Papaya Skies

It was another moist like day with the sky contemplating rain and offering up only minor sprinkles. I was inside most of the time packing my life into a corner. A test space for my big box that is being sent air freight. Everything must fit in a 48 inch by 40 inch by 58 inch tall, rigid shipping box.

I would guess this Papaya is about 25 feet tall. It will not fit in the Big Box.

The top of the Heiau/Pyramid. This is much bigger than the Big Box and significantly over the vague 500 pound weight limit I may have heard mentioned.

Heliconia imprisoned. This is one of the Big Boys, Heliconia jacquinii with the flowers six to eight feet in the air. The plant tops out at about eighteen feet.
















Closer to earth is the yellow form of the Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Left to assume their natural shape they will make nice small trees.
















A cute native Hawaiian Hibiscus, Hibiscus kokio or Koki'o 'ula'ula. I like how the sepals form a distinct cup at the base from which the petals emerge.

















Another day is done.




















In the land of Papaya Skies.

Good to the Last Flower

Another long day has ended. More stuff and more plants have left the premises.

The Buttercup Tree keeps on keeping on. It is spitting out flowers on some of the water sprout branches forming on its beheaded major limbs. Such radical pruning of trees generally causes the opposite of the intended effect and makes the tree grow taller much faster. It's next pruning may be even more radical, like to the ground.














My patch of the Blue Louisiana Iris is putting on its first flowers. Some plant shoppers spotted them before me and it helped spur the sale of quite a few of them.
















The Torch Ginger didn't even seem to take a rest this past winter and now are blooming up a storm as I dig up starts to sell from around the edge of the patch. The common light blue Agapanthus have a few early blooms next door. I want to dig these up too before I go.

















The strange gardener in paradise, me, growing Juniperus procumbens. To most people it is so not the image of tropical Hawaii. People would actually recoil when seeing it and dismiss it with disdain. When they would give you the list of requirements they want in a groundcover, short, low water, full sun, no maintenance, year round interest, keeps out weeds and of course, that would bloom 365 days a year, except for the flowers, this Juniper fit all the other criteria. Sadly for many people every plant in the garden must have a bloom. The idea of placing another blooming type of plant next to this as a groudcover would not compute. This Juniper was not tropical. It did not fulfill the fantasy.

Its much more common use in Hawaii is as a fake Bonsai.

















Some of my plants look much better in the neighbors yard. The White Shrimp plant mixes with A'ali'i, Dodonaea viscosa. I collected both of these as cuttings and seed respectively in the wild during my explorations on Maui. One is now a desired native plant and the other is a very pretty slightly invasive weed.




















I think it is safe to say my neighbors were never bored when they looked into my garden.

What Lurks In My Garden

The jungly abundance is putting on a tropical spring show as I wander it's nether regions doing things to it. A lot of new air and light is reaching into the hidden recesses. As long as it continues to get water it will close back in on itself once more.















Some slightly blurry baby Avocados. Ring-a-ding-ding.




















Alliums can become my new Agapanthus in the colder climes of mountaintop gardening.




















I should make this my screen saver to remind myself to find a new dentist right away. I may be moving to a holler, but I don't need to dive in to quickly to a stereotype. I wants ta keep my own teeth.

















Fresh new leaves on the Heliconia indica 'Spectabilis'.




















Red Ginger trees.



















And this gentleman I found lurking in the shrubberies. I brought him out to be exposed to the ravenous hordes I am expecting again this weekend. Perhaps we can find him a proper suitor.

















I just thought of another corner I have not venture into yet. I have a vague recollection of what may be lurking there.

GBBD May

While I still can, I figured I should give the people what they really really want, the exotic and the tropical.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day gathering spot is at Carol's May Dreams Gardens.

What could be more mundane and typical of Hawaii and the tropics than the Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia regina. It is primarily a warm season summer bloomer. The common name can be a problem at times. Bird of Paradise is a catch all name for many people for that amorphous, imaginary, tropical plant that floats on the edges of their non-gardening brains. It can be a game of twenty questions to try and guess what they really mean.


















Calathea insignis, the Rattle Snake Plant. I think I need to take some pictures about half an hour earlier with a touch more light. This flower is truly a vibrant corn on the cob yellow.
















Heliconia collinsiana, one of the hanging Heliconia.





















Etlingera elatior, the Royal Scepter of flowers. Bye bye Torch Ginger. You have been passed to new gardens whose owners may bestow the status "Queen for a Day" with the gift of one of your heavy blooms on a special occasion.





















The ethereal Ice Blue Calathea, Calathea burle-marxii.




















Blue Ginger, Dichorisandra thyrsiflora. This is a shrub sized relative of the Wandering Jew family. Mine is about eight feet tall.




















What would a visit to Hawaii be without a chance to stop and smell the Plumeria.

















