Pentas lanceolata - Pink Star Flower

Oh, really pretty. I like the leaves too.

Alexandramou:

This is an extremely common shrub here. It comes in many hybrid flower colors, mostly: red, white, pink, purple, and variegated colors.

It's lovely, Delonix - just beginning to flower here.

Karenfrance:

Pentas doesn't bloom all year, there?

Pentas is a common shrub which blooms all year here in San Diego.

When I first arrived, there were hardly any flowers apart from bougainvillea, ixora and a yellow flower resembling a trumpet vine. I was so disappointed!
But, that was at the end of months of rain. Esther (my maid) says that everything will start to wake up now. The plumerias have just started too...

Yes, in very high rainfall areas the plants tend not too bloom...they usually wait until the dry season.

I bet the yellow trumpet flowering vine is a Allamanda cathartica. It's an extremely common vine in the tropics...it grows here, too.

I love plumeria trees! They're still blooming here. Most will stop blooming by Christmas. I have posted so many pics of plumeria trees/shrubs here in San Diego. I'd be interested in seeing some of the African varieties.

Here's some of my Plumeria pics:

http://www.growsonyou.com/Delonix1/photos/plumeria?page=3

Fabulous, aren't they? There's a lady keeping one for me...(and I hope she actually does!). She says it's red...but when I saw her, they were still all dormant.

They were all starting to bloom when I was in Martinique, in the month of March, a few years ago. There were humming-birds hovering all around them. Amazing!

Oh! Forgot to say, think you're right about the Allamanda!

Plumeria trees are very easy to grow from very large tree-like cuttings. Just stick them into the ground and they grow. The cutting must callous over first, though.

I kind of figured the yellow trumpet vine would be Allamanda cathartica...it's one of the most widely planted vines in subtropical and tropical climates.

Allamanda is everywhere. There are loads of roadside plant-growers in Lagos - but mostly they sell palms, dracaenas, philadendrons etc. AND Allamanda! I have found one woman who specialises more in flowers (lilies, gingers, plumeria, orchids and lots more)...she's my favourite.

It's appears you have found a good supplier of plants for when you move into your new house. :>)

Yes, I think so too. And I've had another stroke of luck...I met with the garden supervisor for the estate, he's a horiculturalist and he told me that he would plant up my garden with LOTS of flowers after it has been cleared! :)

That's terrific! You can't beat that! :>)

:)))