Hawaii, the flora

Palm trees swaying in the wind, iconic image of Hawaii.

I was lucky to spend five days in a lovely resort on the Island of Oahu. I have been lucky to have visited most of the Hawaiian Islands, Oahu, with the big city of Honolulu has never been a big draw, but when you are offered a trip – you go.  The trade winds that sway the branches of the coconut palms are what makes these tropical islands so comfortable.It is always fun to be greeted with a lei, this is some orchid that has no scent but last a long time. I know because although I only wore this for maybe an hour, it was still holding its own when we left.The resort has an incredible wall of orchids, I didn’t enhance the colors, these are well cared for orchids.  I will often buy orchids at TJs’ but I have yet to succeed in getting them to re-bloom even with all the fancy orchid food.

Back to the subject of leis,  the fragrant ones are made from the Plumeria flowers.The trees grow everywhere and the flowers often fall to the ground. The white flower is the most common.Delicate pink is another variety.Of course I sat out on the beach and relaxed, I prefer shade to the hot bright sun of the tropics. Looking up at the tree I was under I noticed that every so often there was a bright red leaf. It is a leaf or a bract. The flower itself is very small and insignificant, but the bract draws the insects to the flowers. Another very common bract is the bougainvillea. The flower is the tiny white center. When we moved into our house I spent 10 days hacking away at very old growth bougainvillea on the side of the garage, it is a very messy thorny plant. I do love it on other peoples property. The values of red and pin are so bright and vivid.Except when they’re not.