Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Hot, the Loud and the Proud #12



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Show us your tropicals and exotics, your hot Mediterranean colors and wild combinations, amazing discoveries and unusual variations. Or how about something exciting you just saw, a crazy garden,  amazing garden art or design, an inspiring visit or hike?


This meme is open to all (you do not have to live in an exotic location to participate)  and will be on the last day of each month…so mark your calendars and lets do something fun on the hot, the loud and the proud meme. I’ll have the link available early, east coast time (USA) to catch you early birds and even earlier for those of you in other countries.

I was going to a wonderful Yurt Expo down in Opihikao to write a column for our monthly Hawaii publication when the owner invited me to take a walk around her beautiful garden and I was inspired to show you her garden for today's meme.




 The property is actually a balinese type home that the owner leases out as a vacation rental property with a few small pavilions. Above is the entryway to one of the larger pavilions with and exotic garden entryway filled with dracaenas, ti plants, palms, yuccas and crotons, all displaying a welcoming aloha.







Huge bundles of orchids are attached to palm trees like this big cluster of white dendrobiums, this variety has a nice sweet smell when you come up close for a smell.



The eco resort has some fun outside clawfoot tubs that lie beyond the banana trees here and you have spectacular coastal views of the ocean below and the colorful gardens in the background.



I always love how colorful bottles are presented into sculpture pieces like this one. The owner has quite a few interspersed in many areas of her gardens. This section is filled with many different varieties of anthuriums.



Another bottle tree sculpture amid a big collection of bromeliads and many varieties of palm trees.




Agave attenuata amid a rangy begonia plant which seems to be popping up in every wonderful dark corner of this garden area.


Another look at an entrway to another pavilion with colorful foliaged plants like crotons, rubber tree, pygmy dates palms and cardboard palms.



This twelve acre estate has a grand driveway with grassy areas and huge trees like this gorgeous monkeypod tree and many mature palms.



 I love this variegated rubber tree plant - it has so many shades of pinks and greens and is just stunning against the light. This shrub sized plant reaches about eight foot in height at the moment.





I tasted some of these ripe acerola cherries, a tropical sweet and tarty version of a cherry with a large pit. This is the season for these fruits which can last at least two months long here.

The owner has a large tropical orchard that she allows her guests harvest their own fruits any time of the day.




The pommelo to the left is the size of a large orange, the mature one on the right is about 12 inches in diameter...its huge!



This is a soursop fruit, the fruit here dangles low to the ground on this tree which makes it very easy for harvesting. The fruit has a creamy white texture and is a combination of pineapple, peach and quite tarty if not ripe.

To see other scenic sundays go and visit http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoyed the tour of this wonderful place in Opihikao in East Hawaii. To visit some other lovely gardens today for the Hot meme click on the links below.









11 comments:

Artful Hawaiigirl said...

Noel,
Absolutely gorgeous!
I'm a plant fanatic too...

Joyful said...

Beautiful, beautiful, plant life. Thanks for showing me something I probably will not get to experience in real life. Your photos are stunning.

lotusleaf said...

Thanks for showing another beautiful estate, Noel. The cherry and the soursop fruit are new to me.

One said...

My favourite photo is the entryway. What a great shot and a beautiful garden. I have a few fruit trees but one that I really love is not doing well; the soursop tree. :(

Andrea said...

I did not enter a post here now, maybe next month. I like that entry way too, specially the Ti plant which is mostly green but with red tips. It is dwarf in the photo.

Ever Green Tree said...

Glad you could take time out to visit uyour friends Garden. It sure is rich in flora! She must be so proud of this beautiful n haute garden Thx for sharing.

Try join the meme though i did a post just yesterday with my Red-Xprs!

Janet/Plantaliscious said...

Gorgeous. And on yet another dull grey day here, so very welcome. Though funnily enough my two favourite photographs are the monekypod + palm and the soursop, though in the case of the latter this may be due to the name ;-)

Kimberly said...

Gorgeous property, Noel! I love the cherries. The house is exactly what I think of when I think of Hawaii...really pretty.

Evelyn said...

What a beautiful garden! Oh my goodness! I can just imagine the amount of time and labor that goes into that. A labor of love, of course. :)

Unknown said...

Amazing photos as always, Noel. How fun to see a collection of anthurium blooming in their native habitat.

Alistair said...

How exotic is this Noel, I also like the monkeypod tree,I wonder if this is because of the familiar appearance. I also am a plant fanatic and its great to see our house plants growing outdoors.

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