An Estate in Papaikou

On a visit to a gorgeous estate in Papaiko with the Hawaii Island Palm Society. We are walking through an old Hawaiian estate with an extensive palm collection along with other beautiful flora.


The main gate is impressive with large bronze bamboo like stems curving in many directions and sweeping around large lava rock pillars which secure an entry gate for walking through.







After passing through the gate, we are facing a beautiful moss covered lava rock wall graced by this Ganesh with interesting purple leaved elder.







The main driveway is quite grand and dotted with beautiful statuary, pots and mature palms along with these stands of variegated miniature ficus trees.






Tall palms line the driveway accented with red ti and mondo grass.









I love seeing this vignette with the moss covered lava rocks and mondo grass next
to this variegated ficus.






A bigger view of the expansive driveway.






Large chinese pots are used for a water garden filled with water lillies and bromeliads
surrounding the pot below.








Towards the end of the driveway from the house, two huge urns grace another rock wall with tree ferns adding tall lacy details from their fronds.










Facing the main home is this balinese inspired entry to the interior garden with orchids
attached to the intricate stonework.









A beautiful sitting area for meditation or conversation, it was a perfect spot for the group
to picnic with the food served in the large pavilion next door.






A cycad detail with its huge cone prominent and projecting a sharp, textured pineapple like top.
 





A beautiful and deadly detailed shot of an unusual palm.







There are orchids growing everywhere along the various palms on the property, they
are pretty effortless growing in these environments.
















The interior garden with covered pergolas leading to the main house.







I’m fond of these obake type anthuriums, there’s a whole collection growing along the interior garden facing the main home. Each flower is large, at over a foot and a half in length.






Walking through this densely planted area of palms, we happen onto this rare palm Johannesteijsmannia Altifrons from Borneo. You can see from the scale, the leaves are huge!






I spot a small stand of birds of paradise, I’m always fond of taking pictures of the colors
and shapes from these beautiful flowers.






A stairway leading down to the lower gardens with Licuala Grandis providing shade along the pathways.







We finally make it to the large grassy area in the lower garden, filled with fruit trees like abiu, mountain apples, mangosteen and lychee.







A detail shot of pods developing on this palm, I love all the texture on the pods.

 

This place is a truly magical botanical garden  filled with amazing plants. I’m glad I had a chance to visit with the palm society and take some wonderful photos.


Thanks for taking the tour with me, to visit other gardens for bloom day today go to http://www.maydreamsgardens.com

All the Decorations are Set…..

 

Its sad that we have to import Christmas trees from Washington and Oregon to get our holiday trees here in Hawaii. I’ve always been the opposite of having to cut down live trees and prop them up as decoration – although I do love xmas decorations during the holiday season.

 

 

Living in Hawaii means having to be resourceful and believe it or not we do have or own version of the Christmas pine tree called the Norfolk or cook island pine known also as Araucaria heterophylla.  These trees originate from Norfolk Island and it grows very well in all tropical areas. In Hawaii outside of Christmas trees and landscaping the wood is extensively used by local craftspeople for making a variety of utilitarian and decorative items for the tourist trade.

 

Hoping to find some live potted plants that I could use and then eventually plant in my garden, I decided to go out and look for an actual tree farm.

 

Not a good day for getting a christmas tree, there was a major tropical storm going on the entire week – it was a better day to spend indoors.  I wasn’t deterred and pressed to to finding some live plants. Just outside of Pahoa town is a grower that grows many types of tropicals (mostly anthuriums and orchids and I did buy quite a few wholesale) and these beautiful trees are actually cut down for anyone that wants a large tree. I find out later from the stumps new trees can grow back to full size in under four years which is just amazing.

 

 

 

These pines can get really large, some growing over forty feet plus – a little to big for my small house.

 

Okay the rain was really dumping buckets at this point….and I mean buckets, so I run into one of the shade houses for cover and find the potted trees that are for sale….lets see which ones are talking to me to take home today.

 

 

Since they are still small and in gallon containers that are practically cemented to the ground through their unrelenting tap roots. it took quite an effort to pull the plant roots out that suckered through the containers and through the ground shade cloth – didn’t think it would be just as difficult as cutting a tree.

 

I end up purchasing three trees for $8 each, one Charlie Brown tree and two short and stout versions, here’s the Charlie Brown tree finally decorated below.

 

 

Here’s the shorter and stocky version that I transplanted into a five gallon container. I’ll keep this one potted and hopefully use again for next year so everyone can see the growth. (although these do not grow as aggressively in contained pots unlike the planted versions).

 

 

Here’s the collection of anthuriums I picked up from the grower, it’s the center piece of

the table top display.

