The Unfurling

Of the Macho Fern, Nephrolepis biserrata.

What Do You See?

I started playing with this image again this evening.

















Maybe I should not wander into the garden right before sunset.


















I start seeing things















That may not really be there















Heavens to Betsy.

Annie's Blue Iris

It just so happens that I was called to a house today where I had planted a bed of the Deep Navy Blue Iris around a water feature. There were a few early blooms in this healthy patch.















I am fairly certain this is Iris hexagona. It could possibly be a hybrid, Iris hexagona x fulva.















Marie C. Neal's book In Gardens of Hawaii says that C.M. Cooke Jr. introduced both Iris hexagona and Iris fulva into Hawaii in 1937. He grew them as species and hybridized them.

My original Blue Iris plant came as a weed in a plant that I bought at the Flea Market from a little old lady shortly after I arrived here 20 years ago. I have long since forgotten what plant my Iris came with. I saw this tiny sprout and thought hmmm what is that?

I saved it and grew it out to find out what it was. I and many of my clients have been amply rewarded ever since. This Iris was not and still isn't seen much in nurseries here. It blooms primarily in late spring, usually in May for about three weeks. Happy patches can put on a major knock your socks off spring show. It will also bloom sporadically at other times of the year.

Iris hexagona and Iris fulva are both native to the SE mainland and my Deep Navy Blue Iris has proven to be quite happy and prolific here in the tropics.

In the Garden this Evening

Light Shafted


















Purple Propellers of Petrea
















Rusted Image





















The Last Yellow Buds from Above
















The Slow Sensuous Revelation




















Escargot for Ants


















Upside Down and Sideways




















Pulsing Red Veins



















Leaf Liner

A Round

In Circles.

I really should be doing my taxes.

















There's a Light, Light
In the darkness of everybody's life

Let the sun and light come streaming
Into my life, into my life

There's a light

Things Change

This is the fruit of the Thatch Palm or Pea Palm, Thrinax excelsa from March the 20th.


















Now on April the 6th it is getting a more intense pink blush just in time for Easter. Eventually all the fruits will ripen to black. Many will shrivel and dry while still attached to the cluster and the whole thing turns into a shrunken dessicated carcass with no hint of its former glory.


















One of the other things our winter rains brings us every year is the bloom of Crab Spiders. A mountainside of fresh green grass, shrubs and new leaves on the Kiawe Trees, Prosopis pallida cause all kinds of insects to come forth and multiply with the refreshed food sources. The Crab Spiders respond to this new food supply as well and start making webs any where they can.

They build new webs everyday and walking through gardens becomes an exercise in silk avoidance and removal.

This is the belly of the horned beast.















Gasteracantha elipsoides is also called the Jeweled Spider and is about the size of a pencil eraser. This is the top of the spider showing its horns and elaborate decoration. Be sure to click the image for the full on expanded closeup version. That includes you too Chuck.














Unwrapping yourself from the incredibly strong sticky silk threads can sometimes be a chore. What is more fun is when the spiders get stuck in your hair or even better when they fall down inside your shirt. Good thing they aren't quick to bite.

As the mountain dries back up for the summer and the insect population settles down the annual Silk Festival of Crabs slowly winds down. It will be another year before you can walk face first into invisible webs around every corner.

Stealing Lisa's Flowers

One of the good things about being a gardener is that I get to personally enjoy lots of other people's flowers and gardens. It is also helpful because then I don't have to have everything in my own garden. There is only so much room in any given space. Even in a big space.

This water lily was blooming today so I captured its beauty and brought it home with me. A lot of the orchids you have seen on my blog were stolen from Lisa too.

Garden Things with Little Comment

In the Cement Pot

















Strange Habits




















Mickey Mouse Plant, Ochna thomasiana before it has Big Ears.














The Octopus
















Looking Up at One of the Big Boys




















The backside of the fourteen year old Pile O'
















The Eye of a Whale













The Beak Sideways












How it Hangs




















Large Green Bird's Eggs nesting on the Lawn