In January, we decided to work on reestablishing the landscaping in front of our cottage lanai.  When we moved in, there was a full hedge all the way along the front that provided privacy and a slight buffer from road noise. We also loved having our Cardinal bird feeder cups inside the hedge branches so we could watch them feed and enjoy their chirps and songs. The bushes have been gradually dying off one by one from North to South. They would turn brown a branch at a time and lose their leaves until eventually the whole bush was dead. We have tried several times to regrow plants in the ground but have been unable to get anything to grow (except Aloe Vera.) We think the ground is fairly “dead” from years of an industrial herbicide being sprayed around the bushes and now the banyan tree (a Weeping Fig) is spreading huge roots taking the available ground nutrients and starving out other plants. We love the spreading banyan tree on the property providing wonderful shade from the Kihei sun but in the process of growing huge apparently banyans crowd out any competition.

To get a nice hedge started again, we thought we’d create an above ground growth environment. That meant we wanted to consider planter pots or a planter box. You know us: we researched, calculated, shopped, and debated. We chose limestone colored pots, a good potting soil, and narrow red leaf crotons. Narrow leaf crotons had been the majority of the former hedge and they allow good cardinal viewing!

Now came the outside work: clearing and transplanting the aloe vera, pulling out the dead bushes, leveling the ground, placing the paving stones, positioning the pots, filling the dirt and planting the bushes. Part of this work, of course, included stakes, string, tape measure, and spirit level in order for the pots to be positioned evenly and level. Neil was able to link up to the existing irrigation system and extend a small drippier line to each separate pot providing water when the lawn is being watered each night. We have had a lot of onshore winds and rain squalls this year in Kihei. The plants are loving it but the croton bushes started leaning in the pots from the strong wind pressure. We carefully staked them up while they are developing their root structure in the pots.

Our hope is that the narrow leaf crotons in the pots will grow up and spread together creating a hedge-like wall that will be trimmed at the top height of the lanai (just like they were years ago). The nursery people said that crotons always have a foot or more gap above the soil before they start having branches and leaves. So just inside the rim of the pots we have planted a ground cover called “Hearts and Flowers” that will eventually drape down and hide the sides of the pots with green. To fill the gap below the crotons with a natural mosquito deterrent we also planted starts of citronella (also known as lemon geranium, not the real citronella plant which is a grass). In addition, we hope to get some plants to grow in the ground around the pots. Neil found and ordered several types of seeds that flower but also are a natural mosquito deterrent: Bee Balm, Horse Mint, and Ageratum. Horse Mint (also known as Lemon Mint or Lemon Bee Balm) is very hardy, is salt tolerant, grows in sun or shade, deters mosquitoes yet attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Neil planted some seeds in peat pots and has carefully nurtured them. We got some planted in the pots and the ground last week. It is interesting how some of the same seeds planted at the same time grow faster than others. We are carefully watching them including watching for slugs and caterpillars.

There is one in-ground croton still doing beautifully at the southern corner of the lanai. Although the croton bush is currently full and colorful, we fear (and anticipate) that it too will eventually be affected by the banyan tree. We prepared a sixth croton planter pot the same way we did the five in front of the lanai. We currently enjoy it below the kitchen window in our side garden. We will be able to move the sixth pot if we lose the in-ground croton and the pot will fit right into the front hedge because it was planted at the same time. Otherwise we can continue to enjoy the croton bush out the kitchen window.

Long after it died, we left one dried dead croton standing in the front because it still holds the first two bird feeder cups we put up long ago. They are the ones the male and female cardinals prefer to use. They have us trained: when they come and sit on the branch or rail chirping, we go out and put a few striped sunflower seeds in each cup while they fly up and watch us from the tree above. Then they swoop in to eat what they want before the finches come and devour the rest. The day we cleaned out the garden and had to take it out “their” bush, the cardinals were lost. They would fly in chipping but had no place to land. Neil used stakes to prop up the dead tree out in the yard during the several days we worked and the cardinals adapted immediately to eat from cups in the new location. Once we finished planting the pots, we trimmed down the dead bush, leaving the feeling cups and some branches and tied it to the lanai rail as our “temporary” cardinal feeder until the new hedge in front grows big enough to support the feeder cups and the cardinals.

