The frangipani flowers were lovely last summer but the plants died back to the roots with the freeze last winter. Only one of the three plants that I started last year grew and flowered again this year. The pink with yellow-center flowers are beautiful and fragrant making the surviving plant extra special.
Tag Archives: Plumeria
Frangipani Lore
I bought 4 branches of frangipani (Plumeria) and planted them last April. I was told to put the branches in the ground and to leave them to nature. I put them in the ground as instructed without fertilizer, peat moss, or compost. I admit I watered them regularly because there has been so little rain. Three of them have produced leaves and the fourth looks like it will in a few days. I don’t expect to see flowers for a year, but it is still exciting to watch the development.
All 4 were planted where they get full sun. From what I’ve read, I probably should have started them in a shadier area and then moved them to full sun once they had leaves but they seem to be doing Ok where they are.
Apparently the Spanish distributed the trees around the world from where it originated in Mexico. Due to the
ease of propagation, it is no wonder the frangipani became regarded as “a symbol of immortality because of its capacity to produce flowers from stems severed from the parent tree“. The Spanish often planted them around churches and cemeteries which is where I first saw them in Malaysia many years ago. What fun to have so much history growing in my yard.
Frangipani Ghosts
In my previous post, Frangipani Culture, I mentioned that in Malaysia the trees are sometimes associated with ghosts and demons. I have heard children in Malaysia warned to keep away from the frangipani because of the ghosts. In Indonesia and the Philippines, the frangipani is considered appropriate for cemeteries but not gardens. How could this beautiful flower with its sweet aroma have such a negative imagery? I always thought the reputation was due to how the flowers are pollinated. The sweet smelling flowers are not surrounded by the buzzing of bees but rather are pollinated by silent, dark moths. According to the Plumeria Society of America, they might be pollinated by thrips also. Thrips are tiny insects only a few millimeters long so most people haven’t ever seen them although they are fairly common. (view diagram of a thrip.) My theory is that the silent pollination routine rather than the loud, bee-buzzing pollination method results in the ghost stories. Luckily for us, the beauty of the tree has attracted enough horticulture enthusiasts, that the tree has been distributed around the world.
Interesting Plumeria links
- Plumerias: The Moragne Plumerias (interesting summary of historical distribution)
- Plumeria Society of America
- Floridata: Plumeria spp
