Kula Botanical Garden

 

Kula Botanical Garden is situated up the hill from us at about 3500 feet above sea. It's only about a twenty-minute drive but we gained a couple thousand feet of elevation during that short drive. 

We paid our $10 (each) entry fee and went in a little after nine this morning. When we got there, Ikuko and I were the only ones enjoying the clean air and majestic views. We had the trails to ourselves and when we left a couple hours later, there were only three other cars in the lot. 

During our visit, we viewed plants from all over the world. The garden was established in 1968 so many of the plants and trees are fully mature. There were so many interesting/different/strange plants that I couldn't take photos of all of them. So what you see is what caught my eye.

This is the walking map at the front desk. We were encouraged to take a pic so we could refer to it as we walked up the path, exploring on the left side, and as we descended, again exploring on our left side.

Irises after the morning watering.

A giant Pincushion (Protea)

Dragon Trees from the Canary Islands

A Bromeliad path

Safari Sunset from New Zealand

Kangaroo's Paw from Australia

Fortnight Lily

This giant Asparagus Fern looked like an octopus or giant squid as we came around the corner and eased away from its tentacles.

Spanish Bayonet Yucca. I guessed they were about 15-18 feet tall.

These Hawaiian natives are visible on the distant side of the ravine. At least their marking signs were visible. I think this is a good way to conserve the plants while still allowing a sense of discovery. 

Guardians of the Garden

Banksia Ericafolia (No common name given) reminds me of the pruned and nurtured pines in some Japanese gardens.

Orchids line one side of the orchid house

More orchids on the other side

If you look carefully you can see the stream peeping through the lush vegetation.

This is a Pot of Gold flower, part of a hedge that runs around the parking lot of the Garden. From here we can see the isthmus that bridges the low country between the Haleakala volcanic buildup and the West Maui Mountains, which we see in the center-right background. If you follow the bottom of the cloud layer to the right, just where it meets the bush in the right side of the photo, is where the Iao Valley lies. I posted photos from when we were there a couple days ago.

 

Maui Flora

 Where we are staying, at the end of a short dead-end street, many of the houses have flowers in their yards. In the mornings the hibiscus are in full glory, but in the late afternoon, they curl up and sleep until next morning. Along our street there are hibiscus hedges and individual bushes, some ten or twelve feet high. 

Some of the other flowers are these pics from the street but mostly from Dean's yard.

Flame of the Woods

Brazilian Jasmine

This Flamevine hedge is on two sides of a house near the main road. When I first saw it I thought it was honeysuckle, but there's no aroma. Looked it up to find it is called Flamevine.

Papaya flowers near the top of the tree with young fruits below.

A Bougainvillea hedge borders the small road along one property. I see several colors of Bougainvillea as we drive around town.

A Pincushion Protea

One house has a hedge of Bird of Paradise plants.

Ikuko and I standing on the footpath bridge over the Iao River with Iao Needle in the background. A stiff breeze was blowing up the valley, as you can see by Ikuko's hair trailing out behind her. Mine didn't blow so much. 

The footpath winds up through Iao State Park with side trails here and there that wander down by the river. Behind the bush over my right shoulder is the lookout at the end of the trail. I went up there by myself, navigating the 135 steps and admiring the scenery.

The following is from the Hawaii-Guide website and describes the valley better than I could.

Nestled in the lush greenery of the 'Iao Valley is the natural rock formation called the 'Iao Needle. The green-covered stone protruding from the valley floor is actually an old basaltic core (volcano remnant). The 'Iao Needle is 2,250 feet above sea level, or 1200 feet tall from the valley floor. 

The traditional name is Kuka`emoku and it's known as the phallic stone of Kanaloa (Hawaiian god of the ocean); thus the 'Iao Needle was once used as a natural altar. The name 'Iao is pronounced "EE-ow." The 'Iao Needle is surrounded by a very lovely walkway and garden of lush tropical plants. Surrounded on all sides by the Pu'u Kukui Crater, it was the site of one of the most famous battles in Hawaiian history. 