As with most projects, they always expand! We decided to continue the above ground gardening to the area behind Morley and Jean’s house. We had not been able to get anything to grow in the ground there after the hibiscus bushes started dying (again, from the industrial herbicide the landscaper insisted on using). It looked pretty barren and sad for a few years. Now the area is full of a variety of plants and ferns thanks to our friends, especially Anita, who shared many many plant starts with us! We also added hanging planters and reed fencing to camouflage the water heater and plywood shield that were an eyesore in this area before.  Neil installed a drip irrigation system for this garden as well.

Next year we hope to share a photo with you of our young established hedge with beautiful flowering plants (and a notable absence of mosquitoes)!

[Click on any photo in the gallery below  to see the full size image. Then click on the left or right arrow below it (or use your keyboard arrows) to move through all the other photos. ]

We wish you a very happy Solstice, a wonderful holiday season, and a happy new world!

Since last summer, you could say we have been home bodies. We rearranged our lanai furniture this spring to make a more inviting seating area for entertaining and we added an outdoor table. We now eat most our evening meals on the lanai enjoying the sunset and beautiful color in the clouds. We traded out the fish tank for a bird feeder and bird bath. The fish went to a good home and we get occasional reports of their progress. During morning tea and later as we work on our computers, we are entertained by the antics of the birds, have colorful flowers in our view, and watch the beautiful blue ocean for signs of Humpback whales. We saw our first one from shore in the distance last week. Hopefully, soon, there will many spouts close to shore. Neil saw a spout and a baby tail fluke just as I typed this. The binoculars are in handy reach on our desks.

This past month we have been reorganizing and updating inside. [Thank you wonderful parents for Christmas money.] Having finally found a fabric we both liked, we recovered the couch cushions allowing us to get rid of the sheet that covered the previous worn and split fabric. We are really appreciating seeing the couch again. We took advantage of Cyber Monday to get a new color laser printer. Its arrival required some major reorganizing (and cleaning) to position it in place of the two old printers (one color inkjet and one B&W laser). Next came the sewing projects to, shall we say, camouflage it and produce a fitted dust cover. We are rather proud of how the corner area now looks: hiding the storage area underneath the top shelf. We had some extra fabric we hadn’t used on the printer covering and decided it would be great to replace the plain blue shelf covering in the bedroom.

We are very excited to have company coming. Neil’s daughter, Mailea, is arriving right after Christmas for a few weeks visit to Maui. She is currently in the middle of her PhD program and looking forward to some R&R. Ari, Neil’s younger daughter, was thrilled to transfer mid-year to her desired nursing specialty of labor and delivery at the hospital in Santa Maria where she has worked the past year. Mom and Bill were able to come in October for a week while I house sat in Makena and they are going to be able to come for two weeks again in January. They are seriously thinking about buying an oceanfront condo and moving to Maui. I am keeping my fingers crossed! Neil and I previewed many condos for them through September and sent photos and descriptions.

They narrowed it down to four of them which they viewed during their October visit. There are now more on the market and they will have time in January to view others.

Quentin and Vajra had Sophie’s holiday visit over Thanksgiving this year. We got to spend a few days with them during her visit. Quentin continues to do well in school and is a joy to me. Dad and Jane have been through some health issues this year. Jane had back surgery in June and there were complications. She was in the hospital a few more times and in the rehab center till fall. Both she and Dad are thrilled to have her home again and doing well. Dad is now feeling pain in his back and having tests.

Plus he just had cataract surgery on one eye and feels his vision is blurry. He is hoping it is from the drops and will clear up soon. We enjoy having Jean and Morley right next door. They are doing well and we are grateful.

We are grateful for each moment of each day and for having wonderful family and friends. May each moment be blessing to you and we wish you a very joyous season.

We continue to enjoy our morning tea on the lanai among tweets and flutters and flowers.

