Travel Tips

The "hibiscus" is our official state flower. Originally the "koki'o 'ula" a rare red hibiscus, was declared as our state flower in 1923 but in 1988, the state flower was changed to a yellow species. Pictured here is a red hibiscus we found in Punchbowl.

When I left Texas in mid June 2000, the landscaping had already begun it's drab brown hues from heat stress. Arrival to the islands was like travelling through a warp zone! The sides of the highways were covered with fully bloomed bushes and other tropical flowers. I still gasp in awe each time I see the different blooms with each season (NOT that we really have four distinguishable seasons here, but you know what I mean) Pictured here are what we call the "Rainbow Showers", and they come in lovely different shades

This particular flower is really hard to spot if you're anything like me and can't imagine flowers being green! We found this jade vine in Waimea Falls park last year.

This particular flower looked remarkably like an orchid, which I knew commonly grows on a smaller "plant" ~ so imagine my surprise when I researched and discovered this was called an "Orchid Tree"

Contrary to what most folks think, this flower is not originally from Hawaii. The anthurium can also be found in green, pink and white as well as the ever popular red.

These are truly what it says, majestic. The torch ginger is another common flower here, and makes a simple yet very tropical fresh cut arrangement.

This flower is a great outdoor ornamental, as well as a long lasting fresh cut flower for an indoor arrangement.

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Brilliant Yellow Showers

I long to see these brilliant blooms ... first the flowers bloom ... covering the whole tree with a splash of yellow ... later the leaves begin to fill in and the flowers drop ...

Koa seeds are used for a lot of craft items ranging from hot plates to necklaces and other adornment.

Commonly seen used as fragrant flower leis

common sight along a few of the beaches