Fun with Frangipani or the Pleasures of Plumeria

It’s that time of year on the Treasure Coast. The Frangipani or Plumeria are turning from sticks into flowering trees. The first flowers seem to show up with the first blast of humidity in spring. It is a double-edged sword – yay! flowers, boo! humidity. The glorious sunny days of spring are about to morph into steamy summer.

Frangipani is the common name for the Plumeria plant. Named for Italian nobleman, Marquis Frangipani who made gloves and scented them with the fragrance of bitter almond. The fragrance of the gloves reminded people of the Plumeria and the common name stuck. Plumeria, the botanical name, originated with a French botanist, Charles Plumier, who described the plant in the 17th century.

Frangipani are a nearly universal floral symbol of the tropics. Flowers are sweetly fragrant and bloom throughout the rainy season. Surprisingly, while these plants are widely associated with Hawaii and the South Pacific, they are native to the tropics of Americas, Central America and the Caribbean. The flowers are used to create leis (necklaces constructed of flowers) in Hawaii and have many different meanings throughout the tropics. In Thailand, they can be considered bad luck connected with spirits, some people believe ghosts take refuge in the flowers. In India, they are associated with new life, birth and death.

These trees are very easy to grow on the Treasure Coast, given the right conditions including full sun and good drainage. The trees are small for the most part usually less than 20 feet tall and wide. They are available in a variety of colors, from red and purple to pink and coral to whites and yellow. White and yellow are the most common. They are also very easy to prune and share cuttings with friends.

Bridal Bouquet Plumeria is a local favorite. These are white flowering, semi evergreen and an upright form. I grew a batch of them to use as a tall hedge to screen my neighbors irrigation stained fence,

To propagate: Take a cutting at least 6 inches long. Strip all the leaves off except the ones on the end. Let the plant dry until the cut end is dry (a day or two) Pop into a container filled with well draining potting and wait until new growth appears …voila, a new plant.