The plume from the Pu'u O'o (one of Kilueas' vents) just IS...it is almost always there, but recently, with the lava flows, it has been huge. Folks with a view talk about seeing the reflection of the red lava in the bottom of the plume at night (we are going out tonight to see it). We are about 10 miles from Pu'u O'o as the crow flies...but the topography saves us. It is Moana Loa that could drench us....depending how she is going to pop.
One thing we should do when you are here, Shari, is take a fixed wing plane ride over to the volcano...and the waste land you fly over is awesome!!! It isn't all that pricey and really interesting!!! We have done it once about 5 years ago...and we want to do it again and fly over our property and take photos. The nice thing is that with the Trade Winds, allof the vog is blown over to Kona!!!!
Carol
Was that cheery enough???
"The Project"...3 years going...building our Paradise
Oh, your garden is beautiful! I'm with Chrissy, Eden, sounds truly appropriate, or Ely's Eden! Great pictures, thanks for sharing! Love Hawaii!
Anytime you want to get rid of those "weeds" you can send me some! Those are so pretty!
Sounds great Carol! We did the glass bottom helo over Waimea Canyon and loved it. I am terrified of heights, but for some reason in a plane or helicopter it doesn't bother me. go figure. That sounds like a super idea....now I'm all excited again! I'm gonna bring home some of those "weeds" too! Just told JB about the plane...now he's excited too!
MAN o MAN...have we got WEEDS!!!!
When we took our first plane ride...I was blown away by the landscape only able to be seen from the air: miles and miles of lava ...the effects of the flows seen as they really are. It blew me away!!!
Yet...we still have pristine wilderness of ancient forests...
Shari, I did the same type of helicopter ride over Kauai - the pilot asked who wanted to sit in front and I nearly trampled the rest of the passengers to get there! lol Fantastic views - words aren't enough.
Also love 'pulling Gs' in a glider - but glass elevators give me the terrors!
Yeah! Its that sudden drop - like it seems every movie has at least one of these days - looking down suddenly off of the roof of a skyscraper or something....rushing out a doorway and nothing but down....that stuff gives me nightmares...but I can fly anywhere!
TOTALLY off topic...but once I was up at the Space Needle in Seattle. It was early in the day, they were not open for lunch yet, I had some business with the Manager. As I waited at the elevator, I had a horrible fantasy...what if the doors opened and there were no elevator. I wasn't THAT close to the doors but I fell backwards trying to get away just thinking about it. I have nightmares about it often. What if I had been my regular space case thinking about something else and just walked thru the doors without making sure it was safe. OH...I hate elevators. Sometimes I would have to go up the freight elevator at the Space Needle and it would clunk up over the couplings and it would wiggle in the wind...they would laugh at me because I kept my eyes shut facing the door the whole time.
Oh Honey you have my total sympathies!!! I can't imagine having to go up that service elevator! Much better to sit and bathe in the luxury of your gorgeous garden! The only elevator I better see on your property is the rope pulley to water the high hoyas!♥
Hi, everyone.
Carol, the pictures of your tropical Pacific paradise only reinforce my yearning to return to Hawai'i. I DID miss something extraordinary when I couldn't get to your place last April. Thank you for posting the pictures. You say you rip out white gingers and throw them into the brush? There is something heretic about that but one's got to do what one' got to do.
Thanks for sharing.
Sylvain.
OH...the white gingers are not as invasive...it is the yellow gingers that we rip out when we can from the 'beds' or they will choke everything out!!! But throwing them in the bush, they still grow and bloom!!!! Heavenly!!!
Shari...we found a Puka ("hole" in Hawaiian...where a lava tube has caved in). Bob made a rope ladder to get down into the puka...but I'don't "DO" rope ladders into deep holes. It is about 50' deep, and as big around, with huge tree ferns...looks really Jurassic!!! Your DH and mine will have to explore...you can go down into the lava tubes (they are OLD, not used by lava) and it is really interesting!!!
You and I can sip tea on the lanai and laugh!!!
Wow, can't imagine having 6 acres in Hawaii! Wonderful job you've done to clear the property and help it flourish!
