Great help thx.

Gary,

Your plants and varieties are positively stunning. This is what I envision a real conservatory looks like. Wish I could see in person.

I live in here in the PNW, but right smack dab on the ocean, real atypical 8b. The wind blows 85mph in winter, and 30-40mph almost every afternoon in the summer. We don't get as many of your brilliantly spectacular Seattle sunny spring/summer days. Have only been growing plumeria since May of this last year, and plan to keep mine indoors year round. I have four 4 bulb T5HO lights, and two 8 bulb, with space for just one more. If my home was even 1000 feet inland from where it stands, lighting would be a night and day difference.

You, on the other hand, have a lot more sunshine I'm guessing. Can only imagine how gorgeous some plumerias would look in your solarium. Most of my plumerias were grown from cuttings from Maui Plumeria Gardens. Have a couple from Jungle Jack's, the plumeria nursery in SD Michael mentioned above. Getting an established plumeria from JJ's will get you blooms much faster. If you've not perused their site, be forewarned it's hard to leave it without placing an order.

Hope to see you here and that you'll decide to give it a go. Thanks for sharing those beautiful pictures.

Nancy

Thx Nancy, guess you see the botanist in me picturing out.*

Nancy sounds like you need to grow some bamboo to make stakes! The quite uniform 1/4" bamboo stakes that we all buy are, I think just Arrow Bamboo. It grows wild in Japan and some other Eastern Hemisphere locations, i think My Brother gifted me a starter clump. Beautiful stuff. Mine is about 12 -15' tall. This bamboo has tall straight nicely uniform stems with a tuft of large bamboo leaves on top. Can't imagine how many people historically were killed by quilled stafts from this large grass. Gardening is a much more civilized use! Grow Timber Bamboo for larger stake use, especially where those 85 mph wind hit! Gosh, I can't imagine what thst feels like with sideways rain.

_________

* Yes, I can't help liking plant like life of all kinds and how things connect with us in nature. If interested my "roots" to this path follow.

Interest started I think while visting my grandparents in Utah. Artful bronze brushed leaved red Canna over my head (King Humpert?) with Hummingbird fairey like critters zipping around, makes quite an impression when your 5. Jumping on the sun baked solid top of that compost pit, propigating waves in the moist goo below was heaven! At least until I broke through.

At about 12, I came across an old painting photo of a Hummingbird in a the a rainforest tree canopy hovering near an orchid. This was a wonderous world to me that I knew nothing about. Guess grandpa's garden seed clicken in me then.

First I found and Amaryllis then Phalenopsis on sale. Had my own self purchased greenhouse at 14 yr old, mostly with orchids. Then worked at Olympia Greenhouses, while in high school. In college, trained as a research biochemist with botany minor. Worked on shiitake mushroom developmental and degradative enzyme research and helped introduce cultivation to the US in the early 80's.

Later worked in R&D roles harnessing fungi for process and environmenal roles. Had a chance to work on helping to set initial international standards for biodegradable plastics, It was fascinating interacting with US corporation representatives, Europe, Japan (again), and the US Compost Council. Heck along the way bamboo and woods called to me and I play shakuhachi and ethnic flutes, or rather they play me (Ancient Sounds CD Baby).

The reason I tell you and others this is that gardening touches people and changes the lives of others in ways we might never expect. Your enjoyment of Plumeria, when shared, may save the sanity or even life of another.

Job changes and tech moves gave me little chance to put down roots. That was until I met a most awesome person, and now Wife, over 15 years ago. Switching to recruiting finally gave me location stability.

Beautiful plants. I would defer to those experienced in your area but I would be concerned the skylight or solarium by itself is not providing enough light for plumerias to bloom based on the image posted and info provided. Maybe you are lucky with a regional microclimate which will help.

Based on your post I am certain you are quite adept at making the necessary adjustments to make conditions ideal but I anticipate you will need supplemental artificial light on a routine basis. Particularly when you are having those notorious PNW weeks long streaks of cloudy days.

