MY FAVOURITE GARDEN FLOWERS

There are of course a large number of flowers beginning with the letter "F" that are very beautiful but of late my preference has turned to FRANGIPANI.  I need something easy to care for and these take very little looking after and these seem to fill the bill.  My daughter has a large number of them, a few in the ground but mostly in pots, and it started me collecting them as well.   These are two of mine that flowered last years (1) George Brown and (2) Cotton Candy.

I love the way the colours of the flowers change as they age and the different shades of colour on the one plant.

Many frangipani growers hope for seed pods to appear on their plants but this needs a lot of patience as it can sometimes take years.  Some plants drop their leaves very quickly at season's end while others hold theirs right till the end.   Sometimes you have to clip them off leaving a tiny bit of stem if you don't want to wait.   It is exciting to see the new leaves forming and wondering which plant will produce the first inflo (flower buds).   There are many growers now growing their plants from seed or cuttings and it has become quite big business around the world.   There are of course stringent quarantine rules in place so it is best to buy from a local grower if possible.

Frangipani are native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and South America.  They need plenty of sun and a good friable soil as they don't like being waterlogged if grown in pots.  They are easily propagated from cuttings of leafless stem tips in spring.  The cuttings are allowed to dray at the base before being planted in well drained soil.  The more sun, the more water, the less sun, the less water is one rule that is most important.

There are more than 300 named varieties of Plumeria (frangipani).