North Queensland Blue

Similar to the Lilac Clouds, but rounder petals. Originally from Papua New Guinea. The medium to large flowers emerge pure purple then quickly fade to a beautiful lavender/lilac colour before fading to an enticing pale greyish pink. Prefers shade/semi shade. Strong fruity scent. NQ Blue was introduced into the NT in the way of 20 plants from a man named Raymond Dunkerton who until he retired and moved to Glasshouse Mountains in SE Qld lived in Mt Molloy in NQ. The plant I received is still growing in my front yard and is approximately 5 metres high and about 6 metres across. Lilac Clouds has been grown and distributed through Sacred Gardens, many of the Lilac Clouds in WA have been sourced from East Kimberley Frangipani who sourced their plant from DJ Way (SE Qld) or Sacred Gardens. The plant I grow was sourced as Blue from NQ hence the title NQ Blue. (the name NQ Blue I first saw in a frangipani publication in 2005) The plant sold as Darwin Blues is grown by a commercial grower in Darwin and distributed around Australia to Bunnings stores via select distributors. The only way to get to the bottom of the story is to contact the individual growers and ask them for the source of their plants. (good luck with that). Most suppliers will usually answer that their sources are commercial in confidence. I have seen posts of people posting they have grafted plants of NQ Blue from nurseries in WA, I believe plants sold as NQ Blue can be linked backed to one or two people. As a matter of observation Sacred Gardens lists for sale - Lilac Clouds, NQ Blue and also Darwin Blues. I also know of another grower who claims to have NQ Blue from a collector in India, the plot thickens. All the plants named seem to have common sources DJ Way, Sacred Gardens and DPW.