Hey Kenny!!!

I just love seeing the roots as they finally appear...

After all of the time we wait patiently, then..YES!!!

I hope someone can help you identify the blooms for you. I will say that that is one huge head on that beauty!!!

Please post more pics once it opens more for you!!

Sometimes i just give up on wonderinng about the fussy cuttings. I think it just has alot to do with the heat, vitality of the cutting and the time of the year we root.

My cuttings are all doing great right now.. I have one that i am so thrilled about. I will keep my fingers crossed that it continues to do well and then post on it soon!

Thanks for showing us your new cuttings. They sure are healthy!!!

Congratulations on your other great buys as well!!!

You are so lucky to find JJ trees in OK!!!

Take care,

Laura

Awesome job Kenny. I guess I need to try my luck at rooting a cutting. Spent some time on MPG today but I think im going to wait until I come back from Tampa in a few weeks to see what I bring home from there first.

Mike

Nice white! It has a very attractive bloom shape. Wide overlapping petals. Flat flower. Nice!

I have found Hilo Beauty quite easy to root. I don't know that 'reds' are really any more difficult than others. This red doesn't seem to be anyway.

Sorry I can't help with the id K2 but it is a nice one. My red rooted in 3 weeks. Fastest one yet. I think it has more to do with the cutting than what we do or they all would root just the same. Peg

That is a beautiful mystery flower, I should find out what my MPG mystery will be in a month or so, wonder if it too will be white? He's sure got a lot of mystery cuttings over there, lol, and they all seem to pop an inflo.

All of my cuttings appear to be rooted, even the aforementioned mystery cutting which I let get pretty burnt before shading it with a TP roll- do you ever stop and think how amazing it is that this tree can propogate itself via cuttings?! It fascinates me.

Going plumeria harvesting today, just found out my uncle who lives quite close has lots of plumie's planted in his yard. Sometimes it works out to have family over for dinner, lol. I've never had the opportunity to pick from the actual tree, wahoo! Plumeria hunting in just a few hours. :D

Wendy

Mike: You're rubbing it in again! Just imagine you surrounded by plumeria trees in FL! Ah! Take me with you! LOL I think I'll be heading that way in the near future when my cousin weds. So that would definitely be a fun trip. It's been a while since I've been to Disney World! :)

Laura and Peg: thank you for your compliments! I agree with you, I think it has a lot to do with the environment the cutting is rooted in. Also the vitality of the cuttings like Laura said.

Laura! I think I know what cutting you're thrilled about ;) I hope it'll root for you soon so we can all can see.

Hi Dave! thank you! I'm starting to fall for this one. First one I have that puts on so many flowers. There are at least 50 buds on this 12" cutting! I hope more will open so I can take pictures.

I know from reading around that red plumies are particularly hard to root. Even MPG puts a warning on Hilo Beauty. I guess it has to do with the cuttings and the environment. I still have a Pops cutting that's been sulking for almost 3 months now. At least it has leaves and is still plumped. I also think it's harder to root when the cutting just had an inflo, imagine all the energy going toward generating new tips and root. My Danai Delight is doing the same thing with its 3 new tips. Also no signs of root. I just leave them alone and be patient. As long as they're not complaining, I'm not complaining LOL

Wendy: How nice it must be to harvest your own plumeria cuttings! I hope you find some good ones!

Hm, K2, I'm not sure that is Samoan Fluff. SF is supposed to be fragrant, IIRC. I've linked to a good resource to scan whites for IDs.

Whatever it is, it's great to have a fat inflo like that on such a young cutting!

Here is a link that might be useful: Plumeria gallery and registry

Hi Kenny,
I had 3 Hilo Beauty cuttings that I bought 2 years ago. 2 of them died, one proobly almost a year later, the 2nd cutting a few months after that, and the last one ROOTED! I cannot see the roots but I know there there. Cuttings leaves are growing now(about 3 in long), and the cutting has pl umped up considerably.

I have Samoan Fluff but it hasn't bloomed yet. Not sure if it is fragrant. I thought it was. Hmm...

Andrew

Hi Jen,

Thank you so much for the link! Samoan Fluff looks different from the MPG's stock photo and plumeria101.com's photo. I guess my best bet would be to come straight to the source at MPG. I'll shoot Doug an email to see if he can help ID this beauty.

BTW, are you going to the plant sales this weekend? I just saw the list and man I really want to be there! Do you have any on your wishlist yet? Sadly, my schedule doesn't allow for a getaway weekend trip right now :( I guess I could always drool and see all the pictures you'll be posting later.

Andrew: So sorry about your Hilos, do you know why they died? I hope you can share some advice so I can keep mine alive over the winter. I see you're still looking for Bill Moragne. Hopefully you can enlist someone's help in getting one at the sales this weekend!

Kenny, you're welcome and sorry you won't be able to make the sale! I'm still going, mostly to pick up my big Lemon Drop and chat with the growers. However, if there are any good-size plants actually blooming they'll be going home with me; I'm tired of waiting for all mine to mature and grow inflos! I'm 0 for 29 this year, not counting seedlings!

