The Adventures of LitBoy: Bill Brent's Blog

2007.03.25, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

LUSHNESS ALONG THE ROADS OF
HAWAII VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK

These pictures continue the series from one of my early visits to Hawaii Island, in January 2002.

What now strikes me most about this photo is, here I am, in a fern forest, yet all the fronds in this shot are dead. The other plants don't seem to mind, though.

Here, fuchsias and ferns coexist peacefully.

 

This was my partner's first visit to the Island. He was very patient with me as I pulled the car over to take these roadside shots. I have no idea what kind of wild blossom this is — sure is pretty, though!

Today's pictures are from Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

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2007.03.21, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

ALOHA AND A HANOHANO SPRING TO ALL!

And isn't it about time? Perhaps, as Oscar Wilde said rather famously, conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative. On the other hand, he's dead, so who cares what he thinks!

Seriously, it's been one hell of a winter for most of the folks I know on the mainland, and I don't mind bringing it up. Even here in lovely Hawaii, it seems we've had more than the usual number of gloomy days. But so far, this week has been beautiful, other than the usual night and early morning storms here in our patch of Pahoa.
 

So, in hopes of bringing a bit of bright spring into your day, here's a bit of sunshine in the form of this insanely lovely orchid that was blooming in our yard last summer. In Hawaiian, I would call this flower hanohano — that's one of my favorite Hawaiian words, and it is both a noun and adjective, roughly meaning magnificent, dignified, distinguished (adjective) and dignity, glory (noun).

And if one yellow flower can bring you a bit of spring, then perhaps one more can keep it around for a while. Et voilà, a buttery yellow plumeria:

I mean, really, don't you want to spread this on toast or something? We get two colors of plumeria blossom in our yard, an apricot color and this sunny yellow.

Here's one more picture of the orchid, this time with a bit more color on the side. I love the mossy greens and scaly browns on these tree trunks. Such intense colors we are blessed with!

[UPDATE, 30 March 2007: I am pretty certain now that this is not an orchid but a giant GINGER PLANT. And it appears that a flower called a HANOHANO ORCHID actually exists. You can see a picture of it here.]

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Wishing you a hanohano day and season,

—Bill Brent

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All original photos on this website (LitBoy.com) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2007.03.19, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

OK, SO I WASN'T DONE WITH FLOWERS YET.

In honor of this week's return of spring — and, heh-heh, the fact that I have taken so many colorful flower pictures, and have twelve days of March's Picture of the Day project still to go — here are some lovely begonias:

So now we're back at home in the yard in Pahoa, which is in a sub-tropical rainforest about a two-hour drive from our friends' protea flower farm in arid, volcanic-slope Ocean View Estates. And that's not even halfway around the Island. So now you know why they call it the Big Island — Hawaii Island has over half the state's total square mileage, at approximately 4,030 square miles — and counting, since we have an active volcano (Kilauea) that is growing approximately 32 acres of new land per year. Here's a table in .PDF format if you're curious about the comparative sizes of Hawaii's Islands.

Here now, for a bit of contrast, is a picture of a white bloom from the flowering bush in our yard. Cheryl's Hawaiian Gifts informs me that this is a gardenia bush. Note the intrepid bee who zoomed in to check it out for himself, just as I lined up this shot:

Speaking of contrast, apparently Hawaii Island is host to every major global climatological zone, according to one source. So we are nothing here if not diverse.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

—Bill Brent

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All original photos on this website (LitBoy.com) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2007.03.18, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

A FAREWELL TO FLOWERS

Here is the final set of pictures in my series featuring Ka'u Protea, a Big Island flower farm specializing in proteas.

Here are two images of Banksia, originally from Australia:

Close-up:

And here is a grouping of leucospermum. I believe the more yellow blooms are the Kula Sunrise variety depicted here. "Kula" is Hawaiian for "open meadow," and "Kula Sunrise" references the Kula district on the east side of Maui Island.

As you can see, there are many varieties, and some of them look very similar.

In trying to figure things out, I stumbled upon this lovely page of contemporary quilts that reference various aspects of Hawaiian life, including some designs that are plant-inspired.

Tomorrow we visit a very different part of Hawaii Island!

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

—Bill Brent

If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

All original photos on this website (LitBoy.com) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2007.03.17, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

Here are several new pictures from Ka'u Protea, a Big Island flower farm specializing in proteas.

Think of this as an "egg."  Then see what it hatches into:

Et voilà, a more mature specimen. I believe this one is called the Regal Mink, although at this stage, it reminds me a bit of a pineapple:

And, finally, here's a bird's-eye view of this feathery Protea in blossom. Kaleidoscopic!

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

—Bill Brent

If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

All original photos on this website (LitBoy.com) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2007.03.16, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

Continuing with yesterday's theme, here are several new pictures from Ka'u Protea, a Big Island flower farm specializing in a wide variety of proteas. Enjoy!

More leucospermum:

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

—Bill Brent

If you enjoy this blog, please use the Tip Jar at the top of this page. Your two-dollar minimum donation helps keep this banner-free site alive. It's quick and easy!

All original photos on this website (LitBoy.com) belong to Bill Brent. If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2007.03.15, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

Some friends of ours own and operate Ka'u Protea, a flower farm specializing in proteas. Here are a few pictures I took on a recent visit.

This is a King Protea. The flowers can range in color from red to pink to near white, as is this one:

This protea cluster is Leucadendron:

This is a group of Leucospermum, a/k/a Pincushion Proteas:

...and a close-up.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

—Bill Brent

All original photos on this website (LitBoy.com) belong to Bill Brent.
If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.

2007.03.14, Picture of the Day, Big Island of Hawaii

Nothing too fancy today; I just wanted to share some pictures I've taken around the yard. Since I've been featuring birds, I figured I should give our leapin' lizards some spotlight time. We get chameleons on the day shift, and the geckos at night. Here is a chameleon:

This guy looks like he's hiding an insect in that mouth pouch.

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From July 2006. Plumeria trees around here look like barren coat racks most of the year, but this reminds me why all those bald branches are worth the wait.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

—Bill Brent

All original photos on this website (LitBoy.com) belong to Bill Brent.
If you want to re-use something here, please ask. Higher resolution images are available.