Southern California Plumeria Society

Plumeria Festival - September 7 & 8
2024-09-07 - 2024-09-08 | Casa del Prado, 1800 El Prado Room 101, San Diego, CA, 92101, United States
Free event!
Saturday, September 7 from 10am to 4pm
Sunday, September 8 from 10am to 4pm
Festival information

August 11, 2024 - Our Favorite Plumeria and Lei Making
2024-08-11 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The August 2024 meeting will be at Jean Farb Middle School (4880 La Cuenta Dr, San Diego, CA 92124) at 1pm PDT. For this month, we have SCPS Board members Joanne Northcutt, Traci Peterson and Jeff Sharp, presenting their favorites on “My Favorite Plumeria” panel and then we’ll have a brief lei tutorial.
Following the panel discussion, we will have a brief tutorial on how to string a basic lei.
In order to participate in making a lei, you’ll want to bring the following supplies:
• 5″ doll needle (or a lei needle)
• dental floss
• scissors
• 60 to 70 Plumeria blooms for a basic single strand lei, if you have them
Please note that the SCPS Retail Sales Table will have a very limited quantity of lei needles available for sale at the meeting.

July 14, 2024 - "Are Your Plumeria Surviving or Thriving?"
2024-07-14 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The July 2024 meeting will be held on Sunday, July 14 at 1pm PDT at Jean Farb Middle School. This month’s presentation will be by Jim McKibben on “Are Your Plumerias Surviving or Thriving?”
Beyond the basic requirements of soil, water, fertilizer and sun, plumeria must have the ideal pH to thrive. Jim will discuss the pH of water and soil as well as testing methods and ways to adjust it. He will also talk about the benefits of using bat guano and why it’s so important. Magnesium is also a critically important nutrient for your plumeria to thrive.

June 9, 2024 - "Plumeria Photography"
2024-06-09 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The June meeting will be Sunday, June 9 at 1:00 pm PDT. This meeting will be at 4880 La Cuenta Dr, San Diego, CA 92124. This month we will have Dawn Sullivan presenting on “Plumeria Photography“.
Common photography errors include having the subject out of focus, poorly composed photos, and distracting backgrounds. This is an excellent opportunity to learn how to take better photos from Dawn – these tips and tricks can be used with a DSLR or your mobile device for any of your photographic pursuits – including family photos, vacation snaps, and Plumeria pics for Facebook.

May 18 & 19, 2024 - Annual Cutting Sale
2024-05-18 10:00 - 2024-05-19 16:00 | Casa del Prado, 1800 El Prado Room 101, San Diego, CA, 92101, United States
Please join us for the SCPS Annual Cutting Sale in the Casa del Prado at Balboa Park. The 2024 SCPS Cutting Sale will be held from 10am to 4pm on both May 18 and 19, 2024. There will be 21 wonderful vendors selling 1000’s of Plumeria cuttings. Additionally our fantastic craft vendors will be in Room 102 selling their wares: jewelry, Hawaiian bags and accessories, candles, floral displays and more! And of course, when you get hungry or need a little sugar rush or caffeine kick,, the patio will be the place to go to visit our tasty food vendors! The SCPS Raffle will only be at the Sale on Saturday, so please plan accordingly.
Also out on Patio A, Tree Trimming Committee Lead, Jeff Sharp, will be sharing his Plumeria knowledge and he will be demonstrating how to bag root cuttings. For a donation benefiting the SCPS scholarship / educational outreach fund, Jeff and SCPS volunteers will be bag rooting purchased cuttings.
Room 101 – Plumeria Cuttings Galore!
Room 102 – Fabulous Plumeria Gift Items!
Patio A – Bag Rooting with Jeff Sharp and Bag Rooting Team!
Patio B – Tasty Food and Beverages!
We will have registers located in Room 101 and Room 102. The registers accept cash, credit cards, debit cards and contactless payment systems such as Apple Pay. Items in Room 101 must be purchased in Room 101, and items in Room 102 must be purchased in Room 102.
More information can be found on our website.

April 14, 2024 - "The ABC's of Plumeria Cuttings"
2024-04-14 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The April 2024 meeting will be Sunday, April 14 at 1:00 pm PDT. This meeting will be held at 4880 La Cuenta Dr, San Diego, CA 92124. This month we will have Jeff Sharp and Dawn-Michelle Atallian presenting on “The ABCs of Plumeria Cuttings“.

