Gardening in Eden

When I was in Hawaii earlier this month, I helped my aunt plant several plants and trees around her burgeoning yard.

It's important to note that all of the land there is covered in black volcanic rock, and in her yard most of the rocks are between a golf ball and baseball in size. She was able to cover most of these rocks with black cinder, but all cinder is are smaller volcanic rocks.

We mixed soil with the cinder in order to plant five hibiscus trees along her deck:


A closeup of the baby hibiscus.


We meant to plant all red, but we picked an orange one by mistake. Can you find it?


With blossoms this beautiful, how could the orange have been a mistake?

Later in the week, Brendan and Jeffrey (who live down the street with their grandparents (their grandfather, Abner, built my aunt's house)) came down to help my aunt dig in the mulch to help get rid of the frogs living there. I did not volunteer for this job, but Brendan and Jeffrey were more than happy to help.


My aunt Chris, Brendan and Jeffrey.


Jeffrey, more than happy to get a closeup with a frog he found.


A bromeliad we planted in the cinder. Did you know that pineapples are part of the bromeliad family?


The scarecrow my aunt put up to keep birds from eating all of the carpet grass seeds she planted. It didn't keep the birds away, but luckily my aunt planted enough seeds that by the end of my visit there were small sprouts in her yard.