Flowering trees

[Cindy V]

I know I'm getting way ahead of myself here since building hasn't begun, but I would love once my lawn is in to have a nice flowering plumeria tree smack dab in the middle of it, possible on the east side? Alternative flowering trees for me?
Mahalo
Cindy V

[David D]

Hi Cindy,
Try this site for trees:
http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/forestry/
Lots of information!

David D

[Hotzcatz]

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

[JerryCarr]

Aloha, Cindy. Cathy is right on target with her advice, especially about rooting your own starts to save money. People with more mature landscapes often have to thin saplings of flowering trees or prune them which produces cuttings for rooting. A lot of things like plumeria can just be stuck in the ground or a pot, but some of the ones with woody stems do better if you use a product called Rootone. You can buy it at WalMart, and it contains a rooting hormone and a fungicide which greatly enhance your chances of success. We have produced beautiful and valuable landscape plants by rooting cuttings from landscape maintenance companies' discarded prunings and thinnings. We have even found self-rooted cuttings in heaps of green waste dumped illegally along the Red Road in Waa Waa. Our neighbors have commented on how nice our yard looks, and the only thing we really spent money on was the palms across the front, and I can tell you where to buy those cheap!!

Aloha to all,
Jerry

[Cindy V]

..and the place to pick up palms would be....

Maholo

[David M]

Great point re directions Cathy. There was an interesting letter in Hilo paper a few weeks ago about the confusion over directions resulting from adopting mainland practices of esat, west etc. Unfortunately, it isn't available online.

Many years ago I lived on Oahu, then the Army decided to send me to Ft Dix NJ. For several weeks, I felt what I would term depressed. The reality was I was more disoriented, lost a sense of bearings. On Oahu, I always knew where I was because mauka, makai etc - NJ was just flat, basically same whichever direction you looked.
As the letter writer pointed out, the local style directions just make so much more sense and have meaning.

Cindy, not sure about your area, but here Ninole side, the plumeria seem to be mostly stems and flowers, sometimes almost no leaves on the trees. We drive past a gorgeous red one my wife wants.

David

Ninole Resident

[JerryCarr]

The "Palm Lady" (aka Kehaulani) is in Paradise Park. Go down Paradise Drive to 6th and turn right. She is the second or third house on the left, and there are signs both on Paradise and at 6th to help you. Phone is 982-5466, and you should call ahead, especially if you are driving some distance. She has a good variety of basics, plus a few unusual ones. Also, she is very nice and shares her wealth of knowledge about palms and other plants and trees. When we bought our Manila palms, she was low on change and gave us a nice Queen's lily instead. It is a beauty that we treasure and is worth way more than the change would have been.

[allensylves]

Night blooming jasmine:
This was mentioned in a recent article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin as an undesirable plant (among several others) that a group of Oahu nurserymen have pledged not to grow or sell. This is the one in the tomato family (Solanaceae) and so is not a true jasmine. I agree it smells great but it produces white berries that do a great job of reproducing and make it very invasive in Hawaii.

Allen
Baton Rouge, LA & HPP

[mella l]

Thanks Cathy for such thorough information and references. You are such a wonderful addition to our Punaweb home! Jerry, David and Allen what wonderful resourses you are also, can hardly sit in my chair while dreaming about all the fun in the mud Gene and I will be having in the not to distant future! LOL Thank you all for taking the time and energy to share with us!!! Mucho Mahalos, Mella L

mella l

[lquade]

plumeria .. not a question of east vs west but of elevation... i have personally found that they get very difficult above 1500 feet and just forget it at 2000 and i consider myself a green thumb...