Oh a puka hole I have seen that on the telly ...how exciting...and yes very Jurassic.
The yellow ginger is considered a weed here too ...but I don't get it
how can something that smells like that be called a weed ....just because it is happy to grow everywhere! *grin*
Heights don't give me a thrill ....can't do them at all ...I always feel like my tummy has been left on the ceiling of the lift.....
I wanna go to Hawaii...
By looking at the beehive ginger I know what I have coming of age. The package of tubers said shampoo ginger but it is exactly what your picture is.....just not yellow yet.
Ha Ha! Yep, I can just see them climbing around in some prehistoric puka! Not I!! I like the tea on the lanai idea much better! Christi - I'll put you in my suitcase, and bring you home with me! Then, if you want to stop and stay in Hawaii, you can! How's that?
Eyes still blurring from watching that magnificent show last night....moon turning into an incredible opal on a black blanket littered with tiny diamonds.....I spent as much time star gazing as I did moon gazing! And now my neck is crying for traction! Ha! When we get the pics downloaded, I'll post a new thread....
Christi - you really don't need to go to Hawaii - your garden is a glorious get-away without the hassle of packing!
Chrissy - You have the yellows there too?! Okay, now I'm getting upset....I can't even grow what everyone else is calling a "weed"?! I'm going to get me some!!!!
Yes sorry Mate I thought you would have those for sure! they are a "classified" weed here.I know you could grow them ....is it because you can't buy them? ....better grab some on your trip
Are those Lanai vines the same ones that Tarzan would swing from?.....I always wondered what sort of vines would be long enough....they aren't vine but roots right?
The moon was awesome!
Shari...bring a BIG box...heck, we can find that for you here!!! Your drawback there on the coral might be too alkaline a pH...but we can figure out what to do about that. I am doing Master Garderner 'dute' on Friday and will investigate what to do with Coral soils to bring them to civilized levels....LOL
That will probably be the plan...one advantage to the pots is that I can move them to get less of the wind when necessary. (I say I ....its usually DH, or DSIL on both!) Ha Ha
Carol, how did you make out in that hurricane that was headed directly for Hawai'i?
Sylvain.
Sylvain...3" of rain and no wind. It pooped out just south of the island...
Here is a picture of the REAL front entrance...we worked on it last weekend and it is shaping up!!!
A favorite vine...Tecomanthe venustra
A loquat tree we keep cutting back because it serves as a 'display' rather than produce fruit. Here is the Medinilla, bromiliads and a yellow Vanda orchid.
I have planted a tecomanthe venustra 18 months ago. It bloomed last winter. It keeps growing u and down a foxtail palm. We hope it will re-bloom next winter.
The entrance to your property is awesome. This is going to sound silly: so tropical! That's what you get for living in such a paradise.
Take care.
Sylvain.
Real as opposed to what? The last pic of your front entrance was amazing - and now your say "shaping up"???? That looks like way more than 3 years worth of loving attention Carol! So gorgeous! And you left that to go to Washington? You must really love your kids!!! I would pull the blanket flower over my head and shut the rest of the world away and just hide away forever in my own little (!!well, not so little!!) Eden.
Sylvian...Tecomanthe blooms on old wood (1 year old)...so you should have floers next year!!!
Well...the second picture is when you come onto the property and then the pic. with allof the bromiliads on either side is the road to the house....or you can go straight ahead to the orchard.
I do hide, Shari...alot. Getting kinda owly here too...
Here is a photo of a bloom on a bromiliad...love the colors...
I like playing with contrasting textures...and I like how this Queen Emma Crinum contrasts with the palm frond next to it....
Shari...you should be able to grow the Crinums there....they grow beautifully along the shoreline.
This message was edited Aug 30, 2007 12:41 PM
Your brom is exquisite! Do each of those open? Or is the little point the bloom? Just beautiful!
