Friday, July 30, 2010

The Hot, the Loud, and the Proud #5

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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.




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Its our monthly hot meme and for August I’m taking you on a tour of my friend, Carol’s beautiful garden here in Orchidland, Hawaii.  This is truly an amazing tropical paradise filled with many  tropicals flora and exotics. Instead of various outdoor rooms focusing on specific plant genera like many of the collectors here on the island, Carol’s garden is made up of long walkways with large beds on both sides, the walkways snake throughout the various parts of this magical garden filled with color, texture, variegated forms, unusual shapes and exotic scents.

They are quite the collectors, amassing an array of unusual and rare palms, bromeliads,  bamboo,  hoyas, orchids, unusual gingers and heliconiias and aromatic beauties that you discover at every corner.




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At the front entry to the home is a colorful collection with different varieties of bromeliads. dracaenas, coleus, pothos, various variegated plants and a huge Medinilla magnifica that was setting up huge cascade of blooms.


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I spotted this gorgeous combination of a ti plant, with a beautiful agave in the background and this euphorbia in the foreground. Carol is really into layering many shapes, colors and sizes into different garden vignettes.


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Passing through this area, I spotted this beautiful alpinia that I asked Carol about since it is rare. I wish I didn’t lose that small note which identified this beauty. The picture below shows a nicer close up of its flower with some rain droplets jewels.


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A very unassuming, yet stunning cattleya blooming between some rocks cast a beautiful morning glow and makes me pay attention and admire its beauty.



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There are many shady areas along these paths created by various heliconias, bananas, and a huge travelers palm, in the background of this trail is a large stand of crotons that are the size of miniature trees.



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This heliconia Caribaea Jacquinii grabs my attention right away and the different shades of green leaves add layers of green texture to this photograph.

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These red sealing wax palms or Crytostachys lakka are extremely slow growing and therefore a very expensive acquisition.  Even plants that are in the ground like this can take decades to start showing the red culmed crowns that create its shocking coloration.

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Here is a detail shot of another Medinilla Magnifica which is the size of a tree in her garden. So many cascades of these pink flowers cover the entire plant at this time of year.


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Is this starting to become sensory overload? Well if so, we’ll continue this tour for another segment since there’s a lot more I would love to show you blooming in Carol’s garden. It is an amazing place and to think only her husband and herself maintain this large twelve acre parcel on their own.

I hope you enjoy this tour for our Hot, loud and proud meme. Come and view the other posts below from our other participants.
To link a post or to view on the Hot, the Loud and the Proud Meme, see the link below

20 comments:

Steve Asbell said...

What amazing photos! I thought that the bromeliads would be my favorite part but then I saw the red sealing wax palm and remembered how much I love those! They're so tropical that even at Fairchild Botanical gardens in Miami they have to bring them in a couple nights each year. It might be a worthy plant for me to try in a container though... I found seeds online, but as you said, they are slow.

I'll be sure to contribute this month if you don't mind it being late! I need to make a trip to the garden on Monday first.

Noel Morata said...

yes those sealing wax palms are amazing and slow these babies are probably ten years old, my guess :)

Floridagirl said...

UGH. That is what my garden is supposed to look like! Now I'm depressed. Seriously, that is a beautiful paradise! Amazing collection. I think I must move to Hawaii, where there is ne'er a frost. That medinilla is magnificent, and I have drooled over that sealing wax palm many times before. Amazing!

Anonymous said...

Greetings Noel, I can scarcely believe my eyes for a garden such as this, indeed most of what you include in your beautifully illustrated postings, is quite outside of my experience. The closest I may have come to your wonderful paradise is the hothouse at Kew which, believe me, does not compare in any way.

But tell me, dear Noel, what has become of your potager about which you wrote at the start of the year?

Carol said...

Hi Noel, I have missed your exotic world. This garden and your photos are mind blowing... it is incredible to see all these tropical plants together and the wide paths are wonderful. My senses are delighted. ;>)

Elaine Yim said...

I just love the snaking long pathways with beautiful, luscious plants.

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Noel, I truly enjoyed looking at the pictures of your friend's garden! The garden is so lush and bright! The red sealing wax palms' picture is incredible! I've never seen this plant before. Thanks for your comment on my cool Alaskan blue poppy!

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

What a beautiful lush garden, and the second photograph, with the path through the trees, is just so inviting.

lotusleaf said...

Noel, I loved the tour of the beautiful garden. I am looking forward to the next tour!

joey said...

I'm in awe of this exotic tour. Thank you for connecting :)

Unknown said...

I love the ti plant and the agave - their colors and textures are very nice.

Ellada said...

Aloha Noel,
In did it's an amazing tropical paradise.
It's a great garden to visit and thank you very much for sharing with us.

Rosie Nixon Fluerty said...

phew! I've never seen the likes of this before - spectacular especially that track through the trees.

Ami said...

This is just stunning, and truly tropical! How lucky you got walking through this garden in person! I never saw those red sealing wax palms before, just gorgeous! I am glad that you showed Medinilla Magnifica as tree. I just saw it in China, and now I know how big this plant can grow in the tropical climate!

BernieH said...

Magnificent garden ... thanks so much for the tour. Loved those Bromeliads ... they are giants! The Medinilla is just beautiful ... wish mine would flowers like that!!! There's just so many plants that I would love to grow if I lived in a wet tropics area ... unfortunately not to be.

Elizabeth Barrow said...

Beautiful, Neil, thank you so much. I had never seen those red sealing wax palms before. I'm totally impressed! Beautiful ti plants too -- those are always a favorite of mine.

Andrea said...

Hi Noel, if i am not working anymore but tend the garden i will produce that kind of garden too, hehe! I wonder why i gave away that red palm when i was in college, i did not leave any sucker at all. That medinilla, i think is endemic in the Philippines, i will check. Thanks Noel for hosting this one. What happened with the previous photo contest?

Noelle Johnson said...

Hello Noel,

Orchidland...just the name sounds like a little bit of heaven on earth. Your photos are so beautiful and I am always in wonder when I see orchids growing outdoors, where here in the desert, they are always grown indoors :-)

Kanak said...

Sorry I couldn't comment the other day. I love these garden views. Exotic is the word that comes to mind. From the medinilla to the sealing wax palms--the overall look is simply out of this world!

My Chutney Garden said...

Wow, thanks for sharing this garden. We have similar plants and landscapes in Trinidad but I guarantee you that nothing in my garden looks as spectacular as this one. Beautiful!!

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