Hot Pink Epiphyllum

I purchased this one as Epiphyllum Clarence Wright; however, as Clarence Wright is yellow, it's just another gorgeous, hot pink Epi, here blooming for me for the first time (and what a sight it is!).

Annular Solar Eclipse, San Diego, May 20, 2012, 7:43pm

Annular Solar Eclipse, San Diego, California, May 20, 2012, 7:43pm. An annular solar eclipse is where the sun is only partly blocked by the moon, its light showing around the edges of the moon. This was shot with the 500mm lens and tripod. I'm thinking, in hindsight, that a polarizer would have been a nice touch...

Vibrant, Easy Growing Fun: Epiphyllum Telstar

Epiphyllum Telstar is a gorgeous orange with fuschia overtones! They don't get much better than this. A really good grower with HUGE flowers.

The Madagascan Ocotillo: One Spiny Beast!

Alluaudia procera, commonly called the Madagascar Ocotillo, looks, particularly when younger, like an Ocotillo (commonly found in Southwestern United States deserts). It is not, however, closely related to Ocotillo plants at all and is actually in the plant family Didiereaceae,consisting of just eleven species all found in the Southwestern part of Madagascar. They also appear to be related to the portulaca (Portulacaceae) family.

Snowy White Echinopsis

White Echinopsis species. Another easy grower and bloomer, forming nice clumps and blooming profusely in the Spring.

One of the Most Vibrant Epiphyllums!

Epiphyllum Cadet. This has long been one of my favorite Epiphyllums for it's brilliant, glossy, glowing flowers. It's a great bloomer and a beast of a grower. They don't get much better than this!

Epiphyllum Midnight: A Pinwheel of Color

Epiphyllum Midnight, blooming in the back yard. I really enjoy Epi. Midnight for it's vibrant, picotee petals that remind me of a pinwheel of color! It's a good grower and a reliable bloomer.

May is Prime Epiphyllum Season

Epiphyllum Soft Lights blooming in the back yard. The yard is full of Epiphyllym blooms at the moment in shades of vibrant red, purple, yellow, orange and peach! They put on quite the show every year around Mother's day. They're easy to care for, needing only filtered sun, moderate warmth (keep them above freezing) and occasional water and they reward you with the most vibrant, magnificent blooms! They also propagate by cutting, making them great for multiplying or for giving away as gifts.

Echinopsis Bloom Fest!

Echinopsis (oxygona?) in full bloom. My little Echinopsis had over 20 huge flowers this year! What a display. I must be doing something right.

Cymbidium Sweet Devon 'Arnie' AM/AOS

Cymbidium Sweet Devon 'Arnie' AM/AOS, Cymbidium suave x Cymbidium devonianum. This orchid, blooming now, is covered with over a thousand flowers on beautiful, pendant spikes.

Matilija Poppy, Romneya coulteri

Matilija Poppy, Romneya coulteri. These wonderful, HUGE poppys have flowers the size of platters. They are California natives but are not particularly common, probably because the seed pods have evolved to need fire to trigger them to burst open and disperse the seed. This one is blooming in the back yard.

Happy Mother's Day!

To my very special Mom and to all the other wonderful mom's out there, here's to wishing you the very best Mother's Day possible!

Bifrenaria harrisoniae 'Ruth' AM/AOS

Bifrenaria harrisoniae 'Ruth' AM/AOS. This fragrant beauty is native to Coastal Brazil and appreciates a drier Winter rest prior to blooming and putting out new growths in the Spring.

Stanhopea jenischiana

Stanhopea jenischiana, blooming in the backyard. These wonderful, waxy, fragrant orchids hail from Venezuela, Ecuador, Columbia and Peru and are fairly cool tolerant, growing outdoors in Southern California (although they prefer a nice warm greenhouse where they will grow into a specimen plant quite easily).

Epiphyllum Radiant Fire

Epiphyllum Radiant Fire with a little guest munching on pollen. This is one of my favorites.

