My husband and I packed up our dogs and took them to Greyhound camp, then headed west to visit our favorite place, Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. I always enjoy seeing the tropical plants and the volcanic landscape. Maui was formed by two dormant volcanoes millennia ago, the last eruption was Haleakala in the late 1700s. Volcanic rock is still evident from this eruption and fields of black lava rock are visible on most of the beaches.
The landscape of this island is nothing short of magnificent and always seems a bit biblical in scale, the vistas are long, the colors intense and the rainbows incredible. I would like to find a pot of gold at the end of this one.
Here is a slideshow of the landscapes around the beaches of Maui:
Here is a slideshow of some of the plants I encountered:
And for IAVOM fans, this arrangement is always in front of the short order cooks at my husband’s favorite restaurant, The Paia Fish Market – kind of a surfer seafood place. It is Orange and Red Heliconias, Pinecone or Shampoo Gingers and Monstera (Swiss Cheese Plant) leaves.
The Shrub Queen 
Wow. I loved this. Can you grow giant gingers in Florida?
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Thanks, I could probably grow the Gingers, those were from Mauritius, if I recall correctly. I haven’t seen any around. Torch Gingers here are maybe 4 feet tall and red but different from those. Parts of Maui are Zone 12?!
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Looks like y’all had a great time. Loved the ginger pictures.
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We did, I realized I had more ginger pictures, they are crazy there. I bought a Blue Ginger, do you have one?
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No I don’t. I’m looking forward to seeing more ginger photos.
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The Blue one may be a zone 10 plant and it is not a true ginger, fall and winter flowering. It is 1 and 1/2 inches tall now, maybe next year.
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Oh lucky you, what a wonderful place. I love your photos. Your mystery tree looks like Sea Grape, Coccoloba uvifera to me. When we go to our Paradise island, Martinique, we lie in the shade of these trees, in our hammocks. They grow on the beach.
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I have a Sea Grape in my front yard, the mystery continues, the tree was a single stem tree used in parking lots and looked like a Clusia rosea but wasn’t.
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Oh well, I don’ t know then. You are the tropical tree expert.
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