Its sad that we have to import Christmas trees from Washington and Oregon to get our holiday trees here in Hawaii. I’ve always been the opposite of having to cut down live trees and prop them up as decoration – although I do love xmas decorations during the holiday season.
Living in Hawaii means having to be resourceful and believe it or not we do have or own version of the Christmas pine tree called the Norfolk or cook island pine known also as Araucaria heterophylla. These trees originate from Norfolk Island and it grows very well in all tropical areas. In Hawaii outside of Christmas trees and landscaping the wood is extensively used by local craftspeople for making a variety of utilitarian and decorative items for the tourist trade.
Hoping to find some live potted plants that I could use and then eventually plant in my garden, I decided to go out and look for an actual tree farm.
Not a good day for getting a christmas tree, there was a major tropical storm going on the entire week – it was a better day to spend indoors. I wasn’t deterred and pressed to to finding some live plants. Just outside of Pahoa town is a grower that grows many types of tropicals (mostly anthuriums and orchids and I did buy quite a few wholesale) and these beautiful trees are actually cut down for anyone that wants a large tree. I find out later from the stumps new trees can grow back to full size in under four years which is just amazing.
These pines can get really large, some growing over forty feet plus – a little to big for my small house.
Okay the rain was really dumping buckets at this point….and I mean buckets, so I run into one of the shade houses for cover and find the potted trees that are for sale….lets see which ones are talking to me to take home today.
Since they are still small and in gallon containers that are practically cemented to the ground through their unrelenting tap roots. it took quite an effort to pull the plant roots out that suckered through the containers and through the ground shade cloth – didn’t think it would be just as difficult as cutting a tree.
I end up purchasing three trees for $8 each, one Charlie Brown tree and two short and stout versions, here’s the Charlie Brown tree finally decorated below.
Here’s the shorter and stocky version that I transplanted into a five gallon container. I’ll keep this one potted and hopefully use again for next year so everyone can see the growth. (although these do not grow as aggressively in contained pots unlike the planted versions).
Here’s the collection of anthuriums I picked up from the grower, it’s the center piece of
the table top display.
The anthuriums again and ferns decorating the chandelier with red christmas ornaments.
Its been fun getting back into the Christmas spirit and I’m glad I was able to use local trees and various ferns, orchids and greenery from my garden to complete the holiday look…now on to the festivities.
Have a safe and wonderful Christmas, thank you for following my plant fanatic blog and Happy New Year and gardening to all.
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