Things Grow

I lived in a small house at the bottom of the drive for the last sixteen years that I lived in Maui. I have lived here in Hale Mana now for eight. It took four years both times to settle down to the bottom of the drive. Miss Collar is eleven years old. Button is seven. Miss Collar is pretty much a twenty four hour house cat that was born in the wild. Button still kills varmints.

Things grow. Small saplings and tiny seedlings grow into trees.

Vines cover a trellis.

And you wonder, has this honeysuckle ever bloomed this profusely?

The rhododendron bloomed two weeks early and The Lush seems mighty tall for this time of the year.

Profuse bloom is not a given. There are on and off years. I am convinced a great many iris specie are not as bloom hardy as they are plant hardy. Off years always seem to coincide with a hurtful spring freeze after they have begun to stir.

Which isn't really a problem because something is always having a big time On year.

The Lush will not be stopped in any case.

The Solomon's Plume is more reliable. I think it is an elevation adaptation thing.

That is just one factor that makes knowing what plants will truly thrive up here unknowable.

There have been some odd poor performers. Baptisia refuses to thrive here no matter where I put it. I think it is a competition thing.

No matter, things grow and the time for the first mowing of the Great Lawn was here.