If you want a real tropical look, try a bunch of mini hot pink Caladiums or colorful bromeliads. Be careful not to use anything with an extensive root system, to minimize competition for moisture.

My mistake in doing this was: I love trailing lobelia and have it all over and thought how cool to have cobalt at the bottom of the warm blooming plumeria....fabulous till mid summer and then they harbored white fly. Now I keep it simple with rocks and shells....roxanne

I think bromeliads would look great. They don't have huge root systems and stay in bloom for a long period of time. They also stay tidy and low growing so it doesn't take away from the plumeria itself.
I don't usually plant anything with my plumerias. My plumeria divine has wandering jew vines in it but I feel that it's starting to interfere with the plumeria's root system so I'm going to take it out this spring and give the plumeria some fresh soil and fertilizer.
-Alex

Unclear where you are but if you water alot and your plants are big shade producers you could plant Impatiens, or Sedum if you don't have to water alot. I think the key is how big of a container and how big of a Plumeria. I would not put any additional plants in anything smaller than 25 gallons.

Another option is to mask or hide the container. I have hidden 25 gallon pots behind Cape Plumbago, Lantana, Rosemary, Mexican Sage, Mex Honeysuckle, Mex Heather, Hibiscus, and various hollys. I tried putting one inside some Jasmine once. It was pretty until winter time and I was moving the Plumeria. I failed to cut one last vine about 8 feet up and it broke a 4 tip branch off.

Funny you should ask. This was brought up last summer and citizeninsane suggested using petunias in spring while the plumies have no foliage. Here in Texas the petunias die off from the heat just as the plumies really take off.

So this spring I decided to try it with my biggest container grower, Thornton's Lemon Drop:

I really like this look, and the center flowers, dwarf snapdragons, will keep going when the petunias die back.

You guys are giving me some great ideas, thank you. Roxanne, I also planted Lobelia Cobalt Blue in my plumeria container but it almost killed my plumeria. I had to cut off about 9 inches of a three branch limb (I about cried). Thats why I started this forum, so I could see if anyone had any experience so I don't run into the same issue again. As far as pot container size, I just bought 4 of the Jack Daniels whisky barrells from Lowe's (around 29.99 each). These barrels are pretty big, they are cut in half to make two planting containers. I don't think I have to worry about the root system this year because all the plumeria's that I am putting in these barrels are just large cuttings. I'm just looking for something to give it color until the Plumeria's flower, which will be a while.

Jandey, it wont let me view your picture but I'll try again once I get home....I'm thinking my work PC has some restrictions that will not allow me to upload the photo, but thank you for posting the pic. Hopefully I can see it when I get home.

Also, I live in the most southern part of Alabama so we can pretty much grow anything during the summer.

anything in a pot in my yard ends up with salvia and mother of millions in it, not because I plant them but because they are weeds. Doesn`t seem to bother the plumeria.
Tally HO!

from my experience, plumerias need water to rush through the soil and leave it only moist. By planting ground plants or mulching, you are slowing down this process and keeping more water from moving through the soil quickly. I now have nothing growing with my plants.

Welcome Quaching! Great question by the way... I am wondering the same thing now that we finally got the green light from HOA to start working on the yard.

Thank you Mike! I think you just gave me a workable idea. I was so bummed to learn that we have very heavy clay soil, so unless I do something drastic, I'm not sure my plumerias will survive if planted in the ground. I was going to put one or two as the centerpiece and plant other plants around them. No reason why I can't keep the centerpiece plumeria in the pot right? Sine I will have other plants surrounding it... you won't be able to see that it's not planted in the ground. Will that work?

I live on a sandbar, everything is heavily mulched here. Water soaks right on down to the water table in seconds. Even the cactus are mulched. I don't anticipate an end to our ongoing drought anytime soon so more mulch! I know the garden in San Antonio heavily mulches around their plumeria also because of the drought.

Our "soil" and water are very, very alkaline. I do not treat the water before using it on the plants. Even things in pots eventually end up with an alkaline ph because of the water.

Carry on and bloom.
Tally HO!

Slow-growing succulents, or succulent creepers would be good with plumeria, as they'd have similar water requirements. Best to keep them in pots and tuck the potted succulents in around your plumeria, if you overwinter plumeria in their pots during the winters, your succulents will still require some moisture during the winter, (not much, but a little) and your plumies won't. Being able to remove the potted succulents from your plumeria will help.

Hi this is my first post I have a volunteer cape plumbago in my plumeria potted plant should i separate them?

TigLily, it depends on the container size and how long you plan to leave it. But I would expect in a short amount of time you will have a problem. Could you use the plumbago as an in ground screen for your container?

Thanks thats what i kind of thought, Close to transplanting anyway so i appreciate your advice 🙂