In 1790 King Kamehameha I defeated the Maui army in his quest to unite the Hawaiian Islands. It is said that when the battle was over, the stream was so damned with all the bodies that the water ran red with blood. The site was named Kepaniwai "damming of the waters." Nearby in the valley, you'll find the Kepaniwai Heritage Gardens. Take Highway 32 (Kaahumanu Road) west out of Wailuku. This road turns into Highway 320 which leads directly to the 'Iao Valley State Park. Those looking to enjoy the scenic park must follow social distancing measures and wear protective face masks for the duration of their visit.

Maui Upcountry

Dean and Katrina live in Pukalani but have a Makawao postal address. This area is in what is called Maui Upcountry where there are many ranches and farms. Elevation of their house is a little over 1600 feet. Pukalani means "Window of Heaven" in Hawaiian and Makawao means "Eye of the Forest." Elevations throughout Upcountry (depending on who you ask) range from around 1000 to over 3000 feet.

The higher elevation means that more fruit trees and vegetables grow well here. In their yard there are some old, established trees along with some newer ones that Dean has recently planted.

Here's a pic of their avocado tree. The fruits will start to ripen later in the summer and are reputed to be the best in the area. As with many fruits and vegetables, there are many varieties of avocado that are very tasty but don't make it to our stores. Here's a link to a guide to the fifty most popular varieties, if you're interested:  https://www.finedininglovers.com/article/how-many-avocado-varieties-do-you-know-here-are-over-50

These avocadoes will be ready to pick beginning in October.

Their Macadamia tree is another well-established tree.  

The tree is loaded with growing nuts that will mature later in the year. What you see is the outer husk. When the nuts are almost ripe they fall from the tree, finish ripening and then the husk splits, leaving the hard-shelled nut. 

Here's one type of Macadamia nut cracker. The base is a piece of heavy hardwood holding a heavy steel plate and there is a hole to hold the handle part when it's not being used. The handle is another heavy piece of hardwood with a hard rubber holder for the nut and a specially shaped piece of heavy wire that extends from the base of the rubber, through the handle and pops up when the nut is inserted. To use, you insert the nut, strike it forcefully on the steel plate, eject the cracked (hopefully) nut and separate the cracked shell from the nut. In this photo you see uncracked nuts at top, nuts in their husks in the middle and the cracked nuts at bottom. There is one nut in the rubber holder ready to be cracked. As you can see, the holder is partially split so it can hold various sized nuts.

A new banana tree setting its first bunch of fruit.

Dean planted these trees about a year ago. They are Apple Bananas, a popular variety here in Maui Upcountry. They are shorter than the typical bananas we get in supermarkets on the Mainland, but they are rich and sweet. 

There were a couple of papayas on the property when they bought it. These are new trees he planted and are bearing fruit already. 

A lemon tree doing its thing. The blocks around the base keep away the wild chickens who love to scratch in the fresh dirt around his plantings.

I haven't tried to count the chickens that come through their yard but there must be four or five roosters and twice as many hens. I've seen hens with 10 young chicks but as the chicks grow, natural attrition takes some so hens with larger chicks still following her have families of one to four or five chicks, the rest being lost to predation, accident and neglect.

Papayas in the foreground, next bananas with the Macadamia tree in the background.

Tomatoes grow well here. These are very tasty.

Couldn't resist taking a shot of the waning gibbous moon through the papaya.

These fruits are, in the bowl, ripe apple bananas, green bananas, two local grapefruits from the farmer's market and a lemon from Dean's tree. On the right are two varieties of avocado from the farmer's market and a couple of limes that the fisherman gave us when we bought a small (20#) Ahi tuna yesterday at a pop-up roadside stand. The tuna was freshly caught so we had sashimi and spicy tuna temaki for dinner last night.

Temperatures this time of year, in this area, run in the low sixties to the mid-eighties, although the current temperature right here is 89 degrees at 1320. Today is an unusually warm day for this time of year because there is little wind and warm sun. I must say it feels good in my arthritic joints. 

Tomorrow I'll post some of the local flowers.