Just a girl with a hammer

Tag: kauai

  • The Garden Island

    The Garden Island

    The weather sucks in Portland right now. Let’s visit somewhere warmer. To the Kauai vacations photos!
    Photo by Greg
    Photo by Greg

    We had a wonderful time in Kauai, despite a couple of hiccups. It rained off and on the whole time, which made us panic that we were going to have another experience like we did in Oahu. About halfway through our trip we got word that one of Greg’s team members, who was only 53, passed away. We had a pretty sad three days processing that and it was hard to feel okay enjoying a tropical vacation. But if there’s a better place to be sad than the ocean, I’m not sure where it is.

    It helps that we stayed in Koloa, where you can see sea turtles frequently. We got to swim five feet from them while we were snorkeling. Another time we were floating aimlessly on boogie boards and one popped up right next to me. They are gorgeous animals.

    Not a sea turtle (red-crested cardinal)

    We visited Hanalei town, which was a wonderful little town.

    Waimea Canyon was foggy but it was still beautiful.

    By the time we got to one of the best viewpoints, it was so foggy that you couldn’t see the canyon at all. It happens to be one the wettest spots on earth, receiving an average of almost 374 inches of rain per year.

    We visited blowholes. We were underwhelmed.

    We drank wine and contemplated on the beach.

    We visited Ke’e beach, which sits at the base of Bali Ha’i. The waves were huge that day, as we were getting a lot of rough surf from Typhoon Haiyan.

    We visited Opaeka’a Falls and it was pouring so hard that we snapped this photo and ran back to the car. There were flash flood warnings that day.

    We drank a lot of maitais.

    We admired the plumeria and chenille plant that surrounded our condo.

    I still think I like Maui a smidge more but Kauai gets two thumbs up. And I thought its sunsets were better than Maui’s.

    Stay warm, Portlanders! Maitais help.

  • A visit to the Limahuli Garden

    A visit to the Limahuli Garden

    Toward the end of our trip we headed to the north end of the island and took the highway as far as it goes, to one end of the Na Pali Coast. The Limahuli Valley was one of the first inhabited areas of the Hawaiian islands and it has been established as a National Tropical Botanical Garden (other gardens I’ve toured include McBryde and Kahanu).

    “Set in a narrow valley framed by soaring cliffs, Limahuli Garden and Preserve evokes the history of Kaua`i, and of the Hawaiian Islands. Born of volcanoes and isolated by thousands of miles of ocean from the rest of the world, those few species of plants, animals, and insects that arrived on these remote and barren shores had millions of years to evolve into unique forms found nowhere else on Earth.” [Source]

    The terraces at Limahuli Garden were built 700 years ago and incorporate canals that carefully divert water from a stream to water the crops of taro grown here.

    Taro
    Hawaiian kava (Piper methysticum)
    Song of India (Dracaena reflexa)
    Indian mulberry (Morinda citrifolia)
    Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

    This is my color! I love it!

    Dwarf poinciana (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)
    Croton (Codiaeum variegatum)
    Unlabeled, I think it’s a Pandanus
    Unlabeled

    Ornamental ti (Cordyline fructicosa)
    Swiss cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa)
    Cape plumbago (Plumbago auriculata)
    Sweet sop, custard apple (Annona squamosa)
    Laua’e (Microsorum grossum)

    Makou, a celery relative that is endemic to the Hawaiian islands (Peucedanum sandwicense)
    Soil not necessary
    Hau (Rauvolfia sandwicensis)
    Rasp fern (Sadleria cyatheoides)
    I’i (Dryopteris fusco-atra)
    Palapalai (Microlepia strigosa)
    Hawane, endemic to Kauai (Pritchardia limahuliensis)
    Akia (Wikstroemia uva-ursi)

    Strawberry guava (Psidium cattleianum), pretty but invasive

    Pandanus tectorius (I think)
    Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis)
    Dwarf ‘iliau (Wilkesia hobdyi)

    The finest sign ever.
    Brighamia insignis (endemic)

    If you’re ever on Kauai I really recommend this garden. It’s beautiful and it’s stuffed with incredibly rare plants that you won’t see anywhere else in the world.

  • A visit to the McBryde Garden

    A visit to the McBryde Garden

    While we were in Kauai we got quite a bit of rain, so we didn’t get to hit as many gardens as we wanted. One that we were able to visit was the McBryde Garden, one of five National Tropical Botanical Gardens. 

    “The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) is a not-for-profit institution, dedicated to discovering, saving, and studying the world’s tropical plants and to sharing what is learned.” 

    The National Tropical Botanical Gardens have plants that are found nowhere else in the world. We previously visited the Kahanu Garden on Maui, one of the NTBGs.
    The McBryde Garden:

    “. . . has become a veritable botanical ark of tropical flora. It is home to the largest ex situ collection of native Hawaiian flora in existence, extensive plantings of palms, flowering trees, Rubiaceae, heliconias, orchids, and many other plants that have been wild-collected from the tropical regions of the world. NTBG’s Conservation Program is based at this site and the Garden contains a state-of-the-art horticulture and micropropagation facility.”

    It’s huge and it’s beautiful. My only complaint was that signage wasn’t always perfect, so some plants weren’t labeled. Let’s hit it.

    Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum)

    Ricinus communis is found all over Kauai. It escaped cultivation but has not yet been labeled a noxious weed.

    I love the canopy of this tree.

    Ruffle palm, Aiphanes minima

    These palms weren’t labeled but I think they are cabbage palms, Clinostigma savoryanum, and they had the most beautiful blue trunks.

    This was one of my favorite plants, sadly unlabeled.

    The enormous glossy leaves had the coolest striations in them.

    Pittosporum halophilum

    Hibiscus
    Geckos were everywhere
    St. Thomas Bean (Entada phaseoloides)
    This enormous vine was completely entwined in a monkeypod tree.

    The McBryde Garden has an extensive spice garden, which includes a collection of coffee trees.

    Coffea arabica

    Areca palm (Dypsis lutescens)

    I’ve tried finding an areca palm because it’s one of the best houseplants for cleaning indoor air.

    Chao muang trang palm (Licuala peltata var. sumawongii)

    I want one of these. I want to take naps and have picnics under it.

    Portlandia platantha, a gorgeous member of the coffee family

    Indian shot (Canna tuerckheimii)

    This was one of my very favorites, Ficus dammaropsis.

    The enormous leaves had the most wonderful texture.

    And those blooms! The purple veining! Oh my god.

    I hope these pictures don’t make the impending sn*w they are predicting for the Portland area any worse. I know I wish I was still in Kauai. Maybe with a maitai.