"The Project"...3 years going...building our Paradise

4 years ago we bought (still really cheap) 6 continguous acres to add to the 6 we had. Bob walked the bush, planned the route where the bulldozer would go...tying port (left) and starboard (right) ties to the trees so that we wouldn't be dozing the area flat. The road was dozed 3 years ago...flattened and then base course and cinder(red) laid down. Since the subsurface (3" down) is usually flat lava, we had a friend come in with his BobCat to hammer out the holes to plant the trees. He would dig out a hole, about 5' deep and 5' wide....the rocks are broken up in the bottom. Then Bob preps the hole with mulch, compost, fertilizer, cinder, cindersoil and then more cinder. I think over 150 holes were dug...prepped and planted!!! None of the trees are older than 3 years old. My ornamentals like the brugmansias are stuck in cracks in the rock...and the heliconias etc. are generally planted in raised beds.

I took a lot of pictures this morning...but I find the morning light just not good...some of the shots are OK. Will take more tomorrow afternoon. Morning light seems to difuse...no contrasts....

When we bought our home and property...the forest had encroached to be almost inside the house!!! We cleared a whole lot. Just the two of us. I get part time help for my little projects.....a senior in high school who has worked on Sundays for me since he was 13. I don't know what I will do when he goes off to college!!!

Hope you enjoy....

This first photo is of the Moreton Bay Fig just off the carport. I am loading it, and the other trees down with more hoyas!

So...you turn to the left and there is this HUGE Ficus Benjimina...Banyan...about 16 years old!!! We have a running battle about cutting it back: I want to, Bob doesn't. When he isn't looking I run around and trim the aerial roots back...Crikey...that is the Tomato That Ate Cinncinati!!!

NOW...we move onto the new territory. Those plantings are about 17 years old.

Here is one of my prize Passifloras....

OK...walking up the road (passing some of my favorite places but the photos were NOT good)...here is a Monkeypod we planted 3 years ago from a 1 gallon pot (I am not kidding). Bob moved the rocks to make a bench. Philos and orchids are in the tree.

Just down from the Monkeypod...a planting of Dwarf Jamaican Heliconias...next to a favorite palm....

And across the road...a variegated Ficus Benje(a?i?)mina...slow grower, thank goodness!!!

I went to a big plant sale in Honolulu and brought this back...it is just a higher grade WEED!!! It is a terrible pest but OMG...the fragrance is so heavenly!!!

Beautiful. So, how deep is the frost line there? hahah :)

David

Lovely garden, Carol! You must have your hands full with 12 acres, I can't get ahead of the weeds on 1/2 acre!
Thanks for posting the pics - keep 'em comming!

More tomorrow.... Thanks for the compliments...we DO have fun!!!

It looks great!! I love it so far.

I have tons of Brugmansias...this white one is one of my faves and blooms profusely....

Then there are the clumps of Ti....Bob, being the engineer, like to plant in militarylike formation....I don't....

Variegated Shampoo Ginger

Another favorite Ti...Wili'is Gold...the leaves are about 10" across...looking down the road....

"Beehive Ginger"...the flowers come out of the bracts and look just like bees.

I'm jealous of your beautiful forest garden. I have known people to make wreaths from those ariel roots of the banyon.....to make the tree useful if you have to put up with it.. Aloha from Oahu.

Beautiful jungle............. I love the philo on the plant in first photo and the Ginger in the last photo.
What is the in the hanging basket in the first photo ( Right hand side)...?
Kaleem

No hanging baskets there...all from the ground.

Oh Carol, how gorgeous! You guys have a beautiful paradise to show for all your hard work! Just decided we are going to have to add another day or two to our stay on TBI - just so I can wander around and drink it all in! Everything is so lush and lovely - the Ti's are fantastic! I can tell that the photos just don't do it all justice. I've found that pics come out better on grayer days...love the sun, but don't think the camera does. Now I can hardly wait!

Shari...I think you are right...I am still learning my camera...

Can't wait to show off....send me a Dmail with your plans!!!

Carol

Will do!

