January in Volcano Hawaii

 

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!

Hallelujah Heleconias!

It is MAY now, and our weather has definitely taken a turn toward summer.   We are now leaving all the doors and windows open at night, and it's easy to get up by 8am now that the sun comes shining in across the covers so beautifully.

90% of our property is totally private; there is only one small section of our property that is "open" but the rest is bordered by forest.   So, we have begun to collect more amazing plants for this new section -- it will be about 300 sq ft in an all sun spot.  We have met a plant person at the local market who came over to look at the spot and we are continuing our collection of haleconias, more Hawaii rhododendron (Vireya) and palms

Some of you may recall that our yard, garden and fences in Eureka were covered with unique "yard art."  Recently as we were trimming some lanky trees we found our first bird nest and decided it would be a perfect compliment to the antique rug beater that is part of our Hawaii yard art.  What fun!

Planting Redwoods for Easter

When we moved from Humboldt County -- the home of redwoods, we just had to bring a few baby redwoods with us.  This photo was taken in July 2013 when they were in one-gallon pots and were about 8" tall.  After keeping them in partial shade for a half year, we moved them into full sun and transplanted into bigger pots; they have been doing very well!!

Since they are now about four feet tall, we decided to put in a couple for Easter.  Our young friend Sam helped clear a good spot for them along the north property line. We drew a red line around them in Photoshop so you could see them against the dense green forest area behind them.

We suspect that in about 10 years, they may be taller, but it will take a l-o-n-g time before they will be as big as those in the forests around Eureka, CA.


This week we also planted a dozen Vireya that are essentially Hawaii's rhododendrons.  These were all a gift from a long-time local friend who also lives here in Leilani Estates