Tunnels Lines and Composite Balls

Updated with plant IDs. Really I was just too tired last night to do it.


















Dipladenia sanderi, Rose Dipladenia. It is often confused with Mandevilla. Another one of those name changes they can't seem to settle on. It is in the Apocynaceae family.


















Alocasia micholitziana 'African mask'





















Light Pink Pentas lanceolata with a bug.





















Dark Pink Pentas lanceolata.



















Alocasia clypeolata 'Green Shield'

















Yes this is an Amaryllis, Hippeastrum.















And finally, Clerodendrum quadriloculare, Starburst Bush or Shooting Star.


When I wake up in the morning I expect to see these have all been properly identified.

VogSet

There are certain days when the air over Maui comes up from the south and brings with it the gases that are expelled from Kilauea Volcano.

The air is grey and hazy and looks like the polluted air I often see on the mainland when I visit. While flying over Houston Texas I saw some of the worst air I have ever seen. This filthy air extended well into the Florida panhandle. I asked the flight attendant if there was a fire and she said this was normal. Jeez!

Here this pollution is called Vog . It is natural air pollution, so we have to live with it when it happens. Not much use in cussing about a volcano.




















Today the Vog was thick. Out on the western horizon it was so thick I could look at the sun as it was setting without much of a blinding response. An orange ball descending into the haze.

It's This Big

There was a suggestive comment about a truck load of Big Bromeliads so I thought I would whip it out.
















Once is never enough.















Was it good for you?

Got Bromeliads?

How does this stuff end up in my truck and come home with me? Can't I just say no to perfectly good plants and turn my back on them and walk away?

I was working today trying to finish up the last bits of the landscape install job with the Heiau. They were working in the older part of the garden doing some tidying up and pulled all these out of one bed. That is either a sign of what a good designer/gardener I am or proof of the prolific nature of the tropical jungle that can be created in the desert when you add water.















I think I will save a few for an upcoming job and sell the rest bareroot to the main nursery in town. Free money, how could I walk away from that?

African Iris on a Different Day

Appearing almost white

Vertically




















And Horizontally

Wild Basil and Buzzing Bees

This is a volunteer Basil that could be a variety of Ocimum basilicum or more likely Ocimum thyrsiflora, Thai Basil. It grows wild in the dry forest where I first collected it many years ago. It is a small shrubby perennial turning green with the winter rains. Under cultivation it is an attractive plant with purplish burgundy blooms that attracts a lot of beneficial insects.

I can sit and watch for minutes at a time all the flying insect species that are attracted to this plant. This evening there was even a field mouse up in the top of the plant gathering seeds. It was not in the mood to be filmed.

Red Amaryllis and Black Taro

A little play time after a ruthless day in the nursery. Things are starting to get the final heave ho as I continue the process of thinning things out.

Two Views from Today

I don't see this very often. It usually means they have changed their regular route for some reason. Telephoto was used to take this picture, otherwise it would have appeared as a speck. Makes my Slice of the Sky look a lot bigger. It just happened to sail by while I was on my lunch break.

The winds have died down, thank you. I went into the nursery after work to stand all the plants back up and ended up giving my two twelve foot tall long stemmed red and yellow roses a major haircut, back to the nub. They always reward me with a new flush of growth and a big bloom when I do this. It will be nice to enjoy that one more time.

More rain may be headed our way. That is always nice in the desert. It makes for great sunsets while it makes up its mind whether or not to rain.