Epiphyllum Grazie Bear (unreg)

Epiphyllum Grazie Bear (unreg.). This is the result of Wayne Grazio's experiment rubbing a yellow and a white Epiphyllum flower together. It's been a few years getting this to bloom but here it is in all its glory. Meanwhile, the back yard is awash in Epiphyllum flowers! Wow. More pictures later.

New White Sand for Waikiki Beach

Waikiki Sand Replenishment Barge. The Department of Land and Natural Resources was operating a barge off of Waikiki's Kuhio Beach to dredge deeper water sand deposits to replenish the sand along Kuhio/Waikiki Beach, eroded over the years, to 1985 levels. I will note, however, that the water was rather silty, even all the way down at Queen's Surf and it seemed to me anyhow, to be silting over the coral, causing coral death except in areas protected from the direct deposit of silt. I further suspect that the silty dredged sand will continue to release silt onto the coral for years to come, through ongoing wave action and erosion. It seems a bit sad to introduce a new source of silt just as the coral was starting to grow back after years of damaging runnoff. Thus, even though there is much less open site construction in Honolulu these days, leading to reduced levels of silt, the dredging may have more than compensated.

American Orchid Society San Diego May Judging Results

Galeopetalum Ink Spot ‘Feuerbach’ AM/AOS

Cattleya (Laelia) sincorana ‘Harald’ HCC/AOS

Paphiopedilum philippinense ’Tyrone’ HCC/AOS

Rodrumnia Orchidom Lovely Lady HCC/AOS

Phragmipedium Haraldeen Quintal ‘La Jolla’ HCC/AOS

Phal Lioulin Goldfinch HCC/AOS

Will the Real Nemo Please Fin Up?

Amphiprion oscellaris, the Oscellaris Clownfish or False Percula Clownfish. Amphiprion oscellaris is closely related to Amphiprion percula, the Percula Clown or Orange Clown and, for most of us, is nearly indistinguishable. How do the ichthyoligists ("fish" scientists) tell them apart? The eyes on the percula clown are bright orange with a dark, clearly demarcated center, making their eyes look smaller. The eyes of the oscellaris clown are orange with a black pupil and shades into grey on parts of th iris (i.e., looks a little smudgy), giving the appearance of a larger eye. Oscellaris also have 11 dorsal spines while percula clowns have 10 dorsal spines. The eyes, however, are easier to spot, especially on a moving fish. So which one was Nemo? Well, Nemo was a cartoon so he can be anyone you wish. However, he had brighter colors and clearly demarcated eyes (I dare you to count dorsal spines and get back to us gentle readers...), so I'm guessing Nemo was a percula clown. Note, if you're thinking of buying one, oscellaris clowns look plenty close enough for most kids to call them Nemo and are a little hardier. They are both from the Indo-Pacific, particularly near Fiji and Tongo, where they live in large sea anemones which serve as home and protection for their little clownfish friends. Note that the clownfish are also known to feed their anemone hosts in a somewhat symbiotic relationship, pushing food into the anemone's mouth.

Bletilla striata alba

Bletilla striata alba (albescens?). This Bletilla is just coming into bloom in the yard. These hardy, terrestrial orchids can stand temperatures down to around 20F or lower, if mulched. These are growing in light shade in front of the greenhouse. They are native to China and Japan.

Peacock

Peacock, at the Honolulu Zoo, showing the colors.

Having It All

Common House Finch, hogging the entire bird food bowl, peeks up over the rim to keep an eye out for predators.

Going dark for a day...

My Aunt passed away today. That makes four people I knew in the last year. She was the youngest and perhaps the feistiest of eleven children. She was a nurse and a contant caretaker for others in her life. I will always remember her as the one that bought Christmas presents for all of the nieces and nephews (and there were a lot of us) and then recruited us to help wrap them. She was the one that urged her other sisters to visit her elder sister, even though her sister was no longer able to tell that any of them were present. She was the one that helped clean and care for older friends. She seemed unstoppable. Even though she checked herself into a hospice, it seemed as if her strength of will would perservere and they would, at some point, have to evict her for living too long. However, sometimes, appearances are deceiving. Eventually, perhaps all too soon, death comes for even the most feisty of us, having sucked the marrow from the very bones until there was no more life to give and burned the flame so bright it hurt. May she rest in peace. Rest in peace.

