North Shore NewsBy Madison Eckstrom, Horticultural Technician at Waimea Valley
In the morning at Waimea, when the sun starts to streak across the gardens and the dew begins to dry, the hibiscus buds open. It’s the time of ma‘o has here, whose distinct vibrant, yellow flowers seem to be a luminescence on those rain-filled winter days. The aureate petals respond to the pattern of the sun, disappearing by nightfall only to open another day. This endangered endemic, Hibiscus brackenridgei, only blooms a few months out of the year, from late winter to spring, but pulls crowds to our hibiscus collections when it does.
Mauna of Hale Hō‘ike, the coral-colored flowers of Amherstia nobilis are displayed. The coruscating blossoms feature a striking yellow face contrasting its uniformly pink body. When the winds blow the tree responds, the flowers like birds flapping their wings outstretched, the leaves like skirts whirling. The hot pink-and-green striped seed pods hang like ornaments from the tree’s branches, while the new foliage starts copper colored and limp, disguising itself as decaying leaves to protect against hungry predators.
And with winter near its end, it’s time for the Strongylodon macrobotrys bloom. The twisted stems of this blue jade vine climb the trellis in Aunty Coco’s Lei Garden, stopping visitors in their tracks with turquoise magnificent enough to be featured in Oz’s Emerald City itself. The aqua-colored flowers are distinct from the rich, violet-colored petioles which it hangs. Its chain-like inflorescence dangles similar to a chandelier from the ceiling, adorning flowers in the shape of closed-wing butterflies, showing off to the less decorated world around it.
Waimea Valley, owned and managed by Hi‘ipaka LLC, is a botanical garden and certified arboretum. We encourage everyone to visit our gardens and stop to smell the flowers. Learn more about Waimea’s gardens on the daily botanical tour at 12:30 pm, included in the general admission fee. As Louie Schwartzberg once emphasized, “Beauty and seduction, I believe, is nature’s tool for survival, because we will protect what we fall in love with.”
Visit us at www.waimeavalley.net or follow us @waimeavalleyoahu