kitnor your yard and your plants are lovely! I love your birdhouse too! That's great that you're able to overwinter with frost cloth & Styrofoam cups (genius!). I know what you mean about moving / repotting and such - I got to the point where I have a small dolly and a wagon and my next jump up will be a tree dolly but I'm trying to hold out on that one as long as possible! It sounds like you have a very nice collection, I look forward to pictures of your blooms!!

Yes, the 2 Goldilocks I have are the Jim Little ones, supposed to be compact orange. Although the one pictured looks lanky I won't blame that on the cultivar just yet - the other Goldilocks I have is taller and a different shape so it may have more to do with its environment. Also, I think about what Freak4plumeria said about his Golden Pagoda - it may grow to a certain height or age and then begin blooming more regularly to create a compact shape. This is one variety that I would forgive a lot from to keep HAHA!

The pots I got from Home Depot are these $19.98:

22-1/2 in. dia. Rustic Oak Resin Whiskey Barrel Planter with Iron Band

They are thick and sturdy, I love them! Kms2 did the math and says they are approx. 14 gallon. I don't know what the heck I'll do if I need to go bigger!

I'll play!

On the left we have Guillot's Sunset (about 5' tall with 30+ tips), on the right is Celadine.

The GS is a really fast grower, and has maybe doubled in size over the past 3 summers, even with cold weather set-backs.

A better shot of the Celadine:

This plant blooms like crazy, and is way more compact than I thought it would be.

Now for some Jungle Jacks ... (sorry for the mess in the garage! most of my plants are still asleep.)

Divine:

Lemon Ice:

Jubilee ... not quite so compact, but a surprise favorite from last summer:

Non-JJs ...

Saigon Moon, which looks like it branched without an inflo on one side and bloomed without branching on the other side (go figure!):

Wildfire, looking a little lanky:

Cancun Dreams ... it sustained severe cold damage a few years ago and had to be cut almost to the ground. And then this happened. It hasn't bloomed since:

Kitnor,

"I'm very interest in getting more growth habits info on some of the ones
I have like Toba's fire/Embers, Wildfire, Viola G, Xanadu, Aztec Gold,
Confetti, Elizabeth Thornton, Makaha Sunn, and Metallic."

Toba's Fire/Embers (more on the compact side, good brancher and bloomer., Wildfire (Leggy growth, but does bloom well once it hits a certain size.), Aztec Gold (leggy but good bloomer), Metallica (Grows like Jeannie Morange, flowers similarly.)

Great post, Emily! Yes, we all want to know about growth habit but get so little info on it. Everyone's photos help a lot.

Kitnor, I have a few of those you were interested in:
Wildfire is a thin branched lanky grower for me (in a pot) and has never bloomed since I got it in 2010.
Aztec Gold is a thick, tall, vigorous grower (also in pot). However, there are supposedly two variants of AG, one that grows straight up and one that grows outward.
Makaha Sunn was listed as "compact" but both mine (in pot and ground) have long thin trunks. They also tend to grow thinner then thicker along the trunk--kinda weird. This one has bloomed for me, though, and the flowers are totally worth the stick-figure form!
If Confetti is the same as Barbados Showgirl, I've read it's a very tall grower. I have Aussie Confetti and despite being told it grows slower than its cousin Aussie Cooktown Sunset, it grows like a rocket and is already very tall with only two branches.

Like Emily, I assume that certain "compact" plumies will reach an age when they stop stretching and begin putting on lots of branches. I'm surprised that Goldilocks didn't start out that way, too, but that's one of the fascinating things about this hobby!

Some of my favorites for form are:
Heirloom, which is nice and balanced, and blooms and branches well. Definitely compact.
Thornton's Lemon Drop, which is a terrific bloomer and brancher and thus very dense.
Pu'u Kahea also has a nice, tidy shape. Bill's big tree in CA is picture-perfect.
My Kimi Beauty is as pretty as Emily's tree, very nice balanced branching.
Dwarf Deciduous is wonderfully small-branched and dainty, but makes huge fragrant flowers.
And the JJ's I have are all pretty balanced, though they're still young.

Thanks for the info. I'm really interested in dwarfs and I have never head of Dwarf Deciduous. Do you have a picture of this one. I will keep Lemon Drop on my list based on your review. Do you have a picture of Kim Beauty and Hairloom. Do you know of anyone who sells a Dwarf Deciduous? Your note above is full of good info and I will keep and it's so good to share if anyone can add to this info. Thanks again.

Daogirl - awesome pics you shared! WOW - your Gulliot's Sunset and Celadine are BEAUTIFULLY shaped and compact along with Divine and Lemon Ice! I like your raised beds there, I bet those plants look stunning when they really get going!

