Maui Sunsets

Maui Sunsets
Sky Watch Friday

This Skywatch was taken right off the back deck of the house in Kihei, Hawaii. I had only been in Hawaii a couple of hours when this photo op presented itself.

This next sunset was also taken in Kihei (I think it is pronounced key-hey) but down by the beach. This sunset went on for hours or so it seemed. That is the southeast shore of the island of Lanai in the distance. It was a very mysterious island that always seemed to lurking in the background. This was taken with the D70s and 105mm Nikon lens. One area that the D700 performs better than the D70 is with digital noise. This photo has a lot of noise and I tried running a noise reduction program on it but it didn’t help much. It is not often that I wish I had the D700 but this shot was one of them.


This one won’t make into the travel brochure :lol:


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Golden Smoke Tree

Smoke Tree
Cotinus coggygria 'Golden Spirit'
(ko-TYE-nus) (kog-GY-gree-uh)

Dumbcane
Dieffenbachia cv.
(def-en-BAH-kee-ah)

Two From Central Park, Manhattan

Two From Central Park, Manhattan

Wordless Wednesday

See more Ruby Tuesday at Work of the Poet.

Pink Rose from Central Park

Pink Rose from Central Park

Yesterday was beautiful here and since we found ourselves in Manhattan visiting the park seemed like a good idea. There are always a lot of things to take pictures of and after a bit of searching I came upon this rose. It had the most delicate shading and even though there was a fence separating the two of us I imagined it smelled nice.

Keeping with the Beatles theme we have had around here the last couple of days this photo is from the Strawberry Fields Memorial in Central Park. The flowers were a nice touch. It was interesting to hang around for a few minutes and watch the depth of emotions of the other people visiting the site.

Strawberry Fields Globe Amaranth

Globe Amaranth
Gomphrena haageana 'Strawberry Fields'
(gom-FREE-nuh) (hag-ee-AH-nuh)
Synonyms: Gomphrena

This is the first year in many that we grew Globe Amaranth and the first time ever for the brilliantly red colored 'Strawberry Fields'. This flower’s brightly colored bracts seemed to bloom all season and performed well in a hot and dry border and containers. It got up to about 24 inches tall and did flop over a bit although the flopping plants and flowers were still graceful. I would recommend it as a free flowering low maintenance annual.


Previously we had only used Gomphrena globosa and that always had done well but this plant is a bit different (different species). The red Gomphrena flowers can be used in arrangements and dries as an everlasting.

Since yesterday a Yellow Submarine was featured here I though it was funny Strawberry Fields is today. The Beatles song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
“was originally intended for the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), but was instead released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with Paul McCartney's "Penny Lane". "Strawberry Fields Forever" reached number eight in the US, with numerous critics describing it as one of the group's best recordings. It is one of the defining works of the psychedelic rock genre and has been covered by many other artists. The song was later included on the Magical Mystery Tour LP (1967).”
From Wikipedia

I know it blew me away the first time I listened to it. Since it is Sunday and that means Today’s Flowers here is an extra shot of an Orchid from work. It was a gift to the garden’s owner and it didn’t come in with a tag. It has been blooming for weeks now.


For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Royal Poinciana Tree

Royal Poinciana
Delonix regia
(dee-LON-iks) (REE-jee-uh)
Synonyms: Flamboyant Tree, Flame Tree, Peacock Flower, Gulmohar

To me this is one of the beautiful tropical trees there is. In 2007 I posted the modest goal of wanting to see this tree and the Jacaranda Tree in bloom. Now one of the trees can be checked off the list. We saw several Royal Poinciana in flower on Maui. There was one tree that literally looked like it was on fire. It wasn’t till I found this tree blooming in a parking lot in Paiai, which bills itself as Maui’s Coolest Little Town, that the flowers were low enough to get photographed.

The tree is graceful and beautiful in every way. The shape is stately and the foliage is a great color green and nicely shaped. The flowers have wonderful details and also give an amazing appearance from far away. The long and flat pods looked like they wouldn’t be great to clean up but they are attached to tree they look good and add more detail to the look of the tree.

