Flower Focus: Plumeria

Oh, the lovely Plumeria!  As a flower-lover, it's hard to miss them if you visit Hawaii.  They're everywhere, and so fragrant!  Even if you somehow manage to miss the ubiquitous plumeria plants outdoors, ranging in size from small shrubs to 35ft trees, surely you will notice that these flowers are widely used to make leis as well as perfumes. 

 

As I mentioned last week, I brought a cutting back with me in the hopes of having my own plumeria plant one day soon.

As you can tell from the picture, the cutting is about 12 inches long and if all goes well, will produce pink-yellow flowers.  The plumeria flowers range in color from white with yellow centers to various shades of peach-pink with or without yellow centers. 

Here are the directions that came with the cutting:

According to the Sunset Western Garden Book, plumerias are very easy to grow from cuttings... in Hawaii.  On the mainland, it's safer to buy a plant.  But it is still possible.  The biggest obstacle is maintaining a delicate balance of sun-water such that the plant is just above dry.  In Hawaii, where it rains often and is always warm, this is quite easy!  In SoCal, it almost never rains and the air is quite dry.  Also, temperatures tend to drop quite a bit at night.  Water too much and you end up with a rotten plant.  Water too little and it dries out and dies.

Good luck, little guy.  I've planted the cutting about 3-4 inches into the ground in regular soil.  It was a bit calloused at the end before I did so, which is what is recommended to avoid rot.  You can also use rooting hormone if you have it to promote rooting.

A few interesting facts about the lovely plumeria:

• Another common name is Frangipani
• The sap is milky and quite caustic to the skin
• In Polynesian culture, a flower over the right ear means a woman is seeking a relationship.  Over the left means she is taken.
• In some parts of Asia, local beliefs state that plumeria trees shelter ghosts and demons, and as a result, plumeria are often planted in cemeteries.
• Blooming begins in the spring and continues for more than 6 months.

I bought my cutting at a fruit stand by the highway and these cutting are available widely, including at general stores on the islands.  I think that there's a higher probability for success given our Santa Monica climate.  But given their enthusiasm to sell these cuttings to anyone and everyone (at the fruit stand at least), I'm not going to get my hopes too high.  We'll see....

Meanwhile, here's a gratuitous shot of the Maui beach that I am missing at the moment.

And I leave you with a clip of some fabulous previous world cup celebrations.  I hope to see many more from Holland and USA in the next few weeks still!

Wonderful World of Plants, Aloha Style

Little break last week, and for good reason... we were in Maui!  So you may be able to guess what I'm going to show you this week...

In addition to the many fantastic things we did and saw there-- snorkeling with sea turtles (one of my favorite animals), multiple visits to the shave ice stand, surfing, and solid beach time-- I was amazed by the how colorful all the plants were, and so much diversity!  I could go on and on just about foliage.

Why are tropical plants so colorful?

I went online to do a little bit of research, and was mostly unsuccessful in finding an answer.  (True confession, I have had the World Cup on in the background all day every day since it started -- Hup, Holland, Hup! -- so it was a cursory effort).  There was a rather long scientific article about the advantage of colorful fruit, that being increased likelihood of seed dispersion by birds that are more likely to notice the fruit.  And I also found a nice article about tropical fauna, which explained the following regarding reasons for colorful fauna in tropical locations:

• the increased biodiversity creates a greater need for distinction amongst species
• "necessity for communication within closed environments"
• the abundance of nutrient available in tropical environments allows for use of the excess energy for plumage, colors, etc.

I think several of these explanations for colorful fauna can be extrapolated to be reasonable causes for colorful flora. 



Look familiar?

Always lovely hibiscus

Is Southern California a tropical climate?  Not really.  We are quite a bit drier than tropical climates, but we do have the sun and heat that lots of tropical plants like -- there's no reason not to add a bit of tropical life and color to your garden!  Here's an article with a few suggestions.  I already have one or two tropical friends on the patio, and I intend to add another:

More on this to come...

That was one of my souvenirs.  This is my other:

Hello Kitty got a tan too

I will probably be talking about these lovely plants more in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, just as gardening is in my Dutch roots, so is soccer...  In case you missed it, here is Van Persie's amazing goal for you to enjoy!  Let's go, Holland!  Can't wait for the game tomorrow!!

Great gardens: ...In Vegas??

Okay so I debated on whether to include this or not.  Because honestly, it's Vegas, this strange sprout of glittery, gaudy, expensive things in the middle of the desert (I am referring to the Strip, of course, and totally ignoring the fact that it is also a city that normal people live in beyond the Strip).... is there anything natural about Vegas at all?  Plus, everyone who's been in LA for some amount of time has been to Vegas at least once, twice, maybe too many times for those bachelorettes, celebratory trips, and weekends away.

But every time I go, I seek out this little beautiful oasis of freshness that is the "Conservatory and Botanical Gardens" of the Bellagio because I love flowers and they do flowers pretty well.  Is it natural?  No.  But beautiful and worth seeing?  Definitely.

As you walk through the lobby, you'll see the Chihuly glass above along with some elaborate floral centerpieces.

And then you'll make your way into the atrium straight ahead -- follow your nose!  In contrast to most of cigarette-smelly hotel/casino interiors, this room is very fragrant and fresh!

On this visit, there were "fields" of tulips, foxglove, and chrysanthemums, among other flowers...

Also on view was a greenhouse with butterflies.

Lovely!  Unfortunately because of all of the crowds, this was the widest angle shot I could get:

But if you look online, you'll also see that the gardens are very lovely during the day and the exhibit changes throughout the year.

Christmas!  (photo credit below)

Chinese New Year!  (photo credit below)

(Above photo credits: Creativitywindow and vitalvegas)

Love it or hate it -- if you are like most, you probably love-hate Vegas anyway -- the flowers are quite pretty.  And if you find yourself in Vegas this summer looking to escape the heat, noise, or bad odors, make a little side trip to this unnatural botanical oasis.

