I could have used this photo for last week’s Sunday Stills challenge on the theme of ‘In Your Town,’ but it also works for this week’s theme of ‘Traditions.’ (see more offerings here.)
These two giant banyan trees are half a block up from the main highway through downtown Hawi. Each Saturday, a farmers market is held on the grassy area beneath these trees. That event is part grocery shop, part social gathering.
The rest of the week, the location is the traditional meeting place for the area, particularly for people carpooling. If someone says to meet under the banyans, or at the banyans, the location is immediately understood.
A yellow-fronted canary perches on a Leonotis leonurus plant before taking off again. Leonotis leonurus is also known as lion’s tail, lion’s ear or wild dagga. it’s native to South Africa.
Let’s face it, heliconias are weird looking. Long hanging flowers, bit sticking out all over, neon colors. This heliconia is Heliconia caribaea X Bihai ‘bubblegum’ and it’s notable, not just for the bright pink, yellow and orange, but for the soft, downy texture on the flower.
I took these photos on a recent visit to Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. The plant looked somewhat familiar to me, but I couldn’t put a name to it. After rummaging through the garden’s plant database, I finally identified it as billbergia nutans. That name sounded even more familiar and a quick check revealed it was a plant I grew in my (tropical) garden in Washington State. There, it was an annual or one to be overwintered indoors. Here, it grows year-round.
Graham's Island 