March 2014

 

 

 

There are no willows in Hawai’i— let me phrase that differently. There are no native or invasive members of the genus Salix.

 

 

 

There is a water willow (Justicia betonica), not to be confused with Salix aquatic, also called water willow. J. betonica is a potentially serious weed, according to Wagner, Herbst and Sohmer the authors of the “Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai’i”. This Asian member of the acanthus family grows along the weedy roadsides of the Big Island. Despite it’s common name, it is not a willow; neither is the water-loving primrose willow (Ludwigia octovalis) whose seeds may have been brought to the islands by the Polynesians on taro plants.

 

 

 

 

When I saw this bouquet of anthuriums and pussy willows in the lobby of a Waikiki hotel I had to wonder. Did they ship these spring twigs all the way from the mainland so a florist could add an “exotic” touch to this arrangement?

“Oh, those tiresome anthuriums… Oh, those ubiquitous orchids.  If I could only get some temperate twigs, something that said “Spring!” to add to my bouquets.

 

 

 

 

Pussy willows do say, “Spring!”

 

 

 

 

Before I left for Hawai’i I spent the good part of a day in the Skagit Valley north of here visiting the willow farm and basketry studio of Katherine Lewis and Steven Lospalluto at Dunbar Gardens  (pictured above and below). Steve was in the first stages of the late winter harvest. The day, splattered with rain and clouds, chilled and warmed me willy-nilly. I love this early time of spring, when spring is still winter officially, when swellings come on slowly, but you know we are moving forward.

 

 

 

Maybe it is my impatience that has made me a willow collector; I am up to 45 different species and cultivars of the genus Salix. I love their early emergence.

 

Besides what else would I grow? I live on the edge of a swamp in a flood plain. Actually what grows here quite spontaneously are willows. We have several species of native willow growing in scrambled abandon on the fringes of our property, introducing more seemed like the natural thing to do.

 

Willowing the willow’d land, like bringing coal to Newcastle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I may have spent a good portion of my Hawaiian vacation seeking out, photographing and researching the native flora. That’s fun for me, as I said. But I also have a lazy mind that likes to be lambasted with brightly colored giant flowers and over-sized foliage. I can usually dial-down my need to identify every plant I see and enjoy the beauty, though I actually feel that knowing plants and noticing differences actually enhances and deepens that enjoyment.

So, all the plants in the following photos are non-native.  The trouble with paradise is I found many of these nonnative plants so alluring.I know if I lived in Hawaii I’d be growing plenty of exotics in my garden.

 

ORCHIDS:  If any flower is emblematic of the tropical paradise that Hawaii is promoted as, it is the orchid. There are only 3 very rare species of orchid in the Hawaiian Islands, but there are plenty of orchids being grow for local use and for shipment to the mainland as plants or cut flowers. There are 3 species that have become “weedy” that we saw often along the roads, but there are many just growing on chain link fences and in trees.

 

 

 

 

 

Phaius tankervillea, or nun’s cap orchid is one such naturalized roadside orchid, a real beauty.

 

 

 

 

Spathiglottis plicata, or Philippine ground orchid, arrived on the island of Oahu in 1920 and has since spread throughout the islands in a gentle way. Lovely to find it among the weedy grasses on the road side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arundina graminifolia, or bamboo orchid, was the  most prevalent naturalized orchid we saw, it was a dramatic member of the meadows in Volcano National Park, as well as along the road side to Kapoho.

 

 

 

 

The random orchid on a tree  trunk never failed to charm and amaze.

 

 

The east side of the Island of Hawaii is famous for it’s orchid nurseries. Mind-boggling numbers of orchids are grown in shade houses all over this side of the island.

 

 

 

Vandas heading off to market.

