Posted on: Friday, December 27, 2002

HAWAI'I'S GARDENS
Zoo's exotic specimens aren't all animals

Have you visited the Honolulu Zoo lately?

There are many great old trees and wonderful plantings there to see along with the interesting animals. This might be a great way to walk off some of those holiday calories, as well as take your family on a fun outing. Some of the great plants in bloom to see there:

• The coral hibiscus, Hibiscus schizopetalus, from Africa. It graces the African savanna exhibit at the mauka end of the zoo and is also used as a screening hedge. Stretch you neck and look upward and the graceful, frilly petaled, coral colored blossoms. These hibiscus were used in breeding hybrid hibiscus, by crossing them with our native white hibiscus, koki'o ke'o ke'o.

• A lovely bank of silver foliaged 'ohai or Sesbania tomentosa, with bright red, pea-shaped blossoms.

It cascades down from the rocks in the African section. This was grown by the expert horticulturists on the zoo staff, including animal keeper Jamison Martinez. It is native to Mo'omomi on Moloka'i.

Stop and take a rest under some of the gorgeous old shade trees, which include narra from the Philippines, banyans from China and India, monkeypods from South America and tamarinds from Africa. You can travel around the world without leaving Hawai'i when you visit the zoo and think about where all the animals and plants originally came from.

In Bloom

Poinsettias are in full bloom for the season. Find them in pots large and small, decorating your holiday table and displays. These make for great New Year's gifts and displays. One of my all time favorites, the white poinsettia, Euphorbia leucocephala, is in full, glorious, fragrant bloom all over the Islands. A few nurseries also grow it as a flowering potted plant. It was in fullest, earliest bloom in higher elevation areas like Kona mauka, Hanapepe Heights and so on, and now the lower elevation plants are catching up.

The old-fashioned, red hedge-type poinsettias are also looking great all over the Islands. Now is the time to scope some out, make friends with the owners, and ask for a cutting or two in about February. You can plant your own in the ground and keep up an old island floral tradition. These old-fashioned types are fairly easy to grow as direct stick cuttings in the ground.

We saw some great gardens up St. Louis Heights when we took a drive in search of coolness on a Kona-wind day.

One great winter-themed garden had a black pine, flowering red ixora and a massive, intensely fragrant white poinsettia. These combined made for great winter decor, in an easy-to-maintain Hawaiian fashion. The neighbor had a big red hedge poinsettia, and this made for great "borrowed landscaping" viewing. Both neighbors were lucky to have such committed gardeners next door.