Secondary but directly related to sunshine will be dealing with how wet and how long a Plumeria stays wet. In the height of the growing season for me the only way I can overwater is to throw the plant in the pool. For your described conditions I think a very fast draining growing medium and gentle hand with the water will be needed for early and late season. Mid Season when the plant is in full growth should be OK to survive warm wet conditions.

I hope you try it because the enjoyment and challenge is worth it. Best of luck and let us know how it goes.

Better than a visit, a couple photos below help you picture our yard goal.

On the Solarium, it's not in place yet. Just a dream goal in planning. We are hoping to add it this summer. When moved last year, we repainted inside and out, reroofed, reguttered, and insulated a shed to hold starter plants under lights.

Our yard was truely a gardeners clean slate. So I get to make all the mistakes my self. I first dug and installed a fish and frog ponds. Then began installing the yard with a flagstone pathway grid first and still being seated.

Plant divisions propigated from the last yard really helped to jump start the yard. And I admit I picked up some colorful things later to help fill in design needs.

Question: which solarium option would you pick and why?

We have a lower back patio off of a tri-level house with slider entrance from a family room. The lower patio is 20'L x 10'W and covered with a roof matching an upper patio (off the kitchen). The bright largely full sun backyard is squarely south of the house, with no barrier to solar gain.

Our garden design outside was selected to be very floral, very lush looking with an emphasis on tall elements not needing weeding. So we do not need the solarium to be the sole tropical highlight.

We have many semitropical (Canna, Banana, Bamboo. Elephant Ear, Gunnera, Lily), fragrant (Feb to Oct/Nov), moon garden (light color flowered) plants, 80 hydrangea and 50+ Iris of different kinds.

We want to largely live by day in the solarium 3 to 6 months a year. We have an efficient wall mounted William's Direct Vent gas furnance for the solarium, which is designed to need no external power or fan to operate, should the power go out.

Inside the solarium will be a patio table, chairs and side table. There will be water supply draining floor and rock installations to create a jungle like feel and not a greenhouse feel. The area feels open but private. It is view protected from outsiders due to orientation, an external shed and newly installed timber bamboo across the yard.

Thick double pane glass will be used. 55, 58 (favored so far) or 60 F nights will be selected (depending on plants selected) to reduce heating costs. Side screened sliding door, screened window, auto hydraulic vent lifter, and two small fans will be added to help expel heat over 85 F.

Option 1

Glass sidewall and insulate the lower patio roof and add a 20' x 6' lean to solarium (glass curved at eave).

My thinking is that we would have a low tropical plant rock wall inside under the glass and an area inside out of direct sun with bright shade tropical plants

Option 2

Remove the lower patio roof and put in a 20L' x 14 or 16'W lean to solarium.

This gives the most solar gain (althought much is from the south wall akready in either option). It is much more glass space to heat, but gives more full sun area for high light plants. Would need to add mobile overhead shade screen option for summer use and a resort like sun umbrella or two inside.

With house being repainted our color scheme is now in muted green range, not blue.

Dark bronze or brown insulated metal trim such as in these internet photos is preferred.

Going to reread this in detail tonight but thought I would offer this...Any possibility of installing radiant infloor heating in the solarium? requires one dedicated GFCI and can be a DIY job. I did it in my last house. For about 140sf it was about $800 in materials and a favor from my wife's uncle (licensed electrician).

Thx radiant heat is certainly an option to consider, for comfort alone when sitting there.

The lower outside ground level patio currently has a cement slab for part and treated wood section. Radiant heat feels GREAT. But isn't gas heated air less costly to operate? We have forced air in the house now not a heat pump. And so if electric radient heat is in the solarium (outside the main house) then plants might die if the power goes out in cold weather.