Bluespine Unicornfish, Naso unicornis

Bluespine Unicornfish or Kala (Hawaiian), Naso unicornis, Waikiki, Hawaii. These huge, gentle fish are the cows of the sea, spending their days grazing on algae that would otherwise clog the coral reef and kill delicate corals. When threatened, they extend those large, knife-like spines on their tail, warding off would be predators.

Nenue (Hawaiian), Kyphosus vaigiensis or Lowfin Chub

Nenue (Hawaiian), Kyphosus vaigiensis or Lowfin Chub, outside of the reef at Queen's Surf, Hawaii. This sizeable fish reaches about 27 inches in length. It typically is found in schools of around 20+ individuals in reef/surge zones where it feeds on marine algae. These pictures were shot at about 3 ft. distance forcing me to zoom out the camera to capture more than one fish, given the large size of each individual fish. Luckily, a sizeable school of Nenue continued to swim past me for a few minutes, long enough to take multiple shots at different zoom settings.

Waikiki Beach in the Early Morning

An empty Waikiki Beach and deserted lifeguard station in the early morning.

Duck Yoga

Duck Yoga starring Just Duckie (left) demonstrating the Svarga Dvidasana and Duck for Cover (right) demonstrating the Eka Pada Sirsasana.

Shark Sighting in Waikiki

I was taking a quick dip with the underwater camera off Queen's Surf and was out just a little bit past the tip of the breakwater, perhaps 500 feet to the West. I saw some fins coming towards me in the distance and, as I moved in to get a better look and perhaps a photograph, I noticed that this fish was rather long and had large, pointy fins with, yes, white tips on them. About then, the light bulb goes off and I realize that this ia a white tipped reef shark (about 4 ft long), probably checking me out as I was trying to get some water out of my snorkle (glug, cough...). The shark turned left in through some large coral stands, I turned right, towards shore and the rest was history!

Brown Anole Trumps Green Anole!

Brown Anole, Anolis sagrei, doing its mating display on the wall at Gordon Biersch at the Aloha Tower in Honolulu. Brown Anoles are a Carribean species that have established themselves throughout the SE U.S. and are currently spreading rapidly throughout Hawaii. They are known to compete for the same food and also prey on the young of green/American Anoles, which they are largely displacing.

Super Fragrant Orchids

Dendrobium anosmum x Dendrobuim Super Nestor. These orchids are uber-fragrant in a sweet, perfumely sort of way and bloom with a dense profusion of flowers along the leafless canes.

Spotted Puffer

Arothron meleagris, Spotted puffer, in about 5 feet of water off of Waikiki. Not the best angle but he promptly dove under a rock to avoid my pestering and there was too much silt in the water to use the flash (i.e. headlights in a snowstorm). Really cool fish and otherwise slow enough that you can get a close shot. This was the first time I've seen one of these in the water, so it was a small treat. They have sharp beaks that they use to crush the branching coral that they feed on. The relative scarcity of branching coral may be one of the reasons why they are fairly uncommon...

The Bird Man of Waikiki

This man holds out his hands with bread in them and the birds come...and come...and come until his arms are covered with birds!

Do Not Turn Your Back to the Waves

Tourist running from large waves, Sunset Beach, Hawaii. You never quite know when a big wave will come by, especially when you're facing the other way. This tourist, luckily, managed to neither get drenched nor swept out to sea, although her photo shoot was briefly interrupted...

Cordia subcordata or Kou Tree

Cordia subcordata, also known as the Mareer, Kerosene wood, Glueberry, Tou and Kou tree, is shown here in Kapiolani Park, Oahu. This beautiful, glossy-leaved, vibrantly orange-flowered tree, is native to eastern Africa, South Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. It is salt tolerant but not frost tolerant, its woody seeds floating long distances across the Pacific to germinate on far shores. Its fruit are apparently edible but not particularly flavorful, being occasionally eaten in times of famine. Its wood is soft, durable and easily carved, being historically used by the Hawaiians to make bowls, large calabashes (huge bowls), & utensils due to its ability to hold food without affecting the flavor of the food itself.

