Today’s title is borrowed from the song, “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)”, released by Scott McKenzie in 1967 to promote the Monterey Pop Festival.  If I knew someone today who wanted to wear flowers in her hair, I think that these would be perfect for her!

I know that I publish a lot of posts about plant-related topics, and sometimes I wonder if I overdo it.  But St. Petersburg has a climate that is just so welcoming to such a wide variety of plants and flowers that it’s hard to do a blog about our city without having a pretty frequent mention of something to do with our local flora!  So, I think I’ve decided that it’s okay, and if you’re not someone who’s into plants or flowers or gardening, you can just skip these posts and grumble to yourself about me…

For this photograph, I did not stray far from home.  This beautiful cluster of flowers showed up this week on a plant about six feet into my neighbor’s yard, and I see it every time that I walk outside.  You have two choices of what to call it – either Frangiapanni (some spell it Frangipani) or Plumeria.  I’m not sure why it has two names, but I actually find both names to be perfect for such a glorious flower.  They both sound sort of exotic and maybe a little forbidden, like a secret plant that’s only found deep in a hidden forest. 

But the truth is, nothing could be further from the truth.  They grow so easily in St. Petersburg that, even with no green thumb at all, you can succeed with this plant.  If you have a neighbor who has one that you love,  just ask for a piece of it – a cutting.  You can stick it into the ground and with almost no care at all, it will begin to root and grow.  There are literally dozens of color variations, some solid, some multi-hued.  And I can’t end this without mentioning the fragrance – it’s completely indescribable - one of the prettiest-smelling flowers I’ve ever encountered. 

Just another little reason that it’s nice to live in St. Petersburg! 

Frangipani (click on picture for larger image)