This next photo is the Reefdancer in Lahaina. It isn’t actually a yellow submarine but a glass bottom boat. The song by the Beatles was going through my head the other day and it was frustrating that I couldn’t remember the words so I had to look them up. Something I didn’t know was the song Yellow Submarine was actually released on the Revolver album in 1966. The Yellow Submarine album was the soundtrack for the film. The film was freaky for its time and had some animation effects that were really cool (again for 1969).


Both of these pics were taken with the D70s and the Sigma 24mm/1.8 lens.

Pink Rose Close up

Pink Rose Close up

The name of this rose has been lost but its beauty hasn’t. There seems to be more and more color blends of roses all the time. This one is a nice blend since it has a ‘main’ color and a little blending. From a personal standpoint those are the best.

Today is our own version of Furlough Friday as work as slowed down now and is suppose to be really windy with some rain as the remnants of ‘Ida’ blow through the area. The storm has been pretty much stalled to the south of here for the last couple of days and in that regard we have been lucky. Good day to work on the new website.

Today is Friday the 13th.

From the Wikipedia article:
“Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on Friday, which superstition holds to be a day of good or bad luck. In the Gregorian calendar, this day occurs at least once, but at most three times a year. Any month's 13th day will fall on a Friday if the month starts on a Sunday. In 2009 this applies to the months of February, March, and November. The next instance of this appears on the calendar for the year 2015”

Orange Daylilies

Orange Daylilies
Hemerocallis cv.
(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)
Hemerocallidaceae (hem-err-oh-kal-ahh-DAY-see-eye)


These Daylilies were from this summer. I can’t remember exactly but think that they are two different cultivars. Both were really orange. Here is a link to the site:
FAQ about Daylilies at Daylilies.org.
That page should give any information you need or want about Daylilies.

There sure have been a lot of Daylilies posted here this year. There are still some photos to go through from my visit to the NYBG’s Daffodil and Daylily Walk and Planting Fields Arboretum’s Daylily collection.

Bridgette New York Aster

New York Aster
Symphyotrichum novi-belgii 'Bridgette'
(sim-fy-oh-TRY-kum) (NO-vee BEL-jee-eye)
Synonyms: Michaelmas Daisy

Wooden Frog Drums

Wooden Frog Drums
Wordless Wednesday

Black and White Maui Flowers

Black and White Maui Flowers
New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens x hybrida
(im-PAY-shuns)
Synonyms: Impatiens hawkeri



These flowers were blooming in the up country part of Maui. I was leaning over a little planting bed taking pictures when someone walked up and that they were all native Hawaiian plants. I didn’t say anything because the bed did have some native looking stuff but I knew these flowers were native to South Africa.

It is one of my favorite annuals and we still grow it even though some years it doesn’t look that great. When it is on it is one of the most classy, dainty and dignified annuals in the garden.

When I visit Hawaii I expect to see some different things. It is in the tropics and a long, long way from home (5,000 miles) so things are bound to be a little different.


However I really didn’t get this Buddha with a chain around its neck. It was weird and went right over my head (probably better that way). Here is a regular Buddha that was ‘normal’.

Franklin Tree

Franklin Tree
Franklinia alatamaha
(frank-LIN-ee-uh) (uh-lah-tah-MAH-hah)

Yesterday there was a little extra time in the day so I checked out Lasdon Park in Westchester County.

It is quite a beautiful garden that is big and well cared for but not overwhelming or overdone. In fact I wanted some pictures of seed heads and broken down perennials but they had dutifully cut them all back already.


Seeing this Franklin tree in flower and fall foliage was a rare treat. They really had some nice other trees at the arboretum. The Franklin tree is named after Ben Franklin and is considered extinct in the wild. It is probably the latest flowering tree around here.

Here is a link for more information:
New Georgia Encyclopedia – Franklin Tree . I like how they refer to it as “The Lost Camellia”.

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Daylily ‘Lavender Illusion’

Daylily ‘Lavender Illusion’
Hemerocallis
(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

This large flowered Hybrid Daylily was introduced in 1975. It really had unusual color. It is considered to be a diploid type that grows to about 30 inches tall. There seems to be some variation of color between plants and even individual flower stalks. Maybe that is where the illusion part comes in.

