I'll call today "Plumeria Day". I am shipping out 14 rooted plants today. They are beginning to leaf out and root better now that they have been outside for a few weeks. And now its warm enough in most of the USA to ship.

I'm still waiting for my ones from last fall to root, although a couple are starting to flower.

It is a bit tough to get them to root during the fall and winter months. That's their dormant time, Susan. All those that I shipped were cuttings taken in Oct./Nov. and all rooted during the fall and winter. I had 67 that rooted. Those that rooted in the fall have far better root systems than those that rooted during the winter. Being outside, they are all really taking off now. Sometimes, we have to be patient, and allow Mother Nature to do her thing.

Woohoooo! Just LOOK at those beauties!

I think most of the prices on your website are for rooted plants... Do you also have unrooted cuttings available? (you know me, I'll always pay a few $ more for roots, extra tips, etc -- but some may want to go easier on their wallets).

We've got a MAG plant swap in 2 weeks, so I figured I'd see if anybody wanted to add something to my box before it ships. (If it's not too late!) Just seems a shame to ship "only" 3!

That's an excellent observation and question, Jill.

I took about 50 cuttings in Oct./Nov., and most of those were rooted over the fall and winter.
Those and seedlings are what's now available. Because all my mature plants, anywhere from 2 yr. to 20+ yr old ones, were dormant during the fall and winter months, they are basically leafless and have few viable roots. That's just their nature. About half were left in their pots, but remained dry and leafless and half were without soil and were bagged. I had a handful that over-wintered in the solarium, some in bloom in the fall and those that had seed-pods. Those all finally did go dormant in late winter and lost all or most of their leaves. I am actually still in the process of potting up all those bagged plants, so basically, the majority of my older plumeria are still in dormant-mode. I really won't even begin to take cuttings until they have substantial growth and that's not going to be until June at the earliest. I will be able to take a few cuttings from those that over-wintered in the solarium simply because I did not cut them back in the fall. But even with those, I won't take cuttings until that have begun to leaf-out. I want the cuttings to be nice and strong and that just takes time.

That's the problem living in a temperate region of the country. I have to allow for dormancy. Those in the far southern regions of the country, in the sub-tropical zone, have an advantage over me. Their plants will go semi-dormant and thus, their time of "non-cutting" is shorter than mine.

If you like, I will take a look at those few plumeria that came out of the solarium and see if any cuttings can be had.

That would be great, Ken... I've had good luck rooting your cuttings. Actually, I've never seen bigger, plumper cuttings than what you offer (not that I'm any expert on plumeria, but I've looked at cuttings offered at various garden shows etc.).

I'm curious about seedlings... do you know the parentage on them? If any are from Kathy's or DD's, then I'd go from curious to "yes, please!" in a heartbeat.

Oh, if only I could tell you the full parentage. I know the seed parent but not the pollen parent. Is the DD's Delight or the Kathryn's Fuchsia Fantasy pollen parents? I have no earthly idea.

As I said, it is awfully early for me to be talking about cuttings. This is what I do have, and as you can see, the whites/yellows/pinks are ahead of the reds. That's the norm.

1. Slaughter Pink - 1 and 3 tips
2. Seedling, seeds germinated Jan., 2013. This will be the summer to see these really start to bloom. The first one just bloomed a pink flower. The seedlings are really large and thick - 1 tip
3. Scott Pratt - 1 tip
4. Hausten White - 1 tip
5. Celadine - 1 tip

OK, I didn't know if maybe either the DD's Delight or the Kathryn's Fuchsia Fantasy were the seed parents. Do you have a list of seed parents?

Also, price on the Hausten White cutting, please?

The Hausten's White cutting is only $14.95. Three cuttings (white, yellow or pink) are priced at $38.95. If you include a red, that would increase the price to $42.95. If you wanted to include a seedling, the price is reduced to $34.95.

The seed-pod parent of the January, 2014, seedlings is Slaughter Pink.

I'll tree-mail you...

Does your website have the most current availability? I'm interested in Vera Cruz Rose & Scott Pratt. Thank you!

Hi, @Blitz_40. Welcome to the NGA.

The website is sort of up-to-date, but not as it should be, at least when it comes to my plumeria. I am heavily involved in my orchids right now (my first passion) and the plumeria are sort of in their mid-cycle. I have a flush of rooted plants available in early spring, rooted over the fall/winter months, and in May I take a few (first) cuttings. I sell a lot of all that have available before June rolls around. Nothing much goes on in June. I am simply letting my plants grow so that cuttings can be taken in July, some are sold as fresh cuttings and some will be rooted.

I do have the varieties you ask about and they are both rooted. They are both around 24" tall. Shipping to the Birmingham area is inexpensive, since I am in Mississippi.

Blitz, I wanted to echo DrD's welcome to NGA!

If you've bought (or seen) plumeria cuttings elsewhere, you'll be blown away by the quality (health, size, thickness) of what Ken sells. His packing is outstanding as well, and he's incredibly patient with my newbie questions about both plumeria and orchids!

The 'Scott Pratt' I got from him gave me a set of little blooms its first year, and I can't wait to see (and smell) blooms on my 'Vera Cruz Rose'. Great choices!

Jill. That was a very nice statement.

All true! and in case anybody is wondering, Ken doesn't give me discounts for endorsements... He does give me the gift of his friendship, though, which is priceless!

I will, Jill, I will.......... I actually give everyone on NGA/ATP discounts. I wish more people saw the value in what I have, but that's just "life".

It is funny that you should mention "friendship", Jill. From the time that I built my website five years ago, this statement has been on the "Introductory" page: "The "fun" of this business is actually not in the selling of plants and supplies but in the many plant-lover contacts I have made along the way. I get far more pleasure making friends than making sales. My wife says I would rather talk about what and how I grow than sell plants. I don't think she thinks I am much of a "businessman". She's probably right. I get emails all the time asking for advice from previous purchasers who have some sort of problem or a question about their plants. And their problem/question is often about plants not related to what I sold them. But, now, after my exposure on social media, I constantly get questions from people that I have never been in contact with before. I think that's neat."

I think that's neat, too! For sure getting to know people who read and responded to my articles was one of the big joys in writing for DG (aka "Dave's old Garden" LOL). And I do know about (and appreciate!) your NGA discount... I was just making sure nobody thought you were prompting or encouraging me to jump in with good comments, LOL.

Word of mouth from happy customers does work! I had 3 friends (Aspenhill and also 2 of my neighbors) ordering with me this spring, and I think there's at least 1 other person (Lisa) in our local bunch of NGA members who has ordered from you.

Aspenhill's SIL Bonnie very kindly took my new orchids back with her to babysit while I was away this past month (helping my in-laws after a medical crisis), and she was really examining the mounted ones (which I left hanging outside, and they look great)... I have a feeling the next order from us will include some things for Bonnie, too!

Dr Dawg, I sent a tree mail about the Plumeria. Thank you!