Hawaiian Wiliwli tree flowers are usually orange, but can also be yellow, greenish, and white.

There are healthy trees around the State, but they are usually in preserves in intact dry forests, such as at Auwahi Forest Preserve on Maui.

http://nativeplants.hawaii.edu...

http://www.nativehawaiiangarde...

http://www.starrenvironmental....

I found this article on the use of the Eurytomid wasp to control the wiliwili bugs. Is it working?

http://www.sandiegozooglobal.o...

I remember the erythrina on the San Diego campus as red, but it could have been red-orange as in the links you posted. It was planted in a large stone walled bed as a specimen plant in a concrete patio. The only plant in that area as I remember. Its good to see what they look like in a natural context.

Toni: I am just now watching the urban permaculture video. he sure has a lot of varied plants growing in a small space! I have 3 acres here and Im just now getting the planting in. Original plants on this 100 year old property were 3 pecans probably planted earlier than the house was built. (One has a WWI ammo belt embedded in it). There is a pear tree, and a few muscadines. On the perimeter --as a hedge row are osage orange. So there is lots of room to develop food forest type plantings. One feature I want to plant that I saw once on archaeological survey. At the forest edge was a grove of American persimmons. Those are native to the area. (And a favorite food for possums).

I've heard a few things about native persimmons in the last couple of months when I had never heard of them before. I sometimes listen to Mike McGrath podcasts and he refers a lot to Lee Reich who's supposed to be a fruit tree guru. Seems it would be a great producing tree to start with.

The possums sure like them. Ive had a few, but they are not really edible unless there has been a light frost. I guess most people like the japanese persimmons better. But I thought at first Id stick with the natives. There is such a persimmon grove near here. Ill have to check out Lee Reich. Thanks.

If the Erythrina tree has a red flower, it likely is not a Hawaiian Wiliwili.

Just like measures used to save other trees with their natural habitat ruined, the Wiliwili tree needs to be in it's native forest surroundings. They are grown as a specimen tree, but for them to survive naturally they must be in situ, in a dry forest ecosystem. The zoo won't work. They look good on a city street, but that won't replace millennia of being in their own niche.

Amazing pic.

Metrosideros; Well said. I think the same could be said of the species homo sapiens sapiens. So sad that most people don't know what a forest ecosystem is or what one looks like.

Hazelnut - thanks for your recommendation on the book. Received my copy of Introduction to Permaculture on Sunday and have been reading various sections. DD is also going to loan me her two-set volumes to go through as well. I doubt that I'll be setting up any guilds this year but I think it's just as important to get some of the information into practice.

Let us know how you like Introduction to Permaculture.

Please do look at this on line PDF of Bill Mollisons first 14 articles Pamphlets I through XIV

http://www.barkingfrogspermacu... I think it is really basic to permaculture based thinking.

I think information and planning is basic--but don't do like I do sometimes, spending my time learning and designing in my mind or on paper, but it never transpires into reality on the ground. I also found that a lot of permaculture recommendations seemed to use a tropical rain forest model. I think a lot of northern forests are actually more spaced horizontally than they are vertically. A bare back yard is intimidating: what to plant, how to plant. Its easy to study hard, and say I should do this, or this. But the bottom line is what will you really use and need. To my mind we have a food crises looming. Our food is sometimes more contaminated than our compromised bodies can handle. A spot with those leafy greens and curcifers is almost a necessity. But to me, a garden without roses is no garden at all. And there is such a thing as edible flowers. Right now I have a plan for a Blueberry hedge underplanted with violets--which like to grow wild here. It is replacing a camellia hedge, but there are still a few Japonicas in there. The more I learn about herbs and herbal medicines, I realize that those should have a home in my garden as well. Any garden design should leave room to grow. If the land needs rebuilding, a schedule of cover crops may be necessary before incorporating design. Nitrogen fixers can include things like a pea crop,maybe followed in the summer by buckwheat, but in my garden the basic thing lacking is humus.

Metrosideros mentioned his tea and medicine gardens. I hope he will be back to describe those in more detail.