Jen I agree, I really like seeing everyone's pictures! I'm glad we had the chance to post some before the leaves all fill in. It's interesting when there's an overwhelming consensus on a variety and it can't be chalked up to individual environment - Wildfire for example seems to be agreed to be lanky no matter what. I'll have to post a pic of my 2nd Goldilocks - they are not the same at all so I tend to chalk it up to environment for now but I would love to see how everyone elses is growing.

kitnor - if Jen isn't able to post a pic of Kimi Beauty, mine is the very first picture in my first post. It is kind of wide but pretty balanced. Nothing against it at all but I do not recommend if you are looking for smaller compact ones.

elucas - thanks! GS hasn't been the best bloomer for me, unfortunately, but I'm hoping it's just because it hasn't hit critical mass yet. Last summer it had the most inflos on it yet, so I'm hoping this year is better. Celadine, on the other hand, is a blooming machine! It's pushing at least 3 inflos that I can already spot, and I expect more to come. I love that it blooms and branches with such regularity. Even though it's such a common variety, I think it's a must have - super-hardy, good growth, good blooming, great scent - and you can use the flowers for leis!

Great Post Emily!! I'm really enjoying this.. All of my trees are in 1, 5 , 10 gallon.. I can't go any larger.. My back can't handle the move.. Kapalua is in the largest and it a 15 gallon.

My best bloomer and brancher is Elizabeth Thornton Lemon Drop! It's always blooming. Second it desert Sunrise... Ok...Psycho too! ;-)

Thanks for the great thread!!

Laura

Does anybody know what kind of growth habit Elizabeth Thornton has. I have a young one and it's just a stick now.

Thank you Laura! Do you use a dolly or anything to help or is that more of an inconvenience? I know what you mean, I don't know that I can go much bigger than the barrel planters, we shall see! They are so nice though and a reasonable price, I love them. Some of my 'regular' pots have cracked and deteriorated in only a couple of years from our intense sun but I think these will last. And yes - my back is struggling with all of these plants to move around, for sure!!

Lowes has your brown whiskey barrel planter on sale in FL for $9.98 was $14.98. Not sure it's the same as yours but you may want to check. Says selection varies by location.

Thanks for the info on Kimi Beauty. I will see if I can find a picture of the bloom on the internet.

Laura, were you ever able to get any of your Kapalua cutting to root?

E,

The biggest i go is 40 gallons. I can lift the 25 gallon plants with a belt and grippy gloves. But the 40s take a dolly Or two people.

I like the resin containers for the same reasons you said. I use a 1 inch spade bit to drill 10 drainage holes then heat the edges to lessen chances of a crack. Plus they are quite stable in high winds.

DSP

Celadine

Jeannie Jr

Sorry for the side ways pics. operator error.

Is the first one Dwarf Singapore Pink? Lovely shape. If it is a DSP, how old to get this big. I thought they took years. It looks big. What size pot.

Kitor - thanks for the info on the barrels - the difference of the two is minimal, kms2 can probably figure out the gallon difference LOL! This looks like a great deal, they are on sale here in the Austin area also.

Home Depot 22.5" barrel:

Depth: 22.44

Width: 22.44

Height: 14.96

Lowes

Depth: 20.5

Width: 20.5

Height: 12.2

Ah K, you have some gorgeous trees! I love your landscaping too!! I wish so badly I could put some in the ground but that is just not going to happen due to our disgusting clay soil. That's so interesting to see a plant like Jeannie Jr. who had to reach for the sky and then suddenly was ready to branch and grow compactly, great example! Your Celadine and DSP have beautiful shapes too.

E, are you saying my problem solving compulsion is obvious? ;) thanks for the complements. What if you built some raised beds with amended soil for in ground planting or plunging?

Kinor,

I was gifted the DSP in 2008 from "houstonpat." It was maybe rooted in 2006. Its maybe an 8 or 9 gallon container. Here is my JJ Divine.

Your DSP has a lovely shape and the Divine doesn't look bad either. I have 5 but they are all very small and in 1 gal & 2 gal pots. Need to grow a bit.

Costco in Winterpark, FL had large 20 gal whiskey barrel planters today but forgot to check prices.

Kitnor, you can find Kimi Beauty pics on Maui Plumeria Gardens' web site, and info/pics on Heirloom and Dwarf Deciduous on Florida Colors' site.

Here's my Heirloom from last summer:

Lovely bloom. I've got it on my list. Thanks

Late to this conversation, but thought I'd throw in a picture of my J-4. 7 years old, has 71 tips, not even 3 feet tall and doesn't seem to want to grow any bigger, but it looks amazing without leaves.

Lovely, I want one of these. What size pot is it in? I bet when it blooms it's is special. Is this a JJ Plumeria? Have you made cutting on this to get this shape? Wonderful looking. .

