Hawaii Hibiscus at the Haysmers

 

Flowering Inspriation

 

The Past Meets the Present with Presents!

from my art journal

Ernest and Maybell

We're almost at "ten months later," with insurance money in hand, in a new lovely home in a great neighborhood. There's food in the fridge and three dogs in the yard -- so our future is looking brighter since our Leilani Estates home was lost back in May last year

One of the more painful processes we faced was actually listing everything that we lost, room by room. But just who makes a list of their treasured library, collected over a lifetime? Yeah, that was a tough one. Also gone were all the amazing art treasures from around the world.  But perhaps some of the hardest losses to embrace were our wedding photographs (from mid 1980's) and our wedding rings -- Phil's was his dad's and mine was a sweet rose gold ring that was my great grandmothers!!

Santa Cruz wedding in our back yard
(My dress was covered in Hawaiian style Hibiscus)

When we past our 32 anniversary last year (in the same month we lost our home) Phil gave me was a beautiful birds' nest he had found, and with it came the his promise that we WOULD find our new nest eventually.

One of our dearest friends back in California sent Phil her mother's wedding band to give to me, along with a photograph of Ernest and Maybell. She also had one of our wedding photos -- one we didn't even remember giving to her!

Cosmologists and astrophysicists tell us that time is relative and can be "folded" - so in this blog entry we are folding time -- taking a tuck from the last century and the last year, folding it into our new present, with the understanding that that was then -- this is now -- and we are living in the moment of NOW!

A Rose is a Rose Except When It's Not

"Confederate Rose"

Here in the Puna District on the Big Island, some people do seem to have success with certain kinds of roses. I never did when we lived in Eureka (the green county of Humboldt) on the chilly, grey coastline of the Pacific, so I never got very attached to the idea of having roses. Here, where the average rainfall is 140 inches annually I’m not much inclined to even try.

Phil with last night's and this morning's "rose" 

That being said, who wouldn't want a flower like this? It is called a “Confederate Rose” and our first ones are blooming right now. Like my Bat Flower, I got small starts from a friend and cared for them tenderly in the greenhouse for over two years. This is the first time they have bloomed. 

Native to China, "Confederate Rose" obviously isn't a rose, but a species of hibiscus (Hibiscus mutabilis).

Confederate Rose Quilt, 1850. Made by Lucy Jane

 Fowlkes Nunnelee and daughters

According to legend, it gets its name from the flowers soaking up the blood spilled on Confederate battlefields. It is widely thought that ladies gave these flowers to Confederate soldiers returning home from the war.

Although there are many forms, with either single or double flowers, the classic version looks like this. Showy blooms, 4 to 6 inches wide, appear in fall. They open white, fade to pink during the day and finally end up bright pink or red. You'll often see all three colors on the same plant.

(Some info from southernliving.com)

All In Good Time (papamanawaa)

Elsewhere in a blog entry I mentioned my favorite sign along Mango Road on the way to the ocean, swimming pond at Ahalanui and boat ramp at Pohoiki. 

4 years ago -- felling dead tree & beginning excavation 

4 years later -- the root takes its place as garden art

Although the sign is no longer physically there, it read simply, "It is only a matter of time." Being a fan of (Science) Science Fiction, black holes, dark matter, and quantum cosmology**, the message continues to make me smile. 
 (**One of our many landscaping beds is called "Cosmic Dancer."


When one of our first grand ohia trees died, we excavated a particularly sculptural, twisted root, setting it aside for possible garden art; that was four years ago. Being fond of all things reptilian, I saw its u-shape to be snake-like. I leaned it up against some lava and it sat along the driveway for over a year. 


Eventually, Phil got the idea to turn it upside down and hang a wind chime off each end -- and, since I'd not done anything with it I said, 'go for it.' Since then that heavy root has been relocated numerous times as other tasks took priority. 

Just recently, I uncovered an area of thick moss that I pulled up and saved in the greenhouse -- not knowing for sure where it would go. This week, however, I realized that our beautiful root would look wonderful as a garden sculpture covered with moss. 

The two photos above represent a visual example of how art percolates over time and how time sometimes has its own independent structure so to speak. The first photo is what this 15x12' area looked like after we had begun to whack back the invasive trees, vines and bushes. The second is what it looks like now, with the new moss covered root mounted on where an ohia tree once lived.

