Give Me COLOR!!

VIREYA (lots of colors)
Hawaiian Rhododendron

Ohia trees surrounded by ferns

"Give me color," she said!

Anyone who know Lunel, knows she is a color-queen!  And, now that our multiple building/construction projects are 90% completed the landscaping is moving ahead. We love our front lot which is full of beautiful ohia trees, so that landscaping area will mostly be ferns and trees.

Yes, we can grow iris!

Royal Poinciana 

However we are developing the lot our home is on which is about 1/3 -- much smaller than the fully landscape one acre we had previously in Leilani Estates B.L. (before lava)

Here are a few images of what we have in mind. All of the images are things we have planted or are in pots waiting. (Of course the photos are of fully grown trees.)

For Lunel's birthday, she asked for cuttings from friends, so many things have been in pots rooting for a few months. We thought being at 3500 feet elevation would limit what we can grow -- NOT SO!  We're amazed at how colorful our new garden will be.

These are just a few!! As the garden develops, we will include more photos! Excited to be seeing the building projects completed -- and best news of all -- escrow closing on our new home in a couple weeks.  MAHALO NUI

Angel Trumpet

Blue Ginger

of course bromeliads!

Four Years and Counting

Fragrant Pua Kinikini

Red blooms of Hawaiian Ti

We began to buy plants for our undeveloped acre long before the container of our personal possessions arrived at the port of Hilo on the Big Island.

As is true in life, some things don't grant you the delight of instant gratification like the familiar annuals (or even perennials) of  The Continent.

Hybrid Bromeliad
 (Reba for size perspective)

That being said, we had no idea that we might have to wait not two or three years, but four or five years for some of our first one-gallon purchases to bloom.

Newly planted bed outside
our front gate (bromeliads)

One of many Heliconia varieties

Ta DAH....well, this is that year, and we are delighted with some significant and crazy blooms.

While these may appear to be exotic, here in the rainy jungle-forest area the Puna District, they show up frequently in gardens we have visited.

On our visit to the Botanical Gardens above Hilo, we were stunned by the outrageous blooms of both Heliconia and Bromeliads, and of course the huge variety of colorful Ti plants, so these are featured in our landscaping. In addition to the flowers, our fruit trees have been loaded with both blossoms and fruit. Like many of our friends and neighbors, we have a couple trees each of oranges, tangerines, limes and lemons, a couple dozen pineapple plants, passion fruit (Liliko'i), papayans -- and eatable.

WE WILL UPDATE THIS POST WITH A PHOTO OF THE HYBRID BROMELIAD WHEN IT BLOOMS (PICTURED ABOVE AS JUST A 'STOCK') SHOULD BE STUNNING. 

Christmas in May!

Compared to a typical city-sized lot, one acre may seem big.  While we don't have expansive vistas, there are many sweet "corners" around the property that offer a variety of intimate views.

This little hillock was one of the first places we cleared out from encroaching vines, mounds of stag ferns and other invasive plants.  In doing so, we found a whole flat of tiny red and green striped bromeliads that were less than two inches tall.  We nested them into the varie ty of mosses that were growing under the ohia trees.

With the beautiful olive green leafed ohia trees bursting out with poofs of red blossoms right now, and all these red accented plants, our yard looks like  Christmas packages.

The last photo is from another bed up near the front of the property, another hill of bromeliads  At Sunday's farmers market, we picked up some new ones in PINK and YELLOW -- that we will get posted soon.

Blooming Orchids

Back in August I wrote a post about "surprise orchids" and about buying some unidentified orchids at Maku'u Market -- 10 for $10.00.  And, I mentioned the orchid grower's "secret of orchids" -- PATIENCE.  So, when the flower spikes started coming on some weeks ago, I promised photos of them.

Are these the most amazing orchids you will ever see? Surely not, but they are some of our first,  and that makes them special.  They look like tiny little hula dancers -- wearing traditional Kapa cloth, and they are only about as big as my thumb.

There are other things growing as well.  We have two hills of bromeliads, and many of the bromides have "pups" coming up along the main plant.  Several of our hibiscus, though small, have blooms, and the citrus trees have large sections of beautiful bright green leaves.

Here's a close-up of the orchid "faces" and a photo of hula dancers wearing traditional Polynesian Kapa cloth. 

Bromeliad Hill Project

When we bought our Hawaii hale, there were a lot of junk trees on the property, introduced species that grow really fast, are unstable, and have a propensity to fall across roads, over power lines, and onto houses.

Early on we had professional tree trimmers come and take down several albezia trees (the worst offenders) as well as others that were too close to our newly installed power lines.  At the gate you see samples of them as well as a massive wall of undergrowth of bushes, guava and vine.  What was cool about this "corner" of the property was the fact that it was a 15' lava hillside with LOTS of potential.
 




Once the big trees were removed and we could get into the area, we spent a few weeks pulling old roots and removing lots of accumulated debris.  Here you can see the far left 1/3 of the area which Lunel has now planted with colorful bromeliads - with Dexter's help, of course.