Starting with a scary title but not really that bad. First time this year, last night a pig or pigs got under a rusty wire fence and devoured a number of running bamboo canes at the back of the house. Thats the good news. Bad news is our dog, Max, barked at them on and off for three hours last night so sleep deprivation was an issue today. Being awake for a short time last night was not all bad as we had a beautiful strawberry moon, a rare sight for us as it is usually cloudy.
So this afternoon I cut 34ft of fencing, anchored it to a post at one end, laid it out to a post at the other end and that was it. Tomorrow I will buy some metal posts and work with the Come-along to finish the job.
Count of downed running bamboo is 740 so far this year.
The bromeliad project at the zoo is going well. Last week Monday the nursery delivered 86 colourful plants and last Tuesday my friend and I cleaned and planted 7 of the 19 planters. We hope to get to the remaining planters this coming Tuesday after picking up more bromeliads from the nursery which will be a donation from the owner
Back to the home acreage. This past few days I have been trimming Shooting Star Clerodendrum bushes and Hapuu ferns from an area in front of the house and next to Max's dog run. The front deck and dining room where getting dark with all of the foliage so it was time for a radical clearing. Today I moved on to the fence around the dog run clearing a huge bush that has yellow daisy flowers and taking an invasive vine out of a clumping bamboo. Needed step ladder to get to the mess on the clumping bamboo. Further around the other side of the dog pen was overgrown passion vines, an invasive Mendinilla and a giant Brazilian Cloak bush. Cut the Cloak bush back from the dog pen fence and will tackle cutting down the bush next week.
When working at the zoo, if we do a large amount of trimming we leave it in a heap and the zoo staff come and collect it with a truck. I realized this week that it does not work that way at home. After all the timming I have giant heaps of rubbish to haul to the green waste pile.
Bamboos are growing well. The clumping bamboos are showing a fair number of new canes. This one is Giganteus.
The three evergreen trees mentioned in the last blog are still in pots. Clearing the forest for them has been a larger project than projected. Probably take a couple more weeks.
Water Lily tubs on the front deck are benefiting from fertilizer. One is already blooming and the other, which has not bloomed for years has two buds
Along the front deck porch railing with have two types of passion vines that provide us with blooms and entertainment. The vines are homes to at least one chamelion and a couple of Geckos. Today one of the chamelions was shedding its skin
Here are few other blooms from around the yard This one is a Mendinilla
A Beehive ginger
jAnthuriums
Seeding Anthurium
This bromeliad was a gift from the Nursery provide plants for the zoo.
This is the Fuschia with the black center. Oops wrong one but its nice anyway.
Not a bad couple of weeks. Weather has been a bit showery but plenty of time for yard work. Have to stop now and work on my Latch Hook rug. Promised myself I would finish it before opening the box that come in the mail containing a stamp album I won on an ebay auction. Its stuffed full of stamps and was a real steal. Can't wait. I just passed the 80,000 number of stamps in my collection.
Wednesday was the Friends of the Zoo board meeting. I'm the only guy and only plant person on the board so I wave my flag for the zoo gardens. Lots of landscaping has to be done after construction and one the projects is replanting 19 5ft x 1ft planters located in a few locations around the zoo.
We had a discussion about needing to add some new plants and for easy maintenance we decided on Bromeliads. Approval was given to spend up to $500. (More on that later). We also decided to have a second fundraising plant sale in October so that is another ball in my court. This time I have a team of three to help. I did basically everything for the last sale held May lst. My primary job is to line up vendors.
After the board meeting I went to the nursery with the Pine trees and purchased a Sugi Pine, cypressus "Ice Blue" and a sequoia or Coast redwood. Should be fun seeing those grow over the next couple of years.
I had a few minutes to spare in town before the board meeting so went to the local nursery store and purchased a variegated papyrus, a small ginger and a variegated philodrendrum for the shady glen garden.
Today I had an appointment with Bromeliads Hawaii. They are a world distributor of hybrid bromeliads and run a nursery with acres of covered benches (check them out on line) Visits are by appointment only so when I got there I was the only visitor and met Mr Shiigi and his daughter Royanne. Really nice folks.Got to see acres of bromeliads and talk story for a while. They will be emailing me a proposal for buying about 75 bromeliads for the zoo. In keeping with local aloha spirit they gave me two wonderful bromeliads for my yard just for visiting.
This afternoon i was out in the forest with the chainsaw clearing trees to make way for the pine trees. Result will be a large wood pile off to one side.
Running bamboo is getting aggressive. Number of "kills" now at 519. Clumping bamboo Alfonse Karr has started to put out new canes Still waiting for most of the clumpers to wake up.
Six pots of Canna Lilies have had a spring awakening. Nice orange and yellow blooms. I'm going to put them in the ground this year. Trying to reduce by plants in pots. The remaining hybiscus plants went from pots to the ground this week.
While visiting Home Depot last Monday to buy wood screws I passed through their garden dept and picked up a wonderful Fuschia that has a "black" center. I was going to try and take cuttings but decided to just repot it into a hanging pot and put it out on a tree in the shady glen garden. Four different varieties of fuschia bloom out there now.
I was given the responsibility by the zoo of growing "Jean Curtis" vireya cuttings (tropical rhodedendrums). Jean Curtis was a past member of Friends of the Zoo and has a memorial garden. Two cutting have rooted and will go to the zoo next week.
