Natural Habitats

This is the Blue Louisiana Iris in its natural state next to the cement pond. It is flush with spring growth and ready to put on a big show. A really big show I hope. The Amaryllis which also fill this bed and bloom earlier around Christmas and New Years have faded away and been swallowed up again by the Iris.



















This morning I was crouched on my hands and knees peering into a small muddy hole I dug around an antique hydraulic irrigation valve that had gone bad and needed to be replaced. The last two old hydraulic valves in a system I have been converting to conventional electric valves as the old ones go bad, went. Such a lovely parting gift for me.

Before I could even get the old valve out my back had twisted into a knot and it went bad too. I think my chiropractor broke me on my Wednesday monthly visit. OUCH! I had been doing so well for over a year.

Bent to one side and walking back and forth to the truck for parts and rolling around on the wet ground like a wounded beast I got one valve replaced and reconnected to its station in an exquisite feat of irrigation pipery. I disconnected the hydraulic/electric converter that had kept old and new working from one electric clock and carried the dangling carcass of wires and tubing out to the truck like some large dead critter held by its tail.

The lovely bed of Blue Iris by the cement pond was my parting view. I was hoping it would be the final time, but I have to go back when my back is back to replace that last valve. Shovels do not work right when you are twisted into a knot. I couldn't dig another muddy hole.

It is good there isn't a saying to "Stop and Smell the Iris". I did that once and these Iris smell like cat pee.

















Driving out of the neighborhood the Tabebuia trees at one house were in full bloom. The ground underneath is a solid yellow carpet of petals. These trees are blooming all over Kihei right now. Bold shocking deep yellow balls of color like the blazing sun pop out at you in places you never even noticed them before.

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.