The white Singapore, the yellow Singapore or Mele Pa Bowman, and the Dwarf Pink Singapore. All three are cold sensitive with the yellow being the most tolerant in my opinion and the white being the least.

Hi Jane,

What part of the Gulf Coast? I'm in St. Pete and have not had much luck with evergreens being evergreen. However it makes a big difference where you're at, e.g. Sanibel is a lot different from Clearwater.

I have an white Singapore that is growing well but it still defoliates every winter. I did have a nice Pudica that was looking good with its leaves into last winter, but to spite a mild winter it just died for some reason. It was about 6 feet tall and it started rotting from the ground upward.

Some Rubra cultivars appear to be more cold tolerant than these evergreen varieties. They do turn into sticks during the winter, for for landscape use you might be better off.

Thanks for the info. I live in Sarasota and so far the cold hasn't bothered the three Plumies I put in the ground. But they do lose their leaves.

It is unfortunate as I love Plumerias but do not like them as a landscape plant unless they are behind other shrubs or trees. For 6 months they are leafless. There are shopping centers and homes nearby which have a lot of them planted and I notice how unattractive they are for half the year.

Our property is on the small size and I might try a Singapore but really don't want to if they go leafless.

Thanks again,
Jane

Jane, I know what you mean, it is hard to justify dedicating a large part of a small landscape to Plumeria where there are so many things that can be planted that retain foliage and color year round.

You could try a dwarf singapore as a good test w/o having to dedicate a lot of space. Also depending on how close to the Gulf you are, you might have better luck that I've had with them being evergreen. I've noticed that in general, Plumeria fare better on the Gulf side of Pinellas Co. vs. the Tampa Bay side where I live.

Good luck!
Brian

Isn't Pudica fairly evergreen? My experience with white Singapores was that they lose about half their leaves in the cold and have a lot of trouble with black tip.

I do have a mystery plumeria--I bought it as My Valentine but it isn't--that keeps nearly all its leaves through winter even though it's a Rubra. It may be an Andaman pink but I really don't know. It has the most beautiful, graceful foliage that lasts year-round. Wish I could tell you what it is!

Thanks, Brian I might try a dwarf Sinapore. Any idea where to look?

Funny story. I have the 'gardener from hell.' His guys weed wack and spray everything in sight. A few months ago they weed wacked a small branch off one of my Plumies. It was laying on the ground, buried in weeds for weeks because of work going on nearby. Strangely, I noticed it was leafing out.

A few weeks ago same thing happened with another Plumie. This time I found a large, lower branch wacked off. I was so upset because it had an inflo and lots of leaves. I stuck it in a vase hoping the buds would continue to open. Well they did. The leaves all fell off but I noticed it had grown roots. I stuck the branch in a pot of sand (local soil) and its rooted and leafing out again.

So now I have two more potential trees, which I didn't want. I wanted to find Plumies which would hold their leaves over winter. So now I have even less space for more.

Jane

jane
Your post is what I was looking for!! lol since I'm redoing the entire grow area was thinking evergreen only semideciduous . at least semi cold hardy and ever flowering lol Tall order HUH??
I have a deciduous soft pink plum which is great during summer
but the litter and winter are out for my new plan . i have several pudica evergreens (which are not btw) but do extend the period several months. Have a couple of plans first grafting the EG to the pink and second adding epiphytes to the branches
Thus providing winter green as well as flowers yet still having the summer pink. have never tried either method but seems like a plan?? lol i have half heartedly experimented with Epi's and was rather surpised at how well they rooted though 90 percent of the growth is still on the cork mount.
have been unable to find any info on this method so thought I might ask around?? gary

it`s part of the reason they are not used more extensively in Florida for landscaping. Winter is the biggest tourist season and noone wants to see dormant plants.

Depending on our weather some of mine keep their leaves year round, there is no rhyme or reason, last year Maya lost no leaves but this year it`s already dropping them.

When I lived in Hawaii they don`t go totally dormant, they act more like magnolias-dropping leaves in spring as new ones grow. Though a few around town would be totally dormant.

I just plant a whole lot of other stuff and noone notices them looking blah in the beds. .
Tally Ho!

Larger plants (50 + tips) actually look pretty nice when dormant in a xeric landscape as a specimen planting...especially when lit with landscape lighting from two sides to emphasize the thick green branches. I have found mine will not loose all of their leaves until Feb and start leafing back out by March.

But i guess in respect to the OP a xeric landscape is unlikely to be successful in Sarasota. I would second the recommendation of the Dwarf Singapore Pink as a potential. Mine never looses all of its leaves but the old leaves do get spotty in late winter and fall off during the spring when new leaves are coming out.

Jane,
Try Hong Kong as its more compact than Singapore, they both have shiny dark, dark leaves and intense smelling blooms. My Hong Kong usually does not shed its leaves till spring, just before the new ones come out, depending on your winter temps you may even get new growth. When we get a warm week or so during the winter in the area where my patch is located in Coastal So Cal, I have noticed that Hong Kong tips try to put out new growth. So again you may want to look into Hong Kong as it does keep its leaves and is compact in growth, not leggy.
Here is a pic 3 weeks or so after the big freeze of Feb 2007 that lasted for couple of night, it got down to 34 F in my patch at the coldest (Pic from the first week of March 2007, several weeks after cold temps.) Hong Kong still has its leaves until the new claws started growing then the old leaves started dropping all at once.

Cheers.