One need not live in a tropical or sub-tropical area to be overwhelmed by plants! I hybridize Daylilies (Hemerocallis)and was not able to plant a single seed for three years as I was out of room to plant them out! I did try growing out several in pots, but Mother Nature took them all away from me last winter! Fickle lady, mother nature! I also am hybridizing the "Candy Lilies" and "Blackberry Lilies, which are actually members of the Iris Genus. I grow all types of Liliums and other perennials plus quite a few annuals that self sow and come back every year (mostly Snapdragons)and I save seed from good old Coleus and have several as potted plants as well as in ground plants of them. My outside garden begins to wake in late February/early March when the Snow Crocus and Grecian Windflowers make their appearance and continues until a hard frost knocks back the "Toad Lilies" and Mums. But then there is the indoor garden (that summers outside) and there are Tropical Hibiscus, several varieties of Lantana, various "house trees", numerous cacti and succulents, a few (12) Orchids, Clivia miniata and 15+ seedlings from mixed color hybrids and the Hippeastrums - 40+ named varieties a few mature seedlings from my first cross (a test and 70 or so new seedlings from last winter. Oh I must not forget the terrarium - a 55 gallon fish tank, that has 4 African Violets (2 minies, 2 standards and all are Variegated foliage) a Silver Spotted Philodendron and a small "Earth Star" bromeliad. While most of these "indoor" plants are grown under lights in the basement, all of my windows are also filled - and this time of year the hippies fill the space. Yeah, I know all about running out of space and there not ever being enough room to grow everything that I would like to! I even have space on a neighbors veggie garden for my overflow of Daylily seedlings and that still isn't enough! Most of my cacti and some of my succulent were rescued plants from Lowe's as were most of my Orchids (Phalaenopsis), I hate to see a plant thrown away because it didn't sell. Most of my Hosta were rescued from a dumpster as well as several shrubs and perennial plants! I can barely take care of what I have and I still want more! Here's a view of the basement light garden from winter 08/09: And this s just one side of one set of shelves!

Hi Bill, You da man! It is indeed Thevetia thevetoides. I was only aware of Thevetia peruviana, and I knew it was not that. Thanks everyone for the input. I have been trying to figure this out for a couple of weeks. Do you know if it is easy to propagate? A couple of twigs have migrated to my house. I cut off most of the leaves, and halved the ones I left. I dipped the cuttings into rooting hormone and have them in a pot. One article I read, suggested covering the cuttings with a plastic bag to increase humidity. Do you think that this step is necessary or will it lead to fungus growth?

My plumaria expert says that blossom booster or anything with such a high middle number is useless. In fact some of the threads by Al will agree. I use "Dynamite" 13 13 13...Even numbers right across the board. In fact most plants don't like such a high middle number, because your throwing the abilty off for the whole plant to be healthy, even the colors of the leaves by forcing flowers on your plants when you don't have to. How come plumies flower from the ground outdoors withou someone throwing so much middle number on them? In the ground, they are getting an even amount of nutriets to sustain over look, vigour, and health. I will send you an excert of why the middle number is useless. The "dynamite" has worked wonders for me. It is slow release along with micro nutrients and a well balanced fert. Just some excerts... "Whatever nutrients are available in excess, will be absorbed by the plant to a certain degree, and in some cases, this may lead to toxicity or even symptoms of shortages of other nutrients as toxicity levels block a plant's ability to take up other nutrients. Too much nitrogen will lead to excessive foliage production and less flowering. Too much potassium or phosphorus will not lead to ill effect, but will show up as a deficiency of other nutrients as it blocks uptake". "What about the "Bloom Booster" fertilizers you might ask? To induce more prolific flowering, a reduced N supply will have more and better effect than the high P bloom formulas. When N is reduced, it slows vegetative growth without reducing photosynthesis. Since vegetative growth is limited by a lack of N, and the photosynthetic machinery continues to turn out food, it leaves an expendable surplus for the plant to spend on flowers and fruit". "The fact that different species of plants grow in different types of soil where they are naturally found, does not mean that one needs more of a certain nutrient than the other. It just means that the plants have developed strategies to adapt to certain conditions, like excesses and deficiencies of particular nutrients.." "Most greenhouse operations will follow pretty closely to a 2-1-2 ratio of the primary macro-nutrients on most greenhouse crops with minor deviations based on tissue analysis and the effect of the growing medium. Most post-greenhouse fertilization will follow fairly closely to a 3-1-2 ratio, with some deviation. Again, this very closely mimics the range of the primary macros found in plant tissues". Read the thread......type in search.... "Fertilizer Program - Containerized Plants (Long Post) very imformative article". I never use blosson booster, and all my plants flower Profusely.... Hope this helps and greens up the leaves along with giving you nice flowers next time around..:-) Mike

You will have to winter it over in a greenhouse or inside in zone 7. You can also cut it back and allow it to go dormant over the winter. Store it in a cool, not cold room and cut way back on watering. You bring it to a warm, well lit room in March and water it. I add either B1 or Superthrive to break dormancy but water sparingly until you see new growth. Once it's warm enough it can go outside but you'll need to slowly acclimate it to natural sunlight. I eventually keep mine outside in full sun during the growing season. I feed it monthly and add kelp extract, Thrive-Alive w/B1 and epsom salts. I also give it a foliar feed every 3-4 weeks with the Spray-n-Grow trio. I like Dyna-gro fertilizers. I start with an all purpose solution and will switch to a bloom booster when I start seeing buds. I'm in zone 7a, just outside Washington, DC. Hot summers, cold winters.