When we began visiting the beautiful islands of Hawaii in 1980, one of my favorite things was the fragrance and visual beauty of hundreds of plumeria plants. I love them — and most visitors to that magical place agree with me. They grow like weeds over there and at least one variety is deciduous, even in the tropics.
When my children grew up and got married, they all purchased some to grow in their yards and were very successful, even with the harsher aspects of a CA winter. (Which, lets face it is not even close to ‘harsh’ on world-wide scale of winter! It does drop below freezing in the inland valleys, and that can be problematic, however.)
When we moved to this house two years ago, a friend of ours from church gave us cuttings from her gigantic plumeria trees and we have been nurturing them with gratitude and pleasure ever since. They have grown! And this year, the flowers have been prolific. And fragrant. And lovely.
I am not a gardener, not by any stretch of anyone’s imagination. But these babies? I love them so, I make sure they’re watered and fed (or more likely, my husband does!).
What do you grow that brings you pleasure? For me, it’s these ‘useless’ things called tropical flowers. Can’t eat ’em. They’re seasonal. But when they’re thriving? Oh, their growth inspires me. And fills me with gratitude. And reminds me that God is faithful, even in something as small as a fragrant blossom or two.
Since we live in a forest, the only plants I can grow on our deck are shade-loving ones. Not always the most colorful, but I love looking at the flowers every day.
Blessings, Diana!
We have had a couple of homes where we needed mostly shade plants – I used to love primroses in those days.
I grow house plants. My grandmother house plants –African violets, ferns, baby tears, philodendron. Growing them was a natural for me. And I love plumeria.
Good for you! My MIL had a true green thumb and my husband has (at least partially) inherited that from here. So he does better with our house and patio plants than I do. Most of those (violets and orchids excepted) do not flower, however!