I'm blowing you aloha kisses from Kauai.
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11 comments:
Aloha, ChuckB - hope y'all have a great trip.
Annie
Hawaii sounds like a great way to escape the chaos of remodeling at home. Have a fun vacation.
Have a wonderful trip!
If we are lucky Chuck and his SO will return from Kauai with pictures from the Allerton Garden at the National Tropical Botanical Garden to share.
Waaoooooo... Bon voyage mon cher Chuck et amuse-toi bien !!
Quelle chance !
Bise
You went to Hawaii in the middle of a kitchen reno?
Damn, you guys live good.
Are you lucky enough that the kitchen will be done when you get back? (I'll be really jealous, then... )
Have a great time!!! Make sure you get lei'd plenty!! ;)
Aloha, and have a wonderful trip! :)
Aww, I miss you guys!
Lisa, we got lei'd right off the plane!
(But, ya know, what happens in Hawai'i, stays in Hawai'i...)
Anyhow, it's really nice here, although the snorkeling was better when I was last here during January...2005. My god, that's a long time to go without visiting Hawaii. (Never again.)
Anyhow, are tropical fish seasonal, or is it global warming? (Guy says the latter.) Who knows. I tried to take some undwerwater pictures; we'll see what they show.
This is actually my first trip here since acquiring a serious gardening habit (i.e., since I got laid off Jan-06 and devoted myself full-time to the SF Botanical Garden for several months before starting another job). So, anyway, I'm notcing all kinds of things I didn't notice on previous trips.
For one thing, Casuarina stricta (sp?) is *everywhere* on Kauai--planted as wind breaks for the sugar cane fields. And there are 25-foot-tall monocots (that aren't bamboo)! Amazing. There's a banyan tree in my resort parking lot, and really interesting flowering beach plants growing in the sand. Pistils and stamens on Plumeria are hard to find (I made a mental note to find them before I leave...so far, drinking mudslides has been a higher priority).
Also, the whole idea of Hawaiian native plants is highly problematic, isn't it? In California, native plant enthusiasts feel pretty much just contempt and regret for the people who brought us the invading exotics Eucalyptus globulus and Genista monspesulana (sp?), but on Hawaii, a lot of exotics were brought by revered ancestors. So that's an interesting wrinkle, I think.
I'm also thinking -the whole idea of growing plants to "attract beneficials" (an obsession in my California garden) must seem rather irrelevant here...? Christopher, what do you say?
We didn't go to the Allerton, but we did go to the McBryde, and Thursday we're going to Limahuli. I'm not sure why I picked McBryde over Allerton (two gardens run out of the same location), but since they're both $25, it had to be one or the other. I guess I picked the more obscure, less showy garden? Well, McBryde was nice (and I took lots of pictures), but we look forward to seeing Allerton next time. Kauai has at least six big public gardens.
Meanwhile, back at home, I see via cc'd e-mail, the gopher debate at the community garden is reaching a fever pitch...
But that little Bernal Heights drama can wait.
For now, it's back to the poolside bar with me, for another mudslide. (The beach is just steps away, but no alcohol on the beach. [Well... ahem. heh, heh.] Then tonight, we're having Mexican, and seeing Spider-Man 3.
Take care, you guys! See you in a real blog post soon.
The original native flora and fauna of Hawaii was largely destroyed by cattle ranching, sugarcane and harvesting the forests. The landscape you see by the pool and beach at the resort is probably typical tropical resort fare that can be seen in any zone 11 motel pool bar around the world.
Back then (in the good old days) importing replacement plants and animals to replace the missing forests and to have critters they knew what to do with was considered smart and enlightened.
Native Hawaiian ecosystems exist only in remnant pockets and need protection from invaders to stay healthy, which means fences and weeding. It is like a really big zoo for them.
Birds and insects fly and move where ever they want. Most of them at resort level elevations are all introduced either on purpose or accidentally. An entirely new ecosystem evolves before our very eyes. That includes many beneficial insects that help keep the nasties in check. So yes Chuck I have long planted small flowers and let some weeds reign free to attract the good bugs. My garden is alive!
My poor lizards are freaking a bit right now as the foliage cover gets reduced by %75.
We have completely and forever messed up a unique native landscape. There is no reason to add insult to injury by dousing it with poison. That and lots of hungry mouths is one reason you may be seeing less fish under water.
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