I have been offered a Plumeria and I am wondering if it is possible to keep one (in good health) in the house without having a heated greenhouse. Our home gets southern exposure on the back side, which is all windows (lower # of hours during the winter months). I am assuming that they require a certain amount of relative humidity? I do not want to take this plant (tree) if I cannot give it what it will require to thrive. Also, if I take it, can it go outside and with what conditions (full sun/filtered sunlight)? Any information would be much appreaciated.
Re: Plumeria - ? you can certainly keep the plant indoors and it'll do well if it gets proper light and heat. you can put it outside for the summer months and then bring it back inside once the cold weather starts. some people allow them to go dormant over the winter months when they bring them inside and they usually store them in a garage or basement (anywhere the temps don't get below 40 F). it's not necessary to have them go dormant though - especially if you have a room that will provide proper lighting and heat. if you do let it go dormant, the leaves will drop off and you shouldn't water it until spring starts - then when the weather is warm enough you can put it outside - it'll have started regrowing leaves by then. you can do a search of this forum for 'plumeria' to look for more info. not sure how much is here, though, as i've not seen them talked about too much. you can also google for more info.
Re: Plumeria - ? they'll go dormant if the temps are low enough. so, if you keep it inside where it'll get decent heat (above 65 F) and it'll get pretty decent lighting, it should continue to grow, albeit at a more slow rate than during the summer months. you may see periods of slight dormancy where some, if not all, leaves drop. that would not be anything to worry too much about. just hold off watering for a month and then give it a good drink and it'll probably start growing leaves again. that's what's happened with my brugmansia - i kept them inside in my plant room last winter and they generally continued to grow through out the winter. only time there was any issue was when i lost the heater for a couple days - that sent them into a short dormancy. plummies are about the same when it comes to heat/sunlight, so, they can basically be treated the same.
