Saturday, February 20, 2010

A Tropical Garden Tour + Trio con Brio Copenhagen

 

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I went on a garden tour on the beautiful Hamakua Coastline in the northern part of the Big Island and sponsored by the Hawaii Concert Society ,  including a meet and greet with the amazing Trio con Brio Copenhagen.  What more can you ask for in a gathering, beautiful music, gorgeous gardens and amazing Hawaiian vistas.

Before we start our tour, go ahead and click on the play button on the you tube link below, we are having special guests perform from the Trio Con Brio while we tour the gardens… Its already

the twilight timeframe, the perfect time for our garden tour.

 

 

We started our tour with our hostess who is a vireya gardener and her gardens were filled with blooms that afternoon, the vireya walkways are large borders with varying levels of mature vireyas and all seem to be blooming on command.

 

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Our hostess has this large raised bed of saucer sized hibiscus that were truly amazing and the color combinations were just so unreal, take a look….

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On the way to visit her fruit orchard, I spot this tree I’ve never seen before and it was filled with these amazing yellow flowers that looked like peonies, take a look…

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The tree is called a double Buttercup tree or Cochlospermum vitifolium.  Here’s a sample of one of the flowers, aren’t they striking!

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The parcel fronts the ocean and I stopped to view the coastlines and take a few pictures of how beautifully lit up the skies were against the coconut trees.

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One of the coconut trees we passed had this amazing string of bromeliads climbing up to the base of the tree.

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At their fruit orchids there were the usual lemons, limes, oranges,  mangoes and pineapples, but this Musa Ae Ae, really stood out, the variegated bananas are almost ready to be picked.

 

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We are now going to the other side of the garden to view here prized lillies, more vireyas and a waterfall the cascading out to the open ocean.

 

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Pearl earrings of ginger called zerumbet, shell ginger

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A white powderpuff called calliandra

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A variegated crown of thorns or Euphorbia splendens

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This ones a real dazzler called Brownea Capitella, a beautiful shorter tree species

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Our guests of honor were the Trio con Brio from Copenhagen, they did a spectacular concert the following night with their amazing performance. Did you enjoy the sample piece they played above on the link?

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The sun is starting to set soon, time to take the party indoors and enjoy some food and conversation with members of the concert society. Thanks for taking this tour with us this afternoon.

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20 comments:

Unknown said...

These are all beautiful, Noel. Almost a little overwhelming for just one post--there are so many photos that we can't decide which is nicest. I feel more tropical just basking in the beauty. Pity the weather is still snowy, though. :-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Noel~~ I have missed several posts so I went back and read them. Beautiful photos. The garden tour sounds lovely. The close up of the Plumeria, yummy!

Bangchik and Kakdah said...

You really touch on the exotic element of tropical garden.., beautiful flowers!! ~bangchik

Rosie Nixon Fluerty said...

Noel fantastic photos especially of the Cochlospermum vitifolium. If Blotanical picks were working you'd be top of the list with this post - a wonderful post.

ProdigalWife said...

What fabulous photos! I especially love the variegated bananas--never seen those before! Must say, if you're a plant fanatic, you're certainly in the right place! Your skies over the water are pretty spectacular too.

tina said...

Hi Noel, I enjoyed my tour very much and the music by Trio con Brio was a welcomed accompaniment to the tour. That buttercup tree has to be my favorite. It is so beautiful. Someday I hope to visit the big island. I've heard so much about it. I once read a book that talked of the black volcanic sand of Hawaii. Do you have a post on it by change? I'd love to see it.

I never thought of Hawaii as being in a drought. Your water catchment system is pretty unique. I hope you get lots of rain and the weather patterns get back to normal and bring you more liquid gold. We've had a drought here for a few years and I know how much rain means to us all now so I truly hope it comes your way!

Lio Popov said...

Excellent photos. Thank you for the travel and story. :)

Floridagirl said...

Oh, how I love bromeliads climbing up a tree!!! Your photos of the shell ginger are awesome! I have grown the variegated form for years, and for some reason, I've never been inclined to photograph them. But there will be plenty of shots next time they bloom! Your crinum photo reminds me of the 'Ellen Bosanquet' that grows in my garden and all over Central Florida.

Anonymous said...

These are all just fantastic. I love each and every one of them. Mahalo for sharing :)

africanaussie said...

Thanks for sharing that lovely walk - your photos as usual were spectacular!

Kirigalpoththa said...

Nice pictures and a great blog!
Me too quite interested in plants..especially the rare species!

Lindaen said...

Wow! Lovley photos of wonderful plants!

Rick Brown said...

Thanks for taking me to Hawaii. Great images! I think you captured it in a way that makes me want to visit.

Helen/patientgardener said...

Great photos I am always jealous to see such beautiful tropical plants. The first ones look very much like azealas that grow here in the UK

Kelly said...

What a beautiful day you had. Thank you so much for sharing your lovely photos.

Meredith said...

Gorgeous post, Noel. It sounds like you had an amazing day, soaking in the visual and auditory beauty. The ginger's pearl earrings, the bromeliads climbing up the tree trunk, and the first hibiscus pictured were all highlights for me. But if I lived in Hawaii, I'd have to have a yellow-flowered vireya. How perfect those blooms!

Kate/High Altitude Gardening said...

I've hiked that coastline! It's a beautiful area. As are your photos. It's always nice to visit your blog and take a virtual vacation to the tropics. :)

debsgarden said...

Thanks for giving us a taste of your garden tour. The coastline is spectacular, and all the tropical plants are so lovely. Variegated bananas! I did not know such a thing existed.

Steve Asbell said...

Of course I absolutely love the bromeliads, and its nice to see photos of those plants I'm notused to seeing good photos of. I'm a big fan of those shell gingers with or without blooms, but they sure are wonderful in flower.

Andrea said...

Oh you had a lot for us in that post. I don't know the vireya and my background music is from the figure skating via satelite Olympic. I seem to equate those lovely sexy costumes with flowers and butteflies. The most stunning for me from your post however, is the variegated banana. Do you think it is bred in Hawaii? You might have some details of this variety, thank you.

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