Fill Your Yard With Tropical Flowers By Planting This Low-Maintenance Tree

You don't have to live on a sun-drenched island to turn your yard into a tropical getaway. Plant a tree with exotic-looking flowers to lend this vibe to your landscape. One option is frangipani (Plumeria spp.). If you've been to Hawaii, this plant's blossoms may look familiar since they're a common component of leis. In addition to lasting quite a while after being cut, the flowers emit a pleasant fragrance with notes of jasmine and citrus. It's so memorable that it's often used in scented oils. Frangipani trees thrive in USDA hardiness zones 10 and 11, and some varieties are also content in zone 12. Live in a colder region? You can grow a frangipani tree in a pot filled with sandy soil and a bit of perlite. To keep the tree alive, you'll need to move it indoors when temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Frangipani trees are easy to please, and if you make them happy, they may reach heights of 30 feet or more. You can also cultivate frangipani as a shrub if you want a shorter, bushier plant. If you're growing frangipani as a tree, you won't need to prune it often. Its light, water, and temperature needs aren't hard to meet, either. In general, full sunlight and balmy temperatures help this plant live its best life. Watering is slightly more complicated but definitely manageable. While frangipani trees don't love to be thirsty, this is preferable to being waterlogged, which can promote root rot. Well-draining soil is a must, and letting it dry completely after watering sessions is wise. If you have heavy clay soil, improve its drainage by adding compost.

There are 11 frangipani species and hundreds of different cultivars. This means you have lots of choices when it comes to flower color, leaf shape, and other characteristics. All frangipani blossoms have five petals, and their hues range from crisp white to ruby red. No matter which type of frangipani you choose, consider applying a phosphorus-boosting fertilizer during the growing season. This encourages the plants to make lots of flowers.

If you'd like a smaller frangipani tree or shrub, consider Plumeria obtusa, which features white or rosy flowers and glossy foliage. It's also an evergreen, so it will bring color to your yard throughout the year. Another evergreen type to check out is Plumeria alba. Its flowers are part white and part yellow. Unlike Plumeria obtusa, this Puerto Rican native is big, sometimes growing as tall as 40 feet.

One of the most popular deciduous frangipani varieties is Plumeria rubra. Its flowers are sought after for leis and attractive to garden-assisting pollinators such as hummingbirds, butterflies, and sphinx moths. These sweet-scented blossoms can also draw bees to your garden. Many cultivars of Plumeria rubra make flowers that pair a bit of red with another striking color such as yellow, pink, or orange. You can also find specimens with purely red flowers.