We had two large white Tilapia fish die recently. Probably 11 years old and each weighed about 2 pounds. Will have to think about replacements but we still have a few left.
Water lilies are either in bloom or showing buds.
We have a red passion vine growing below the front deck railing so this year we let it climb up to the railing and have now trained it along the length of the deck (like a Lei). Always has nice red blooms and makes a good hiding place for green geckos. (maybe photos next time)
Hawaiian tree ferns are an asset in the garden. Really majestic with their large fronds. However each year one set dies off an fresh ones appear. The dead ones turn an ugly brown and lower themselves to the ground blocking pathways. These fern frond are like 6 ft long and 2 feet wide and with dozens of ferns throughout the forest cleaning them up once a year is hard work for someone my age?
The other obstacle in the yard is palm leaves. We have giant palm trees with palm fronds that weight 50 lbs and about 25 ft long that come crashing down from heights of 40 ft. Stay out of the way of those guys. Once on the ground they have to hauled to the rubbish heap. Palm leaves waving in the wind on Waikiki beach look magical but try cleaning up after them. Ours are not coconut palms so no nuts on the trees just the one cleaning up.
Well thats if for this evening. I think I'm up to date with gardening activities. Please note no oinons, carrots, irises or day lilies like a read in most the the blogs, just rampant tropical jungle fun.
Gardening at the zoo today. Zoo has been closed 16 months due to COVID and ADA compliance construction. Firm opening date is July 19th. As the contractors slowly fade from view we have to work on landscaping. Dozens of palm trees were removed, grass was sacrificed for wheelchair ramps and old buildings were demolished or renovated. Today I was planting Gardenia bushes and Red spider lilies but this is volcano land so after going down 4 inches in new top soil we hit contractors rock fill or lava rock. Working with what we had we got most of the job done. I volunteered to do gardening not pickaxing rock.
No energy left for work at home but I did manage to get some plants fertilized while walking the dog through the forest. Max did not like being ignored but it was the only way I could combine what had to be done with what needed to be done.
Clumping bamboo are showing new canes. New plants that were put in the ground this time last year have new leaves flushing out and new canes poking through. Three black Java bamboo have new canes and the GIANT giganteus has three new canes developing. Will post pics as they get bigger.
The new Shady Glen garden is looking good. New plants are being added, Beehive gingers, three different bamboos, heliconias and fushcias in hanging pots. All new plantings look sparse to start but in twelve months time they will have filled in and look great. Still chainsawing down Waiwi trees. Had four good size ones leaning against a couple of 20 foot Australian tree ferns. My neighbor and I were able to get the trees off them without damage but, as always, there is the clean up to do.
Tomorrow I'm off to a local nursery to buy (I hope) two blue spruce and a giant redwood tree. Thats something new for me but I'm told they will love it at my elevation.
Always something new going on somewhere in the garden. More update next time.
Thought about a blog and then went back and read May 17th and June 5th from last year.
Amazingly what is happening in the garden today is an exact copy of those two blogs. Only difference is that all the plants are just one year older.
After attending my own BAD meeting I have been blog free now for 6 weeks. Did not realize how much of my time was getting disrupted by sitting in front of the computer reading and writing garden blogs.
Since my last blog nothing has really changed. My neighbor from Seattle has returned home after helping me with four or five good chainsaw sessions trimming out more forest for planting. The Shady Glen garden is what I think I am calling it and its almost finished.
Weeks, yes weeks, of heavy tropical rains have slowed garden progress and turned forest paths into mud. Just this past week we have had sunshine and strong breezes to help dry things out. I've counted four trees down. Two on the other side of the bridge have blocked trails. I have cut one up to allow me to walk the dog, the other is still awaiting attention.
Closer to home one tree came down across the path to the Shady Glen garden and I can step over it. I'm leaving it there as the long horizontal trunk adds an interesting feature on which I can hang baskets of plants. The leafy top rests in the forest. The fourth tree was a problem. A large ironwood fell across the entrance to the potting greenhouse along the edge of the driveway. My angels are kind. The trunk missed a beautiful Camelia bush and the heavy branched top of the tree fell over the fence and into the forest. My Seattle friend came over and cut up the trunk and we used my van to take it to his compound so he could prep it for firewood upon his return next year.
Spring is in the air. I counted 14 orchid cactus buds in the greenhouse yesterday. The running bamboo is showing signs of growth again (remember I kicked over 800 new canes last year). Other bamboos are starting to flush out new leaves and one has two new canes so it won't be long before the clumping bamboo take off.
I'm in the middle of organizing The Friends of the Zoo fundraising plant sale to be held May 1st. I HAVE TO be in contact with local nurseries that are vendors and I'm also calling nurseries to donate plants that we can sell on the FOZ booth. This is a new challenge for me to get permits in place, think of COVID rules and as the sale gets closer finding help for assist in making it a successful day. 11 vendors and 3 contributing nurseries so far.
Started planting out young ginger plants that I have raised from seed and put a bunch of bromeliads in the ground in the Shady Glen garden.
Out in the forest it is getting a little depressing as weeds start to grow and the ground remains muddy. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks, with improving weather I will get across the bridge without the dog and do some actual cleaning up. I take the dog out on his walk twice a day and that gives me a chance to see the plants that I have got in the ground and monitor their growth.
Otherwise cutting grass, raking up bamboo leaves and dragging 30ft palm fronds to the green waste pile.
