By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
This ground cover produces tiny blue flowers. Blue plants
are well represented at this year's Lyon Arboretum plant sale.
IS life a bed of roses or do you have the blues? In either case, the Lyon Arboretum plant sale being held Aug. 23 can offer help. For those in a rosy mood, a disease-resistant ground cover, Flower Carpet White Rose, will be introduced by Leilani Nursery. Try true blue blooms
The patented plant, when well-fertilized and watered and grown in full sun, will produce 500 or more flowers during its blooming season. And that's 10 months of the year.
Unlike most white roses, Flower Carpet White's petals do not brown on the bush, even after rain, and it is considered the most disease-resistant white rose ever developed. It grows well in climates from hot and humid to dry, and is excellent as a potted rose or in a hanging basket as well as a ground cover.
If you are in a blue period, Bob Chisari, co-chairman of the plant sale, says that there will be a particularly good offering of blue plants.
"Because blue is such an elusive color in the lowland tropics and because it is my firm conviction that you can never have too much blue in the garden, I am constantly on the lookout for new and overlooked blue plants that are suitable for most of Oahu," he said.
There aren't very many true blue flowers -- most are tinged with too much violet or lavender.
The prize offering at this year's sale is a startling blue tropical climber from Borneo, Clitoria ternata "double form." Seeds are scarce, and only 30 seedlings will be available for the sale. The plants are easy to grow, and should flower within six months.
The single version of the plant, which is relatively abundant, will also be sold, and at a lower price.
Other additions to a blue garden include a new agapanthus developed and patented by the Los Angeles Botanical Gardens, and a clerodendrum which is an easily grown shrub with orchid-like blue flowers. Elsie Horikawa is introducing a handsome hedge plant in the acanthus family that has lavender blue flowers.
According to Chisari, the arboretum intends to include even more blue flowering plants at its sale next spring. "Some have never before been released in Hawaii," he said. "These plants are being tested now in my garden to make sure they do well under lowland tropical conditions and that they are noninvasive."
If you have room in your garden for fruit trees or vines, Frankie Sekiya recommends a new lilikoi and the hard-to-find Rapozo mango. Frankie says the lilikoi tastes like pineapple sherbet, and that its purple-and-white flowers are flat when fully open. The Rapozo mango is reliable in wet as well as dry areas, and its fruit has no fibers and sets almost all year long.
Bob Hirono, a plant specialist on the Lyon staff, will release for the first time a ginger he has developed. Named "Jungle Princess," it is in the same family as the common ornamental red ginger, but blooms with flowers in a soft pink. It is described as being not only a spectacular addition to the garden, but lasts particularly well as a cut flower. Chisari says that it is the best of its class.
The sale will also include varieties of Hawaiian taro, koa seedlings and other native plants, bromeliads, orchids, ti, cactus, palms and herbs. Along with the plant introductions, the sale will also offer for the first time a program of activities for children. Don't dress them up if they plan to get involved in the arts and crafts, which are generally messy.
The youngsters will be able to make leaf prints and pot some plants, and will also be able to plant and take home a small figure that grows its own hair. The child forms a head and face from old hosiery that has been stuffed with a growing medium. Then bird seed is sprinkled over the top of the head. After several days of watering, the seed sprouts and the head grows green hair. It is sufficiently weird to attract the 8 and unders.
While admission to the sale in free, there is a parking charge at Blaisdell Center.
Lyon Arboretum plant sale
When: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Aug. 23
If you looked at the sky last night, you noticed that the moon is almost full, and it will be full tomorrow night. So Foster Garden will offer its annual Midsummer Night's Gleam tomorrow from 4 until 10 p.m. Foster Garden to gleam
Admission to the garden is free during this period. It is always a magical event, lighted only by the moon and hundreds of luminarias-lighted candles placed in sand inside paper bags.
Because the garden, which is located at 50 N. Vineyard St., is only one block from downtown Honolulu, there is a certain amount of ambient light from the office buildings. It's just dark enough to be an adventure, but not scary for young children.
If you want to visit the garden while it is still light, arrive before sunset. Bring a picnic supper and mats and dine while the moon rises over the tropical trees. Bernice Hirai, on the faculty of the University of Hawaii, will perform on the koto, and you can leave your fondest wish on a small piece of paper hanging from the tanabata tree.
It is a quiet, wonderful experience.
Gardening Calendar
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