I'm pretty sure Pak Lan is the Michelia alba.

Yup! That is the scientific name for them. I had forgotten what it was. I've only seen one tree and smelled the flowers once, but it is a wonderful tree. Haven't been able to find one, yet, though.

Cathy,

If you ever find it, you have to get one! The smell of the flower is soooooooo breath taken! You will not regret it. : )

Good luck!

Not sure if this will help. Good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: M. alba in Hawaii

I'm from the big island too. I bought one from Walmart in Kona about two months ago. I had not seen any there since. I want more!!! Your right the smell is wonderful.

Walmart?!! Wonder where they got theirs from? Hmm, must be from a local nursery somewhere. I don't get to the Kona Walmart much and the one in Hilo has coqui frogs, so I don't buy anything from them.

I don't know what nursery they are from. Also Hawaiian Gardens in Kona said they should be getting some soon. I will keep you posted if I see them. I hadn't had a problem with coqui frogs yet(knock on wood). Have you seen a Michelia Alba in the ground here? I have not and I am really concerned about the heat getting to mine when I plant it.

Well, I work for a landscaping company in Kona and we are about to plant two large Pak Lan(one is in a fifty gallon pot and the other is in a thirty, both are over twelve feet in height!)sometime in the next month or so. I will keep you posted as to how they do in the ground, although they seem to be doing pretty good in those big pots.

Aloha Tigershark,

Do you know which nursery the landscape company got the big Pak Lans from?

I was also wondering if a landscape company would be interested in removing unwanted palms from people's houses? Our neighbor has several palms growing in among the star pines that she would like to have removed. They might be royal palms about ten feet tall or so, I'd have to go look again to be sure.

A hui hou,
Cathy

Thanks Tigershark. I am planting mine this week their about 6ft tall and in 5 gallon pots. I live at about 100' elevation; hope they can take the sun and heat. What area are you planting the large ones in?

Well, we got them from Hawaiian Gardens, in Kona but they had to special order them from somewhere, because I wanted one for myself and they said they don't have anymore right now. As for the palms, you should check with the nurseries, one of them might be interested in them. The area we will be planting them is about the smae elevation as you, kishon, maybe even closer to sea level than that, near the Four Seasons golf course. The planting date has been moved up to sometime in January, but in the meantime, the plants are doing very well in their containers. They seem to like LOTS of water, and are currently putting out some fragrant blooms.

The new nursery in Honokaa, Mohala Pua (spelling? The one next to Tex Drive In) says they may have some Pak Lan next month, which would be February. Guess I'll have to start checking there each week. Fortunately, the malasadas are good.

kishon, I grew Pak Lans on Kauai at the 500' elevation level and they did great no matter what the weather. It could get pretty hot there, too. Have since moved back to the mainland (Florida) and am wishing I had those wonderful trees now!!! I wonder if I can get them here?

I planted all my paklans 2 months ago in the ground. Two of them lost all their leaves. I thought they died low and behold they came back. All are flowering and in good shape. Still getting some brown leaves and fall off. Also I found a paklan planted in the ground at Kona Outdoor Circle. Its about 25' tall at least. It looks great but it is planted in the shade. Hope mine does as well in full sun.

Have you tried Garden Exchange in Hilo? Several weeks ago, they had several pak lans which were about 4-5 feet tall.

Thank you, Menehune, for finding them in Garden Exchange. I finally found one at the plant sale they just had in Kona a week or two ago. (Early October) It is about two feet tall and in a one gallon pot.

Now that I have one, where should I plant it? A prior message mentioned they get up to twenty five feet, does anyone know how much taller they can get? (I don't want to shade the solar panels so if it gets much taller it will have to be away from the back of the house where the solar panels are.) Full sun? Shade? Does wind bother them?

I'll pot it up into a larger pot until it's final destination is known. If it can handle full sun and wind, I may plant it on the upwind side of the house so when it blooms the scent can come inside.

I've just got to ask this. What does Hotkatz' comment about boycotting Hilo's Walmart because of the frogs mean? I'd love to know (remember I'm an alien from thousands of miles away in the UK). Is it that they're retailing frogs as a product line and you don't approve on ethical grounds (well I wouldn't), or is it that their stock is contaminated with webbed stowaways that you don't want to introduce back home? How extraordinary.

