Plumeria Potpourri The Plumeria Society of America th March 13 Meeting! Tuesday, March 13, 2018, 7:30 p.m. Cherie Flores Garden Pavilion, 1500 Hermann Drive, Houston, Texas ... anyone with an interest in plumeria is invited to attend ... Speaker: Loretta Osteen Topic: A Passion for Plumeria In this Issue March 2018 President’s Corner p 2 The Plumeria: Introduction & History—Donald Hodel p 5 Storm in the Plumeria Patch—Hetty Ford p 3 The Theory of My Plumeria Evolution—Joe Malinak p 9 President’s Corner by Ray Allison ([email protected]) Howdy all, I am Ray Allison, the new 2018–19 group. Over the next year the Board and I will attend President of The Plumeria Society of America. While to several items that we hear the membership a relatively new member of the PSA, plumeria are requesting and continue to have a full slate of not new to me, having grown up in the Bahamas. At interesting speakers, garden visits, and activities in a young age I found the tropical flora and fauna in addition to our two annual sales. the Bahamas amazing and so different from Texas. I “A Passion for Plumeria” will be our topic from soon learned about plumeria, as they can grow wild Loretta Osteen at our March 13th. Her program will in the Bahamas. I inherited my love of growing all include a history of plumeria, including a description plants from my maternal grandmother who had a of flower shapes and fragrance. Her program will wonderful garden in rural Arkansas. also cover bringing plumeria out of winter storage, Also, I greatly enjoy charity work, as a few years propagation, and information on growing plumeria in ago, I was Board Chairman of the downtown our Texas Gulf Coast region. Loretta has been a PSA Houston YMCA, conducting their Board Meetings member for 15 years and is a Galveston County and speaking in a variety of places for the causes of Master Gardener. the Houston YMCA. Also, I am active in my church as We are planning to have a PSA presence at the a frequent Lector in Mass and other activities. My Home Show at the George R. Brown Convention speaking voice has been developed over many years; Center on the weekend of April 6th and will need it began with conducting real estate sales meetings volunteers to assist in that effort. More information and having to get and keep everyones attention. As and a sign up sheet for volunteers will be at the a practicing Commercial Real Estate Broker, I March 13th meeting. frequently speak at various sales meetings. New members and ideas are always welcome. With a full slate of Directors and Officers for the My cell is 832-689-9938 and email is RayAllison@ PSA, everyone has been very helpful getting me up GaryGreene.com. I look forward to hearing from you! to speed on the history and inner workings of the In Memorium—Paul Weissich Paul Weissich recently passed away at the age of 92. Koko Crater on Oahu, Hawaii is one of the five gardens he developed when director of Foster Garden in Honolulu from 1957 to 1989. Many plumeria lovers have visited Koko Crater—it is home to a collection of large plumeria trees. During his many years at Foster Garden, Paul Weissich expanded it from 5 acres to 14 acres of native plants, and developed four additional sites (Koko Crater, Lili‘uokalani, Ho‘omaluhia, and Wahiawa) to create the 650 acres of the Honolulu Paul Weissich Botanical Gardens system. Taken as a whole, these comprising the largest and most diverse tropical five gardens feature rare species from tropical plant collection in the United States. A lovely yellow/ environments ranging from desert to rainforest, orange plumeria carries Paul Weissich’s name. 2 | www.theplumeriasociety.org | March 2018 Storm in the Plumeria Patch by Hetty Ford, Florida For nine years it was my privilege and special joy to be in charge of the Plumeria Collection at Naples Botanical Garden. Many people expressed their envy when they found out what I was doing for a living ... the building of the collection and caring for it was an exciting time for me. For those of you who don’t Devastation know how Naples became the repository of this collection, here is a brief history. The basis of the collection was formed by cuttings from Elizabeth Thornton’s plants which were generously donated in 2008 by her daughter Bette Gips. A local collector’s group of plants became the second addition that same year, and a Not a pretty sight friend who also lived near Naples and had to give up her home flourish and grow and become a side of the state, we had to break contributed over 100 plants in veritable plumeria forest! this off to return home barely in 2009 and 2010. Meanwhile