Tree

[Tywais]

We have this tree in our front yard, more then 10 years now and was talking to my wife about it. She said the name of it is 're la wadee' but had another name, 'lahn tohm' until recently due to the latter name having a bad meaning. Apparently a very expensive plant running upwards to 70,000 Baht. She mentioned a well known singer (Mai) who normally lives in Bkk and had a new house in Chiangmai - when he returned, all these type of trees were gone (stolen) - 3 of them worth more then 100,000 Baht.

It seems one of our neighbors has on occasion cut a clipping off part of it hanging over our fence and planted it at their house. The flowers have different colors at different times. At the moment they are pink, but after falling off, the next will be yellow. Nice fragrance also.

[sbk]

It is, indeed, a leelawadee also known as a Plumeria, or Frangipani (Plumeria is the scientific name). HM the King renamed it from lahntom (which sounds like the word sadness) to leelawadee, in order to increase is popularity. It is, indeed, a magnificent plant, requiring little care, not much water and apparently very few diseases or insect problems. Don't worry about your neighbor cutting off some branches, it won't harm the tree at all.

[Tywais]

It is, indeed, a leelawadee also known as a Plumeria, or Frangipani (Plumeria is the scientific name). HM the King renamed it from lahntom (which sounds like the word sadness) to leelawadee, in order to increase is popularity. It is, indeed, a magnificent plant, requiring little care, not much water and apparently very few diseases or insect problems. Don't worry about your neighbor cutting off some branches, it won't harm the tree at all.

Thanks for the additional information, didn't know how the name change came about. She also indicated something about the old name and bad luck, couldn't quite follow her on it. Does seem to be quite resilient since it's been growing here probably 12 years by now and I rarely water it.

[sbk]

I have one tree that I grew from the cutting off a friends tree, now 3m tall and 17 years old!

I also have this dark red one I bought a few years ago. Smells kind of cinnamony.

If you are interested in different plumerias there are a couple of Thailand based online sites (never bought from them, just window-shopped )

www.siamseeds.com/plumeria.htm and plumeriathai.com

[tigerbeer]

the last year or so, i've planted 8 different species of plumeria trees. all with different scents. easy to grow. tywais, any way of cutting a small branch for me ?

love these trees.