March 10, 2024 - "An Update on Maui Recovery Efforts"
2024-03-10 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
This month we will have Duane Sparkman, Founder and President of Treecovery Hawaii, as our March speaker via Zoom, and he will presenting “An Update on Maui Recovery Efforts“.

Don’t forget to set your clocks forward! Daylight Savings Time begins at 2am on March 10, 2024.

February 18, 2024 - "Ask Me Anything...Plumeria"
2024-02-18 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
Join us for an Ask Me Anything…Plumeria panel with Cody Bean, Alex Franco and Leeann Antoku Montgomery at our February 18, 2024 meeting.

Cody Bean started growing plumerias in 2015, with a very large cutting a family friend gave him. Cody grew up visiting family in Hawaii, so he had always known about them, but in 2016 he bought his first home! And the first thing he planted was that tree! He says, “Wow, was that a mistake! An empty backyard and the internet is not a good combination.” Fast forward 9 years and it has become an obsession. Over last few years he has been doing a lot of grafting, growing seedlings, collecting more unique cultivars, and meeting new people that share the same passion for learning about and growing plumeria that he has.

Through early fascination with gardening in the 80s to working in a nursery in early 90’s, Alex Franco became a certified Horticulturalist in 1998 and founded his business AJ Horticulture.
He started growing plumeria in 2005 and sold them wholesale to nurseries. Through growers he met and trips to Hawaii, he became more interested in plumerias and expanded his own collection, including seedlings. In 2016 he started growing and hybridizing exotic hibiscus as a hobby and expanded that to well over 100 new hybrids in his greenhouses. He has at minimum over 1000 hibiscus and over 2000 plumeria on his property at any given time.
He launched Plumeria Papa as a division of his horticulture business in 2020 as a plumeria care and education company and to accommodate his growing list of plumeria tree trimming clients.

Leeann Antoku Montgomery‘s family is from Lahaina. Leeann grew up spending all summer helping her grandmother pick blooms to make leis for hotel guests. She started growing plumerias in Cerritos, CA around 2000. Through trial and error she has learned to propagate, trim trees and start seedlings. Social media showed Leeann a whole new world of colors and different varieties other than Celadine. And that is how her addiction began.

August 13, 2023 Meeting - "My Favorite Plumeria" with Mike Atkinson and "Making Pretty with a Few Flowers" with Stacy Atkinson
2023-08-13 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
Every time Mike Atkinson is asked what his favorite plumerias are, he politely declines. “Just too hard.” BUT he has agreed to share them with us! He’ll list his favorites based on color, petal shape, growth habit, fragrance, and more. He’ll have them up on the screen so you can see them and take photos for future reference.
Since many of us are reeling from the late blooming season, Stacy Atkinson decided to teach you how to make a simple, 3-flower hairpiece. She will also show you how she makes her popular Plumeria Dome Display, which can also be done with just a handful of plumerias.

July 9, 2023 Meeting - "Grafting and What I Learned from Plumeria Cuttings in January"
2023-07-09 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
Join us on Sunday, July 9, 2023 at 1pm for a presentation from Roman Kuchkuda on “Grafting and What I Learned from Plumeria Cuttings in January”. Additionally we will be voting for our favorite Plumeria photographs for the 2024 SCPS calendar and voting to elect three SCPS board members.

June 11, 2023 Meeting - "Plumeria rubra - What have we learned?"
2023-06-11 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
Join us on Sunday, June 11 at 1pm for “Plumeria rubra – What have we learned?” presented by University of Hawaii Emeritus Professor of Horticulture, Dr. Richard A. Criley.

Annual Cutting Sale
2023-05-27 - 2023-05-28 | Casa del Prado, 1800 El Prado Room 101, San Diego, CA, 92101, United States
Join us on Saturday, May 27 and Sunday, May 28 from 10am to 4pm (both days!) at the Casa de Prado in Balboa Park, San Diego, for our Annual Cutting Sale. Stay tuned for additional information regarding available Plumeria varieties and other updates!

April 16, 2023 Meeting - "Plumeria Seedlings" and "Pruning, Callusing and Rooting Plumeria"
2023-04-16 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
Join us on Sunday, April 16, 2023 at 1pm for a presentation on Plumeria seedlings from Joy & Carl Herzog and on “Pruning, Callusing and Rooting Plumeria” by Jeff Sharp.

