Anthurium Bed Wall Done

The south wall of anthurium Bed #1 is done! I stretched another section of weed cloth out and anchored the north edge between the bottom course of bricks and the 2nd tier immediately above it. And I removed all the ferns and weeds growing between and on top of the bricks.

Yesterday I got as far as the stems seen to the right of the stacked bricks.

Just need to get to the orange bucket to finish.

All pau!

Tomorrow I will finish weeding the section of Bed #1 that I have designated for Grandma's heirloom anthuriums. (Can I call them that since they have been growing in these beds since the mid-1960's? They're over 50 years old!) Basically, those in the designated section or growing on the hāpuʻu are the ones that Grandma planted way back then. When I get new plants, they will go in other parts of the beds.

I got up at kakahiaka nui (early morning) and heard the Saffron Finch this morning! Now I am really curious to know where it had been all those mornings that it was not here!

Birdrise, twenty-eight minutes before sunrise.

My alarm went off at 3 minutes after sunrise.

Before I went out to work on the anthurium garden I submitted my application for admission to UH West O'ahu as directed for the Community Contact Tracer Training Program. Sort of. There was no option for Summer 2020, so I clicked on Fall 2020. Then sent an email to Nicole letting her know I had to do that since I was not given the option noted in the email. I also could not wait until I heard back from her since the system was going down at 1 pm today for maintenance and would not be back up until 6 am Monday and the application needs to be submitted by 5 pm Monday. Āue!


I thought working on my application would also let the weather warm up a bit and get a little drier. But it stayed overcast for most of the day while I was outside. It also drizzled on and off throughout the day.

At 6:15 am.

At 2:15 pm; looks almost the same!

Before I started on the anthurium bed, I also repotted the popcorn orchid (Oncidium sphacelatum). I already cut off a straggly piece earlier so the rest of the root mass could fit in the orchid pot. In trying to get it to sit nicely in the pot I discovered it had a bunch of weirdly growing pseudobulbs; probably because it was not properly situated in a pot for such a long time. I had to cut off 2 more pieces in order for the main mass to sit properly. I will have to get a couple more orchid pots from Sunshine and repot these 2 other pieces. (I'll have to get you a photo of the orchid in the pot tomorrow. I wanted to get them all in to the holding area I forgot to take an "after" photo.)

The plant I tried to put in the pot.

There were actually 3 distinct pieces.

I also changed the sprayers for the holding area; all except the last one in the series would spray towards the path. Which meant the path got quite wet since it goes on for 15 minutes every hour so I can be sure the plants will survive the summer while I am not here to adjust the watering on a daily basis. I have now moved the sprayers so they are at the edge of the path and spray away from the path. This also allows me to have a much neater edge along the path so the plants do not stick out in to the travel path.

Before.

After.

Right now the weed cloth only goes a few feet past the path between the 2 beds; I will need to get more weed cloth. I want to do the same treatment to the path between the beds and the remaining portion of the path up to the future landing for the stairs from the sewing room. I want to plant native ferns alongside the staircase.

I rolled out all the weed cloth I had.

The end of the weed cloth.

This is the path it intersects with.

Here are photos taken from the easterly wall of the sewing room, looking easterly along the path from the future stairwell to the back yard.

From sewing room wall, looking easterly. Red dotted line is potential future fern plantings.

From end of spathyphyllum patch, looking easterly.

From intersection with path, looking easterly; foreground is possibly kangaroo paw fern.

From white support seen in previous photo, looking easterly.

From center of holding area, looking easterly.

I took a closer look at the fern that I thought was kupukupu (Neprholepis cordiflolia); it's not. According to the reading I did last night, kupukupu has tubers along the stolons to store food; new plants also grow from the tubers. I looked today but could not find any tubers. I think I have a naturalized alien species of Nephrolepis, perhaps Nephrolepis exaltata, the Boston fern which is the most common one. Āue! Not replanting this one.

Hmmmm, no tubers. Therefore, not native.

I also looked at the maidenhair more closely. The only native species of maidenhair, the ʻiwaʻiwa (Adiantum capillis-veneris), is uncommon to rare and is becoming increasingly scarce. I think I have the Adiantum hispidulum, also known as Rough Maidenhair, Rosy Maidenhair, or Five-fingered Jack; it is an invasive species! Āue! The descriptions say the young growth is pinkish and gives the plant the name Rosy Maidenhair; I have seen clumps here where there is a pinkish hue to some of the fronds. Not replanting this one either.

Note pinkish hue to fronds towards right.

Five-fingered Jack.

There is also a 3rd fern that was growing along the bricks of the anthrium bed. I am no where close to figuring it out. And a 4th one that Greg thought was called Kangaroo Paw Fern; it is not growing on or near the bricks; its on the opposite side of the path. I need to figure out if any of them are native. So far the only ones I am sure of are the hāpuʻu that Grandma planted and the palapalai that I bought. I would like to create patches of the smaller native ferns. I would really like to plant some pe'ahi (Microsorum spectrum) but that one is really hard to come by.

Growth habit.

Single frond.

Sori on the underside.

Looking at the stipe.

Kalo surrounded by 3 types of ferns.

I took a shower in the outside shower again. I am really liking the set-up that Leslie built special for me! I just need to get a couple things to hold soap, shampoo, and wash clothes, and I'll be all set!

Here's today's harvest; the bananas are from Joy.


The cats made themselves scarce again. I think today it was a combination of me being out in the anthurium garden and the neighbor's being out in their garage making more noise than usual with car repairs. I put food out just before kau ka lā i ka lolo (high noon) as usual; it was still there when I got ready to go back out. But it was gone when I got out of the shower.


I went to drop off the coconuts for Wayne after I showered. Because the calamansi was pruned I had no calamansi for Joy. While I was there Joy said that her sister Arlene, who is currently in California, forwarded a text she got yesterday from a friend in the local senior club. The text said a person from the mainland that is visiting a local has been diagnosed with COVID-19; it showed up on the ZCTA map yesterday.The Coconut Wireless is just as fast as local media! That's how it works around here!

There were 20 new COVID-19 cases today, bringing the total known cases up to 1354. There was another death reported today, bringing that total up to 24. There was also another hospitalization reported today. A little over 75% of cases are now released from isolation.

Our ZCTA is now colored in.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Janae!