It’s been a rough year for frangipani. Here’s how to help them

It was a miserable summer for Sydney’s frangipani. The low temperatures caused trees to drop buds and those they kept didn’t open fully, while the rain and humidity encouraged a massive growth of frangipani rust. The result was a sad show of meagre half-open blooms and orange-spattered foliage dusting rust spores on everything.

We are holding out for a better summer this year. And it starts now, with pruning. It’s the perfect time to prune frangipani – unless you live where it’s frosty, in which case wait until frost-risk has passed.

Stuart Reiss, who with wife Joy owns Sydney Frangipani, says it’s important to thin the canopies of the tree for health. Light and air moving through the tree helps reduce the risk of disease.

Branches that are touching, or that have rot should be removed first. Next consider whether you want to promote bushiness or reduce it. If a branch is cut back close to the y-section, below any leaf scars, it won’t reshoot. If it is cut higher up, the branch will reshoot, though it won’t flower for two years. Trees can also be pruned for shape and size, and to lift the canopy so that you can sit, or plant, underneath.

Frangipani is one of the easiest trees to prune, as the wood is quite soft and can be effortlessly cut with a pruning saw. Use sterilised equipment so as not to spread disease, and finish the job by removing any lingering foliage to leave the tree completely clean before new leaves emerge later in spring.

Those nervous about doing it themselves can get Reiss to help. “Frangipani don’t want to be hacked into,” he says. “They need to be pruned delicately. We work in close consultation with our customers to work out what they want to achieve through pruning and to make their frangipani the best it can be.”

To make your frangipani the best it can be, fertilise in spring and summer with an organic fertiliser. Choose something that contains good levels of potash to promote flowering. And consider the rust problem.

Frangipani rust is a fungus that arrived in Australia about 16 years ago. It’s thought to have hopped a ride on an infected cutting brought into the country illegally, avoiding quarantine, and consequently cursing frangipani growers forever after. The fungus spreads through the spores released from those orange pustules. As well as being ugly in itself, the fungus causes leaves to brown and eventually fall off.