Cactus flowers
Are you enjoying our wela (hot) and ikiiki (humid) weather in Hawaii? It seems these plants in my garden do! The cactus that my friend Yo gave me is thriving, and so are the red ti plants put in the garden by Hailama. There are two seasons in our Islands—kau wela (dry season) and hoʻoilo (wet season).
Red ti blossoms
Copyright 2018 Rebekah Luke
Spectacular night blooming cereus blossoms. Photos copyright 2017 Rebekah LukeFor the second night in a row I remembered to go into the front garden to view the night blooming cereus. Each bud opens up for one night only and will start closing at dawn.
I acquired cuttings of this plant from the historically famous hedge on the lava rock walls of Punahou School in Honolulu when I saw the gardener trimming the sprawling cactus one day. I pulled my car over and loaded the trunk with the pokey “arms.”
Tonight’s bloom is the largest of mine to date. I figured out that trimming encourages blooms and controls willy-nilly spreading. A layer of pohaku (rock) in a free form shape on the ground tells me where to trim so that the cereus is confined to a definite area.
Gosh, after tonight I’ll have to wait until next August to see the next bloom of these beautiful flowers.
Copyright 2017 Rebekah Luke
Night blooming cereus
A treat for us this morning at the studio! Two cereus! Night blooming cereus, that is. You can probably expect to see me post images of these cactus flowers every season. They’re so dramatic, blooming only at night for one night only and closing at sun up. I sometimes paint them. Here they’re mixed in with some bromeliads.
Amazing bloom
Rebekah’s Studio 
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