March 12, 2023 Meeting - What Is That Bug?
2023-03-12 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
Join us at the March 2023 SCPS meeting on Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 1pm.
San Diego Master Gardener Linda Stewart will be presenting on “What Is That Bug?”
Linda Stewart has been a Master Gardener since 2010 and has had several roles educating the public during that time. She has spent most of her adult years in some type of education. She was a registered nurse for 40 years. Most of that time she spent teaching patients, students and the public. Since she retired in 2008, she has spent much of her time volunteering, giving back, making up for the many years that her job and family took priority. Linda’s first project after retirement was ripping out her lawn and replacing it with drought tolerant plants more suitable for our desert climate.
Please remember that Daylight Savings Time goes into effect at 2am on Sunday, March 12. Be sure to set your clocks appropriately so you aren’t late to the meeting!

February 19, 2023 Meeting - Waking Up Your Plumeria
2023-02-19 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The February meeting starts at 1pm.
This month will feature local Plumeria growers, Irene Jones and Steve Salley, presenting on “Waking Up Your Plumeria”.

Annual Members' Only Luau
2022-10-16 12:00 - 16:00 | Casa del Prado, 1800 El Prado Room 101, San Diego, CA, 92101, United States
The Annual Members’ Only Luau is scheduled for Sunday, October 16, 2022.
You must be a current member of the Southern California Plumeria Society in order to attend as t this event is open to current SCPS members and their immediate household only.
Join us for Hawaiian themed food and entertainment.
Flower Show Awards will be presented.
We’ll have door prizes and raffle prizes.
The retail sales tables will be closed for this event.

Please bring a dessert to share.

Location
Beautiful Balboa Park:
Casa del Prado,
Room 101 and Patio A
1800 El Prado
San Diego, CA 92101
(across from the Natural History Museum)

Hawaiian Plumeria Festival
2022-09-03 - 2022-09-04 | Casa del Prado, 1800 El Prado Room 101, San Diego, CA, 92101, United States
The Hawaiian Plumeria Festival is scheduled for Labor Day 2022 weekend, September 3 & 4, 2022.
Our festival famously features a plant sale and a flower show.
The plant sale will run 10am-4pm both Saturday and Sunday in Room 101 and on Patio A.
The flower show in Room 104 will be open for entries from 8am-11am Saturday and closed for judging Saturday afternoon.
The flower show will be open to the public for viewing on Sunday from 9am-2pm.
Beautiful Plumeria gift items are for sale in Room 102.
Fantastic food and fabulous entertainment are also scheduled for Saturday and Sunday on the Casa del Prado Patio B!
Click here for the Hawaiian Plumeria Festival schedule of events
Click here for Plant Sale Information
Click here for the most recent Cultivar List
Click here for Flower Show Information
Click here for the Specialty and Food Vendor Listing

August 14, 2022 Meeting
2022-08-14 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The August 2022 meeting is scheduled for August 14, 2022.
We have a series of workshop sessions scheduled:

Grafting: Roman Kuchkuda and Erryl Sloan
Fertilizer and Soil: Dawn-Michelle Atallian and Jeff Sharp
What to Look for When Buying Plumeria Cuttings and Plants: Jonathan Arendt, Perry Conner and Joanne Northcutt

July 10, 2022 Meeting - Grafting with Roman and Re-potting with Jeff
2022-07-10 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The July 2022 meeting is scheduled for July 10, 2022.
The program for July will be Grafting with Roman and Re-potting with Jeff.

June 12, 2022 Meeting - Plumeria Basics with Jeff Sharp
2022-06-12 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The June 2022 meeting is scheduled for June 12, 2022.
Our June 2022 meeting will feature a presentation on Plumeria Basics with Jeff Sharp.

Annual Cutting Sale
2022-05-21 - 2022-05-22 | Casa del Prado, 1800 El Prado Room 101, San Diego, CA, 92101, United States
The Annual Cutting Sale is scheduled for May 21 and 22, 2022.
10am to 4pm. Not only will we have a variety of Plumeria cuttings available, we will have craft vendors and two food vendors at the Annual Cutting Sale!
Here is the final version of the Cultivar List.

April 10, 2022 Meeting - Our Favorite Plumeria
2022-04-10 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The April 2022 meeting is scheduled for April 10, 2022 at 1pm.
This month’s meeting will be a panel on Our Favorite Plumeria with Dawn Sullivan, Joy Herzog and Danny Kashou.