You can guess from my posting that we don't experience this sort of thing here in English home stores. The assistants are invariably rude and incompetent (two of our national characteristics), but definitely no frogs.

Steve - Brighton, Sussex Coast, UK

Aloha Steve,

Well, Wally's World (Walmart) seems to have cleaned up their act so I'm considering lifting my personal boycott of them. I've been through their garden area several times lately and not heard a single frog peep.

The webbed stowaway in question is the coqui frog from Puerto Rico which is very invasive and spreading across the islands. It makes a really loud noise at night and they multiply in incredible numbers so if your area gets infested with them it is hard to sleep at night. I'm considering getting another invasive species, the Jackson chameleon established in my area so if the frogs do move in hopefully the chameleons will eat them. Maybe guinea hens too. They are used in places on the mainland when there is a tick infestation. Coqui frogs are about the size of your thumbnail and don't need water to breed so once they get established they are really hard to get rid of.

The assistants at our local stores are extrememly friendly and as helpful as their sometimes limited database will allow them to be. It's just the little extras, such as the frogs, that I object to.

Pak Lan is the Chinese name for Michelia Alba. I have a Michelia Alba for more than 19 years growing in my backyard in San Francisco,Ca. It blooms almost 2000 flowers every year. It is about 25 feet tall. It beared seeds couple times,but it would not sprout from the seed. What to see my tree? Go to my email. Aloha.
alba-mickey

Those of you who have the Pak Lan, have you thought of air layering? I'll bet it would work.

Hotcatz,
I really enjoyed your explanation of the coqui frogs. I'm on the mainland now, but last year my sister in Hilo held the telephone out the door so I could hear the noise. Wow! It's deafening!!! I had no idea they were so small. I hope your chameleons work. I remember that they imported mongoose to get rid of the rats and now mongoose is a problem. Auwe!

The other sweet flower I thought about has a Chinese name too. It is the fragrance used in Chanel #5 perfume. Anybody remember the name? My parents used to have a small tree of it in their yard in Kaneohe. I'm going to try all day long now to remember that name. Oh, I got it. Ylang Ylang. There, I feel better now.

Aloha all.

I found something that says if the tree is less than six feet, it should not be planted in the ground. Also that it needs shade or filtered sun only. Interestingly enough, this plant originated in the Himalayas yet is not frost tolerant. Too bad or I'd get one. I'm afraid it would never grow in Kansas without a greenhouse. Pak Lan is the fragrance used in Joy perfume. You guys taught me a lot today. Mahalo.

Pak Lan is the Chinese name for the Michelia Alba tree. I have one grow in my backyard for 19 years in San Francico,Ca. It is 25 feet tall and each year it has about 2000 very fragent flowers. The Pak Lan has to be more than 7 feet and strong enough befor you can plant it to the ground, otherwise it will die. You can email to me, then I will email you my Pak Lan tree images.

alba-mickey

In Hilo they have them at Paradise Plants and Home Depot...I was just there.

Plant It Hawaii has the pak lan now, too! All of a sudden it's everywhere!

The Pak lan grows to a huge tree, You need space. The flowers truly has a unique scent. The plant is propagated in an unusual manner. Won lan bears yellow flowers, has no scent, seems a useless plant but bears hundreds of seeds whereas the Pak lan has no seeds. The seedlings are used as rootstocks that the Pak lan is grafted on to. Charles Nii, and RS Nii nurseries use this method to propagate the Pak lan. It is quicker $$ than air-layering which takes unusuually long to root. Thier phone #'s are Oahu 395-9959, 395-9811.

Not sure what Won lan is, but if you meant Michelia champaka which has yellow color flowers and its seed is used as rootstock for pak lan, the flowers smell heavenly as the white Pak lan, if not stronger. I have planted both here on the Big Island.

At Lincoln park in Hilo there are about four or five mature Michelia champaka trees that are full of flower at the moment. You can smell the sweet fragrance just driving by with your car window down, on Kinoole street .