Frangipani Flower
In the warmer months in Brisbane you’ll see thousands of frangipani trees flowering across the city, and footpaths often covered in a carpet of blossoms. The most common flowers are white with a yellow centre and their sweet fragrance can – just for a moment – make you believe you’ve been magically transported to a lush, tropical resort.
Frangipani trees are very easy to grow from cuttings. When a delivery truck collided with my neighbour’s tree, she gave me the broken branches. I put the accidental cuttings on the ground in a semi-shaded spot for about two weeks so the ends healed, and then popped them in pots. Now I have mini-frangipani trees on my veranda, but I could plant them out and they’d become trees several metres high.
One of my happiest childhood memories is running, with my cousins, through a thick blanket of crunchy, brown leaves dropped by the frangipani trees on my aunty’s footpath.
Red Frangipani
I’ve been enjoying this red frangipani in a pot at my front gate. It’s been flowering for months and doesn’t mind scorching sun and drying out when I forget to water it. After it drops its leaves in winter, I’ll be taking cuttings to make some new trees. It’s been a few years, but I’ll be able to pay my neighbour back with a red frangipani, which hopefully won’t be hit by a truck.
Brisbane & Beyond 
Just discovered your wonderful blog!! Frangipanis are my favourite Brissy flowers, along with jacarandas of course!
I write a blog called Lily of the Valley Brisbane, because I love The Valley, and because of my favourite flowers in my home country; Lilies of the Valley. I am from Sweden, I am a neuroscientist and a lecturer at QUT. I write my blog together with some friends, also Brisbanites, some born here, others, like me, come from elsewhere but have lived here for some time. I’ve been here for almost 13 years, and this city is now Home. I love its hills, its Queenslander houses, the way the moon hangs so low in the sky, the multiculturalism, and most of all, the People of Brisbane. There is something about Brisbanites; a mix of compassion of humor that I have never before come across.
We write about our city, about the world, art, travel, and as I am a hobby jewellery maker, we post easy jewellery tutorials.
Here is our blog address if someone is interested:
http://www.lilyofthevalleybrisbane.com
Lots of love,
Jenny Ekberg.
Hi Jenny
Glad to hear you’re calling Brisbane home. My great grandparents who were Swedish, arrived in Australia on a sailing ship in the late 1800s. I think we all ended up in the right city – I love Brisbane too. I spent 6 weeks cycling through Sweden and I reckon both cultures share a similar sense of humour. I also noticed how crafty and creative lots of Swedish people are. Maybe it’s those long winters when you need something to do inside where it’s warm?
Cheers, Dianne