The freeze came last night and the flower garden looks almost completely wasted. The Nemesia and some of the mums might make it but we will have to see what happens when the sun comes up. I have to work today but I am not complaining about it. We just got a large transplanting job and it needs to get started as soon as possible. The two largest plants are a eight inch caliper Variegated Japanese Maple and a ‘Hoopsi’ Blue Spruce that is about 12 feet tall.

Mums and Snapdragons

Mums and Snapdragons

This is one of the late season containers we planted at work. The mums are the ‘premium’ type and I am not sure exactly what type they are. Every year some of the pots get changed over to something like this when the regular annuals get tired.

This pot had some Salvia ‘Argentine Skies’ and they did okay but there wasn’t a lot of color at the end of the season. You can’t see it but there is also a ‘Blackie’ Sweet Potato and some Brachyscome multifida daisies in this pot. They were left over form the summer and still looked good.

Thankfully the forecasted snow didn’t come last night. We are in for a windy and cold day for today. Tonight it is supposed to drop to 27 degrees F and that is going to finish the garden around here. The gardens at work have a forecasted temperature of 32 degrees, which means a lot of cleanup on Monday.

Striped Volcano Garden Phlox

Striped Volcano Garden Phlox
Phlox paniculata 'Volcano Candy Stripe'
(floks) (pan-ick-yoo-LAY-tuh)

The ‘Volcano’ series of Phlox was featured on this blog here. This one looked pretty amazing and better than the striped Phlox featured on this post. It had a much larger flower and was a darker pink.

I really have to try and get some of these Volcano Phlox next year. All of the Garden Phlox was so beautiful this year. With the cloudy days and rain we had all season you would have thought the mildew problems would have been worst than ever but that wasn’t the case. They stayed beautiful and only got a little disease late in the season. There was one called ‘Bright Eyes’ that was still blooming yesterday. We were religious in cutting back the spent blooms.

It certainly renewed my faith in this star of the perennial border. If it hadn’t been so late when I spotted this striped one it would have definitely been in the garden. I probably should have just gotten them anyway.

Hawaiian Orchid

Hawaiian Orchid

Montauk Daisy

Montauk Daisy
Nipponanthemum nipponicum
(nip-pon-AN-the-mum) (nip-PON-ih-kum)
Synonyms: Nippon Daisy

Steinhardt Gardens

Steinhardt Gardens
Bedford, New York

Keeping up the streak of incredible Sundays I have had was my trip to the Steinhardt Estate in Westchester County. Open to the public twice a year through the Garden Conservancy yesterday was the fall day. In some ways it would have been better one or two weeks earlier since a lot of the foliage was down. It didn’t erase any of the beauty of the place.

Among the collection of 2,000 species of plants are 350 cultivars of Japanese Maples. There were still a lot in full color and it wove a beautiful color tapestry through the woods. The also have some exotic animals like Camels, Flamingoes, and Monkeys. One of the things I found amazing was their network of different garden bridges. There were ornamental ones, stone, wood and even a rope suspension type bridge.


There were still a few flowers out like this Shasta Daisy. Leave to me to visit one of the largest collections of Japanese Maples around here and come home with a picture of a daisy. I looked for a sign but this Shasta had flowers that were huge. The largest I have ever seen. The Toad Lilies were also flowering along with some purple Asters and a big patch of Sheffield Chrysanthemums. It was really getting crowded when I was leaving. It was a short couple of hours tour but well worth it.


The first two pictures were taken with my Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC Macro lens and the D70s. It has been such a long time, like all year, since I used a zoom lens aand it took a while to get used to it.

November Chrysanthemums

November Chrysanthemums

"Every year, in November, at the season that follows the hour of the dead, the crowning and majestic hours of autumn, I go to visit the chrysanthemums ... They are indeed, the most universal, the most diverse of flowers."

Maurice Maeterlinck
Belgian playwright (1862-1949)


"Fair gift of Friendship! and her ever bright and faultless image! welcome now thou art, In thy pure loveliness--thy robes of white,
Speaking a moral to the feeling heart; Unscattered by heats--by wintry blasts unmoved-- Thy strength thus tested--and thy charms improved."