Oh C what can one poor shivering ozzy sheila say.... when confronted with someone who is living our fantasy!
I really have to pull you up just a minute there ....did you say that white ginger is a weed! .....*wagging* my finger.....oh how could you? straight from heaven itself ....I miss it so much in Winter ...please mercy ...on we tropical wanna be's.........I love it!
But seriously how does it feel to look around at that place...your place.... everyday.....:)
Does your garden have a name?
We do have those giant figs ...as kids my whole school (the kids )would sit under the fig tree in the Hot Summer and we could all fit ....they are enormous! (the birds would splatter us with fig doo)
Love the Angels and the Ti 's....what is a monkey pod tree ?
oh and the gingers *big envious sigh*
oh it is just all sooo beautiful .....good on you mate ! well done :) looking forward to seeing more.

Chrissy...to call those gingers with their fabulous fragrance a weed is, really heresy....but we do spend alot of time pulling them out of where we dont want them and throwing them in the bush...where they thrive!!!

At least 5 times a day Bob and I look at eachother and say..."Can you believe this? Can you grasp where we live?" It is totally appreciated and revered...I pinch myself at times...can this really be true???

A Monkeypod is a very hard wood, even tho it is a really fast grower...they used to make surfboards out of it before God invented plastic!!! It is also called the Rain Tree because it is home to all sorts of epiphytes like orchids and ferns etc....and during the day the leaves are open and shield their hitchhikers...and when it rains, the leaves fold up to allow the drops down to the trunks. Neat, eh? As older trees they can have a canopy of 50-100' and are just beautiful!!

We haven't come up with a name for the place yet.... When we had our boat, it was named ELYXIR (Bob's name is ELY)...so we are still working on a name. Sometimes we think "Last Chance Cafe" would be fitting....

You...the Poetess...any ideas. BTW..I love the story of you growing up listening to the radio....terrific!!! Right out of Bryce Courtney! and TRUE, to boot.

Thanks...

Here is a phot of the entrance. When we moved in, it was a jumble of rocks. I threw bromiliads in there....and the purple in the tree is a Medinill growing epiphyiticly...I think I spelled that wrong.....

I would call it Eden.....(sigh...with a smile)

PS don't grow any apple trees in there.......and keep the snakes away (Grinning)..........just love it!

Love your garden! I would love to have a piece just like yours!
Aloha!

Chrissy...one of the BEST things about Hawaii is...NO SNAKES, poisonous spiders ... not like OZ where I think EVERYthing is out to kill me!!! We do have a poisonous toad...HAHAHAHA brought over from Australia long ago. Some one must have been NUTS!!!

Really? ......no snakes......no killer wasps or spiders? wow!!!!!!
I wonder if that toad is the same one we have in QLD.....called cane toad......they bought that one in to keep the canefields free of nasties......did not count on the thing killing everthing that moves ...
like the rabbit and cat bought in for all the right reasons ......with most severe results........well you truly do live in Eden then ...I can't even imagine gardening in Summer after about 9 in the morning...
if the sun don't get you the critters will.......in some of the other states they have to deal with crocs as well ...both in the inland waterways and saltwater ones in the sea....the beach is very scary in those places.Do you have leeches?....I can't believe that wonderful place is also a safe haven as well as so beautiful....sighing will a smile:)

BaliHilo! or BaliHoya..... A beautiful garden (LOVE the entrance!!), that competes nicely with Bali's world famous gardens....and all your own!

Someone said we have leeches...but I have never seen one! or heard of anyone who did!! Yes...it is the Cane Toad we have....Gross!!!

There is one nasty that has come in...called the Stinging Nettle Caterpiller...really nasty....causes bad rashes. But they will soon have a parasitic wasp released that will do it in.

They say that every year nearly 20 invasive species are brought in by un the unwitted!! Once a Brown Tree Snake hitchhiked in from Guam in the wheel case of a plane...scary. With no predators and lot of food, they would take over. HAHAHAHA. Some stupid soul brought in Mongoose to deal with the rats in the cane fields: rats are nocturnal and mongoose are diurnal (or the other way around, I forget)...so they never did anything and both populations are rampant. Cats keep the rats down...AND the native birds...vicious cycle!!!

That's the truth! We have a terror of Guam's Brown Tree Snakes as well - and our bimonthly barge comes from there. So we have dogs trained to smell em that patrol every crate that comes off the barges...it takes two days to unload, but we are too small to mess around with those!

