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/

Orchid Mania

I can never get tired of seeing amazing new orchid species and visiting orchid nurseries in Hawaii. Akatsukas in Volcano is an institution in East Hawaii. I regularly stop by when I'm up in the cooler areas of Volcano visiting friends or touring with some friends.

As you can see they specialize in the very showy cattleya orchids, which is very unusual for the cooler climates of Volcano. But since they are hardened in this cooler climate, the plants end up being hardier, resistant to pests and the flowers are even more intense in coloration and longer lasting.

I love this hot fuschia and red combination named Cattleya-Rlc. Teri Nardini Smigielski, isn't it just a beauty? The striped red and yellow throat just draws you in completely.

They also carry a variety of other orchid species like miltonias, this one a vivid red named Milt. Bert. Field 'Leash' is one of their best selling milts.

 

This un-named Phalaenopsis must be one of their newer hybrids since it was not tagged and did not have a sales tag.  The exciting new color combination of pink and yellow with white edging makes it quite a show stopper - I have a feeling this will become a very popular orchid in their collections.

This orange yellow has a nice lite and sweet scent like perfumed jasmine.

Another on of their popular scented cattleyas called Cattleya-Pot. Mitsuo Akatsuka 'Volcano Queen', the scent was very strong when I visited in the morning time frame.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of Akatsuka's Nursery.  Come and visit other posts for today's flowers at http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

A Sweet November Bloomer

 

Aaaah yes, its that time of the year when the tropical rhododendrons or vireyas are in bloom in Hawaii. Actually they bloom year round, but the heavy flushes are coming out during the winter season. Its quite a show.

One of my early bloomers just started to come out in the front yard and it reminds me of why I just love these beauties, isn’t it sweet to greet me this morning?  This one has a faint morning scent, like vanilla and rose combined, just the right thing to whiff on the way out the door.

 

 

To see more beautiful flowers today go and visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

It’s a Carnivorous World Out There

I happened to run into this special exhibit at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park and what a wonderful show they put on. The members that put on these amazing temporary shows really go all out.  With the help of specialty grower California Carnivores in Sebastopol California, we get to see some of the most amazing Nepenthes or carnivorous plants in the world.


The famous venus flytraps…take a look and see if you spot any critters in their red traps.




Here’s a huge pitcher plant dangling from the rafters of the conservatory, I was only able to capture a small portion of this one huge plant, it must be quite heavy as a potted plant. These highland Nepenthes grow in higher and cooler elevations of the tropical rain forest.





This collection contains some amazing creatures like the well known Venus fly traps and pitcher plants to the more exotic cobra plants and corkscrew…take a look at some of these unusual specimens.




The Cobra Plant (Darlingtonia California) is a local native growing native to the far northern California to Oregon borders in meadows and along river banks.

 

This exotic wonder is called a tropical Sundew, they come from all over the world and need a constant humid and hot temperature to grow.












American Pitcher plants are the most ravenous and showy of the pitchers and are truly magnificent. They have very beautiful flowers  and leaves, and they are extremely easy to grow and from these pictures some of the most rewarding to have in a collection.




There are a lot of these carnivorous plants that are easy to grow as indoor or outdoor plants. You should give some a try when you see them in your local garden centers, you just find another new plant to add to your exotic collection.


For other views of Today’s Flowers go visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

This is my contribution to Scenic Sunday, to see more posts go to http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/

The Dahlia Dell

 


One of my favorite things to see in Golden Gate park during October is seeing the last blooms in the Dahlia Circle just off the Conservatory of Flowers.

This circle garden has been open to the public since the 1920’s.  Dahlias are the official flower of San Francisco, which  makes sense in this town full of unique and colorful districts and people.


 







There is an international selection of specialty tubers and hybrid flowers grown in the circle and along the hillside of this wonderful garden. Tubers coming from New Zealand, South Africa, England and even Mexico are highlighted in this international extravaganza – and what a show it is!












There are over 500 + plants that are cared for, dug up and re-planted every year along this garden and well maintained by the Dahlia Society – what dedication and fantastic tribute to their admiring audiences visiting the park.


 














This is my contribution for Today’s flowers go visit for more http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/


Also, this is my contribution for Fertilizer Friday’s, go and visit Tootsie for more http://www.tootsietime.com/

The Hot, the Loud and the Proud #7

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.

