It seems most of my family have green thumbs and the ability to grow just about everything! My Mom once bought a tree from a Christmas Tree lot and after two weeks indoors she decided to plant it in a large pot in her backyard. Of course it stayed alive and grew for over 30 years! Marla lovingly tends to our indoor plants, my brother’s home and backyard in Hawaii are like a botanical garden, and my aunt and cousins all grow fabulous orchids! Though I don’t have that skill-set I do have an appreciation of the beauty of flowers. 

“As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in this world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world.” Buddha  

Photo of lotus flower in Krabi, Thailand.

Marla looks stunning in front of gorgeous Bougainvillea flowers in Kapoho on the Big Island. Sadly, this area is now almost all covered by lava from this years Kilauea eruption.

I’ll take you on a tour of some of my favorite flowers beginning at Gary’s home on the Big Island. He is showing us his Allamanda vine.

An incredible orchid blooms magnificently on his back porch.

One of his beautiful orange orchid blooms.

A wonderful Hibiscus blooms in Gary’s jungle-like backyard.

This is one very happy orchid!

Gary’s gigantic Spider Lily blooms regally.

Gary showed us some unusual Spanish Moss, or “Pele’s Hair”, hanging from a tree behind a lovely red orchid.

I took this photo of a beautiful Hibiscus near a home we rented In Hawaii Paradise Park a few years ago.

Some of the most spectacular flowers I’ve ever seen are in the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens just north of Hilo on the Big Island. It is a 40 acre natural greenhouse in a protected canyon near the ocean. We walked the beautiful tropical paths and marveled at the flowers. There are so many fabulous varieties it is important to really slow down and savor the flowers. This is a a purple bloom from a Chandelier Tree. I’ll show you some of my favorites from this amazing place.

This is a spooky looking “Black Bat Orchid.”

The unusual “Cat’s Whiskers” flower.

The intense red bloom of a Tahitian Ginger.

The “Rose Grape” flower was really unusual and very beautiful!

The botanical garden has an amazing number of incredible orchids.

Indonesian Wax Ginger.

The “Pink Quill Bromeliad” almost seemed unreal!

I found these orchids blooming on a tree next to a place we bought furniture in the Baan Tawai Village area of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The two photos above show some of the variety of plants found on the temperate island of Guernsey in the English Channel. On the famous “Cliff Walks” you can encounter some amazing varieties.

Flowering succulents near Bodega Bay in Northern California.

I had to get off my bike while riding up to Vail Pass to take this wonderful shot! 

Hiking at over 10,000′ near the top of Gondola One in Vail.

Marla savors these fabulous blooms in the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.

Photo credit: Dick Gentry, Gary Gentry