Good luck with the hunt Brian. Hope you find some good ones. Wish I was coming down your way this spring. Maybe there will be some leftover in Nov. when I get there. Let us know what you find so we can drool. Peg

Hey Brian and Peg, im drooling just thinking about what they have.... Wish i was going with you!!!!

Have fun!!!

Laura

You better save some for me. LOL Im driving to Tampa/St Pete June 18th for a wedding.

Mike

Brian,

I wouldn't stop bothering the manager at my local Lowe's until she stopped what she was doing and looked at her paperwork to see exactly when they would be coming--June 1 is my arrival day. I don't know where I'll put another 1 or 2...but you can bet that I'll be there on June 1!!!

Greg

Greg- smart thinking on just asking them when they would arrive :) Certainly smarter than stopping by Lowe's every day for two weeks. I'm curious to see what they get in this year.

I bought 2 of them from my Lowe's (Panama City Beach, Fl.) - they are 3-tip plants with inflos - I think they will both be pink.

I will have to look at my 2 lowes soon.

Brian,

The closest Lowe's to me is in Oakland Park, which is a bit of a hike; with my time short and gas at $3.75/gal, I figured it would be smarter.

Ask about the delivery from "Sun Bulb", not Better-Gro, fyi...

irun

what kind are the ones in "square pots" Ill be there in a couple weeks and was wondering what types I hope might be there.

Mike

Last year they were Jungle Jack's, or at least some of them were. I picked up an Inca Gold. I haven't seen them locally in the Tampa Bay area yet.

Good luck!

OK, they arrived.

I tried to make notes of what they had...

-Divine
-Mini White
-Star White
-Thumbelina
-Rainbow
-Rainbow Light

The last two must be NOIDs? Their tags also said "two tone." Unfortunately they were not in bloom because they could either be interesting or not.

The first four are Jungle Jack's, obviously. Not sure about the last two... I do know JJ tries to up-sell NOIDs with other names like "premium white"...

I am thinking of going back and picking up a Divine... Thumbelina looks interesting too. The Star Whites were in bloom, not bad but probably not something I'd pick up given the other choices.

Cool. I passed on getting thumbelina last year. Maybe there will still be some in 3 weeks. How much are they?

Mike

Oooops, for some reason I made no note of the price. However last year they were $20 I think so I would assume the pricing is similar this year.

I have heard Thumbelina is very compact as well. Is the growth similar to Divine then? I might want to match two together that have similar growth habits.

Gosh, you guys that can plumeria shop locally are so lucky!

My first was bought at a small feed and seed store. I have talked to the lady since and she has no plans on ever having any more. Someone had given her several cuttings, she potted them and the next year sold what she didn't want.

I'm still waiting to hear something from my order with FC. The money did come out of my account today. I'm getting a little excited. That will have me up to 5 cuttings and 1 noid that's in bloom.

Moonie, I know what you mean, although for ultimate selection it seems that almost everyone turns to mail order at some point to get the special plant, so don't feel too bad!

I went back to Lowes today and below is the result... the left is a Divine and the right is a Thumbalina. They were $20 each. The plants marked "rainbow" and "light rainbow" are a mystery, they had the most slender branches of any Plumeria Rubra that I have seen. The stems had something written on the but I couldn't read most of it. The stick tag also had a number, one was like sfrb10. The writing on the stem might have started with "SR."

those look pretty good! Do me a favor, tuck a few away in a secret spot and Ill get them in a few weeks LOL.

Mike

Looking Good Brian !!! nice find and $20 toooooo. Funny that they are in the square pots and the ones in OK were in round ones. "Congrats" Peg

I have to quit coming back to this post because I am so jealous! :)

Seriously though, those are some nice plants and they look so good sitting in that pretty blue cart. LOL

Are you going back for Thumbelina? I know I would.

Hope Minderella is having some luck, too!

Thank you for thinking of me Moonie. I stopped by one lowes and all they had was divine. Alot of them the stems were coming out of the dirt, no trunk. I didnt know if that was alright. Do they grow from the trunk too or just the tips grow?

Minderella, the Divine I bought was the same way. I assume that the main "trunk" below the branch point on the cutting wasn't long enough to extend beyond the soil line so it basically looks like 4 branches coming out of the soil. I imagine this is a potential problem for any cultivar that branches rapidly- you are less likely to get a long branch.

The only growth will come from the tips so I personally think it should make for an interesting plant- definitely more compact.

Thank You for the info irun5k

Brian,

I too picked up a Thumbalina this weekend...I also bought the "Light Rainbow" because I found the slender branches very unusual/intriguing. We'll see about the LR, but I'm pysched about Thumbalina.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed at the selection...but perhaps I'm getting spoiled?