Moving to a new house I didn't know well yet and potentially interested in heating an outbuilding shed, solarium, greenhouse, and/or attached garage I did some research. A Williams Direct Vent Gas Wall Heater can do any of these, can be self installed, has a small footprint, and look nice.

https://www.williamscomfortprod.com/product/direct-vent-furnaces/

The convection design can keep amazingly even heat even (5 degrees between ceiling and floor) without a fan. It needs no external power. It can be operated on either propane or natural gas, with a $50 conversion pilot kit to switch over. It is reliable and needs little maintainence. When serviced it is a standard gas design and not specialized.

Having most of the uses I have now and may want later, I invested in one, starting with propane in an outbuilding. I use two taller trailer-like propane tanks now, to have backup. And installed a cost effective auto tank regulator switch over system for when the current tank goes empty. It all works great. With night 55.7 F temp within 0.5 degrees each night. An indicator shows me when the supply tank depletes. I unscrew the empty and refill it during other errands.

If i stay with propare, we'd just call to have a larger rental tank placed here. If we switch to natural gas, then we can use the ophaned tanks for BBQ or potential RV addition. And we sure plan to entertain in summer.

You now just about have the whole lot figured out. We are located on a circle with smaller front yard and big generous angular back yard all solud cedar fenced. To reduce labor the front yard was reworked to become lawnless.

I'm keeping the RV parking area to the side of the backyard. I'm not turning it into garden, just for resale value alone ... and you never know, when your kids or siblings might request to park there awhile! The 'Nikita's Gift' Persimmon Tree that I got would be kind of tight next to it. And I can't then plant fruit trees or a pea patch there.

Our neighbor gifted us 80 fruits this last fall. Pretty convinced now that I like them. You can choose astringent to sweetness level. Does everything well but picks itself.

Can pick early before the amass and kitchen counter ripen. Bumper superfood crop that eats well raw, freezes, dries, microwaves, cooks or cans well as jam.

Worthwhile if nothing else than for the awesome fall leaf color alone. And looks like a little Halloween themed tree in season with little flying pumpkins like fruits in the air.

Since one tree is more than enough for home use. I enhancing this mass fall color effect next to with "Jelena' Witch Hazel.

If fact, it is incensing us now! (Photo taken yesterday.)

Internet photo of 'Jelena' fall color.

And ...

~50 Hyacinths are along the front walkway and a classic "old bourbon" class scent climbing rose* near the front door. The rose is to greet, add interest, and soften the house corner visual effect.

* It pays to plant a thornless rose here, especially one with nice deep red new growth for interest sake. The entrance location is northside so partial shade tolerance was important too. I selected 'Zephirine Drouhin' whose combined positive attributes are unusual in a climbing rose. It likely comes from "Arabia" in the middle ages with the Crusades. German gardeners gave it a name that stuck anout a hundred years ago. It's now enjoyed worldwide.

I discovered this rose on the front page of a Wayside Garden catalog now many years ago (see their photo below) and have grown it ever since. It's worth the pruning effort and training practice. Nearly thornless means nearly painless. But growing 15-30', don't fall when it gets you out of bounds.

Below the rose are several fragrant low growing evergreen Sarcococca humilus 'Fragrant Valley' plants as ground cover. A nice spicey warm greeting scent from it precedes rose blooms from Feb-Mar. And there's little visual indication, where it is coming from, which adds to some real visitor intrigue. What is that ... I smell?

The early blooming, highly fragrant Daphne odora planted in front to add interest near the leggy rose bottom is more visually obvious. Nice to have an evergreen here for when the rose is leafless. I selected a variegated leaf variety here for visual contrast with the rose climbing up high from behind.

You guessed it, the rose proven in my former shady yard transplanted well as well as an offset of our also pictured 9' tall Giant Himalayan Lily (Cardiocrium giganteum v. yunnanense).

They start growing very early in the Spribg even before the 7-8' tall Hydrangea 'Blue Wave' on the left gets going much. They have amazing glossy leaves and first look much like a Hosta, but when mature can look like the stem is a big elevated from the ground.

When blooming initates they begin elongating fast better showing the "hosta on a stick" appearance, as they bolt upwards into full bloom.