 

 

The anthuriums again and ferns decorating the chandelier with red christmas ornaments.

 

 

Its been fun getting back into the Christmas spirit and I’m glad I was able to use local trees and various ferns, orchids and greenery from my garden to complete the holiday look…now on to the festivities.

 

Have a safe and wonderful Christmas, thank you for following my plant fanatic blog and Happy New Year and gardening to all.

When it Rains in Hawaii -The Waterfalls are Amazing

 

With the almost non-stop days of rain in East Hawaii, the plants around paradise are happy.

 

Even with the constant rain, its easy to be outside to do errands and still enjoy the day. Driving to a party at Honomu town, I decided to stop and visit the beautiful waterfalls at Akaka Falls. The falls should be amazing now with the rush of waters coming down from the higher elevations of Mauna Kea into the canyon gulches below before they flow into the Pacific ocean.

 

 

Wasn’t I right?  Its is amazing to see this - sometimes you just need to take a

break from the everyday routines to enjoy the moment and nature around you.

Especially when it puts on such a spectacular display. 

Our Fall Colors in East Hawaii

(click on image for full view and the slideshow)

Hilo is in full bloom again with the rainbow shower trees or Cassia x nealiea lining most of the major roads coming in and out of town. These beautiful trees are showy with their long cascades of red, yellow and orange flowers in large clumps dripping down their many branches. We don't get fall color, but we do get fall colored flowers at this time of the year!



Beautiful blooms next to huge monkey pod trees and the large bandstand.



It’s a beautiful time to see this in town and even just to enjoy a brief moment to really see them in their full glory, wouldn’t you agree?

Hawaiian Tropical Gardens, A New Gallery Collection

Hawaiian Tropical Gardens - Images by Noel Morata

 

Aloha,

 

Finally I have my gallery photography site up and running. Here’s a quick preview of the gallery of Hawaiian Tropical gardens. If you have time, please drop by and visit my photowebsite, there’s a lot of garden, plants and landscape oriented photography.

 

Enjoy the visit.

 

For other Sunday Flowers in Bloom go visithttp://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

A Botanical Garden at the Zoo

I just love our zoo, it has the most amazing botanical garden I've ever been to. The zoo part actually is just okay, enough to attract many families and busloads of school children on fieldtrips to the local zoo.

 


Entering the zoo is quite drammatic with the palm lined entry of foxtail palms leading to the entrance and immediately to the right is a beautiful pond filled with many types of water lillies. You then enter through a walkway filled with tropical rhododendrons with wonderful scents as you head into the various zoo areas.

The tropical gardens are lovingly maintained by volunteers and many specialized growing clubs including the local palm society, the bromeliad club, the water garden club and lets not forget the Vireya Society. Each club takes care of certain areas where their plants shine in mass profusion and it is apparent that there has been alot of care and placement to make each plant compliment and yet stand out dramatically with all the other tropical abundance from these gardens.

 

A whole stand of red sealing wax palms or Cyrtostachys renda line this pathway, its dramatic don't you think? Here's a close up of a nice cluster with their red culms showing.

A whole stand of aromatic vireyas line the entryway with the palms, its a very dramatic and colorful entrance filled with many colors of reds, oranges, pinks and yellows. Did I mention the wonderful scents these flowers give off in the morning heat?

I just love seeing all the unusual plant combinations that are put together and even changed on a regular basis to make the paths interesting and changing with every season. At this visit, I see that alot of new bromeliads have been placed in many strategic areas to add more texture and color to the pathways, while transitioning from zoo pens to another area adding to the surprise at each segment with tropical foliage and flowers.

 A nice shady area with bromeliads and these large leafed Licuala Elegans, one of my favorite palms trees.

A close up of the white tiger called Namaste, he seems a little gun shy this morning to greet the crowds.

I'm just amazed by the amount of volunteerism happening with all the garden clubs and other volunteers to this zoo. Since admission is free, the organization really relies on the generousity of the various club members to maintain and refresh each of the plant areas with their plant collections. It is truly a labor of love and I hope that if you ever visit Hawaii Island come and visit the zoo and you will be amazed by the spectacular botanical garden we have here besides the animals

This beautiful and exotic ginger bloom was just sitting above the grass, the heavy flower heads made the entire stalk drop down to the ground from the heavy weight.

Beautiful Oncidium orchids are almost on every coconut tree, its such a nice touch.

The bromeliad society has taken alot of care of the large beds of bromeliads throughout the zoo, even placing some in the trees.

Hope you enjoyed the tour, its been a nice day to just explore the zoo today especially when everything is in bloom.

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This is my contribution to My world, to visit other worlds go to http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/