I believe that is a 10 gallon. And the "J" in J4 I believe was the naming system for JJ when they first started. But I am not sure what he's calling this one now, if he still sells it. I got mine through a vendor in Thailand.

As to pruning, no, other than taking a couple of very short cuttings from low hanging small branches, I have never pruned. I got his one in 2008 as a small grafted plant, the next year it branched out three ways and has been adding branches ever since.

I can only hope one day I will have one that looks like this. Love it!! Its what I call the perfect growth habit and I wish they all would do this but few do. Fl Colors sells a J-4 and website says its from J Thaliand.

Love the shape of the J4, thanks for sharing!!

Oh my god , imagine this J4 growing 3 or 4 meters high , amazing plant.

If you look at JJ's website and FC website, it would appear JJ Thumbelina and J4 are the same plant. I asked Tex at FC and he said it was a good possibility. He had both plants and they were very similar in growth height and color.

Kitnor, I have both J4 and Thumbelina, two totally different plants. The Thumbelina holds its very small flowers well above the plant. J4's large flowers are on shorter stalks, and make beautiful umbrella shaped flowers, that start an off yellow in cool weather and turn orange and bright yellow in heat. J4 is a keeper, Thumbelina in my book is not. Here it was in bloom last October.

Here's a close up of the flower of J4

Excellent info. I'm assuming the above 2 pics are the J4. Do you have a pic of the Thumerlina? The J4 is so lovely, I've ordered one from FC. It will be a 1 tipper and be years before it looks like the above. Still would like to see your Thumberlina to make a comparsion. I have a small Thumberlina but it to is very small and will take years and again the only pictures you see are the bloom not the whole plant. Growth habits are very important to me.

Do you have a Divine. If so, is the Divine growth habit similar to the J4 or the Thumbelina?

I do not have a photo yet of Thumbelina. Got it at Lowes last year (2of them) Each tip is loaded this year and it it stays on the smaller side I think. roxanne

Are they in pots? Do you know of any other plant that has the growth habit of J4? Love that plant.

What a beauty , what an incredible flower leave ratio ... Do you know if there is any nursery that ships cuttings to Europe?

Aloha

Don't know. You can contact Florida Colors and see.

Here is a picture from last July, the smaller tree on the left is Divine, the larger one on the right is Thumbelina.

And here is a close up of Thumbelina's flowers, usually small, spaced out, and only gets even a wisp of color in intensely hot weather. Most of the season it's washed out.

And here was Thumbelina in late September during a heat wave, not much better. Pleasant but not stunning.

I permanently loaned my Thumbelina out. It is compact, a good bloomer, and has nice color in Texas heat/humidity. In the most complimentary way possible...it just looks like every other generation II JJ miniature.

Yes, the Divine and Thumbelina do look the same in this picture. Both look lovely anyway. Can't believe all those blooms. What size pot is it in and what do you fertilize with to get so many blooms after just one year?

Sounds like you have a lot of JJ miniatures. I have JJ Potpourri and Napoli and from the pictures, they also look very similar. They were 1 gallons last year so they have not bloomed yet.

I have the 2 thumbalinas in pots but I banged out the bottom and have them sitting in the courtyard and the roots are out the bottom and into the ground now. I fertilize with fish emulsion and liquid seaweed alternately in a weak solution. If I can locate a J-4, I will gift out the thumbalinas to a neighbor. My new thing is 1 in, 1 out....upgrading all the way. JJ has really gotten this down on coming up with making ones that are happy bloomers. roxanne

I think J-4 is gorgeous. I am loving the awesome shape of your tree mjhuntingtonbeach! And you're right, it looks amazing without leaves!

This is just my opinion, but I like Thumbalina because it never fails to perform. Inflos develop on as little as 1 inch of growth and appear on every tip each year without fail. It also throws out occasional blooms with heart shaped petals. For these reasons, I like it. :-)

Does anyone know the growth habit of Makaha Sunn Candy? The picture I saw was a very large tree. I plan to keep mine in a pot and one person said it liked shade. Does anyone have any experience with this variety. If so, please share information. Thanks.

Any update on growth habits. Has Goldilocks branched off any? I have a Goldilocks and it has done nothing in 2 yrs. Still has one branch. It looks healthy but sure is slow. I will give it one more year and if it does not do anything, will have to go. Any update on Goldilock or other growth habits update. I've recently got the JJ compact red called Red Jack. I've heard nothing about this one. Does anybody have it and are you pleased with it.

Kitnor, I have two Makaha Sunns (don't know how Candy got in the name, lol) and both are very thin and tall. Definitely not compact! Or maybe they just shoot up when they're young and eventually slow down and flower more often and branch out when they mature.

How long has you had them?