Living in Hawaii has advantages too numerous to count, but one of the most pleasant for me is the spectacular beauty of the flora.
Our friend Carol Noel (don't you just love her name?) lives a few miles south of Hilo in a beautiful 'out of the way' setting. Completely surrounded by trees, palms and plants of all kinds, her place is a living tropical paradise that completely assaults every one of your senses...
Carol is a member of the State of Hawai'i Master Gardeners and it shows. Her love of plants is alive and well and the results can be seen in the profusion of blooms and riotious colors, truly a living representation of an artist's palette.
The following photo of me snapping away at the Angel Trumpets was taken by Janice Crowl, another Hawai'i Master Gardener and author of Container Gardening in Hawai'i How to Grow Paradise in a Pot and Pulelehua and Mamaki
To show everything growing in Carol's huge yard would take tomes, as the place is filled with wandering and meadering paths where even the most plant appreciation deprived individuals have to stop, take a deep breath and glory in the abundance....all I can say is that the day of my visit I took over a hundred photos of just plants and flowers.
At this time I'm just showing a few from the magnificent collection of Brugmansia, a small tree-like plant that many people confuse with the Datura, including me, until quite recently. All parts of the Brugmansia or as they are also commonly known, Angel Trumpets, are poisonous, but that doesn't take from their spectacular beauty.
As you walk up and down the paths of Carol's yard, you find different varieties and colors of Brugmansia all over the place. It is the largest collection I have ever seen in one place.
The stylized bell shape, delicate colors and faint perfume of the blooms have always fascinated me.
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Comments: 18
I tried to click on the container gardening link, but it doesn't work.
Living in Hawaii must be wonderful....
Oh, Sonia... that's showing me HOW to grow my brugs! :-)
Those are TREES!
If I tried to take pictures of my brugs now like you did, I would have to lie down, not stand up to shoot the picture... my brugs are only about 3 feet high, if they are even that tall! They are in full bloom now too... quite spectacular but not not as tall or as profuse as Carol's adult trees!
I wish you could see them.... I promise if you come visit I will take you there...
Hah! You just couldn't help yourself, could you! Twist the knife... Boohoo!
You better believe you're taking me there... I wanna see all those brugs to make up for that dig about my height!
I have yellow, pink, and peach brugmansias growing in my garden and in pots... do you understand my fascination for Brugs? Aren't they the most gorgeous things in bloom??? Even my small plants just drive people in awe... can people imagine a full TREE in full bloom from just the small portion you showed in that last photo???
They definitely ARE the most gorgeous things in bloom....and it is just incredible to see a tree just dripping with the bell shaped blossoms....besides the aroma is incredible even if light and elusive....
There is a tree in a yard about 3 miles from me that when it blooms again I will be there with my camera.....I missed taking pics the last time it bloomed as it was never convenient to stop when I drove by...but I will make it a point next time...
I'll forgive you... this time!
I look at the blossoms that your friend Carol grows and I really wish we had the climate to grow brugs to their full potential. I want to be able to look UP to them as they hang down from high perches. I suppose I should be happy mine are blooming... even if they are only chest level :-)
There's a Brugmansia from the Andes mountains that I tried to grow last year which is suppose to grow the reddest, most beautiful blooms. I got it to grow a couple of feet but it never bloomed and it died over the winter. Sigh. It needs a much longer summer climate than I can offer I guess. Like most ambitious gardener, I always hope for the impossible.
I am now looking for the double and triple varieties... the varieties that look like layered petticoats but, most of all, I am looking for the shredded varieties... these blooms look like shredded napkins. I am eBay's best customer :-)
Yes, the blooms are beautiful and a bit unreal....I hope you do get to see some in person someday