Back in the spring, we noticed some House Finches, called Papaya Birds in Hawaii, visiting the cardinals sunflower seed cup feeders I wrote about last March. After my visit to Dad and Jane’s and seeing their birdfeeders, we decided to get one. We decided to place it off the corner of the lanai where we can watch it from our computer desks throughout the day as well as at morning tea time.

This now gave Neil a “project.” He developed a two pulley system that allowed us to lower the feeder for easy filling. He added a 2 pound dive weight on the bottom to stabilize it during high winds (sometimes quite gusty) and a small fishing weight on the end of the string to keep it from flying loose. The finches loved the feeder and a pretty soon their friends and distant relatives started to sit in the trees and on the railing waiting their turn. Neil next added perches for them to sit closer (where we can see and enjoy them better). The first few times the trade winds got brisk we watched the seed being blown straight out of the feeder sideways. So Neil got a 2 foot square of clear Plexiglas from Roger to put up as a wind shield. Works like a charm.

Javanese Finches were the next to discover the feeder. They are an elegant looking bird and remind me of puffins. Another friend of ours calls them ‘tuxedo birds.’ They are also aggressive bullies. In the morning, they sit as “birds on a wire”, sometimes as many as 50, waiting for feeding time. We fill the feeder when we are ready to go out on the lanai for tea and once the seed appears, they start the invasion. Neil calls it Fight Club since they seem to enjoy the squabbling as much as the food. They vie for position and growl at each other and threaten to bite each other to get to the cups. The papaya birds are quiet and stealthy and actually much braver when it comes to coming near us humans. When the Javanese get startled and fly away to the safety of the wire, the papaya birds fly in to snatch a big sunflower seed and fly away to eat it in peace before the Javanese fly back in number. Speaking of projects, Neil had to redesign the cups to get them to dispense the birdseed mix just right; Initially it was getting jammed up by the sunflowers in the mix or it was dispensing seed so fast that the Javanese were knocking most of it out to the ground. Never fear, there are 3 species of doves that have shown up to eat the offerings dropped down to them.

There is also another avid birdwatcher that frequents our lanai or camouflaged ground positions.  Sunshine, a stray Birman cat, adopted Morley and Jean this year, but hangs out at our lanai around bird feeding time. He has caught and eaten a few of the birds but fortunately most seem wise to his ways.

The birdbath was the next addition to the feeding area. We wanted something high enough we could see. It also had to have enough weight to be stable in the wind. A terracotta planter bottom dish fit the bill. Although the birds would drink from it, it was several days before we saw one actually take a bath. Kihei has so little rain; I’m not sure if they knew how to use water for bathing! Ha

The mated pair of cardinals built a nest in the front mango tree and hatched a little one. It fell out of the nest too early and couldn’t fly well enough to get to safety. The local cats were stalking it. Neil climbed up the tall ladder (with me stabilizing it) and put the baby bird back in the nest TWICE. And each time it hopped out and down again. We had to leave it on its own after that because it seems that’s what it wanted. Mom and Dad bird both chirped and stood guard as long as they could till dark. We never saw the baby fly more than a few feet and didn’t see it the next day. We assume it didn’t make it. Soon after the cardinal pair moved to a new tree somewhere off the street behind us and we hope they have better luck with new offspring. The adults still come back for sunflower seeds but no young have shown up. We keep watching.

Hanging flower baskets and planter boxes were another addition to our lanai environment. We had been successful growing tropical plants in our garden and yard, but just haven’t been able to get edible plants to survive. I think it is both the soil and the bugs. Neil, with my assistance, hung the planter baskets, built wood planters, and put in a drip watering system. We now have rosemary, basil and mint growing beautifully in our above-ground planters! We put a succulent which produces fuchsia colored flowers in one pot to add a spot of color. The final treat to enhance the lanai this December is a blossoming orchid plant. Quentin and Sophie gave me a blossoming orchid plant two years ago. After it lost all its flowers, I put it in the garden outside to get watered nightly, paying it no more attention. Two years later, grew a stalk with several buds. I brought it to the lanai where just one of the flowers has opened so far. Again, it is positioned so we can see from inside the house as well as at morning tea.

Photos by Neil.