Happy New year to you Brian!!!

Love those pictures!!

Thanks for sharing them...I especially like the one from Sanibel, it sure is a beauty!!!

I take my mother down there to go shelling once a year. What a great place to visit. It is a beautiful Island!!!
Sorry that i missed that beauty!!!

The Inca gold is gorgeous!! What does it smell like?

The Singpore is definately not boring to me!!! It is quite beautiful im my book!

Any Plumeria bloom is a beauty to me!!!

What great memories to have and especially to have such a wonderful greeter at your office!!! How lucky!!!

Thanks for the great pictures...

Makes me feel good to see these wonderful blooms in the winter...

Take care,

Laura

To me...Singapores are the classic Plumeria of Hawaii. Its certainly not a vibrant choice but planted in the right spot it produces a "less is more" solution for landscaping.

Our vacation rental on Kauai has a big singapore gatekeeper to slow and sunny days.

Hi Laura,

Isn't Sanibel fantastic? If you have not walked thought the Sanibel Moorings resort I would highly recommend it. Their botanical gardens are excellent. They have a huge collection of hybrid hibiscus and all sorts of other things, and most of them are labeled. (unfortunately the red plumeria did not have a cultivar name.) They offer a guided tour once a week as well.

Inca Gold... sort of a light floral if I recall. The flowers are of high quality though, I think they would make a great lei if you could get enough.

kms2, Kauai was where we lived for three years and my office was on the west (leeward) side of the island. What is interesting to me is that plumeria thrive at sea level on both the windward and leeward sides. The leeward side rarely gets rain and where we lived in Lihue gets rain almost every night. Some local farmers claim the the volcanic soil can be difficult to farm, but the local farmers markets offer a greater spread of fresh fruits and vegetables than I have seen anywhere.

Irun,

your pics are awesome! Thanks for sharing. A few weekends ago I made it over to "San-Cap" for the first time in YEARS...OMG, I forgot how beautiful it is there. And if I'd seen that beautiful rich red plumie as I drove by, I would have definitely had to do a "stop-and shoot." LOL it's gorgeous. I think the best thing about those islands is the way that they use the native plants in their landscaping...makes one realize anew just how beautiful Florida really is.

Anyway, as we discussed "last year," I also picked up an Inca Gold at the Ft. Laudy Lowe's, and it makes me so psyched to see what those blooms look like. They're amazing. I hope mine blooms this year!

Thanks again for sharing.

Greg

Hi Brian,

I just love Sanibel and Captiva Island. Next time i visit, i will definately stop and visit the Moorings Resort!!
Sounds like a place that i need to visit and take in the beauty!!!

Inca Gold looks grogeous, i dont have one of those, but i have heard wonderful things about these beauties!!!

Greg,

Seriously? Lowes...Inca Gold? I would have loaded up my rental with them if i had seen them when i visited Lowes in Fort Myers!! LOL.. Mom and i had a great vacation there finding all sorts of shells, i even found one of the "special" shells that everyone looks for while visiting Sanibel..they were dredging the inlet and i happened to be there on an early morning and had a field day!!! We had planned to fly home when i had to take a side tour of the local Lowes. I found all sorts of Palms that you cant find here in VB. So, with mother in tow...we rented a van and packed it full of Bottle Palms, Christmas Palms, Foxtails..etc. We laughed all the way home. It was like "Thelma and Louise" all over again. Im sure i could have fit more Plumies in there if i had seen them at Lowes in Fort Myers!!! Darn.. LOL!!! She loves plants too! So i was in good company!!! But... guess who had the eyes tearing up as i drove in the driveway!!! LMAO!!

Happy New Year to you!!!

Laura

Irun... Kauai is a fantastic place. Its interesting how the plants adapt.

Hahahahaha thanks for the morning laugh, Laura! What a great way to start my day! I love this story of you and Mom driving all the way back to VA with your plant finds, only to find someone tearing up as you drive up! LOL too, too funny.

Anyway...yes, Lowe's! Irun and I discussed it on a GW thread last year-- Lowe's sells Jungle Jack plants here in Florida. I've gotten Mini-White, Divine, Cali Sunset, Elsie, Inca Gold, a "Pink Hybrid", and a mystery (as in, no label at all) JJ hybrid, all at Lowe's...for $20 each!!!!!! Now, it did take my driving up and down the Southeastern FL seaboard and stopping at 4 or 5 Lowe's, over two years, to collect all those...it's not as though they were all sitting there at one store all at the same time. (A lot of the stores only seem to get Divine and Mini-White).

But anyway, NOW YOU KNOW!!! The JJ plumies appear at Lowe's sometime in May, I believe. LOL it's such an inexpensive way to add to our collection and to aggravate certain eye allergies hee hee ;)

Maybe what you and Mom can do next May or June is to fly down here, and then plan a "Lowe's tour" of south and central Florida as you "snake" your way slowwwwwwllllly northward towards home. Who knows what you'll find?

Fun thought for a winter's day, huh? :)

Greg

Greg: I imagine there is a good chance you'll get blooms this year on your Inca. It looks to me like a cultivar that is eager to bloom & branch. There are two, maybe three Lowes between my house and work. once spring comes around my wife might be hearing "honey, I've got to make a couple stops on the way home..."

We also made a trip over to Pine Island to pick up some tropical fruit while we were in Sanibel. Not the easiest/quickest place to get to but I know of no other spot in the states (outside HI) where you can buy that selection of tropical fruit in one spot.

Laura: that is a great story about your trip home! Honestly everyone needs to do something spontaneous once in a while. Those are the things that you'll talk about years from now!!!

Hi Brian, That pic of the red tree is gorgeous !!! Your Inca Gold and Singapore are beauties too. Always nice to dream of summer when you've got the winner blues. I see your in St. Pete's. I've got some questions about plumerias there. Can I email you? My email is listed. Thanks. Peg

Hi Peg- thanks! you have mail.