The Big Island Association of Nurserymen — and women — is having its annual plant sale April 26 and 27 at Edith Kanakakaole Multipurpose Stadium in Hilo. It is a great opportunity to connect with nurseries all over the island in one place. Loads of new plants and old favorites will be available as well as experts to help you on ways to grow them.
Hawaii has a special magic. An infinite variety of colors and fragrances bless our gardens. The scent of flowers perfumes the air and sets a tropical, romantic mood whether you live mauka or makai. Adding flowering plants to your area can combat unpleasant smells, such as car exhaust fumes or from rubbish cans. There are many good choices for your garden. The scent of orange, grapefruit, lime, lemon and tangerine blossoms all have delicious fragrance. Colorful flowering gold, shower and orchid trees are now beginning to make a show.
There are many lesser-known plants that can be added to our gardens. All the plants listed below have fragrant flowers. Some of them, such as plumeria, night blooming jasmine, fragrant dracaena, gardenia, angel trumpet and mock orange are equipped with fragrance so potent that it can fill every inch of garden air space and drift into the house, too. Others, including the spider lily, produce more subtle perfumes that usually won’t travel quite as far and are best appreciated at close range.
Look for these fragrant plants at the sale. The shade-loving shrub Brunfelsia is a native of South America. Its scientific name is Brunfelsia calycina floribunda. It gets its common name, yesterday-today-and tomorrow, from the fact that the 2-inch tubular, flaring flowers are purple one day, violet the next and almost white the next. The plant chiefly flowers in spring, but sometimes spring through fall, or in spring and again in fall. The plant may grow as high as 10 feet in partial shade, but can be kept as low as 3 feet by pruning.
There are many fragrant jasmines, as well as several “false” jasmines, such as star and orange jasmine. Jasminum ilicifolium and Jasminum multifolorum are two shrubs used as foundation plantings. They may also be grown as vines and will bloom more profusely.
Star jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, is a viny shrub. Tie this plant to a post, fence, or some other support and it will climb; or pinch out branch tips and it covers the ground. The clusters of star-shaped, white flowers contrast nicely with shiny dark green leaves.
Mock orange or orange jasmine, Murraya paniculata, a member of the citrus family, is an attractive evergreen shrub or small tree with glossy green pinnately compound leaves. The white, fragrant flowers are produced at intervals throughout the year, followed by clusters of red ovoid fruit. It is a vigorous grower and may be used as a small tree, an informal high hedge or screen, or may be trimmed to a formal shape.
Night blooming jasmine, Cestrum nocturnum, produces flowers with a powerful scent. A single plant per garden should be plenty. These evergreen shrubs grow 6 to 8 feet tall or more and bloom off and on throughout the year.
Plumeria should be found in most gardens, but a close relative is rare. Tabernaemontana, or cinnamon gardenia, was introduced from Africa by Paul Weissich in 1960. Flowers are produced throughout the year and have a cinnamon fragrance. The odor is delicate, but one or two flowers perfume the whole garden. Close relatives are ervatamia, crepe jasmine, cerbera, stemmadenia and oleander.
Look for flowering trees like the tabebuias. Different species come in many forms and colors from pink to purple and yellow. My favorites are the gold tree from Central America and the Mexican gold tree. There are many species of bauhinia available. The most popular is the Hong Kong orchid tree. The royal poinciana is well known with its orange to red flowers, but a few nurseries are beginning to carry the rare yellow form.
When shopping, don’t forget all the fantastic foliage plants like heliconias, philodendrons, palms and bamboos. There will be new tropical rhododendrons, daylilies, carnivorous plants and cactuses at the show as well.
This information is supplied by the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources. For further information, contact the nearest office.
