Rosehaven Cottage: sub-tropicals

Above: The "beach" of the pond where I already have touches of the spirit of Aloha
in the canna lilies and potted palms (squirrel-planted seedlings now in pots)

Yesterday, I was left with the instruction from Hubby that I should do something that "feeds my spirit". I thought long and hard about what to do to achieve that. Then I realized that I probably should go to WalMart and see if they had any of their planting pots at super-low discount prices like they always do in August. I knew I needed to buy bags of soil anyway, so it was a good excuse to go and "play" in WalMart's nursery center.

Although I usually prefer to buy my plants from local nurseries, WalMart is a great place for me to find inexpensive bagged soil, pots, and sometimes an interesting plant or two. I wasn't in a hurry, so I decided to slowly browse through their plants. Most looked very healthy (our WalMart's nursery center is very well managed), and I was intrigued by all the sub-tropicals they had in stock.

When I came upon a fairly mature plumeria (no blossoms on it yet), my heart leapt. I have a great love for Hawaii because I spent a semester of college on the North Shore of Oahu at BYU-Hawaii way back oh-so-many years ago. Plumeria is the quintessential Hawaiian plant. To be able to grow it in my own garden would be a dream come true. I carefully reviewed the tag. Interestingly, it is hardy to 30 degrees and if given a place outside of intense heat or intense cold, it will thrive in our climate! Hallelujah!

In my head, a garden design began to form for the corner where I've already planted the brugmansia--a garden design for a "Hawaii Garden". It already had a water feature with a red canna lily growing in it. It already had the tropical looking brugmansia and white oleander, it had the necessary shelter... it was perfect!

Then I browsed around the other sub-tropicals and settled on a new plant that I'd never seen before--a "Golden Shrimp Plant" (Pachystachys lutea). I also decided to finally buy two Bird-of-Paradise plants (one orange and the other a giant white with blue throats), as I've always wanted them in my garden.

I came home and started to work on getting the planters built out of recycle concrete blocks and rocks left over from my shed demolition. Once I had the planters constructed, I dumped the new bagged soil in each and then planted the new arrivals. The final step was to make sure each one was properly irrigated with the drip-mist system that waters the entire garden. Just one new connection needed to be made for the plumeria. The others were adequately watered by increasing the spray on an existing full circle sprayer for the brugmansia.

I am so pleased with the result. It is so tranquil in the "Hawaii Garden". Hubby and I sat out there as the sun went down last night simply enjoying the space. It is our own little piece of Hawaii and the spirit of Aloha in our own garden.