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.

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!

Seeing Things

And not saying much.




















This is not what I need to be concentrating on.
















Same plant different leaf different light different side.















This is a flower on a creeping plant related to Hibiscus that is now a weed because I forgot who it was and no longer cared.













God Bless all the soft green lawns.

Into The Fold

Staring
















At Organized Lines

Designed

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.

Walk to the End of the Block

Your typical Datura picture. I have not yet been able to call these Brugmansia. I like the word Datura better. This tree has been murdered twice and is back to eight feet tall and in full bloom again.














An intimate look at the trumpets hairy funnel.
















How is it that piles of rounded river rocks just seem to appear one day like I collected them or something at some point? Now I have rocks to get rid of.
















These round candy canes, the ripening fruit of a Cordyline caught my eye at the top of the driveway.

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

Look Orchids

While I work on a new resume that is less boring and more me I can distract you with these pretty orchid flowers.

These are all different colors of Epidendrum species of orchid.


















The focal point in closeups is quite precise and sometimes hard to get just right looking through reading glasses with fading eyes onto the display screen of the camera out in the wild.


















This flower is half the size of the two above which are about the size of a dime when fully open.






















This would be just another pretty flower and not an orchid.

Red Hot Chilipeppers and Flowers

These are colorful enough to count as floweresque. This pepper appeared on its own and a women wandering the garden one day told me it was a Tabasco pepper. She was from Louisiana. OK then.





















Calathea insignis, the Rattle Snake Plant.





















A Molokai Harbor Hibiscus.


















Playing with Heliconia. Two bracts.





















Four bracts.




















Orange and Blue.

A Shot in the Dark

Very late last Friday night I saw this promo from Microsoft for their new Windows Vista software and in particular I think the photo editing program that is in this new operating system.

It was a photo contest called Show us Your Wow. Submit your best Wow pictures for a chance to win......

I'm like, I think someone actually used that word, "Wow" in reference to one of my pictures. I have to enter this thing. So I did.

I submitted the maximum of 10 that was allowed, I had plenty, two days before the deadline for submissions. At this point six of them have been acknowledged and have shown up on the contest site.




















Pink Waxy Velvet















Cosmic Rays Man



I have all 10 of my entries in this post.

At the contest site I found I had to magnify the computer screen to %125 to get the bottom scroll bar to appear to be able to navigate the site. I have my computer set at a either old tech or for the blind so I don't strain my eyes any more than necessary.

You can find my pictures at the contest site by clicking on the Most Recent tab on the left. Then pick the USA country tab in the bottom right after the pictures appear in the layered screen tabs. I start around number 64. You have to move through several sets of photos first by clicking the Next Set tab in the bottom right.















Fire Flower Power

















Visit to the Dentist



It is a bit sad, but some of my pictures are skewed in the promo photo editor monitor they are using to show the entries. I don't think it likes my free form cropping deviating too much from the standard rectangular shape.

I realize this is a temporary contest, but you would think Microsoft of all companies could have their display module programmed to a higher level of capabilities.




















Golden Candelabras in the Moon Light





















Buttercup Moon



The four that follow are the ones that were not accepted or have not been processed yet in the 46,090 entries received worldwide and posted so far. It could be my free form cropping made them way too skewed in their display monitor and that would look bad for them. Or could it be something else? A Shot in the Dark.
















Pink Coral and Green Pods





















Are You Looking at Me ?



How could they pass up this Day Gecko on a Torch Ginger as lacking in Wow?

There were enough sunsets to last a few years already posted at the contest site so I did not submit any of those. I needed to stand out at this late entry date.










Waiting in the Background



They will need sample pictures to use with their new photo editor. They could pay professional photographers a huge chunk of change for the pictures or have a contest and get thousands of choices for the price of a free trip and a few at cost computers.

I didn't read the rules super close, but you give them the rights to use your picture if you win obviously. I am not sure about rights to the losers pictures.

Ah the lure of free stuff. Throw caution to the wind. I can take plenty more pictures.
















Passion in a White Bowl



Six years ago I would not have even been able to enter such a contest. The chance to do something new and different for me, the chance to step out of my former rut and explore new ways of being is enough of a win for me.

Last Sunday there was an anniversary celebration for me in a way unique to Hawaii. It is something I am sure to miss, the wonderful gift of leis.

















Basket Full of Love












Thank you everyone for helping me to better see the Wow in life again.