03-14-2006, 10:12 AM
Aloha Cindy,
Wait a minute, I have to decipher "East". Where is that? Okay, Southpoint is probably south so then Waimea would be North and then, uh, Hilo! Ha! Hilo is East! Sheesh! Can't you just say "Hilo side"? "Hilo" side and "Kona" side are immediately easy to recognize for us direction challenged folks. What good are these mainland directions when we live on a round island? It is very confusing! (Hmm, a lot of Puna folks, though, live in big squares instead of being aligned with the ocean. That may make directions more difficult.) [Hmm, or did you mean the East side of your yard instead of the East side of the island? Time to go find my coffee cup, now I'm confusing myself.]
Anyway, a plumeria will grow fine in your yard. Keep the roots from being soggy and it will do really well. Plumerias don't get really tall, though, and they grow pretty slowly in comparison to some other trees you could select. How big do you want the tree to be? Do you want the flowers to be scented? Do you want the tree to make shade as well?
Puakinikini has lovely scented flowers and grows larger than plumerias. Night blooming jasmine is more of an upright shrub than a tree and the flowers are hardly visible but it has a wonderful scent. Micheala alba is a larger tree with wonderful smelling flowers.
If you would like your tree to produce fruit here is a website describing a lot of tropical fruit trees: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/index.html some of them will have nice flowers, too.
You can start the trees before building the house. Once construction starts, put flagging tape around the whole root zone (not just the tree) so bulldozers and work trucks won't squish the roots. Another option is to start the trees in big pots and then trasnplant them out into the yard when the work trucks are done. With the growing in pots option, you will be able to get smaller trees to start with since they will have time to grow. Plumeria will grow by just taking a broken off branch and potting it into a pot of cinder/soil (or sticking it into the ground). They are a semi-succulent, so give them lots of drainage. Rotting the stem is about the only way to kill them.
A lot of plants can be started by just sticking them into the ground. Ti plants do real well that way. Get some yard trimmings and stick them in the dirt and water until they get established. Ti, plumeria, hibiscus, pineapple tops, dracena, mock orange, chunks of sweet potatoe, all sorts of things will start just by adding a bit of dirt to a cut off portion of the plant. Bananas, gingers and heliconias need to be started from a bit of the root called a "keiki" or "corm". Ohias have to either be air-layered or transplanted complete with roots. They are hard to transplant, though, and if you have any already in your yard save them in place if you can. Saving a tree is a whole lot quicker than growing a new one.
Oh, I forgot! What's your elevation? Plumerias aren't really happy at the higher elevations, but they would probably still grow anyway.
A hui hou,
Cathy
Wait a minute, I have to decipher "East". Where is that? Okay, Southpoint is probably south so then Waimea would be North and then, uh, Hilo! Ha! Hilo is East! Sheesh! Can't you just say "Hilo side"? "Hilo" side and "Kona" side are immediately easy to recognize for us direction challenged folks. What good are these mainland directions when we live on a round island? It is very confusing! (Hmm, a lot of Puna folks, though, live in big squares instead of being aligned with the ocean. That may make directions more difficult.) [Hmm, or did you mean the East side of your yard instead of the East side of the island? Time to go find my coffee cup, now I'm confusing myself.]
Anyway, a plumeria will grow fine in your yard. Keep the roots from being soggy and it will do really well. Plumerias don't get really tall, though, and they grow pretty slowly in comparison to some other trees you could select. How big do you want the tree to be? Do you want the flowers to be scented? Do you want the tree to make shade as well?
Puakinikini has lovely scented flowers and grows larger than plumerias. Night blooming jasmine is more of an upright shrub than a tree and the flowers are hardly visible but it has a wonderful scent. Micheala alba is a larger tree with wonderful smelling flowers.
If you would like your tree to produce fruit here is a website describing a lot of tropical fruit trees: http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/index.html some of them will have nice flowers, too.
You can start the trees before building the house. Once construction starts, put flagging tape around the whole root zone (not just the tree) so bulldozers and work trucks won't squish the roots. Another option is to start the trees in big pots and then trasnplant them out into the yard when the work trucks are done. With the growing in pots option, you will be able to get smaller trees to start with since they will have time to grow. Plumeria will grow by just taking a broken off branch and potting it into a pot of cinder/soil (or sticking it into the ground). They are a semi-succulent, so give them lots of drainage. Rotting the stem is about the only way to kill them.
A lot of plants can be started by just sticking them into the ground. Ti plants do real well that way. Get some yard trimmings and stick them in the dirt and water until they get established. Ti, plumeria, hibiscus, pineapple tops, dracena, mock orange, chunks of sweet potatoe, all sorts of things will start just by adding a bit of dirt to a cut off portion of the plant. Bananas, gingers and heliconias need to be started from a bit of the root called a "keiki" or "corm". Ohias have to either be air-layered or transplanted complete with roots. They are hard to transplant, though, and if you have any already in your yard save them in place if you can. Saving a tree is a whole lot quicker than growing a new one.
Oh, I forgot! What's your elevation? Plumerias aren't really happy at the higher elevations, but they would probably still grow anyway.
A hui hou,
Cathy
Kurt Wilson