Plumeria Care Through the Ages

 PLUMERIA CARE THROUGH THE AGES
A History of Plumeria Care and Propagation

Published in c. 1768

Plumeria were cultivated in England as early as c. 1690. The Royal Gardeners responsible for the Royal Botanic Gardens and conservatories of the Kings of France, England and Spain were among the early experts of tropical plant culture.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was created c. 1759

When reading these page images you'll need to interpret what looks like an f as an s. For example, the first image below reads as 'All these plants may be propagated by seeds, which must.. ; they should be sown in pots filled... should be transplanted into separate small pots.... observing the shade...' .

Plumeria propagation from seeds, c. 1768

continuation of seed propagation, c. 1768

The references to "the stove" which appear as "the ftove" are references to the room of the conservatory where the heat is provided for the conservatory which would be the same as a hot-house. References to the "flue" means the "pipes" that carry away the hot exhaust of the wood fire.

Propagation from cuttings, c. 1768

Notice above that it is recommended the cuttings have two-months before being planted.

You'll sometimes read references to the tan. Tan is short for tan-bark or tanners bark. Crushed bark has tannin which is applied to drying animal skins in order to tan the skin to leather. Bark is natures protection of trees and contain natural controls of plant diseases. Bark mulch is good for the garden, in potting mix and for rooting cuttings. Plumeria cuttings can be rooted in nothing more than pine bark.

Above is the recommendation to harden a plant off by slowing increasing the amount of sun exposure.

c. 1794

Two months to ten weeks prior to rooting, c. 1794

THE UNIVERSAL GARDENER, c. 1778

Propagation from seed and cuttings, c. 1778

continuation of propagation from cuttings, c. 1778

AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF GARDENING, c. 1824

A recommendation to use large cuttings and crushed bark (tan)

published c. 1825

From the Encyclopidea Londinensis, c. 1825

Propagation from seeds, Encyclopedia Londinensis, c. 1825

Propagation from cuttings, Encylopedia Londinensis, c. 1825

Published c. 1829

Excerpt from The Practical Gardener and Modern Horticulturist

 AMERICAN GARDENER'S CALENDAR, c. 1859

Bottom heat and the bell-glass as a humidity chamber

The bell glass assures a warm humid environment as bags do with bag-rooting, maintaining desired conditions with a minimum amount of water within the enclosure. The bell glass over cuttings or similar humidity chamber avoids excessive loss of water from the cutting.


An important recommendation for those outside of the tropics is in the above page image. It is best to have cuttings well rooted before winter storage to reduce risk of losing the plant by early spring of the following year.

SUMMARY

For those of us living outside of the tropics, most of what we need to know about plumeria culture has been documented over two-hundred years ago. An important lesson from the past is the emphasis of allowing ample time for the cuttings to become well callused. Typically, eight to  ten weeks of curing time is recommended. The use of bark, the bark bed and loose well draining soil mixes are recommended. Large cuttings root best. Warm and humid conditions for cuttings and plants and the use of bottom heat have long been practiced in plumeria culture. The plants should have little or no water during winter.