Plumeria Rubra ORANGE CARAMEL

Plumeria Rubra 'ORANGE CARAMEL' - Red frangipani 'Orange Caramel', Plumeria Rubra, Frangipani, Orange Caramel.

Plumeria is a genus of tropical trees in the dogbane family (Apocynaceae). They grow in Mexico, Central and South America, in the Caribbean islands, and in cultivation have spread throughout the tropics of the Pacific and Asia.

These are large deciduous trees with thick succulent branches. The leaves are leathery, dark green, sometimes with a purple or grayish tint, elliptic, less commonly lanceolate. When shoots are damaged, white milky sap is released.

During the flowering period, large inflorescences of highly fragrant flowers form at the shoot tips, usually five-petaled, although four-, six-, and even seven-petaled ones are not uncommon for plumeria. The shape and color are extremely diverse, with flower diameter reaching 10 cm (3.9 in) or more. The scent is difficult to describe: it varies depending on conditions and resembles citrus, jasmine, gardenia, or spices, and is strongest at the beginning of blooming and in the morning hours.

Red frangipani is a deciduous shrub or, more often, a small tree 2-12 m (6.6-39.4 ft) tall. The bark is light green, thin, smooth or warty, and young branchlets are glabrous. The leaf blade is 12-50 cm (4.7-19.7 in) long and 3-15 cm (1.2-5.9 in) wide, elliptic, obovate, or oblanceolate, with an acute tip, leathery and glabrous, on a petiole 1.5-10 cm (0.6-3.9 in) long.

The inflorescence is corymbose, rather loose, and the flowers are very fragrant. The corolla can be pinkish, red-pink, white, or yellow, but always with a reddish or purple tint on the outside, with the limb up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long. The calyx is divided into ovate-quadrangular or ovate-triangular sepals. The fruit is an oblong yellow-green follicle, with seeds 3-6 cm (1.2-2.4 in) long, dull yellow, with a white wing. The cultivar name 'Orange Caramel' indicates the orange-caramel coloration of the flower.

Plumeria seeds are large, 3-6 cm (1.2-2.4 in) long including the white membranous wing, dull yellow, ripening in paired oblong follicles. Their coat is dense, so the seeds need pretreatment before sowing. Scarification and stratification are not required.

Seeds are kept for 1-2 hours in a 1% potassium permanganate solution, then soaked for 12-24 hours in warm water with the addition of a growth stimulant: SUPERthrive, HB-101, Aminozol, Epin, or Zircon. They are then sown vertically into a loose substrate, wing upward, so that the wing remains above the surface, and the seed itself is buried about halfway. The sowing is moistened with a spray bottle, covered with film or placed in a greenhouse, and germinated in light, but not in direct sun, at a temperature of 25-30 °C (77-86 °F).

Under favorable conditions, the first seedlings appear within a week, primary germination is completed in 1-3 weeks, and individual seeds may take longer. Sowing containers are regularly ventilated; waterlogging and drying out are unacceptable. Pricking out is carried out after the formation of 2-3 true leaves into individual deep pots. Seedlings do not repeat the mother plant's cultivar: each of them is a new, unique plumeria, which is part of the appeal of seed propagation.

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The plant needs the brightest possible location with direct sunlight: with a lack of light, plumeria stretches out and does not bloom. In summer, it is beneficial to move it to a balcony or into the garden.

Keep warm, optimally 25-30 °C (77-86 °F) during the growth period. In winter, when the tree sheds its leaves, the temperature is reduced to 15-18 °C (59-64 °F), but not below 12 °C (54 °F).

During the growth period, watering is abundant, after the top layer of substrate dries out. As leaves drop, watering is sharply reduced, and in winter during cool keeping it is almost stopped: waterlogging during dormancy leads to root and stem rot.

The substrate should be loose, nutrient-rich, and very well-drained, with a large proportion of coarse sand or perlite. Drainage is necessarily placed at the bottom of the pot.

Fertilizer is applied during active growth using a formula with elevated phosphorus content: it stimulates flower bud initiation. During the dormant period, fertilizing is not required.

Repotting is performed in spring, before growth begins. Pruning shapes the crown and stimulates branching: flowers are set at shoot tips, so the more branches, the more abundant the blooming. Gloves should be worn when working with the plant due to its milky sap. In addition to seeds, plumeria is propagated by cuttings.