You'll enjoy Divine btw...great tree.

Greg

Greg, definitely keep us posted on Light Rainbow. Did yours have numbers/letters on the stem? Wondering if they translate to anything...

Yes, it was a somewhat limited selection- I think our store had maybe 18 plants. I got one of the only two Thumbalinas though, so I'm excited about that one as well. Also from all I've read I think you are right, I'll love Divine.

The Inca Gold I got at Lowe's last year is just now starting to leaf out. It is several months later than everything else in my yard... I'm wondering what the heck I did to it or if this is just to be expected?

You guys are killing me... : )

Sooooooooooooo lucky!!!

Laura

Aside from the big box stores do you guys/girls have any recommendations for places to shop for rooted plants or cuttings in the Tampa/St Pete area?

Mike

Laura, perhaps you have the advantage for not having the local temptations!

Mike, Exotic Plumeria is in the Tampa area and they are open to the public. They are huge... the only negative is their prices. However it might be something you want to check out if you find yourself with extra time.

If you are feeling more adventurous, there are usually a couple of people posting on craig's list with seemingly decent sized collections that they sell from.

Mustang Flea Market in Pinellas Park usually has a seller or two but I don't know if they're named or anything. However this is a great place to stock up on exotic tropical fruit that you may not have easy access to back home.

If you just want to see & photograph a big patch of Plumeria, Palma Sola Gardens can be found just over the Skyway in Bradenton.

That is about all I can think of. Other local nurseries sell plumeria but they are usually unnamed.

Well you all must have got all the good ones.LOL. Went to a couple lowes and no thumbalinas left. They had a few others but That's the only one I would want. Think ill take the $20 I would have spent and get something interesting at Exotic Plumeria.

Mike

Mike, Don't give up as my friend went back to the Lowes that she went to and got my "Divine" on 6/4 and she found they had more in 6/18 and found me a "Thumbelina". It was the only one they had so you might want to check or recheck more stores. I think she was at the one on Ulmerton. Good luck. Peg

Thanks peg. I got up early and found a thumbalina in Clearwater. I hope the tag is right.

Mike

YEAAAA Mike !!! Your in good company as you never know when someone decided to change tags for you. We'll have to compare notes as they grow. Mine has a couple of what looks like spent inflos but I'm hoping something will pop from them so I'll know for sure. At least you know it's a JJ so that is good. Peg

Peg, is that five tips? Lucky you! What a good friend!

Yes it is Jen, thanks. It has 2, kind of old looking, inflos and one more that it did have that is gone. My friend doesn't have a lot of money to spend on plants so I bought one for her too. She has made 2 trips looking for me and bought me 2 (Divine and the rainbow) and her 1 (rainbow)the 1st trip and now the "Thumbelina" on the second. I may not see the blooms but I should have lots of new tips. She updates me with pics on the rainbow and if the Divine decides to still put out a bloom I'm sure she'll send more pics. Peg

Just left Busch Gardens and its a good thing I didn't have pruners or those big Singapore would have lost a limb or two. Lol
mike

Mike those Singapores are great aren't they? Though the magic of theme parks they disappear at some point in the year and then reappear the next year when it is the right time.

I would love to see the behind the scenes stuff but BG doesn't appear to do a gardeners-type tour. I am just imagining a big fork lift coming and moving those into some greenhouse somewhere that has to be huge.

Sea World in Orlando has a few in ground Plumeria as well. I have never figured out how they keep them alive in Orlando. Some people were saying they have pipes with hot water running though the ground and that sort of thing but I'm not convinced that could supply enough ambient heat when the air temps get down in the high 20's.

Guys and gals, don't get to participate much but I wanted to throw in my 2 cents as I was fortunate enough to pick up three from the JJ Lowe's shipments....... The Mini White (very unique looking stalk when it splits), the Thumbelina and the Divine (picture of the bloom on the Divine shown here, all three blooms had different stages of coloration, really striking). The store I picked them up at, the Divine and Thumbelina both had active blooms so it was nice to confirm I was getting what the tag noted them to be.

Thumbelina bloom aroma is simply wonderful.... strong citrus scent, great stuff!

Oh, all three had multiple stocks, the Mini white has 7 points, the Devine and Thumbalina each had 5.

One more thought before I go back to lurking...... great local source for the Tampa bay area with good pricing for Plumerias is the Plumeria Hut in Lithia. The owners are Plumeria nuts like most of us and the owner is quite knowledgeable. Most of my other Plumeria have come from Bree and Eric.

Thanks......... Mark Adams

Every year I visit St Pete area flea market looking for plumerias and also keep of any Craig's list postings from earlier months when I an there