How to eat weeds in Hawaii

Oahu-based public artist Gaye Chan once told me and Marko that we were part of her lost tribe. If by that she means we are into Free Stores, foraging free food, and eating weeds, then yes, we are!

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Lei culture, plant culture, in Hawaii and Germany

Sorry so silent! I’ve been busy arranging flowers in Honolulu, Beacon (where another Urban Plant Researcher recently wed!) and the German countryside, sometimes into bouquets and more often into lei.

Mahalo to the Hui Hana Lei Ladies who taught me to make haku lei in my last month in Hawaii. If you’re on Oahu, please visit their annual lei-making class this Thursday. I just posted about my experience making lei with the lei ladies, and more about their class, here on my other blog, Local Color.

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Sausage tree, baobab now official arboretum trees

Sausage tree.

Towering tropical trees, from ulu (breadfruit) to rainbow shower, amaze me every time I visit the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus here in Honolulu. “It’s like a botanical garden,” I was just saying yesterday. Today, the local newspaper announced that the campus has just received international accreditation as an arboretum: one of only 135 in the world!

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Aggressive orchids on Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i

So this is what can happen when orchids aren’t confined to a pot. At the home where I recently stayed in Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i, the palm tree in the front yard was completely wrapped in the roots of these orchid plants.

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She came in through the bathroom window — Kauai, Hawai‘i, USA

A large green organism reached through a bathroom window in Kauai today, startling Urban Plant Research contributor Marko Förstel. The scientist, who is visiting Kauai for an academic conference, quickly snapped a picture to share with us. Further inspection revealed that the green being was a banana tree. Thank you, Marko, for sharing this cheeky Kauai resident. Bathroom visitors, beware!

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How the mango got curly, and other ‘found wood’ stories

Amazing how much you can learn about mango trees at the Kaka‘ako Farmers Market here in Honolulu. While vegetable shopping this morning, I stopped to chat with Jen Homcy about Foundwood, her woodworking company that creates cutting boards out of reclaimed local hardwood. She took the time to share some knowledge about the wood she uses, including how the curl gets in the curly mango.

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Agave blooms towering over Honolulu gardens

All over Honolulu, the Dr. Seuss-esque towers of agave flowers have been catching my eye. The spiky, seafoam-green plants are popular for home gardens here. A little research on Wikipedia suggests that this is the Mexican species Agave attenuata, which, thanks to the shape of its inflorescence, is also called foxtail, lion’s tail or swan’s neck. It is a different species that is used for tequila, the blue agave, also know as, what else, Agave tequilana.

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Honolulu: New Year’s bamboo at the drugstore

Aloha and Happy New Year from Honolulu. I was tickled to find these lucky bamboo and pine arrangements at my neighborhood Longs Drugs. In Japanese tradition, they are placed at the entrances to the home during the New Year’s festivities. Looks like this practice has taken root here, like many other Japanese traditions.

On that topic, I’ve started a new design studio here in Honolulu, with a new website:
localcolorhawaii.com

My first post of the year over there is also about a Japanese New Year’s tradition: mochi soup! Please take a look and if you like what you read, I’d be honored if you’d follow my Local Color blog too.

Wishing you a wonderful, leafy, green 2015!

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A Hawaii plant tradition

Sorry it’s been a little quiet here, but I’ve been doing background research on Hawaii plants. While I’ve been reading about them, I’ve noticed that the authors always mention which parts of each plant are used in lei-making. So I quickly got the picture that lei are an important part of the culture here, and of how people relate to plants. Today, I was given a lei for the first time, and I wrote about it on my other blog. Please enjoy!

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UPR has relocated to the tropics!

Reading up on the new flora and environs at the public library. Stay tuned for more soon!

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