An old friend from my home in Florida, the blush pink Zephyranthes grandiflora. This Zephyr Lily is quite happy in Hawaii. It sets seed with abandon and is primed to blanket the island with its delicate and cheerful blooms. I could be cursed or blessed. Opinions may differ.

















I think it is a fine thing.

Briefly Surfacing

From the dust and debris for an evening stroll through a shrinking garden. My sunset slice has shifted and now includes my Cocovane Weather Palm.



















It is the best time to review what progress if any has been made for the day and to look at the little things that still give me pleasure. Something to soothe a wicked tired body and mind.

Something pretty in blue emerging.



















This big red one accidentally fell out of a start I was digging and became two plants instead of one to sell.
















Fresh green spring leaves. The newness just feels good.











Tiny yellow and brown popcorn orchids. Hidden treasures are being revealed.


















A ship of floral dreams ready to unfurl and set sail.




















Ay, there's the rub.
I need sleep now!
Perchance the next dream
will be sweeter
than last nights drama.

Interpreted as performance anxiety
when told.

Ha!

Orchids Orchids Everywhere

Today was my last day working in the third garden of the first client I got when I arrived on Maui twenty years ago. We are one month short of having our 20th anniversary, Darling.

It has been an incredibly full and rewarding relationship. Each of the three gardens were unique, constantly evolving and never dull.



















It was a long day. The garden is in perfect shape to turn over to the gentlemen who is buying my client list for a few magic beans.

I am tired, my back still hurts and it is time for my evening stroll through the garden to remind myself why I enjoy this so much. So there won't be an eloquent analysis of a long relationship that in many ways is too hard to describe.

Some things are not easy to capture in their full essence.


















Two stubborn opinionated men collaborated and came up with gardens to be proud of. Even when there were days of disagreement and the tongues were flapping, the relationship held tight.
















That is something to be thankful for and to celebrate.

Thank you John for everything you have done for me over all these years.

Blue Glory in the Morning

A good way to start the day before I go work on an irritation system.















Wish me luck.

Orchids Low Down

The positions I will get myself into to get a picture of a pretty flower must look comical to another observer.


















Crawling along the driveway, some what contorted I try to adjust my self to the position of the flower instead of manipulating the flower to make it be in a better position to get a good shot.
















Purple and White Orchids and and the Tire of an Orange Humvee.

April Blooms - The Mundane the Bad and the Ugly

What flowers have you not seen on this blog? What flowers might you never have seen? What would be new and different? What will I post for April Garden Bloggers Bloom Day?

What is blooming in my garden in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii on April 15th, the American Procrastinators Day of Reckoning?

Ilex x attenuata 'East Palatka'. This is the male tree in bloom. It is much more floriferous than the female tree on the other side of the house and unfortunately it blooms a little prematurely for the female tree to set a good berry crop. They arrived in my garden as seeds from a tree in Florida at the house where I grew up. There are not likely to be any other male suitors on the entire island of Maui for my female tree. It was sheer luck that I got one of each.















I am trying not to get hysterical about the disappearing bees. There are still plenty here. A gentleman from the Big Island left a comment on one of my bee posts saying a beekeeper neighbor there had lost a third of his hives.

The action on this Holly Tree has always been a sight to behold when it is in bloom. Bees, wasps, flies and moths would flock to this tree in droves. The Anoles would move in by the dozens to feast on the flying creatures. It was a veritable feeding frenzy in miniature with an accompanying audible buzz and rustle.

This year it seems much more subdued. I will watch over it the next few days and weeks to see if it is discovered and the action begins. I have been waiting to film this event for the Tube.

The few bees and big flies that were there today were less than co-operative in posing, but I managed to capture a natural pair of red eye, no flash was used in this shot.















This is the White Shrimp Plant, Justicia betonica. The green veining on white is quite interesting. I like using this as a white filler in flower arrangements. I collected this from the side of the road on the North Shore.


















The weeds are always blooming and attract their share of pollinators.




















An evil Bougainvillea that captured me with its white and pink blended blush. I have never treated it well and it has stabbed me repeatedly in return.















A verbena I also collected on the side of the highway in a section of mowed grass. It may be a form of Verbena tenuisecta. I am not sure. It is kind of a wild thing in my garden now, having been used as a groundcover for a bit.















Your standard Pentas lanceolata. These grow as weeds in my garden now too.
















Galphimia glauca, a nice small shrub with brittle stems that blooms almost year round.















Ever seen a Manila Palm tree in bloom?















I think I will let you guess what this ugly bloom might be. A hint, there are male and female individual plants. This is the bloom of one of the sexes.















More Ugly, these are the feet that wander through the garden in the evening light carrying form weary eyes trying to take nice pictures for cyber consumption.


















Congratulations to all the nominees for the first annual Mouse and Trowel awards!