Plumes

Our most successful Pacific Northwest Plumeria start to date! Sept. 5, 2025

Having passed through Honolulu recently and seeing some plumeria plant starts in a market I figured I’d try a couple at home in the strange-weathered Seattle area for once.

After nine months the results were not what I’d hoped. The tutorials on growing starts were deceptively easy. But we don't live in a tropical paradise, so I was not deceiving myself, just had some hopeful dreams.

The starts did not take well and eventually dried up in a rotten mess. But Ifigured with a little persistence we could get some results.

Some family from back East passed through our region and we had a sidechat about plumeria growing, we both having lived in the LA area for some time. he had successfully grown several mature flowering plants!

So I began again in earnest ordering two new starts from the online Hawai’i flower website that I’m sure you can find with a simple search.

These didn’t take, initially. One didn't do anything at all, the other had some promise but just sat there. Hopefully it was growing roots but I couldn’t tell.

Not even a week later Marlo came back from our local Trader Joe’s with two leafy starts and a big smile on her face.

One of them is doing quite well, see the pic, and the other one died.

…now one of the older starts is actually coming to visible life!

We’ve had some recent luck with sunflowers but this year it was mostly a bust, too dry and hot. Go figure.

It all reminds me of my childhood near Pearl Harbor, the many luau, the festivals, the parades, the airport trips to welcome family that came to visit, the parks, and even our backyard! Flowers were everywhere.

Not sure what will happen this winter, but I’m reading they’ll go dormant in the cold. We’ll bring them inside, away from our feisty plant-eating felines and I’ll report back.

Good memories. Coming back to life. Thanks to my wife.

Now I’m thinking about the stephanotis plant we had in Huntington Beach… 🤔🌴🌺🌸