Frangipani v. Desert Rose

I love the desert rose. It is pretty and simple to care for, grows better in pots and does not require a lot of attention to be beautiful. Obviously, it does not like to be wet all the time, but does require moderate watering. It comes in other colours than the standard pink/fuschia. See above photo.

They do well here and are popular. Someone locally grows them from seeds - I have no idea how, but they turn out beautiful. So when I saw what I thought were large trees of them in Nassau, I was enthralled. Then I learned that they were indeed not the desert rose, but the frangipani.

The frangipani, like the desert rose, grows well here without too much attention. They require moderate watering as they are prone to rot if they are too wet for too long. They are also easy to take clippings from. Just clip at the base of a new branch growth and stick in good soil and lots of sun. My gardening "partner in crime" and I have taken a tour of friends' houses where we have seen plants we want clippings from (a true gardener notices everyone's garden). From these I have gotten a white/yellow and a red frangipani. The below picture is the white/yellow taken from a clipping of a larger pant. It suffered a bad weedwhacker incident last year, but has come back great! Hardy buggers!




I have seen the desert rose in pots growing as high as 6 foot. The frangpani on the other hand is a tree and gets much larger. The big leaves and ever reaching branches make this tree a wonderful place for a shady spot, without a lot of debris in autum to worry about.