You got centepedes, Carol, Shari, John?
Perhaps it's too damp where you all live? Nasty critters, we have them in dry Kihei! Occasional scorpion too, but not half as bad as they were in Arizona.
Wild pig causes a lot of devastation, especially Hana way, in the forests.
We often see wild goat and deer, which strangely enough are no bigger than Braveheart! Smallest deer I have ever seen.
No sign of the stinging caterpillar in the garden yet, but we were warned about them in the newspaper, with a full color picture so they could be quickly identified.
Another little nasty that has got to the island in small pockets are the cocqui frogs. Only the size of quarters, but they have an ear splitting call. I think they came from Puerto Rico via the Big Island in plant shipments.
But hey! No snakes - I'm all for that!

You know Ireland has no snakes.....St Patrick is supposed to have seen to that! But one always imagines tropical islands to have some scary critters hanging around.....never even occured to me that you would not have snakes.......leeches...eeooowwww we have them in the wetter areas. I could certainly why you would need to protect your shores...we are pretty good at that here ...but most of the scary things were here already ......and the other introduced things were bought here many years ago out of ignorance and homesickness.....oh well.....that is how we learn I guess....I am very happy that you don't have snakes in Eden....cause that first one in Eden sure caused a mess of trouble.:)

AHA...thanks for the reality check, BHmom. Yes, we have Centipedes...nasty critters and I am terrified of them, but have never been stung. They do make my skin crawl....OH, and cockroaches!!! HAHA...the size of 747s!!! One marched at me on my desk as I was eating a sandwich and I swear he could have arm wrestled me for the rest of it!!! The Coqui frogs are a menace...noisy and annoying to most of us. We are keeping them at bay...but most likely will be over run!

The wild pigs ARE a danger...I agree. With our big dogs they don't stick around here....but they pass thru and drive the dogs bonkers!!!! And their 'bogs' are the favorite places for our dogs to roll in...YUCK!!! Eau de Porcine Poop!!!

No snakes....my mantra!!!

Oh, yes, the bugs are big. I remember stripping beds after a stay on Kauai - found the biggest, blackest bug I had ever seen down at the bottom of the top sheet. Luckily, I had been sleeping on top! Eeeew!

I'd go back in a red hot minute, though. :-)

Watching the HUUUUUGE plume of volcanic emissions this morning move across a clear sky...I remember....

we have a very active volcano (a couple of them, actually) and we track the lava flow daily. We are in no danger...but it is a reality check!!!

Carol, how far from the volcano are you? Is this plume a result of that eq last week (or was it two weeks? I think I lost a week called DEAN)?

Had a visit from a HUGE centipede while visiting friends in NM. Thing was 5-6 inches long and as big around as my husbands fingers! Scared the bejabbers out of all of us! Funny how something so relatively small can terrify grown men!

Chrissy - recognize this guy? While I was playing with the 'roos one evening - JB went to lean against a tree...movement caught his eye at the last second, and he looked right at this monster....it was precisely where his hand would have landed. Pretty - but scary!

Nah..... that little fella won't hurt you ....it is called a Huntsman here don't know about anywhere else- we allow them to come around the house because they eat the killer spiders....they are not poisonous.
Can give you a heart attack though if you are not familiar with them ....they have a funny habit though....many years ago when I moved into this rural district I was having my first bath in the new residence ...I was very tired from all the moving thing ...so I was soaking in a lovely hot bath ...I lay back and closed my eyes in bliss.....upon opening them ...one of those huntsman was right above me on the ceiling.......what I did not know was that they have a "drop" reflex when frightened.......need I paint a picture? ....I screamed ....he dropped...well you never saw anybody jump out of a bath as quick as I did .....poor bu**er drowned....my hall carpet got very wet and Hubby thought someone had broken in and was trying to kill me.........ha ha ha..... laughing now ...not then.
the centipedes yes we have the huge shiny black ones ....they try to get out of the rain in the warm season ...we have to convince them that they are not welcome in the house!
Volcanos .....OOOH I forgot about those Wow!
Guess no where is perfect......... just almost :)

Ahhhh, you spoiled my story! I always thought this guy had to be a baddy...oh well, live and learn. I got shivvers all over just thinking about that guy fallin into your bath! Eeeewwww!!!! Let's get back to Wichita and the pretty plants, much nicer topic than all these creepy crawlies!