest expectations for Indonesian Rose, but this flower is now at the top of my list...

And I managed to catch a lovely shot of Hawaiian Coral with backlighting...

And this last one is for Jen--here is a shot of the first Tidal Wave bloom opening. You can see that, as the flower spirals open, the fold peels back from the center fully formed...pretty darn neat:

G

You always post such beauties Greg. I agree with Laura, thanks for the spirit lift. Peg

Thanks for making us drool on our monitors!
Your flowers are gorgeous as usual.
How does Indonesian Rose's scent compare to Vera Cruz?
You knew I'd ask ya about fragrance! :)

-Robert

Thank you, Peg and Robert!

To answer your question, Robert: Both flowers have beautfiul fragrances, but Indo Rose has more of a sweet, classic frangipani fragrance, whereas Veracruz Rose, as you've probably heard others say, indeed smells just like a rose.

By the way, they make rubber keyboard protectors to guard against drool damage! ;-)

Happy Friday!
G

Thanks for the info!
I think we all need to fly down to Florida and sniff all your gorgeous blooms. Laugh.

-Robert

Indonesian Rose and Tidal Wave are so gorgeous, I love them!!! The Hawaiian Coral is lovely too. Thanks for taking the time to post - COME ON SPRING!!!

Emily! Long time...nice to see you, Happy New Year! Thank you for the compliments--I am so happy to have these winter lovelies and I wish you an early spring! I mayyy post another Indo Rose tomorrow as that inflo just keeps on giving--bellississima!

Robert,
any time you're in the neighborhood, you're welcome to bring your nose by my place LOL

Greg

Ha! Thanks for the laugh!
Keep those bloom pics coming since most of us have to deal with leafless sticks. ;)

-Robert

Hi Greg!!!

I would love to visit with everyone at your place..

We could all take turns being on Iggie watch!! That is our excuse for staying a week! LOL..

Florida is a wonderful place to live and you are so lucky to have those gorgeous blooms right now..

Robert is so right! I just have "sticks" to look at and i am wishing for some blooms, but i know i will have to wait for a few months..

OK.. Im drooling over that Hawaiiian Coral!! I WANT!!

Wendy? Do you have one with my name on it? LOL... I think i have to start my SPring wish list.. This is my first wish.. Coral!!! LOVE IT!!!

Always fun to see pics from you Greg..

They really make our day and they always make me smike to see those beauties..'

Looking forward to hearing from you.. I hope you are well!!

Happy New year to you all!!

Laura

Greg, how do the flower colors/intensity look this time of year compared to those in summertime?

Thanks for the great shots.

55 degrees? Brr. For heaven's sake.

Hey, Dave!, and Happy 2013 to you! LOLOL You had JUST the reaction that I'm hoping to elicit with such ridiculous comments. I know, 55 deg is just so cold, right? ;-) I think I told you once before that I grew up in York County, PA, just north of you...entire family is still there, I'm the only one that left. I ended up down here because my blood has been thin from the day I was born. Unless I'm skiing, I want no part of cold weather.

Anyway, in answer to your question, I'd say that it in my observation it appears to vary according to cultivar. For instance, my Divine is pretty much ever-blooming at this point in its maturity, but its flowers at this time of year show zero pink and thus are pretty unremarkable. Also, the Cooktown Sunset tree is in the shadiest, most northern spot on the property--that inflo got toasted by a single night of wind and mid-40s temps after it gave me a handful of flowers (see above pic). At any rate, to me those blooms appeared pale compared to photos I've seen (first time blooming for me). They were welcome and very beautiful all the same, of course. Great scent.

But OTOH, Hawaiian Coral bloomed last summer and then again recently, and I can say with certainty that the winter flowers were the same color intensity. Indo Rose is first-time bloomer but these colors are rich too (new pic from today at the end of this post).

Laura/Robert/all: I can think of nothing more fun-sounding than a day downstairs here at my place surrounded by my plumeria friends!!! Were I a "man of means" hee hee, I'd be flying you all down! 82 degrees today, low of 72 tonight!! It's heaven...and I think the plumies like it too.

Laura, after Indo Rose is done, I will pretty much be looking at sticks myself and though I have 2 or 3 brand-new inflos, I am dreading the wait/dry spell!! Come on, Spring!!!

Best to all of you,
Greg

Ooh, those are all so beautiful! I kept trying to win a HI Coral--VCR seedling with the rose scent, right?--but never could. Does she look like she'll be a tall one, too? And do you suppose Indonesian Rose is a VCR seedling?

I don't know why I'm asking since I need to thin, and not collect, this spring! At least I can enjoy your photos, Greg. 72-82 degrees sounds fantastic about now! Austin's had a prolonged cold spell with sleet and everything lately. Really envy you all still enjoying some blooms or even inflos appearing during winter!

Hi Jen!

Sorry to hear about your cold spell--blech! Sounds just terrible. Hope the new job is going well btw.

Here's what I can report to you about my Hawaiian Coral:
1. It grew like a weed this year: originally 2 tips, now 4. The 2 original branches each grew out about 3 feet, rather laterally. It's still gonna be a ginormous tree just like its parent but (at this point at least) seems less hell-bent on reaching for the stars than VCR.
2. HC's blooms are less substantial than VCR's and I would say have a fair to good keeping quality, one notch below VCR. It does not smell at all like its parent but to me has that thick, sweet, classic frangipani-gardenia fragrance. (As do, I would add, both Indo Rose and Cooktown Sunset.)

As for Indonesian Rose, I seem to remember Matt Hunter reporting that Jim Little had collected it on Bali, possibly Java, back in the 1980s. So, there is a similarity there, I agree...and plumeria had to migrate to Indonesia from Central America at some point...so I guess the best we can say is maybe they come from the same gene pool.

HA! Yeah right, Jandey..."thin." Talk to the hand 'cause... LOL ;-)

So, not buying my resolution to "thin", huh? LOL! Can't fool this group, can I?

Thanks for the detailed info, Greg. The scent sounds gorgeous, but I need to stay away from tall so it worked out well that I never won one. Prolly should just stick with Thais from now on! Not that I'm collecting any more! teehee.

Ok Greg here's your baby VCR with it's scar. I can't thank you enough for it.