When people ask me about the best time to visit Hawai'i, as far as seeing lots of flowering plants and trees in bloom, I like to lippily reply: "Now is the best time — whenever you are here in Hawai'i is the best because you are here and something will be in bloom or showing off its glory."

And it's true: We have so many wonderful native Hawaiian and introduced/made in Hawai'i hybrids — rainbow shower trees, plumeria, hibiscus showoffs and so on.

For serious plant lovers, flower serenaders and tree huggers, however, I have to say May is a bountiful, floriferous time of year.

'Ohi'a lehua in all its bountiful colors seems to bloom a lot in gardens, our urban forests (Waimea on the Big Island is an epicenter), old private gardens and along the roads and edges of pasturelands, where the chompers and stompers can't munch or trample this beautiful and precious native Hawaiian flowering tree and plant.

Pink shower trees bloom briefly in May. They are an old-fashioned street tree (think Kaimuki and Kapahulu), and one of the parents of our official street tree of Honolulu, the epic fragrant rainbow shower (which is also drought-tolerant, and blooms for months and months because it doesn't waste energy producing lots of bean pods with seeds like its two parents, the Golden shower (Cassia fistula) from driest India, or the pink shower (Cassia javanica) from Java.

Gardenias are in fragrant full bloom, and they are so easy to grow, enjoy the perfume of, and gather flowers from if you follow a few simple rules: Plant them in full sun (for maximum flowers); use rich, organic, well-drained soil (add cinder and compost; don't plant in beach sand); fertilize often with a 10-20-20 blend fertilizer; pick (and wear or share) all the flowers to prevent the buildup of aphids and thrips; and if you get black sooty mold on the leaves, wash them (and the aphids and ants) off with liquid dish-soap solution (1 tablespoon per gallon of water).

Plumerias are at their peak in May, too. They are such a pretty and striking, easy-to-maintain flowering tree for our gardens, parks and schools. The earliest will bloom on naked branches in February, and most are pau by the last full moon of November, but enjoy those awesome horticultural beauties of Hawai'i all summer. What a perfect lei for Hawai'i Nei, so light, fragrant, easy to string! Have you made a lei recently? What a simple, old-time gift!

Do you want butterflies in your garden? Plant a crown flower in either purple lavender or white, and the butterflies will find you. Monarchs, that is. Crown flower, or pua kalaunu, was brought to Hawai'i from India. And Monarch butterflies were brought to Hawai'i by people too.

Another butterfly plant for your garden is our native Hawaiian mamaki (which has great medicinal and health uses). The pulelehua, or Kamehameha butterfly larva, feeds on mamaki.

Plant any native Hawaiian plants in your garden and you establish the potential to attacct other more rare and special native Hawaiian butterflies and even birds into your garden.

That scene has the makings of a pretty landscape for Hawai'i any time of the year!

Heidi Bornhorst is a consultant on sustainable landscaping.