Monday, August 2, 2010

Exotics Galore

 

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We are continuing our garden tour of this exciting tropical garden in Orchidland, Hawaii.  There  are so many wonderful vistas and colorful vignettes in this beautiful garden, I was really in plant and photo heaven. Even though the morning sky was overcast, I still found some interesting light to take pictures  including this cropped composition of this stately Bismarkia nobilis palm. One of my favorite palms, I love this younger tree since they are more difficult to capture in photograph when they get older and taller, and the blue fans are striking to see in this light.

 

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So many walkways leading to amazing discoveries and wonderful colors at every turn. At this spot I see these exquisite fan palm being illuminated through this dense ohia jungle with large and wild bamboo orchid fronds reaching up to six feet in height in the foreground. I really wish I had the note of what this amazing palm is, I’ll have to post about again in the future.

 

 

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There’s nothing more intoxicating like coming up to one of these blooms of the Michelia Champaca, its  sweet, vanilla and lightly scented. I keep wanting to take more whiffs so I can always visualize the scent every time I see this picture.

 

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There are always exotic orchids blooming in the trees here in the garden including this purple vanda which is lit up from behind.  There’s nothing like seeing real blooming orchids up in the trees, it seems so natural here, as it should be in real life.

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I love seeing this colorful vignette of  black tis, ferns and this stand of white crinums, its is one of many beautiful arrangements in this garden and keeps the eyes moving everywhere from front to back, and then from lower to higher.

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Even the crotons are amazing, they are illuminated here against the sunlight and these are almost the size of small trees here in Orchidland, really morning light adds so much dimension to this typically shady part of the garden.

 

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This heliconia Etlingera Elatior is in this quiet and shady dell with the sunlight just peaking through on the background…the moment is captured so wonderfully this morning, its so neat to be able to capture these at just the right moment with some beautiful light. Usually in the shade they turn out flat and static.

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A beautiful stand of Royal palms (Roystonea elata) line the driveway leading to this property

I really love this palm allee, its so majestic and oozes exotic, don’t you think?

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I hope you enjoyed this exotic garden tour, wasn’t that just amazing? If you didn’t see the start of the tour, this is the link http://aplantfanatic.blogspot.com/2010/07/hot-loud-and-proud-5.html to see the rest of the garden in Orchidland.

To visit other corners of the world for My World Tuesday, follow this link http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

26 comments:

Xavi said...

Yes, Noel is France, Val de Loire River,
A beautiful post and lovely captures, a joy visiting. My favourite is the blue Vanda. Thank you for connecting.

EG CameraGirl said...

It's a joy to see all these beautiful exotic plants!

BraCom said...

Beautiful photos

Regards, Bram

Seen on My World Tuesday

Photo Cache said...

thanks for the tour. totally enjoyed it. more next time?

www.ewok1993.wordpress.com

Carol said...

Great photos of this gorgeous tropical garden! That first shot is striking in its color and detail. And I love the way you framed the second shot! Beautiful! Lovely shot of the purple vanda. They are all beautiful, I would surely enjoy walking through this garden.

Floridagirl said...

Wow, that Michelia is beautiful! That's one I would love to have in my garden. Wish I could smell the scent. I do love that croton photo. The light really does have a pretty effect on them.

Carver said...

This was a fabulous exotic garden tour. I loved seeing the wild orchids and all of the plants for that matter. Your photography made me feel like I was there.

Ami said...

I enjoyed the tool very much, thanks! That heliconia Etlingera Elatior is just amazing, never seen anything like that. My friend has a Michelia Michelia Alba tree in her yard. The flowers are white, and looks very similar to the Michelia Champaca you show. It also has very pleasant scent. She always give me some flowers to put in the room during the blooming time.

lotusleaf said...

I enjoyed the tour. The torch gingers are beautiful. All the photographs are so vivid and compelling.

africanaussie said...

thanks for that amazing tour - your photos really capture the tropical feel. You took them at just the right time of day, and it seems after a shower of rain! I have never heard the proper name of heliconia Etlingera Elatior - we call it a torch ginger here and get them in that red and also a pale pink. I have the red and am hankering after a pale pink one as well.

Lesley said...

Loved the tour.

Jossie said...

Wonderful pictures. The flowers are amazing. Are they all native?

Carol said...

Hi Noel, Fabulous photos of truly gorgeous exotica.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Michelia Champaca

The old Chinese ladies used to stick the buds in their hair. and make perfume. I think the old ladies with their long hair in a bun did not shampoo their hair often, So they used Michelia Champaca to mask their unwah her.

This is an incredible post. I have a new site where I post mainly plants and food.

http://annsnowchin.blogspot.com/2010/08/ruby-red-plant-sessile-joyweed.html

Caroline said...

Beautiful! Thank you.

Dani said...

I just hope one day to visit such tropical garden. Marvelous.

Thank you.

Kimberly said...

Great tour, Noel! The tropicals are glorious in your photos.
I'm bummed that I missed your hot, loud and proud meme this month. I was distracted by the Master Gardeners visiting my space. I don't expect it to happen again!!! :)

Terra Mirabilis said...

Oooh! Glorious, Noel!

BTW, those palms are Roystonia regia, or royal palms. They're native to the Everglades, but there are very few left there now.

One day I really will post to the hot, loud and proud, but my ADD keeps getting in the way. :)

Also, did I tell you my bro-in-law lives in Lahaina?

debsgarden said...

Wow, what a wonderful tour! I really love all the palm trees, not to mention all the colorful tropical flowers. This really bring back memories of our trip to Hawaii years ago. I would love to visit again!

Noel Morata said...

thank you for making the correction with the royal palms, Roystonia regia is the more commmon type found worldwide and the local florida natives are called Roystonia elata which is more rare and only found in the swamps/everglades.

Noel Morata said...

thank you for making the correction with the royal palms, Roystonia regia is the more commmon type found worldwide and the local florida natives are called Roystonia elata which is more rare and only found in the swamps/everglades.

Andrea said...

Yes Noel, you seem to have navigated our real forest here in the Philippines. Our Waling-waling is the mother of that blue orchid as most of the hybrids have it as their father, mother, aunt or uncle, or distant grandpa. hehe. They really love to live in natural microclimates of dense and humid treetops.

Ellada said...

Aloha Noel,
The Royal palms are so beautiful, it's amazing.

klaraau01 said...

ahhh Noel - now I just have to have this beautiful blue/ purple Vanda and seeing it growing naturally in the garden is such a treat! Thank you very much for sharing it's beauty...

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Very exotic and very hot! Love your pictures, especially the heliconia and the row of palm trees.

Kirigalpoththa said...

Love those palms!

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