Aloha Friends!

I'm so happy to share with you that my mother-in-law's plumeria plant is blooming! Isn't it beautiful? This plant started as just a cutting last August. Her plant was far too large for me to bring home to San Diego but, I wanted to keep it in memory of her. So, we pruned off a small branch of it and I planted it in a pot. One year later and it's blooming! And the flowers smell wonderful!

 Plumeria are super easy to grow from just a cutting. When taking a branch from the mother plant be careful to not let the white milky sap touch your skin. It can be irritating. After the cut end has dried you can plant it in soil. I actually let Lola's cutting dry over a week and it didn't mind. I plant my cuttings a few inches deep in a pot to keep it stable. Water it when the soil looks dry an a little fertilizer once a month. It will take some time to sprout leaves and quite a bit more time to flower. But, these amazing flowers are worth the wait!

Thanks for reading my diary!

Aloha friends,

My two hibiscus plants are blooming! I thought I'd share a couple photos with you and some tips to keep them happy....

It's pretty easy to keep hibiscus happy. They like a lot of sunshine. They'll tolerate some cold in the winter but, try to keep them out of the frost. I water my hibiscus when the soil is dry. About twice a week in summer, less often in the winter. Once a month I give them some fertilizer. Also, I've had good luck with planting them in large containers...the sunset hued bloom is growing in a big pot.

One of my daughters holding a huge hibiscus at the condo in Kauai.

Thanks for reading my diary!

Aloha Friends!

I love having plants in my home that remind me of Kauai. Lush green plants with colorful flowers. It's fun to landscape those plants into a mini garden. Like my own little island for my tabletop!  Here's one I put together recently...

I used the old pot from my previous mini garden (check out my March 2016 post) and just added fresh potting soil. I picked up a few new house plants and a beautiful orchid. I kept the orchid in the plastic pot it came in so it wouldn't be directly in the soil. After I had the plants arranged where I wanted them in the pot, I covered the surface with a light layer of orchid bark.

Here's a photo of a previous mini garden I made in March 2016....
It had maiden hair fern as well as a bromeliad flower which I love for their super long lasting bloom. Maybe next time I'll use an orchid and bromeliad...that would be pretty :)

Happy Spring to all our friends! Thanks for reading my diary!

It's December 1st and one of my plumeria has refused to accept winter and is still flowering! Everybody else has stopped blooming and some have started dropping their leaves. Which is more typical behavior for December...not this flower!

This plant is in a protected spot on my front porch and gets a lot of the low winter sun.  I"m sure these are the last of it's buds for the season. It held onto summer as long as it could!

I can relate to this plumeria :)

Thanks for reading my diary, I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving!
Aloha!

Aloha and happy Halloween friends!

We carved a pineapple this year as well as a few pumpkins. Lots of spooky fun going on here!

You'll enjoy carving a pineapple. They seem to have such a personality with their crazy hair! This year I tried to make the pineapple appear joyful with a big toothy grin. If you want to take a peak at instructions, see my October 2013 post.

Best wishes to you all for a safe and happy Halloween!
Aloha :)

Aloha All,

I'm super happy to share with you that one of our Hawaiian papaya has blossoms...in San Diego! Hopefully these blossoms will produce fruit. I LOVE papayas!

This tree was grown from a seed that I saved from a sunrise papaya. I purchased the fruit at a Kauai farmers market. The tree is almost 2 years old and is just over 5 feet high. I've been growing papayas for about five years and this is the first one to flower. I currently have 3 other trees...with any luck they'll flower too :)

Papayas are easy to grow from seed. They take at least two weeks to germinate so don't be discouraged if you don't see a sprout right away. Once it sprouts the plant grows very fast. They like full sun to partial shade. I water mine every other day and fertilize twice a month.

Our weather tends to stay warm through November. We'll see if it has time to fruit. Does anyone know how long they take to fruit after flowering? 

I'll keep you all posted as to how it does here in San Diego. Wish me luck!

Aloha!

Aloha Friends!

We got a lot of aloha for kalua pork at my house. I make it often. It's delicious, easy to make and you only need three ingredients! I've included a barbeque roasting method as well as oven roasting instructions. Here's what you do...

Take a 2 pound or so pork shoulder roast (also called a pork butt roast) and cut deep slits into it. Sprinkle with Hawaiian sea salt. Rub the salt into the pork. Flip the roast over and do the same to the other side. Place the roast in a heavy duty aluminum baking pan (if you're oven roasting you can use a glass or metal baking pan). Drizzle liquid smoke over the roast, using 1 teaspoon per pound of pork. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil, make sure it's sealed up real good. My husband likes to barbeque, he places the roast to the side of medium coals. A 2 pound pork shoulder will take about two hours on the BBQ. If you want to oven roast, bake the pork at 350F for 3 hours. Once the pork is done, let it cool for a few minutes before lifting off the foil. Remove and save some of the liquid. The roast should easily shred with a fork. Taste the pork and decide if it needs some liquid added back in or additional liquid smoke.

Make a Hawaiian plate lunch with 2 scoops rice, mac salad and kalua pork. It's also awesome in tacos and sandwiches. And, if you have left over kalua pork it freezes very well. I hope that you enjoy this recipe!

Thanks for reading my diary!

I woke up this morning to see that one of my plumeria has bloomed! The first to bloom this summer. At 16 it's my oldest plumeria and has grown into a 6 foot tree. I picked it up as a bare little stick from the Walmart in Lihue, Kauai. I brought it home and planted it in a pot of sandy soil. I remember how happy I was when it's first leaves sprouted....and when it finally flowered it was a party!

Over the years I've learned that plumeria are pretty easy to grow. Like a lot of us, they enjoy some sunshine. They're perfectly content in a pot of sandy soil. Plumeria root quickly from just a small branch pruned from another plant. In fact, below is a photo of a plumeria I rooted from my mother-in-law's plant last August.

My mother-in-law had the prettiest plumeria. She was beautiful inside and out. When she passed away, I wanted to keep her flowers in her memory. Since her plants were much too large to move to our home in San Diego, I just gave them a pruning. It worked out great because I was able to pass on the "mother" plants to her sister who also loves plumeria. We all have Lola's flowers now :)

Thanks for following along and reading my diary!
Aloha Friends! :)

Aloha Friends!

When I think about Kauai I often think of the beautiful greenness of the island. I've been missing Kauai lately so I decided to make my own mini tropical landscape.

I started off with a wide, shallow, glazed pot. The plants I chose are a bromeliad, kalanchoe, maiden hair fern and a philodendron. These are all sold as houseplants here in California but, I'm sure they could get invasive outside in Hawaii. I saw a philodendron in Waikiki once that had gone absolute nuts...he was clearly out of control :)

I tried to pick plants that have similar light and water requirements. After adding fresh potting soil to my container I planted my landscaping. I finished it off with small orchid bark. I think an orchid would've also been a nice addition. Maybe next time!

My youngest daughter helped me with this fun project. Our mini garden brings cheer to our family room. Helping to keep aloha in my heart no mater where I am!

:)

Aloha Friends!

I was so excited to see the Fed Ex guy today! He was delivering my Hawaiian print Vans! I love them. They make me smile :) My sneakers got Aloha! When it's too chilly to wear my slippahs these babies will keep my toes warm and my aloha spirit up.

If you'd like a pair of these, you can purchase them at the Vans website....$55 and free shipping.

I got happy feet!

As always, thanks for reading my diary!

:)