Escaping Winter

While trying to take it easy and keep sane, I've been working on my Plumeria Garden! Most people don't recognize the Hawaiian flower by name, but they do recognize THESE!

LEIS! Leis are typically made out of plumeria because plumeria are so fragrant. Each type of plumeria has a different scent; some smell sweet and others smell like citrus fruit or peaches. Plumeria is also the flower in Hawaiian culture traditionally worn behind the right ear of women that are "available", while a plumeria behind the left ear indicates that she is taken. Plumeria are easy flowers to love!!! I bought my first plumeria "cutting" in a gift shop on my honeymoon in Kauai 4 years ago after falling in love with the huge, fragrant plumeria trees that grew on the grounds of our hotel, and along the beaches. Cuttings are essentially pieces of branch that have the ability to grow into new plants once stuffed into soil, and are often sold in plastic bags like the one I bought in the store. I brought mine home and it sprouted gorgeous yellow and white flowers the very next summer. I about killed it the first winter, not realizing that it wouldn't tolerate temperatures under 40 degrees. Now it's about 3 feet tall and still growing in a pot, indoors for the winter.
Soon after I grew the first, I wanted more colors and smells! Unfortunately, I found that to buy cuttings online cost 15.00-20.00 dollars for the cutting and another 18.00 for a "clean agriculture" certificate allowing them to be shipped to the states (ouch!). So I decided to buy seeds instead, since they required no certificate and are much cheaper. Last spring I bought these 5 new types on Ebay from Thailand: Wipa Delight, Golden, Three Kings, Magenta Powder, and Purple Queen









I had all good intentions of establishing them during summertime, but instead they sat in my seed basket in a dark laundry room cupboard while I enjoyed the sunshine and outdoors. Now that its cold and I'm stuck indoors "resting", I finally have more of a chance to get them going, AND more of a challenge that I don't have the tropical-like heat on my side. I set them up with a plastic tent and a gro-light every night, and uncover and put them near a sunny window everyday. They seem to be doing well, most have sprouted and are on their way up! It's refreshing to see green things growing while everything is so cold and dead outside.


A stray orchid picture that got in there somehow... :)

YES! Call me the crazy-plant-lady, but this is what I love doing and what MAKES ME HAPPY! :D So Alooooooha everyone and a Mele Kalikimaka to you!