Oh yes, crinims are omnipresent here. Many types. And lots of cannas,and other lilys. One reason why I am looking for different types of plants. We are very green, and have many flowering plants - but with few exceptions they are all the same. That does not mean that they are not beautiful, just all the same. I spose I really shouldn't whine, we do have some gorgeous plants, but I think most plant lovers would agree that the variety and contrast (like the crinim next to the palm), make for such more interesting displays.
Carol, this is really a dumb question. Are all of these plants already on your property....such as the REAL entrance and you just trim back or do you purchase and plant....get from other parts of the wonderland and move them. As every single leaf in my world is brought in and planted.....nothing here in the beginning except Johnson Grass (hay).
Actually, when we bought the first 6 acres it was over run with melastoma (weed) and the yellow ginger...we probably removed (in total) 3 acres of bush around the house and roads....and we planted it. At first it was anything we could beg or steal...then we started to learn how to grow tropicals and got selective!!! On the new road...all of that is new....DH collects palms and bamboo and I do some stuff and we do stuff together...anything we like we plant!!! It is really fun. There are little markets and garage sales where people grow stuff unseen on the island!!!! Lots of fun!! We like growing stuff in trees because there is NO top soil and it is solid lava under us...or we look for nooks and crannies to grow in!!!
The only things we kept (or...that was of any value) were the gardenia bushes and the fruit trees. Other than that, the former owners were NOT growers (of legal stuff!!!)
Carol
It is so lush and wonderful. Cannot believe you can grow such large trees and plants with lava. Must be a real secret besides what is obvious....lots of elbow grease...the kind that doesn't really feel like work. Would be more than happy to volunteer whenever you need extra hands....lol. Shari is one lucky girl.
I will be the first to admit that I feel honored to be able to view Carol's property up close and personal.....but the lucky one is the owner! Maybe it would even be better to say that the lucky ones are the plants that she and Bob have adopted and loved. Why would any plant want to live anywhere else?
Aw, guys...shucks!!! Any fool can do it here...you just have to throw stuff ON the ground and it grows!!! I kid you not.
Actually, the previous owners did plant the big ficus banyan, and the Moreton Bay Fig and the Fiddleleaf fig....and some of the palms...many are seedlings of Alexanders that just grow wild if you don't pull them out. The tall skinny trees are natives, Ohia Lehua...related to the Pahutakawa from NZ and they are the first to come up on old lava flows in any tiny bit of organic matter. Their root ball is often 12' in diameter and 3" deep...I kid you not!!!
Thanks...I need encouragement for the next 100 years!!!
Now, just when is it Shari is going to be there........I will be glad to join you. lol...just joking.
Never really had the yen to visit HI because I had been told it had become so commercial.
Seems someone was misled. When I really do get everything together, Carol, would appreciate your advice on where to go......don't want to do the tourista hula dance.
BTW, my dad was there for awhile during WWII.....brought home a hula skirt.....I played with it as a child until it was torn up.
Avoid Waikiki and you can't go wrong. Well that's a little harsh, because there are some good things to see there, but after you see them, get out to the other islands. Waikiki is the most commercial spot in all the islands. I will let the residents of the other islands describe them, but as someone who has no choice and must travel through Hono at least twice a year - that is my advise.
Thanks, sweetie.
Hi, all.
When we got off our cruise in April, someone told us that there was ABSOLUTELY nothing to do in Honolulu, or the whole of Oahu in general. He called it one gigantic tourist trap. The man was a fool and irrestibly attracted to tourist traps. We had a wonderful time on Oahu. We criscrossed the island for 5 days, managed to avoid most tourist traps. We were enchanted by our perigrinations.
Lou, if you have a chance to get there, do not hesitate one second and point yourself towards these wonderful islands. Life saw to it that I couldn't get myself to Carol's place during our cruise and that was a sad day. Now that I see her property's pictures, I am doubly sorry I didn't see it. As certain as I am that He above is my withness, I shall return to Hawai'i or die trying.
Sylvain.
Let's all make a date.
Anytime around November 27th or so and December 5th or so....We can all meet at Carol's and camp out in the coffee field! That would be such a treat!!!! Ha! I think that thump we just heard was Carol, falling over in a faint at the idea of us all turning up with a collective "Howdy"!