Rox, Knowing that you said "named" plants kind of precludes the statement of window shopping trees in a neighborhood and asking the owner if you could purchase a cutting. The answer usually falls between "Go Away" and "take what you want." I would recommend talking with Kara G. (the operator of the Dole Plantaion Kiosk). I have had very good cuttings from Kara and from the Swap Meet sellers too. Kenny also posted about a grower on Oahu a while back. I think its a rare day for many of the "premium" sellers to allow guests to walk their tree farms. I can understand the apprehension to visitors from some of the experiences other have posted about in the forum. There is a place just southwest of Lihue called "Kauai Nursery and Landscaping" or something like that which has some plants and will ship to the mainland but frankly speaking I have been previously underwhelmed by local nurseries on all the islands as far as named plumeria. They are just pink, red, yellow, etc. There was a place in the Iao Valley on Maui but again a selection about the size of a picnic table. They had one plant named "Iao Valley" but the worker could tell me very little about it. The Big Island I havent been to since 2003 but some family friends in Wiamea (Kumuela) on the island have looked in the Kohala area for me as late as 2011 without much luck.

Sorry gang, no other pictures. I've lots and lots of plumeria pictures in my portfolio and really didn't need to take any more. In fact, I only took 50 shots the whole trip. moonie_57 - speed limit is 30 MPH along that stretch. Here's an old shot and the tree looks the same today. It's a Singapore right next to the condo where we stayed. And one hardy plumie in the middle of the 1983 lava flow.

Hey Freak, I hear what you are saying. I do cut other plant's cuttings at 45 degrees. However, plumerias are different from other plants. Do you ever wonder why plumerias do not naturally grow roots from the side of the bark? Just about every plant on the planet does that. The reason is because plumerias have no way to attach the new roots to the wood. Plumeria roots grow from callus material that eventually turns into wood and encapsulates the old wood. I said encapsulates because it never attaches to the old wood, you can peel the old wood from the new wood like an onion leaf, just like in the picture below. So, in order to form roots you must stimulate the plant to form the cambium callus. The plant cannot form roots without this cambium callus. Also, the plant will not just form this cambium callus out of the blue. Angle cuts only develop roots at the tip because all the rooting energy goes to the lowest point. Square cuts always fill the whole cambium perimeter with roots, period. That is because the whole cut is the lowest point. This is a 3-year old tree. See, it did not develop roots to fill the perimeter of the cambium line. Once the cambium callus turns into wood it would no develop anymore roots. By the way, by understanding what makes these plants tick I am able to defeat this natural tendency of plumerias and I can make them grow roots at will from the side of the bark. Lots of roots and roots that uptake nutrients like in the picture below. I can quadruple the number of roots on a plumeria (more vigorous plants and better stability). I will show these results in a future PSA article. If you really have any evidence that an angle-cut plumeria develops roots to fill the whole cut please post them. And do not just show me a slight angle that is almost square. Show me a 45 or 30 degree cut develop roots throughout the whole cut. I challenged a lot of people over time to do that. Nobody has posted a single picture. Everybody arm waves and argues theories. If you have one, show me. George

Evan, Cory, and Vladimir. I'd much rather have a Mexican one. Regarding the rainfall, I looked at a few websites and they weren't consistent with each other. Some said about 41 inches and one said 59 (this is not Hawaii-wide, but for my town only). Since my post yesterday, I've asked one more person. Here's what everyone here on the island has said. Customer service manager for wholesale distributor that supplies big box stores and local nurseries on the island: They don't even sell Mexican key limes. They only offer the best 3 lime varieties for our climate and the Mexican is too susceptible to viruses here. The photo attached is their top 3 recommended limes for the island. Manager at local nursery: For in ground, long-term, a Tahitian lime because it will last. If I *must* have a Mexican, I should get one and keep it in a pot since it is probably going to die in less than 3 years. The humidity will eventually kill it. I should not put it in the ground as it will be short lived. Owner of the local nursery where I got my Meyer lemon: They only have one Mexican lime, a 7 gal. When I asked about the rootstock, they said they they've had it for so long that they couldn't even find the paperwork to track down the rootstock. It just hasn't sold. Home Depot garden store worker: No, but we have a bunch of Tahitian limes over there. Wow, crazy, huh? I'm thinking about buying a Mexican for a container and a Tahitian for in-ground. I'd much rather have the Mexican in the ground, but I can't imagine having to replace it and take it out of the ground if it dies. I have a question: Should I only be buying grafted citrus trees? That is the general rule for mangos and avocados (fruit grown from seed are essentially junk) but I don't know if citrus is the same. I noticed that the trunk (on the pair of the Home Depot little variegated calomondins, pic above) was so skinny and I didn't see a graft line.