 


This exotic combination of Japanese and tropical garden lies completely on lava rocks and lava beds. The owner of this exciting garden decided to leave intact a lot of the original lava flow that occurred on the property and use this as a design element in their garden.


 



The beautiful contrast of these ti plants against, heliconia bamboo and this tropical cercis type tree against the lava pathway really high-lights these foliage plants in this garden.





I think the black pathways is such a great foundation and grounds everything…unfortunately the weeds love this environment just as much as the real plants and requires a lot of hand weeding in this garden, quite a task in this mostly rock garden, truly making this a labor of love since the owner does not use any pesticides.







Although the theme is predominately Japanese the tropical influence is present with large cycads, palms and colorful flowered species including these vivid Ixoras miniatures.


 














I hope you enjoyed this exotic garden tour, its a very special place on this side of the island. 
To visit other Hot, Loud and Proud posts today go and check out the links below.

An Orchid as Tall as a Tree

 

 

 

 

 

Really? I asked my friend who was talking about his orchid blossoms that were starting to unfurl these six foot spikes of orchid blooms. Well a small tree actually, it took over nine years for the first blooms of these plants and he was very excited to show his first blooms to this plant fanatic in exchange for some photos.

I was very interested in checking out his story and considering that they are very slow bloomers, it was worth the effort coming out to his place in the jungles of Opihikao, Hawaii. 

 

The photo below shows my friend, who is 6 ft tall, with the flower spike already looming above his head.  Each flower alone is about the size of his outstretched hand.

 

 

 

The orchid growing on the ground is a species of orchid called Grammatophyllum Speciosum which the largest orchid species in existence. Its pseudo bulbs alone can grow up to three miters in height and in maturity can reach to over 25 feet, isn’t that unbelievable? This plant is a very young nine year old and yet the flower spikes were over six foot tall, quite impressive, and there were already three flower spikes coming out simultaneously. Next to the stems are the psuedo bulbs which in the picture are probably four foot in height.

 

 

Well this really does inspire and hold true as one of the largest orchids I have ever seen. I’m glad I took the time to visit, take some pictures and am now sharing this beautiful orchid with my viewers, hope you enjoyed this visit.

 

To see other flowers for today come and visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

To visit other fertilizer fridays go to http://www.tootsietime.com/2010

The Big Event

 

One of our largest nursery/plant sales in Hawaii Island happens twice yearly in the spring and early fall season. Called the BIAN plant sale or the Big Island Association of Nurserymen, it is truly a big shopping spree of the largest growers specializing in everything from palms, bamboos to tropical fruits,  exotic specimens, foliage plants, colorful flowers, to just about everything that can grow successfully on Hawaii island, which encompasses 13 of the world’s 15 growing zones.  It is held in one of our largest stadiums in Hilo, and every inch of the area is covered with seductive and exciting new plants being introduced for the season.

 

 

 

There’s always an army of friendly and expert growers in yellow to answer any and all questions about a specific plant or growing condition.

 

 

 

Before the weekend show starts at 5pm on a Friday, there is a line snaking out the stadium where its held and it takes a whole stadium to fill out with all these amazing varieties of plants. When the doors open, all the aisles are cleared and open – you just know its going to be a stampede… No, really its not that crazy, people are quite courteous and generous in their knowledge of plants, experiences and ideal growing conditions, making this a very pleasant experience, meeting new growers and discovering new plants to introduce into your gardens.

 

 

 

 

I’m sure you know the feeling about looking for hidden treasures and these hunters are all very serious in their search for treasure. Its a real treat to see this and take pictures at the same time. There’s always a lot of smiles and joy in finding something really unique and the gardeners here really expect something unusual or different from these nurserymen.

 

 

If your into colorful flowers and plants, you have come into the right place.

 

 

Or, how about choosing some of these exuberant orchid plants?

 

 

 

It looks like this hunter has found his treasure and is holding it tight all the way to check out…it is a gorgeous cattleya, why didn’t I see that first?

 

If your ever in Hilo for the annual BIAN sale, you should check this out, it is alot of fun and you just might be tempted to take home a few plants or in most cases a trunk load!

 

To enjoy more posts on scenic sundays go to http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/