 

ANTHURIUMS: After orchids I think of anthuriums as the most iconic flower of the islands. We saw weedy stands in old gardens along the highway. But we also saw a large amount of them at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. Here’s a sampling:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BROMELIADS: It took me almost a week to turn my camera to the bromeliads, absolutely everywhere. Such a variety of sizes and colors, even without flowers. How can you go wrong? I’ll definitely be planting bromeliads when I move to Hawaii.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEPENTHES: We visited Lelani Nepenthes Nursery where we got a personal glimpse into nepenthes hybridizing from owner and world-renowned hybridizer Sam Estes. We learned a lot. Firstly,  nepenthes are photosynthetic vines that are only partially insectivorous, ni to swamp dwellers like most insectivorous plants. The pitcher develops on the end of the leaf and is often held high up in trees on the climbing ever green plants. Though the center of natural  distribution is in Borneo and the Philippines, there is a species known from Madagascar and several from northern Australia.  Sam holds one of the premier collections in the world and has introduced over 300 named hybrids, and had thousands more waiting for evaluation. I only have a n handful of photos of his work with this genus, visit his website to see the breadth to which this man is creating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MISCELLANY:  There are so many strange and beautiful plants on the island it would be hard to do any of them justice, whether native or non-native, just after 10 days there. Here are some of the plants that made me say “wow”, or just tickled a fancy or a taste bud. Enjoy!

 

 

 

Dichorisandra thyrsiflora, or blue ginger, actually not a ginger at all but related to spiderwort, the east coast wildflower. Some of the bluest flowers I’ve ever seen.

 

 

 

Solandra maxima, or cup of gold vine, is related to tomatoes and has a very lovely and distinctive fragrance.

 

 

 

 

Clerodenrum quadriculare, or starburst, a stunning weedy shrub. I guess if you saw it enough you could bring yourself to eradicating it.

 

 

 

 

Medinilla magnifca is a epiphytic shrub that has gone crazy on the island. Such a shame that such beauty can be so invasive.

 

 

 

Another Medinilla sp , this one in a garden.

 

 

 

Schefflera actinophylla, or octopus tree, these sprawling infructescences are nearly 5 feet across, another plant that has found a welcoming home in Hawaii and has invaded many disturbed areas.

 

 

 

 

Calopteris gigantea, or crown flower, is a shrubby milkweed whose flowers were prized for the leis of nobility.

 

 

 

 

 

Thunbergia mysorensis, or brick and butter vine ( I don’t name these things), is a well behaved vine unlike several other species of Thunbergia which strangle forests with exuberant growth. We saw some up over 100 feet high in trees and covering acres.

 

 

 

 

Passiflora foetida, or love-in-a-mist vine, is one of the more benign species of invasive passion vines on the islands. We saw one red flowered passion vine that cover a whole block which it cloaked from ground level to 100 feet into the trees. I could hardly keep the one I had in a pot a few years ago alive. Passion flowers are one of the worst weeds on the islands.

 

 

 

It was hard to miss this weedy Euphorbia cyanthophora on the side of the road.. can you tell what it is closely related to??

 

 

 

 

Like our beloved and hated Himalayan blackberries in the Northwest there are a fair number of fruiting trees and shrubs that have  made the islands their home. Noni berry is everywhere, but I could not bring myself to eat it’s stinking, like rotten cheese, fruits. Guavas,  Psidium guava  on the other hand where a welcome treat we found popping out of the undergrowth. I never realized how beautiful their foliage was. But the real treat were the strawberry guavas P.  cattleianum (pictured below) which grew in profusion around Kapaho.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate plenty of cheap and deliciously ripe papaya when we were in Hawaii, but many more get flown to markets on the mainland. We were racing this truck load of papayas to the airport on our last day.

Now that I’m back in the temperate rain forests of the Pacific Northwest I realized I never even looked at the palms, or birds of paradise, or Macadamia nuts without much more than a glance when owe were win Hawaii. So much to take in. I’m fully home and the amazing flora of the Big Island seems more and more like a dream each day. I turn my head and hands towards the plants at home, the gardening season ahead. And yet another flood, our third in the 2 weeks since we’ve returned. Time to haul some plants out of the greenhouse, which stands to get over 3 feet of water in it again, tonight.