A Visit to Exotic Marrakesh

Enjoy the tour http://issuu.com/noelmorata/docs/marrakesh

From Barcelona, Marrakesh is under two hours by air and crossing the narrow channel of the Mediterranean sea, you are drawn into a new and exciting world in North Africa.

Gardens of Barcelona

The gardens and parks of Barcelona are quite stunning. The local populations love to spend time in their parks and public squares and take advantage of all the open areas for everyone to enjoy. Attached is a tour of some of the wonderful gardens and parks I visited while I explored this gorgeous city.

http://issuu.com/noelmorata/docs/gardens_of_barcelona

Enjoy the tour.


To visit other gardens around the world for bloom day go visit http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/

A Travel Journal - First Visit Barcelona

Its been awhile getting re-adjusted to a slower pace here in East Hawaii and I've actually been playing around with new software and presentation sites. Here is the first segment of my travel journal covering the beautiful city of Barcelona.


http://issuu.com/noelmorata/docs/barcelona_2011


Enjoy!

Vacation Time

On vacation to exotic Morrocco and Spain for the month, stay tune for updates when I return.....meanwhile the Hot Meme will be on hiatus for end of this month.

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/

The Hot, the Loud and the Proud #14

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.

 Its finally happened, the long awaited bloom of the Amorphophallus titanium at the zoo happened this week. After a very long budding period, the bloom started to finally open and with it a swarm of flies attracted to the warm rotting flesh smell emanating from its bowels.

A small group of plant friends gathered earlier to cut a hole in the front section to get access of the pollen which will be used to pollinate the plant and other specimens in a budding state.

 

A beautiful detail of the flower petals (spathe) unfolding and the amazing reds and purple hues in the sun.

The total height with the Spadix (tall cone) reaches over seven foot in height making this quite a large specimen.

It was really an amazing plant to observe, let alone the many other admirers that typically would not go to the local zoo to visit this botanical garden which is really an amazing place.

To see other beautiful posts for the Hot, the loud and the Proud, check out the some of the links below.

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/