Double Rainbow Over Waikiki

Rainy morning over Waikiki. There were big warm drops of tropical rain falling from the sky, being whipped lightly by the ocean breeze. As I wondered somewhat retrospectively if I should have covered the lens on the SLR, a glorious double rainbow shone brightly over the ocean, somehow making it all a new, exciting adventure.

Sunset Beach

Surfer, Sunset Beach, Hawaii. The waves were not quite as big as during Winter but they were still fairly impressive.

Hula Dancers

Hula Dancers, Ala Moana Center Stage.

Up Close and Iris

Iris Petal, up close. Note that the lower petal acts as a landing pad for insects looking for nectar within (the perianth). In the process any pollen the insect was carrying is applied to the stigmatic surface (receptive surface) while new pollen is applied to the hapless insect when it backs out. Thus, not only does the insect pollinate the iris, but flower structure is uniquely designed such that the flower is CROSS-pollinated; i.e., fertilized with pollen from a different flower.

Ring-necked Duck, Aythya collaris

The Ring-necked Duck, Aythya collaris, lives near wooded lakes and ponds in North America, where it feeds on water plants, bugs, molluscs and fish.

Onion Weed: Asphodelus fistulosus

Onion Weed, Asphodelus fistulosus, is an annual that is native to the Mediterranean region. However, it has become naturalized in California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico where it has become, in some locations, an invasive weed. It favors sandy soils and Mediterranean climates. This Onion Weed was growing quite well on a sandy slope in the San Pasqual Valley where it made quite an impressive display.

The Tailed Jay or Graphium Agamemnon

The Tailed Jay or Graphium Agamemnon is a member of the swallowtail family that is found throughout Southeast Asia, Southern China, the South Pacific and Australia. The adults feed on nectar from flowers such as Lantana and Ixora while the caterpillars are hosted on Polyalthia longifolia trees and shrubs.

Leather Coral, Sarcophyton species

Leather Coral, Sarcophyton species. Leather corals are a little less fussy when compared to hard corals (i.e., those with a hard skeleton that build reefs). They tend to be less particular about water temperature and quality, often coming from sheltered lagoons versus open waters. They also tend to have larger, more visible polyps that often sway in the current in a very graceful, hypnotic manner. Some get reasonably large and will even serve as alternate homes for anemone fish when there are no anemones present. Leather corals come in a wide assortment of colors, shapes and forms and, if split, will (in good conditions) develop into multiple complete corals. Finally, note that leather corals exude chemicals that will damage other competing coral species that they come in contact with and generally do best with a little space between them.

Paper Kite Butterfly or Large Tree Nymph, Idea leuconoe

Paper Kite Butterfly or Large Tree Nymph, Idea leuconoe. This butterfly hails from SE Asia where it is occasionally exported for live butterfly displays.

Hooked Mallard, the Hazards of Monofilament Fish Line

Mallard, apparently hooked on some monofilament. This mallard has apparently ingested a fish line, probably with a hook at the other end. It's possible that he went after someone's bait but equally likely that some shiny fishing lure or fake worm remained on the river bottom, tempting this poor Mallard into what will probably be a death sentence, if it is not removed. Ironically, I did not notice the monofilament until I looked at the picture on the computer some days later.

Arpophyllum giganteum

Arpophyllum giganteum. These flowers are non-resupinate, i.e., they bloom with their lip up as opposed to most other orchids that bloom with their lip down. The flowers are born in huge numbers on sturdy, upright stems. This orchid is fairly widespread throughout Sourthern North America, South and Central America including Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela and Jamaica where it grows in foothill forests.

Clematis x cartmanii 'Blaaval'

Clematis x cartmanii 'Blaaval' creates a profusion of large, glistening, white blossoms on a fast growing vine that is perfect for trellis or wall. It is hardy through zone 7 and requires regular water.