The bold seeming magical flowers have maroon stripes inside and emit a strong sweet spicy "waftable" fragrance that carries well. This begins at dusk and carries through the night.

Yunnanense tends to bloom at 8 to 12 ft tall and often has darker blackish stem color and flower markings. The flowers petals often flair out more and look sort of alien.

Whereas the type species Cardiocrium giganteum v. giganteum is larger, blooming at 9 to 14'. However, it is a marginally less vigorous in both growing and initiating flowering. Once it initates however, it wastes no time in amazing you.

The beautiful fragrant type species flowers have more tubular based Trumpet Lily shaped flowers. They start out creamy green as they begin to open, then shift to white.

The first time I bloomed a Cardiocrium I was lucky to bloom all three I had and got both kinds and to compare. I had gotten gallon sized plants two years prior at two different local nurseries, all just labeled Cardiocrinun giganteum.

White white flowers, tall above the viewer, of intense fragrance that carries well makes the Giant Himalayan Lily the perfect early summer plant to begin luring you out to enjoy a moonlight garden.

The crazy tub planted Yunnanense offset that I moved last February, prompty bloomed here about 3 months later, before I could plant it. With that modest clump having bloomed the year before, I did not expect it!

My Cardiocrium were placed in their preferred morning part sun location, the on north side of a shed. And it had been heavily fed in hope. Later these beauties were worked into a design area, near timber bamboo, and hardy banana.

Click n' grow the Cardiocrinun giganteum v. yunnanense photo below

Can you believe how an early childhood experience might influence in an unsuspecting person's life later?

Plant good seeds in fertile ground.

Sorry I wasn't clear but the radiant system in conjunction with your planned heating schema not in replacement of. It would act like a giant heat mat and Plumeria's love warm soil.

Still plan to read this post in detail tonight.

Ah the radiant heat makes sense now, especially if the solarium was built in part to for Plumeria enjoyment. Do you also use dark colored rock or water containers, or use other sun heat collection methods to gain, store and later supply heat?

Curious if you've looked into Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Nanjing Gold' or similar Japanese Paperbush varities for your hardy outdoor enjoyment? It's in the Daphne early year blooming family and takes less light than Plumeria.

Example internet photos below for mature plants (mine is still small). Fitting to the name and color its fibers can be used to make fine, silky, flexible and highly durable paper. In fact, I've read Japanese official yen currency money us printing on it!

Like Plumeris they also a have nice architectural wood stick like interest structure. Tropical like leaves and are beautifully fragrant. You just add the winter phase, where they are leafness, but not dead. They are again rooted from woody cuttings, grow well and have beautiful fragrant flowers.

We are seeing nice Monrovia and similar grown ones here in the Seattle area for $85 to 140. If you hunt around, smaller ones can be found for much less.

When leafed out they are have trropically shaped leaves making a nice textural backdrop.

There are amazing large hillside tracts of these grown in Japan as a second crop on forested land for fiber production. I wonder about fragrance production too?

And here we seem to talk mostly about their bamboo and cherry blossums. Many growing certain hydrangea and lilies don't know that they many come from Japan too.

You've got the two words in the name of the rose reversed.

Thx dyslexic rose verse was re-reversed, I mean corrected.

We don't sweat typos or misprints in the Plumeria Community forum. If something doesn't make sense we ask the posting member to clarify. Otherwise we move on and enjoy the conversation.

Considering your location I would go with the second option provided it does come with a screening mechanism for those few days of sun. Very nice and well laid out plans. I am in the same boat with a new blank slate back yard.

Appreciate the recommendation on Paperbush but I am not sure it will do well in the Texas Hill Country. It sounds like it may be too thirsty. I am using Texas Natives, adapted non natives, and xerics. A few areas which are wetter may support more tropical like plants. Lots of sages, Lantanas, Desert bird of paradise, agapanthus, hibiscus, cannas, hollys, KO Roses, Viburnum, aster, plumbago, honeysuckle, muhly grasses, guara, garlic, daylilies etc.