Pictured is another example of "all in good time" -- one of the first things we bought was a unique hybrid hibiscus called "Gabriel" -- which promptly succumbed to a common plight here in Hawaii -- leaf mites. It has been severely pruned three times and treated for three years and FINALLY (given time) it is now healthy and blooming. (I almost tossed it out numerous times.)

Note: In Feb 2012, we bought a house in Puna on the Big Island -- while on vacation without really having a plan for the future as such, or even a time table -- more an abstract image of what could be, and a deep trust in our creative power. We discovered two ideas of time in Hawaiian cosmology. The word "papamanawa:" Papa is the Earth-Mother-Goddess -- so we chose to move into the that space, allowing things to flow (while we put in the hard prep-work admittedly.) Another Hawaiian concept is a notion of "vertical time" -- when time stops because we are living in the moment of Nowness. Interesting to see both the philosophical and practical applications 

A Zen Riddle

Giving Yellow a Bad Rap!!

Is it possible to yell-o quietly?

For well over a year now, we have been convinced that the colors YELLOW and ORANGE have been getting a bad rap.  Yellow has turned into "yelling" and Orange feels like "rage" And, it has only gotten worse since the end of 2016. We have decided to counteract the negative influence of our Cheeto-Headed President with our own personal beautification campaign here in Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Us in the Mellow Yellow Submarine

Although there are admittedly more serious ways to engage politically (which we encourage,) this week we chose simply to focus on the BEAUTY of YELLOW and ORANGE that we have planted in our yard. As we have created beds around the property, for whatever reason (and sometimes for none at all) each of them has a name.

"Cosmic Dancer" is in the upper right corner

For example, we have the "Valentine Bed" because we built it together on Valentines day a couple years ago. There is a "Pink Bed" that began primarily with pink flowers, but since has been enlivened by other colors as well. There is the "Monarch Bed," the "Bromeliad Hill, "The Terraces," and even one named "Kate's Bed" because it was planted mostly by our friend and yard helper, Kate.


Until recently, there was a bed with no name -- until, that is, the hibiscus we planted there went into full bloom along with all the other yellows and oranges that are featured there. The name of this hybrid hibiscus is "Cosmic Dancer" and thus the name "Cosmic Dancer Bed."

We have two YELLOW ohia trees in our yard and one surprised us last week by bursting out with little yellow
pom-poms all over it. Despite the fact that we have had over 20 of our forest ohia trees die in three years, many are still alive and healthy, so this lovely, rare yellow ohia is a particular joy.

A Mellow Yellow Tangerine Dream

This weeks colors are Yellow and Orange!

The sweet yellow Saffron Finches are back this winter and Phil feeds them every day.

Outrageous bright yellow mushrooms are showing up in the back yard, while the enormous yellow hibiscus tree in the front yard seems to be picking up extra-terrestrial signals from a a giant yellow super star cluster called Westerlund.


It still amazes us that we can grow fruits and vegetables throughout the year.  We have one small tangerine tree that, despite it's size, gave us a whole branch full of juicy, seedless tangerines!!  And, there are blossoms on the lime and tangelo trees too! 

All in all, we close out 2014
feeling quite MELLOW living our DREAM!

Hau'oli 
Makahiki 
Hou
(Happy New Year)

"Just Stick It in the Ground!"

“Just Stick It in the Ground” (dedicated to Karin)

Wild Nun's Cap Orchid

White Anthurium

When we first retired to Pahoa on the Big Island, many of our new neighbors gifted us with cuttings from their yard, with this planting technique being repeated numerous times. Although it was initially hard to believe, after two years now,  it is an everyday experience!    

Two weeks ago we visited Luana neighbors across the street whose lovely white hibiscus arched gracefully, full of white blossoms.  As we left I asked for a cutting and was gifted a 4’ branch, simply snapped off near the trunk.  As we were busy finishing up the new lanai, I literally stuck it down in a three-gallon pot of cinder/soil and forgot about it – until today.

Hibiscus that rooted and bloomed in 2 weeks

Today’s project was to work on our “white bed” in front of our house, in which I was planning to add some miniature spider lilies to a bed with white anthurium, white mini poinsettia, nuns cap wild orchids and white trumpet flower tree.  Hoping for the best, I gently shook the hibiscus (from two weeks ago) and found the roots had extended to reach the edges of the three-gallon pot!!  Not only that, it already had four blossoms. Although few friends from the continent really believe it, IT IS TRUE!  “Just stick it in the ground!”