Plumeria AKA Frangipani

Frangipani 05-12-2014I usually leave garden and flower stuff to Wife Lila who has a gardening blog, but I couldn’t resist posting these photos taken outside the doorway to Adam and Carly’s house Thursday night when we went out to see the grandkidlettes. We’ve got some Frangipani outside our dining room window, but I don’t think they are as striking as these.

Wikipedia says the clue to growing the plant – also known as the Hawaiian Lei Flower – is a careful balance of water and sun. We must have hit that balance by accident because Lila broke off some branches of an existing plant and stuck them in the ground where they are growing happily and flowering like they were part of the original plant.

Click on the photos to make them larger.

Fragrant flowers are a tease

Frangipani 05-12-2014The flowers, the article said, are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, however, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.