the But Mother Nature had other time to board up our house, grab PSA had decided that Naples plans. After 12 years without a our cats, and get the heck out of would be the perfect location to significant storm (“Wilma” in the way of the threatening gather all the registered cultivars, 2005 had been the last one to disaster. I had to trust my and encouraged members to affect the Naples area), we might colleagues at the Garden to have send (or bring) their cuttings or have become just a tad complacent, made any possible precautions— plants to me, which many of them but frankly there is no way we fortunately they had taken cuttings did. With an expansion at the could have protected the many of the rarest of our plants, mostly Garden occurring at that same trees on such an exposed the many Caribbean species. time, giving us a fantastic location when “Irma” decided to It was a week after “Irma” location, we were on the way! In visit on September 10, 2017. blew through that I was first able 2016 many plumeria aficionados To make matters worse, I to go to the Garden. I know now came to Naples for the was not even in Naples when the what the saying “my heart sank” International Plumeria Conference storm was approaching but means. When first looking at the to see the collection with their happily away on a vacation in Hills, I was convinced there was own eyes, and we all anticipated Canada! When it became clear no way this was ever going to be that “the Hills” would continue to that the storm was heading to our put right again. To say that I was March 2018 | www.theplumeriasociety.org | 3 massively discouraged, even Association), keep sending cuttings depressed, would be an of your newly registered cultivars, understatement. All in all, and by all means, come visit!! approximately 300 of the 500 trees on the Hills were down or BONUS: The trees on the Hills badly damaged. But as the saying set seeds a lot since the use goes, “A journey of a thousand of pesticides is strictly limited, miles begins with a single step,” so pollinators abound. PSA so we got on with the task of members can get 25 free triage—which trees were a total mixed seeds from the loss, which could be salvaged, plumeria hills by sending a and which required only minor stamped, self-addressed staking or pruning. small bubble envelope to The three huge Miami Rose Sandra Rigotti-Santos, Naples trees were beyond our ability to Botanical Garden, 4820 Luc’s Magnum Opus was one of the first put back up. One received a Bayshore Drive, Naples FL to be uprighted. We were using downed major trim and was put back up 34112 bamboo as stakes as there was a great with the help of a machine, and shortage of supplies. the other two were condemned. Hours of backbreaking work in 90 degree heat and oppressive humidity, uprighting, and securing as many as 50 trees a day, day after day, fortunately with the help of some amazing volunteers, saw the Hills slowly rise again, and as we all know, plumeria are pretty forgiving, and some continued to bloom while still lying down, and many of them were starting new shoots from the broken branches Right after the storm ... Three months after the storm ... within weeks of the storm’s passing. Yes, this has set the future plumeria forest back a bit ... it will be a few more years before the trees will lushly cover the area. But I hope you will continue to support the Collection (which is officially accredited with the Plant Collections Network of the American Public Gardens Volunteers rock 4 | www.theplumeriasociety.org | March 2018 The Plumeria by Donald R. Hodel ([email protected]) Part 1: Introduction and History University of California, Cooperative Extension 700 W. Main St., Alhambra, CA 91801 On January 3, 1970, I was a senior in high school and my family was returning from a holiday so many special and poignant memories that I trip to Hawaii, my first time in these extraordinary treasure most. Here I begin to honor the flower and islands, and I purchased a plumeria or frangipani lei plant with the first installment of a multi-part series in the Honolulu Airport to carry back with me to on the Plumeria, which includes about seven or so California. The next morning in California I opened species of small trees with white, milky sap and the plastic bag containing the lei, and the distinctive, handsome, fragrant flowers restricted to mostly dry heavy, sweet fragrance wafted out and up into my areas in the American tropics, from Mexico to face, immediately transporting me back to Hawaii northern South America and extending on to the and the memories of a special place and trip.