When we went to the big island of Hawaii we visited the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden in Onomea Bay. It was absolutely spectacular and it focused on understory plants. The place, a former dump site, was chockablock with gorgeous tropical plants.
The Foster Botanical Garden on Oahu is mainly focused on giant old trees, some dating to 1853. They were awesome.
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| Cavanillesia platanifolia |
This quipo tree was planted in 1930 and its trunk was more than 10 feet in diameter. It was gorgeous.
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| Spanish cedar Cedrela odorata |
This baobab tree was planted in 1940 and it has night-blooming flowers from which bats feed.
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| Baobab tree Adansonia digitata |
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| Baobab tree Adansonia digitata |
The fallen pod of an Encephalartos gratus fit right in, as this part of the garden is called the “prehistoric glen.”
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| Encephalartos gratus |
Ferrrrrrrrrns. I’m drawn to them. Except that I’m pretty sure this was a cycad, sometimes called “living fossils.”
They are HUGE!
This is the be-still tree. It looks pretty normal . . .
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| Thevetia peruviana |
. . . until you look up. So very beautiful.
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| Thevetia peruviana |
So many of the trees had roots like this. They looked like shark fins.
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| Silk-cotton tree Bombax ceiba |
This tree has a Latin name but I don’t care what it was because, hello, that’s the Sweetums tree.
Sweetums was always my favorite muppet.
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| Corypha sp. |
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| Kalanchoe Pumla |
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| Queen Emma lily Crinum agustum |
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| Flapjack plant Kalanchoe thyrsiflora |
I thought this was a rose bush but it’s a euphorbia!
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| Crown-of-thorns Euphorbia milii |
They also had a greenhouse where they had all sorts of plants I loved that would never be hardy here.
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| Finger palm Rhaphis multifida |
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| Anyone know what this is? It didn’t have a sign and I WANT ONE. |
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| Air plant Tillandsia funckiana |
And three big boulders set just so. I really want to do this in my yard.
