“Jeannie Moragne” is one of the famous Moragne hybrids produced by the late William Moragne Sr. of Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii during the 1950s. After nearly 20 years of experiments, Moragne performed the first documented cross pollination of Plumeria rubra varieties.

“Jeannie Moragne” flowers are described as “spectacular” with vibrant red fading to reddish pink with large golden yellow bands and pinkish orange lines radiating toward outer edge; up to 5-1/2-inch narrow petals with pointed tip slightly overlapped; heavy texture; strong fruity, sweet rose scent. It’s one of the most striking flowers of the Moragnes. Left unpruned, the plant will form a vigorous growing tree with elliptical green leaves sporting red borders with acute tips. As a whole it’s very impressive with strong colors and large well shaped flowers.

A bit of the Moragne history: In 1953, at his home in Lihu‘e, Grove Farm Manager William Middleton Moragne Sr. (1905-1983) made the first recorded controlled cross-pollinations between plumerias that produced new hybrids. Prior to his successful cross-pollinations, Hawaii’s introduced plumerias — the yellow, red, and white — had been hybridized naturally by small insects, resulting in many variations.

But, in 1950, when Moragne began his research, there was no literature available on how to cross pollinate plumerias artificially. Undaunted, he began on his own by observing that the plumeria’s pistil, which contains the flower’s female reproductive parts he would need to pollinate, was located at the base of a deep trumpet of petals that was inaccessible from the top of the blossom.

Tearing away petals to reach the pistil only flooded the pistil with milky latex. The solution lay in carefully snipping off the petals at the base of the blossom, which caused the latex to flow away. With the problem of flooding solved, Moragne proceeded to attempt a crosspollination.

He brushed away the existing pollen in the pistil of a mother flower, introduced pollen of a male parent on top of the pistil and covered the pollinated areas with tape to prevent unwanted pollination by insects. However, his attempt failed and other efforts at cross-pollination continued to be unsuccessful until 1953, when he tried introducing pollen, not only on the top of the pistil, as he’d done previously, but also on the pistil’s sides and bottom. He achieved success.

By using a dark red “Scott Pratt” male to pollinate four light pink “Daisy Wilcox” female blossoms, Moragne produced enough seeds to grow 283 hybrid seedlings. Of those, he kept 35 of the best, which grew into flowering trees. From among the 35, he selected and named his favorite blossoms for the women in his family.

His hybrid plumerias can be seen along Nawilwili Road.