March 13, 2022 Meeting - Plumeria of Hawaii : Pua Melia o Hawai'i
2022-03-13 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The March meeting is scheduled for March 13, 2022.
The meeting will begin at 1pm – please note that March 13 is also the start of Daylight Savings Time!
Ken Sakata was born and raised in Hawai’i, where both sides of his family immigrated to in the 1890’s. In 1980, Ken first began his studies of traditional hula and as a result, began a journey to increase his knowledge of Hawaiian culture, language, history and legends. That same year, together with two of his friends, he would begin writing the first of their five books, Pidgin To Da Max, a pidgin English dictionary which would go on to become the best selling locally written book in the history of Hawai’i. Like most locals, Ken grew up surrounded by Plumeria, has made and received hundreds of leis, and has fond memories of many special trees and colors.
Ken at the 2019 SCPS Cutting Sale

February 20, 2022 Meeting - How to Bring Your Plumeria Out From Winter
2022-02-20 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
Please note that the February meeting has been RESCHEDULED TO FEBRUARY 20TH.
The meeting starts at 1pm.
This month will feature a panel presentation on “How to Bring Your Plumeria Out From Winter” with growers and hobbyists Mike Atkinson, Irene Jones, Lori Kilmer and Jeff Sharp. Each panelist will be bringing their experience within their local microclimate.

October 10, 2021 Meeting - Prepare Your Plumerias for the Next Six Months
2021-10-10 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
The meeting starts at 1 pm.
Presentation
Prepare Your Plumerias for the Next Six Months
by Mike Atkinson
The next few months can be a scary time for us plumeria growers. Mike will share what he’s learned growing in one of the colder areas of San Diego County for over 20 years. How can we prepare them during autumn to lessen the impact of winter? Mike will discuss many tips and tricks that he’s learned through failure or that he’s adopted from other growers.
Bonus! Mike will also debunk some common plumeria myths, like “plumerias don’t like wet feet.”

September 12, 2021 Meeting - Update on the Plumeria research conducted by Dr. Nichole Tiernan
2021-09-12 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
This meeting will be offered in-person as well as on Zoom (for SCPS members) and Facebook Live. We ask that you please register in advance if you plan on attending in person (so we have an idea of attendance) or via Zoom (so we can email you the Zoom meeting link). Members can find the Zoom registration link in their September eNewsletter.

Our presenter will be Nichole Tiernan, PhD. Dr. Tiernan is a Botanical Research Associate at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden (FTBG) in Miami, FL.

Dr. Tiernan did her PhD at Florida International University and was a Graduate Student Fellow at FTBG. Her graduate research focused on the Caribbean species of Plumeria and her work is published in Curtis’s Botanical Magazine and Taxon. She previously presented at the August 2019 SCPS meeting and will be presenting an update on her research.

Dr. Tiernan provided the article on “Collecting Plumeria in the Wild: Jamaica” for the August 2021 eNewsletter.

August 8, 2021 Lei Making Workshop with Dawn Sullivan
2021-08-08 13:00 - 15:00 | CA
This month’s in-person meeting will be a hands-on lei making workshop, where you will learn to make a simple strung lei.
Experienced lei makers will have the option to make a spiral lei.
Materials to bring:

50 – 70 blooms for the single strand lei, 150 – 200 blooms for the spiral lei
Non-woven dental floss or dental tape
Lei needle or 5″ doll needle (available at JoAnn Fabrics)
Scissors

About Dawn Sullivan
Dawn was a haumana (student) of a traditional Hawaiian hula halau for more than 6 years, where she learned a variety of Hawaiian lei making techniques.

July 11, 2021 Virtual & Members' In Person Meeting : Propagating Plumeria From Cuttings and Seeds
2021-07-11 13:00 - 15:00 | Jean Farb Middle School, 4880 La Cuenta Drive, San Diego, CA, 92124, United States
It is with great happiness that we would like to invite members (only) to attend the July 2021 meeting at Jean Farb Middle School. We have just received the ok that we can hold this meeting in person at the school. We would love to see you, but we do ask that if you are not feeling well, have any symptoms of COVID-19, have been exposed to anyone with COVID-19 or have travelled anywhere with high or sustained community spread of COVID-19 within the last 14-days, that you not attend. If you are fully vaccinated, you do not need to wear a mask, but if you are not vaccinated please wear a mask. Also, if you are vaccinated and would prefer to wear a mask, please do. And please remember that “Masks are optional, but smiles are mandatory”.

