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?

A Rare Bird in Bloom

 Its been awhile since I've been to our zoo which really is more of a botanical garden with a zoo as a complement. It is quite spectacular.










And this time it is really exciting since we have a rare occurance happening with a bloom of the exotic Amorphophallus titanium. This unusual plant originating from Sumatra is also known as the corpse plant and I'm sure you can assume, the noxious smells that would emanate from the blooming flower to attract its pollenator to come and visit

The edges of the giant flower are starting to color a deep purple, giving us hints that the flower is ready to open its bloom soon.

Fortunately at this point, the flower has not yet opened and there are no offensive smells. Its very unpredictable to know when this will occur since blooms have been registered sporadically and in many other environments that does not mimic each other. So although this state of budding has been in this stage for over a week, it is anyones guess when this will occur.

 

The plant shown is over seven foot in height from the top to bottom, making this quite a large specimen. Hopefully, I will be able to photograph the plant, but since the blooms only happen within a twenty four hour timeframe, the timing is always crucial. But in any case, this show and exotic plant is still amazing at this stage and I'm in awe of its presence.

Here's some more information on the Amorphophallus titanium http://www.gardening-advisor.com/corpse-flower.html


This is my scenic sunday post, to view other scenic sundays go to http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/

To see other beautiful flowers in bloom go visit http://flowersfromtoday.blogspot.com/

The Glass Menagerie

 

 

 

  

 

Just off to the left of the beautiful Dahlia dell is the striking glass conservatory called the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. It is the oldest and largest wood and glass domed greenhouse in the United States. Recently updated to its original state, this impressive monument houses various tropical gardens ranging from the cloud forest, to the humid lowlands of the tropics, the dry dessert garden to interesting curiosities like Nepenthes (carnivorous plants).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entering the large domed entrance to the great hall one immediately looks up to the curved glass domes where huge tropical trees from the cloud forests dominate the entire space. A large hundred year old philodendron completely covers one of the trees nearby, in the center of this photo below.

 

 

 

I really was surprised to see a whole collection of begonias, but not just ordinary one’s,

these are special hybrids, doubles and frilly varieties. The collections shown were

very colorful, loaded with flowers and very delicate looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The separate water pavilion is so exotic with different types of water lily’s like these gorgeous tropical purple varieties. They also had the extra large water lily called Victoria Amazonica with their huge bronze/green pads and maroon in the center with creamy white to pink flower petals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The conservatory is beautifully decorated outside as well with beautiful annual beds, the dahlia dell, a succulent hill other border areas that hold a collection of shade plants and other perennials.  When you are in Golden Gate park, do make an effort to visit this amazing monument – its quite a show inside as well as the outside.

 

 

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

This is also my contribution for Fertilizer Friday’s to see more posts, go visit http://www.tootsietime.com

Blossoms Everywhere

 

 

 

 

Here in Hilo town, entire boulevards are line with these gorgeous rainbow shower trees or Cassia fistula x javanica and they are all putting out quite a show. The shower trees are adorned with colorful displays of these long clusters of pale yellow then crescendo to hot pink and orange hues.

 

 

 

 

They are all in bloom now and showcasing the beauty of Hilo’s bay front area with a profusion of cascading flowers. What an ideal way to highlight the beauty of these tropical trees than to line the streets with these prolific hybrids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another variety that is used in many of the greenbelt areas and parks are the golden yellow shower trees called Senna Fistula X Cassia fistula. This cassia is also a summer bloomer with long strands of pale to deeper yellow florets. The trees grow effortlessly here, are drought tolerant and adapt to many soil environments including sandy and ocean sprayed areas which is perfect to the open bay front of Hilo.

 

 

 

 

 

Cassia is a huge genus with over 500 species and are some of the most colorful trees and shrubs in East Hawaii. I think they picked the perfect species to highlight the beauty of this area and town, don’t you think?

 

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

To see other fertilizer posts for this week, come and visit http://www.tootsietime.com