We've been in need of an informative, well-photographed book about plumerias for ages. The University of Hawai'i put out nice color circulars, but they are out of print. You can go online, but many of us plant people like real books, with color pictures and inspiring information, that we can cradle in our hands.

Well, our longtime friend and plumeria man Jim Little — who's also an expert photographer and teacher — has brought out an epic plumeria book that will inspire Hawai'i gardeners and those on the Mainland who insist they can grow as nice a plumeria as we can here in Hawai'i.

The book is not big, but it's packed with detailed, years-of-true-field-experience information on this favorite old-time kama'aina flower. There are more than 200 color pictures of plumerias and the people who love and nurture them now and have done in the past. Some are pictures of old species and varieties, and some are never-seen-before keiki hybrids, just growing and waiting to burst onto the scene with new combinations of colors and fragrances.

Little's book, "Growing Plumerias in Hawai'i" (Mutual Publishing, $10.95), is full of simple yet detailed information on growing, propagation and hybridizing plumerias.

Little gives credit to, and shows us photographs of, some of the people who helped nurture, breed and share plumerias to make them what they are in Hawai'i gardens today.

He shares stories from the late Donald Angus; UH horticulture professor Richard Criley, who has devoted much time and energy to the plumeria; the late Bill Moragne of Kaua'i, who hybridized many fragrant large varieties; and Elizabeth Thornton.

Little's son, Clark, and his family also appear in the book. Clark works and nurtures our lovely, cool Wahiawa botanical garden (and before his wife and keiki came along, he was a Waimea shorebreak specialist).

Plumerias are native to Mexico, but they were carried to Hawai'i many years ago and have established themselves in our gardens, for lei-making, hair adornment, and in our legends, lore and mele.

We started with three basic Mexican species — a yellow, a fragrant white and a red — and today we have many beautiful hybrids.

The fragrance of a simple yellow plumeria lei wafting thru the airport welcomes you home. The warm winds and soft-on-the-nose air are perfected when they carry plumeria fragrance.

I used to think orchid lei were elegant and fine, but now that many are not grown in Hawai'i (and they don't have perfume), the plumeria lei seems even more wonderful.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Send questions to islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or to Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.