Category Archives: Flowers

Pretty in pink

A Pink container in Hawaii
This shipping container, parked in Kawaihae, isn’t likely to blend into the background.

This week’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme is ‘Pink.’ See more responses here.

Hawaiian Crown Flowers

White Hawaiian Crown Flowers
A Hawaiian Crown Flower bush

Hawaiian Crown Flowers (Calotropis gigantea) came from India originally, and became popular here because they were favored by Queen Liliuokalani, the last ruler of the Hawaiian monarchy. The purple flower was the one first introduced here, back in the 1880s, with this white variety arriving some 30 years later.

The plant gets its name from the shape of the flowers, which are used in making leis. As members of the milkweed family, they also host Hawaii’s Monarch Butterflies. The plant has a milky sap that is toxic, but that Monarchs, and their caterpillars, are immune to. The caterpillars are voracious eaters, decimating the Crown Flower leaves, but the plant will bounce back after the caterpillars pupate. The plant is drought tolerant and does well on the dry side of the island here.

Hawaiian Crown Flower seeds

The Numbers Game #72

Lava fountaining in the summit caldera of Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
Lava fountaining during the 21st episode of the current eruption at Kilauea Volcano.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 193. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

The top photo is from two days ago, when I finally made it down to Kilauea Volcano to see the latest in a string of eruptions. Hopefully, I will get my photos sorted for a longer post about that in the next day or two.

The Numbers Game #71

A beach at Kekaha Kai Park.

The idea of The Numbers Game is to enter a number into the search bar of your computer and then post a selection of the photos that turn up. This week’s number is 192. Captions are on the photos. You can see more responses here.

Photos for people who like pastels

Pastel Candies in Hawaii
Pastel shades of candy.

This week’s Sunday Stills color challenge theme is ‘Pastels.’ See more responses here. Captions on the photos.