There are so many different fragrances in plumerias that much depends on what scent you like. Celadine is the traditional scent connected with plumerias and is easy to find and grow. Kimi Moragne is a favorite of mine in the spice scent. Jeannie Moragne is peach if cool and rose when hot. Aztec gold is peachy. Charlotte Ebert has a sweet perfume scent. Henry Apples Dupree is a strong sweet. Lemon drop is sweet. Vera Cruz Rose is a rose scent. Kauka Wilder smells like coconut suntan lotion. Singapore (can be hard to grow) is a strong sweet scent. There are so many more.

Lady, a couple you may want to look at, considering your cold zone, are Penang Peach (to me a coconut-peach scent) or Divine or even Dwarf Singapore Pink. Not sure about the scents of the last two but all three are much smaller-growing plants, good bloomers and DSP quite forgiving of being indoors. A lot of the most fragrant cultivars like Vera Cruz Rose will grow very tall and may not do well with so many months indoors. Grow lights are probably going to be a must for you if you want to see these plants bloom.

Jen

Thank you for the information. I'm hoping the cultivars listed have fragrance that is strong enough that could be detected without sticking your nose up to the plant?

I am going to take some time and look up the names you've listed. Thank you so much.

In my opinion, most of the plumerias do not have a real strong scent that 'wafts' in the breeze like a brugmansia or a tuberose. You do have to get your nose right up there...unless maybe you have plants like Tdogdad that have scores of bloom heads going all at the same time. But that's likely never going to happen on a potted plumeria grown up North. (please prove me wrong!)

ladylotus, I have California Sunset plant has has a nice sweet peaches/coconut scent that I can smell just standing next to the tree. But my tree is small (about 3 ft tall), and I haven't grown it long enough to know how tall it will be in a few years, but it is a Thai variety from Jungle Jacks, who believes in developing plumerias that are compact, so I can't imagine my plant getting too tall like the traditional varieties. I agree with Jen that there must be several full flower heads going at once for you to smell them without sticking your nose into the plant.

I have Sinagpore and it is not very strong for me (might be because I live in arid meditteranean climate). I was disappoint very much because it's mentioned often to be quite fragrant. It's a nice clean lemony smell, but compared to other flowers, like Dave said, tuberose, gardenias, jasmine, etc., don't expect much. Even some plants you dont normally think of as fragrant smells a little more stronger like fragrant water lilies.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I do hope to try getting a couple fragrant varieties and keeping them growing in my small greenhouse under lights.

I'm so thrilled. My first plumeria I purchased a couple months ago is still looking wonderful. I hope I can keep it looking nice and perhaps get blooms next summer.

Hi Ladylotus. I would add Hong Kong to the list of very fragrant plumeria. I think that one comes close to being a wafting fragrance. It's wonderful. Good luck with your plumeria!

Mary

Well, My NoID has a wonderful scent, when it was in bloom. You could walk into the room and the scent was throughout the whole room. Wonderful really. I hope you can find one that pleases you. =)

~Tina