A passion vine butterfly drinks sweet nectar from a tasselflower. I think it’s a Florida tasselflower (Emilia fosbergii), which is also known as Flora’s paintbrush.
Category Archives: Flowers
White plumeria
This week’s posts are on the theme of the WordPress photo challenge, ‘Tour Guide.’
Tropical foliage and flowers are another Hawaii must-see. Those tender house plants back home grow like weeds here. The east side of the Big Island, with its copious rainfall, is lush and green with sprays of tropical color as different plants come into bloom.
Plumerias are a quintessential tropical plant, much used here in the making of leis.
Gold dust day gecko on a bird of paradise
This week’s posts are on the theme of the WordPress photo challenge, ‘Tour Guide.’
Today’s photo features a couple of tropical standbys, a gold dust day gecko getting ready to take a drink from a bird of paradise flower. The flower is a riot of color and the gecko, also very colorful, is bold and cheerful. Most visitors are likely to encounter at least one, glued to a wall or ceiling, watching them with a somewhat bemused expression.
Purple allamanda
Purple allamanda is a member of the dogbane (Apocynaceae) family. It’s an evergreen tropical shrub that produces a generous display of large flowers. However, all the parts of the plant are toxic if swallowed and the milky white sap can be irritating for skin, so be warned.
Painted lady butterfly
The painted lady butterfly is one of the most common butterflies in the world, but it’s only recently that I’ve spotted a few of them in Hawaii. This isn’t because they’re a recent introduction. They’ve been around here since the late 1800s. I guess I just haven’t been visiting the right areas.
Orchids
This week’s WordPress photo challenge is ‘Variations on a theme.’ One of my first thoughts was orchids. It’s a family of flowers that is constantly changing as one plant is crossed with another to produce something a little different. So this is a collage of some orchids I’ve photographed at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden.
For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
Billbergia pyramidalis
Another post based on the theme of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which is ‘Silence.’
I like to visit Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden a few times a year. The last time I was there, I got the last spot in the parking lot and expected to spend the morning elbowing my way through crowds. Imagine my surprise when I set out on the path into the garden and found it deserted. No one going down ahead of me, no one puffing their way up either. For a few minutes it was just me and a profusion of tropical plants, one of which was this Billbergia pyramidalis.
Billbergia pyramidalis is a bromeliad, also known as ‘Flaming torch.’ I wonder why?
For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
Zygonisia cynosure orchid
In Hawaii, plants grow year-round so there is no ‘spring’ where the first new growth sprouts from the ground. But there are still seasons, times when certain plants come into bloom and then seed. This is one of several reasons why I like revisiting Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, north of Hilo. There’s always something new to see by visiting at different times of year.
On my most recent visit, I found this orchid, Zygonisia Cynosure ‘Blue Birds,’ blooming. It is, apparently, about as close as it gets to a blue orchid. It does have a certain ethereal quality about it.
For more information about Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, go to htbg.com.
