Thursday, April 15, 2010

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-April 2010

Once again, I don't have too much in particular blooming in my garden that isn't well past its prime (we've been getting hit with some dry, windy weather over the past couple of months) or something that you haven't seen a hundred times before (not that that's going to stop me entirely), so I thought today would be a good "then" and "now" day.  All of the "then" pictures are from April, 2009.  If you'd rather just see what's actually blooming today or if you'd like to show off your blooms, please visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, our monthly host of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Please forgive all the pruning/raking/weeding/sweeping that needs to be done!  The up side of living in Hawaii is that everything grows like crazy here.  The down side is that everything grows like crazy here!

Then: Featured plants:  Puakenikeni (tree on left, by the blue pot, not to be confused with the  Nicole Scherzinger song), variegated ficus (tree on right), Cordyline terminalis or red ti plants (um...the big clumps of red leaves)


Now:


Then:  Featured plants:  Puakenikeni (tree on right, near the troll), lime tree (the other one), Euphorbia Leucocephala (the ones that look like dead sticks along the wall), and Monstera deliciosa (the ones that are covering the wall in the bottom picture)


Now:


Then:  Featured plants:  Euphorbia leucocephala (the dead sticks), plumbago (blue fowers in the middle),  Cuphea hyssopifolia or false heather (plants bordering the plumbago, with the pink/purple flowers), spider lily (blooming in the pot).  Both the plumbago and the spider lily were given to me by a friend who was leaving the island.  Unfortunately, things were a little hectic at the time, and they spent about a year hanging out in a plastic bag until I was able to get them properly planted.  Fortunately, they are, apparently, super hardy.


Now:


Then:  Featured Plants:  Monstera deliciosa (left), spider lily (the one with the sword-like leaves [has never bloomed]), red ginger (on right), Mocha (the furry one with the legs)


Now:


Then:  Featured plants:  Hibiscus tiliaceus or variegated hau (atop the wall), Strelitzia (nicolai?) or bird-of-paradise (large, leathery leaves toward right-not sure of the variety, but I suspect this may get monstrous-it hasn't bloomed yet either, but I can't wait until it finally does!)


Now:



And now for some actual bloom photos:

Potted miniature rose




Orchid-No I.D.






Den. Pam Tajima (altroviolaceum 'Pygmy' x eximium) just beginning to unfurl

8 comments:

Bybee said...

Those purple spots on the flower in the last picture are interesting..they look almost raised, like Braille.

Dreamybee said...

Bybee-They are, they're very textured. I love the idea of Braille flowers!

Wendy said...

your orchids are giving me a hankering for vanilla bean ice cream.

Love your then and now photos! I particularly like the then and now in the middle - the one with Mocha in them. What a great, lush, place to live!

Jennifer AKA keewee said...

You sure have some lovely exotic plants I would love to be able to grow in our zone.

Melody said...

A year makes a lot of difference< doesn't it? Love the tropical plants!

Dreamybee said...

Wendy-Oh yum! I should get a vanilla bean orchid!

keewee-Thank you! There are a lot of things here that you could actually grow in pots where you are if you have the room to bring them inside.

Melody-Yes, I couldn't believe how small everything was just a year ago!

Jeanne said...

Can't help but notice that you have a dog in some of these photos, and a siamese-looking cat in some earlier photos...new pets? Visitors?

Dreamybee said...

The dog is Mocha-somebody threw her into our yard on Christmas morning, 2005. We weren't really in the market for another dog, but it's hard to deny that you have a new dog when someone throws a puppy into your yard on Christmas morning!

The cat is one that we found as a kitten about 2 years ago-he was scrawny and flea ridden and tiny, hiding out under the kayaks in our yard. We weren't really prepared to keep a cat at the time, so my cousin ended up taking him. Now I cat-sit whenever she is out of town.

Thanks for asking!