For this meeting, we are not asking our members for donations of refreshments or of items for the raffle table. Just bring yourselves. We will be providing bottled water. To help us keep track of how many people will be attending, members need to register via the link sent in the eNewsletter. Although we are gathering, we are going to have it be a little pared down from our usual meetings. Jeff Sharp will be at the meeting selling scholarship/educational outreach cuttings before the meeting. Tina O’Neill will be ready to renew memberships. Richard Pires will be selling items for Plumeria (fertilizer, coir, etc.) at this meeting – he will not be bringing the full SCPS store inventory to this meeting. Members who prefer to attend via Zoom should register via the link in their eNewsletter. Our goal is to be fully up and running for the August 2021 meeting.

July also brings two annual happenings to SCPS – and we will have in-person voting at the July meeting:

Board Member Elections. For July 2021, we have three board members positions up for election/re-election. The positions that will be available are those of Jonathan Arendt, Jeff Sharp and myself. The candidate biographies are below.
Voting for Photos for the next SCPS calendar. We will again be creating a calendar featuring photos from SCPS members. Please remember the sale of our SCPS calendars benefit the educational outreach / scholarship fund.

COVID-19 Information

By attending a SCPS event, you certify that you do not fall into any of the following categories:

Individuals who currently or within the past fourteen (14) days have experienced any symptoms associated with COVID-19, which include fever, cough, and shortness of breath among others;
Individuals who have traveled at any point in the past fourteen (14) days either internationally or to a community in the U.S. that has experienced or is experiencing sustained community spread of COVID-19; or
Individuals who believe that they may have been exposed to a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 or have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and are not yet cleared as non-contagious by state or local public health authorities or the health care team responsible for their treatment.

If you are fully vaccinated, you do not need to wear a mask, but if you feel more comfortable wearing one, please feel free to do so.

If you are unvaccinated, please wear a mask at our event.

But above all remember, that “Masks are optional, but smiles are mandatory”.

Presentation: Propagating Plumeria From Cuttings and Seeds
with Ernesto Sandoval
Ernesto Sandoval will be discussing several ways to propagate Plumeria from cuttings as well as seeds.

Ernesto is the Curator/Manager at the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory. He describes himself as a Jose of All Plants, Master of None and although he doesn’t consider himself a Plumeria expert he’ll show us what he’s seen and discovered over the years for successful propagation of the sometimes fragrant frangipani. He received his BS in Botany from UC Davis in 1996 but learned Horticultural practices from the age of about 14 assisting with his father’s Mow, Blow, and Go style gardening business in the San Fernando Valley. By going to UC Davis to study biology, he got a job at the Conservatory in 1991 doing everything, besides mowing lawns, and discovered plant diversity from ferns to orchids and deserts to cloud forests. He’s made it his life goal to understand the biology of plants as it relates to their horticulture as well as their enormous diversity. Succulents are perhaps his plant passion but helping others better understand why and how plants do what they do is his educational mission in life. He loves the science and technical language of Botany but even more he loves explaining plants with analogies and visuals versus verbosity! You may hear a few puns because he intends to edutain his audience in memorable ways…

June 13, 2021 Virtual Meeting: Ask the Experts Panel
2021-06-13 13:00 - 15:00 | CA
Ever wonder:

“What is this thing on my Plumeria?”, or
“What do I do with my Plumeria now?”, or
“What in the world did this to my Plumeria?”, or
“Why is my Plumeria doing this?”

Then this “Ask the Experts Plumeria Panel” for you!

We would like to solicit your questions and accompanying photos, just send them to info@socalplumeriasociety.com. Please provide any other pertinent information such as age of the Plumeria, variety of the Plumeria (if known), general location (coastal, desert, El Cajon, South Bay, etc.), or anything you think would be helpful for the experts to know.

The Zoom meeting starts at 1 pm. Members will receive an e-newsletter with a link to register. Non-members can watch on Facebook Live.

May 16, 2021 Virtual Meeting: Plumeria Pests
2021-05-16 13:00 - 15:00 | CA
Presentation: Plumeria Pests
with Linda M. Ohara
Linda will discuss pests that infest plumerias, including three that were discovered at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. She will also show some of the biological controls for these pests.
The Zoom meeting starts at 1 pm. Members will receive an e-newsletter with a link to register. Non-members can watch on Facebook Live.