Here is the official website.  They are open 24/7 almost all days of the year, but if you look on their website, there are a few days between exhibits without an exhibit formally on display, presumably because they have to set up all those tightly packed flowers.

Since we're talking about guilty pleasures, this aside is another one of mine (boy bands -- I was a tween/teen in the 90s and will probably never grow out of them)...  Rixton "Me and My Broken Heart" 

Very catchy.  Aren't they always? :)  Have a good week!

Great Gardens: Getty Villa!

Well, my vacation has finally come to an end.  I'm not too sad about it since I was turning into a useless lump (let's be clear... a useless happy lump) and it is, oddly enough, kind of nice to be back in the hospital seeing patients again.  That's not to say that I didn't have the greatest time with my sister while she was here with the big added bonus of finally meeting her new boyfriend who is a born and bred New Yorker.  Visitors from other great cities (NYC is great) have a tendency to be somewhat biased against LA for some reason.  Is the smog? the traffic? the gang violence? Skid Row?  Um, maybe...  So how to go about showing someone from another great city that LA is quite great too?  

The New Yorkers in question: Andrea (converted NY-er) & Will.  And their horrified new friend...

Take them to places like the Getty Villa!  (Among other things like eating lots of delicious burgers).

View of the Villa from the Outer Peristyle

For those of you new to this Getty business, J. Paul Getty was a very rich man who built two namesake museums in LA.  One of them ("The Getty Center"), off the 405 near Westwood, is a famous architectural structure with a wide range of art, mostly European and rotating special exhibits.  It also has a lovely garden in the back and because it sits way up on a hill, has a great view of Los Angeles and, on a clear day, the ocean.  This one is fairly well known, and I personally have been there lots of times.

The Getty Villa is less well known and frequented, mostly I think because they require tickets.  These tickets are free and easy to obtain online (click and print, basically), but they require advanced planning since there are a set number and Angelenos are non-commital and all.  The Getty Villa is in Malibu (actually, technically the Palisades), off PCH just north of Sunset, that wonderful little beginners' surf spot.  It is built to resemble an ancient Roman villa, and in keeping with the theme, the art is all ancient Greek, Roman, and Etruscan.  Even after being in LA for 12 years now, this past week was my first time visiting -- I never had tickets!

Naked baby vintners on a sarcophagus

Let me tell you, it was amazing!  I loved it!  Awesome ancient Greek/Roman art aside -- which let's be honest is pretty fascinating even to the fairly history-indifferent folks -- the gardens themselves are such a calming place to be.  The exact type of place that makes you forget all the smog, highways, and other LA downers, whether you live here or not.

So without further ado...  more pictures!

Happy New Yorkers in the herb garden

Well-manicured edges

That is a terribly cute deer

Inner Peristyle... look at that great use of foliage!

Nice shoes, Hermes!

My favorite touchable plant: Lambs Ear

Is this not relaxing???!

My recommendation is that you spend at least a solid half day there, especially if you like art.  Despite the apparent small size of the museum, there is a lot of art packed in there and after visiting the gardens, we did not even make it through the whole museum.  

As mentioned before, tickets are free.  Parking is $15 and they have a nice little cafe with decent reasonably priced food.  I think you will like it!

While I'm still dreaming of my vacation, here's the track of the day, by the lovely Rodrigo y Gabriela.  I have mini-crushes on them both and their mad guitar skills.  I saw them last year at the Bowl and again this year with my sister...  we love them!

Great gardens: Villa Cimbrone!

The last 10 days or so, I've been on an "elective" schedule, which basically means that you choose whatever learning related activity you would like to do.  I have made it a point to do electives that are useful but doable from home.  What I have re-discovered on this elective schedule is that I am also terrible at working from home.  I would be a terrible housewife or work-from-home entrepreneur.  How do you do it, all you people who work from home??  I mostly sit at home uselessly and then start to feel despondent about my uselessness and then when my hard-working husband gets home, I bemoan my boredom and despondency about such boredom, all the while feeling more and more anxious about the pile of work that I have not yet done. Poor husband.  Fortunately, tomorrow, I will actually be going to work (I cannot believe I am saying that) and bringing home some bacon too.

Today, instead of doing my work, I posted vacation photos on facebook, a task that took no less than 2hrs (I love-hate facebook).  And in doing so, I got to look at all my lovely vacation photos again, including the ones from the lovely Villa Cimbrone and its outstanding gardens, located in Ravello, Italy which is a town along the Amalfi Coast.

This seriously gorgeous Villa belonged to a string of "enormously wealthy and influential" Italian families starting the 11th century, was abandoned for awhile, and then rediscovered by an Englishman who overcame his depression over his wife's death by living here and restoring it.  As such, it is, according to the guide pamphlet, a "happy combination of traditional English and Italian landscaped gardens."

As a patio-bound container gardener, I personally love the Italian use of containers within their gardens.  This was something I saw throughout our travels in Italy -- enthusiastic container gardening on balconies, roofs, and within gardens!

They also accessorize their garden well with statues, fountains, and arches.  This is in contrast to the Dutch gardens I saw, which primarily use well-manicured lines of beautiful flowers and foliage.

Lastly, the Villa Cimbrone makes pretty nice use of the fact that it sits on a cliff overlooking the ocean.  This is called the Terrace of the Infinity and oh my, was it gorgeous!

Nowadays, the villa operates as a hotel and event site.  It is available for tours of the garden for a nominal fee, for overnight stay for a much much larger fee,  and if you're extremely wealthy, then you can even get married there.  If interested, here is the website.  

Oh Ravello...  one day, I hope to be back!