I would still love a Kelly Moragne but she's not on the list. There's also an amazing rare Texas cultivar I'd like to pick up but she'll be very expensive so I'm saving my pennies for next year. Gotta pace myself! I'll try to take more photos this year to post for everyone to see.

Very nice plant whatever it may be called. I say you did good to root an HB so fast. I'm 1 for 2 with Hilo Beauty. You could say 2 for 3 if you include the one I talked my F.I.L. through the rooting steps over the phone. The ones which rooted were from Clarence N. at the Aloha Stadium swap meet and not store bought cuttings.

It's been raining a lot since yesterday. I went outside last night to check on my plumies and couldn't resist sharing these photos:

'Mystery' about to have a bouquet full of white flowers

The heat from last weekend really brought out the lilac color in Defel

That Defel is absolutely beautiful!! I gotta get one of those.

You have a wonderful collection Kenny.

Mike

I finally heard back from Doug at MPG. He said they rarely give away their stocks as mystery cuttings. But this cutting has a special history behind it. Below is what Doug wrote:

"Aloha Kenny,

I enjoyed your pictures. We have so many different mystery cuttings that it often becomes difficult to ID them.

This variety looks like the bloom from Elizabeth Taylor. We bought it from a gentleman in Bali 8 years ago. He named it after his favorite actress which I found quite humorous. I used a number of cutting from the tree earlier this year. I rarely have mystery Samoan Fluff or King K so that is my best guess.

Congratulations on your bloom. It looks quite happy!

Doug
MauiPlumeriaGardens.com"

I think I'll call her Elizabeth Taylor from now on :)

Also the Defel in bloom has been showing some interesting colors lately. I like the lilac streaks that appear from the center. No two blooms have the same coloring

...and even one with a color break

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Kenny,

Just beautiful. I am a newbie. I look forward to blooms someday. That Defel is gorgeous!!!!!!

Jackie

Awestruck. E Taylor is a dazzler, absolutely elegant and demands attention.

I hadn't heard of defel until now, it looks like someone took a picture of a beautiful sunrise shortly before the sun really rises and copied it on your flower. It is gorgeous, I think I am in love. I think your photography isn't helping either, lol.

Yep, on the list.

Jackie,

Welcome to the forum! Please post pictures when your plumies bloom. Thank you! I've been wanting a Defel for quite a while now. After seeing one with 3 inflos on eBay, I just couldn't resist.

Wendy,
I agree with you. I put the plumies with inflos on the front row. Elizabeth Taylor would be the one commanding attention every time.

Thank you for your compliment about Defel! I took those pictures in the evening yesterday. If you want to see one during the early morning hours, I've got one too ;)

In this one you can really see the lilac streaks running down its petals.

My MPG mystery has unwrapped itself, any of you know what this gift is? At this point, I cannot detect a scent (Boo) but it is a pretty little flower.

The third pic (pink), was purchased as a NOID, any guesses? I love her as she is, but always nice to call a beauty by a name. ;o)

I just purchased a cutting of Hilo Beauty from MPG and seeing your photos inspires me! Your blooms are awesome!
Your Defel is amazing!
Thank you for sharing, Stuart

Hi Wendy!

Congrats on your mystery blooms! Those are good-looking white flowers. I think your best bet would be to contact Doug at MPG with a picture of the flowers and hopefully he can help you ID it. Mine appears to have rounder petals with a slight fragrance so I don't think they're cuttings from the same tree. Your mystery cutting looks very healthy!

Hi Stuart,

Glad my photos inspire you to get a Hilo Beauty! I think it's a very nice red cultivar. You should have no problem rooting it in the sunny Florida weather! I potted mine in the gritty mix 2 weeks ago and it seems to be taking off nicely. Here is what it looks like today, I love the dark color in the new foliage!

Here are some pictures of my plumerias in the last few weeks

Liz Taylor's live bouquet

Lauren Michele

Inca Gold

The rest of the inflo pictures can be found in my Plumeria inflo album.

Kenny

Ooh, how's the scent on Lauren Michelle? She's a beauty, and Liz makes a sweet bouquet!

Hi Jen!

Believe Fuzzy when he says "its fragrance is so sweet, it is incomparable to all." When I unpacked Lauren Michele, I could swear the first thing I noticed was the strong sweet aroma emitting from the newspaper wrap. It's very unique! I haven't smelled any plumeria plants that have this scent. The inflo has been putting out flowers for almost a month now. They start out dark red then gradually fade to magenta with orange bursts in the center.

All in all, Lauren Michele was worth every penny! I love the magnificent colors and the unique scent!

Kenny

Wendy and Kenny, What great pics of your blooms !!! Love it !!! Keep it up. Is there any different between "Defel" and what Bloomingplumerias sells "Delfel"? They look the same to me. Peg

Hi Peg,

They're the same, I'm just used to JL's spelling of Defel. I don't know how Delfel was recently used instead of Defel. Here are some great shots of Defel on flickr.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Rare Defel Plumeria

Confession...

I did look at Lauren Michelle tonight on ebay.. Yikes!!! I thought about bidding and i did.. but, i lost!! Probably a good thing, but now that i see yours..i wish i added another 5 bucks!! LOL

Simply beautiful!!!

Great job!!

Laura