Nov. 15, 2009 - Flowers of Hawaii

The Bird of Paradise is one of the plants that grow especially well in Hawaii’s warm, temperate climate. This plant is actually a close relative to the banana plant. We stayed at Ka’anapali Shores Resort on Maui where I took this photo. The resorts in Hawaii pride themselves on the quality of their gardens. We really enjoyed walking around and seeing the beautiful and exotic (to us) flowers and plants.

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The resort also had a small pond and this purple water lily was growing in it. In Minnesota we have both yellow and white water lilies so I was intrigued by this purple variety.

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The Hibiscus has been the official flower of Hawaii since 1923. There are several native species of Hibiscus. Over 30 other species have been introduced and cross cultivated with the native species to produce thousands of different varieties. At the Waipouli Beach Resort where we stayed on Kauai, they had this orange Hibiscus in addition to white and yellow varieties.

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I visited the Kula Botanical Garden on Maui. This Black-eyed Susan was one of the plants they were growing. Apparently it is a very aggressive vine and can cover whole hillsides on the Hawaiian Islands. I was interested to compare it to the Black-eyed Susans that we see in Minnesota. Ours also have a brown center and golden yellow petals. However, ours are individual plants and not a vine. They also have more petals which are longer and thinner.

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In addition to Hawaiian plants, the Kula Botanical Garden featured plants from around the world that grow well on the islands. This Bamboo Orchid form the East Indies is one of those plants.

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Plumeria trees are a common sight on the islands. They are used in landscaping at many of the resorts and in home gardens. They are also grown commercially. Their sweet smelling flowers are easy to string and are thus a popular flower for leis.

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This King Protea was also growing at the Kula Botanical Garden. I would never have guessed that its native habitat is dry, windswept mountains in South Africa and Australia. It produces these very showy blossoms which last for weeks in a flower arrangement.

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When we visited Haleakala National Park on Maui we were hoping to see this plant, the Silversword, in bloom. It grows at the 10,000 ft summit of the Haleakala volcano, above the treeline. The white hair on the succulent-type leaves protects the plant from the intense sunlight. After growing for an average of 12 years, these plants send up one giant flower stalk, which can be up to 6 ft tall, and then they die. This one, near the visitor center, was the only accessible one that bloomed this year.

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These Silversword plants were growing near the summit lookout. The one on the left hasn’t flowered yet. The one in the center probably flowered last year and is now deteriorating. Silverswords were formerly very common on the Haleakala Crater. However, by the early 20th century, introduced insects and goats along with human collectors had reduced the population to fewer than 100 plants. The National Park Service has been aggressively protecting them. They are recovering but are still endangered.

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