I do plan to do a little more research on how to apply the principles to a midwestern forested area. In a way, a bare yard would be easier to plan and implement than one already full of trees and ornamental plants. Two years ago I edited a mostly sunny bed (as opposed to the rest of my mostly shady yard) by removing non-essential ornamentals. I left the roses and made pockets around them to plant vegetables such as tomatoes, chard, kale, snow peas, cucumbers and squash. I don't have room to grow a great number of these things but it's a start. I grow a lot of leafy greens and carrots in large pots as well. I'm contemplating adding greens in other garden beds as well but have cabbage moths to contend with.

Here is a view of my 1st cocoa orchard with green tea plants in the foreground.

2nd, Criollo cocoa pod with Vanilla growing along side.

3rd, green tea flower.

Cocoa orchard? Is this the same as cacao? As in cacao beans. I knew it grew in Africa, didn't know it grows in Hawaii. I recently bought a bag of the raw beans off Amazon.

Yes, I grow two types of cocoa, Forestero (Theobroma cacao subsp. sphaerocarpa) and Criollo (Theobroma cacao subsp. cacao).
Hawai'i's windward areas have potential to produce some of the best chocolate. In Kea'au, Hershey's & Amway used to have a test orchard. It's beans produced twice the average butterfat of cocoa grown in other areas. But, they also has a test orchard in Ka'anapali, Maui (leeward) which failed, & they abandoned the project.

Plantations in Africa are generally grown from a hybrid of the two subspecies. known as Trinateros. This is the main source of Hershey's chocolate. The African plantations are in trouble due to disease. This is due to the large monocropping on the plantations. Disease gets on a tree, then goes through the plantation like dominos falling.

Cocoa does best in a mixed forest. In it's native habitat, it is an understory tree of old growth rainforest. I produce cocoa by growing the trees as part of a mixed food forest, using mulch, CaCO2, and chicken manure.

Its almost impossible here to find cocoa without sugar in it -- and worse, artificially sweetened. You can buy Hershey's cocoa powder that doesn't have any sugar.

For Christmas, someone sent me a sack of Raw Chocolate Beans: Cacao Beans: Mayan Superfood. Company Navitas Naturals.

On the back it says Organic cocao--theobroma cacao product of Peru. So that must be the same type as you have there.

I think when people find out how many nutrients there are in cocoa beans, there will be a huge demand for cocao beans without sugar.

One of my favorite recipes is black bean chili made with cocoa. it really is a Mexican recipe I learned from friends in San Diego. Chile and chocolate is a great combination.

Chili & Chocolate is one of my favorite flavors!

The best taco seasoning is tomatoes, chili peppers, cocoa, cumin, onions, garlic, & oregano.

I make chocolate with ground cocoa, raw sugar, and vanilla extract. If it's not at least 50% cocoa, it's not chocolate; it's chocolate flavored candy. I like chocolate with around 70% cocoa. Hershey's milk chocolate candy is around 20% cocoa; their dark chocolate candy around 30%. As Hershey's African crop deteriorates, their chocolate confections will have less & less cocoa in them, and more artificial flavor, yum
The cost of cocoa is expected to increase greatly in the next decade.

Cocoa has important curative properties. It's an antibacterial. A pinch of cocoa powder, spread across the gums & teeth, deters the caries bacteria (chocolate candy rots the teeth). When on the trail it's good to bring strong dark chocolate along. If one gets cut, the chocolate can be used to cover the wound to prevent infection and speed healing.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002GXF44Q/

if someone needs a gift, this is what they usually get from me.

What could be in a gift?!!

Metrosideros, I like yours better!

Always fun to make chocolate, but it takes a long time to turn out good (conching). Therefore Chocolate on special occasions & gifts ( if the small batch product is good).

Vanilla is just starting to produce the season's flowers. Will track the routine of pollinating Vanilla flowers as they mature.

Always fun to make chocolate, but it takes a long time to turn out good (conching). Therefore Chocolate on special occasions & gifts ( if the small batch product is good).

Vanilla is just starting to produce the season's flowers. Will track the routine of pollinating Vanilla flowers as they mature.