Anna Peyre Dinnies
To a White Chrysanthemum
American poet (1805 - 1886)


For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween
Phalaenopsis Orchid
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Happy Halloween to everyone. This pumpkin was fiber optic and its eyes would glow orange every few minutes. Right now I am building a new website for the regular digital flower pictures.com. It would have been easier to hire someone at this point but I wanted the experience even if that means muddling through the process. It is taking a lot of time but should be a major upgrade when finished. I will post a preview link soon.

This Orchid picture was shot out on Long Island late this summer. It seems to be one of the more popular Orchids. They are easy to grow and seem to bloom for a long time. The each flower stem can last several weeks.

Liv Tyler Hybrid Tea Rose

Hybrid Tea Rose
Rosa 'Liv Tyler'
Synonyms: Comtesse de Provence, Meibacus

Since there haven’t been too many rose photographs here this year here is a late season Hybrid tea named after the American movie starlet Liv Tyler. She also had a famous father. He is one of the Toxic Twins. Personally I have always loved Aerosmith and think of them as the American equivalent of the Rolling Stones.

This rose like its namesake is very pretty but not in a flashy way. It has a great scent and a nice color. This rose was growing at NYBG and even last weekend the rose garden still had a lot of flowers. The roses tend to get a bit scruffy this time of year with various holes, spots and pockmarks.

Here is the lowdown on ‘Liv Tyler’
Petal Count: 75 to 80 petals
Average flower diameter: 4.75 inches
US Introduction: Star Roses, 2007
Seed Parentage: Centenaire de Lourdes × Duke of Windsor
Pollen Parent: Regatta
Originally released in 2006 in France as ‘Comtesse de Provence’

Here is a link to some thoughts Liv had on having a rose named after her. Short Article

Maui Skywatch

Maui Skywatch

This Skywatch Friday is a little early but Thursday seems to be the best day to post. The skies over Maui were an ever changing tapestry of clouds and colors. Since we spent a lot of time upcountry there were a lot of drop dead gorgeous views of the island and the sea. This first photo is an abstract of some windy Palm Trees.

We have now visited Maui three times and each time I still walk away feeling like there was something new and enchanting each time. It is not unusual for me to have a mystical experience when visiting the island. This time it was this moment.


That is the sun poking through the Iwo Valley. We were walking across a parking lot it really felt like the eye from the Lord Rings was looking out over the valley. Except this was a very benevolent light. Where it got a little weird was looking down everything seemed bathed not in the golden rays of sunset but a very white light. It was about as bright it gets without being harsh. Things seemed to slow down and get quiet when I snapped the picture and after that everything started up again. Later I realized that I become transfixed for several seconds. Unfortunately I didn’t even check the settings and ended up with a picture that doesn’t quite measure up to when the scene played out before us.

This table had a mighty view and it was free, too. This is at the upcountry AKL Lavender Farm . If you want to go on a tour it costs something but we just walked around the garden on our own. It was a very impressive garden and it beat the lavender fields by a mile, in my opinion. That is the island of Lanai in the background.


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Fuji Spider Chrysanthemum

Fuji Spider Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum x morifolium 'Descanso'
(chri-san' thah-mum)

Hawaiian Bamboo

Hawaiian Bamboo
Phyllostachys (fy-lo-STAK-iss)


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Wordless Wednesday

2009 Kiku Show at the New York Botanical Garden

2009 Kiku Show at the New York Botanical Garden
Chrysanthemum ‘Autumn Eyes’

What a difference a week makes. Last Sunday we were attending the Maui Ukulele Show and this Sunday it was the Chrysanthemum Show at the NYBG. This years show seemed a little toned down (what doesn’t these days?) on the decorations but as far as the plants go it was the best ever to me. There seemed to be more different and interesting Chrysanthemums.

The Pillar type mums were fantastic and while they may have had them at previous shows I didn’t remember them being all together and prominent. The large mums were gorgeous as were my favorites the cascades. All in al the show, which I have heard will be the last (not sure), is worth attending.



There was some nice fall color at the garden. When you put that many plants together the tapestry of color you get in the autumn is amazing.