Broken Hāpuʻu

The main task for today was to clean up the broken hāpuʻu; I needed to get its fronds off of the white ginger and get it in to a pot. I was mainly successful; I got it off the white ginger. But right now it is leaning up against hāpuʻu #8 & #9; I ran out of time to finish potting up before lunch. That will be a task for tomorrow.

Yesterday, from the path, looking at the white ginger patch.

Yesterday, the broken "branch".

I removed the fronds first, then started cutting the connection to the main trunk.

The "broken" piece is freed from the main trunk.

Looks much better now!

This looks good too.

Hāpuʻu #10, waiting to be potted or planted.

I also cleaned up the holding area; I removed the old fronds that I was using to create shade for the newly potted plants. While I was doing that I found out that one of the very small hāpuʻu I rescued and thought had died, actually survived. I had planted the mountain apple seedling in that pot when I thought the hāpuʻu had died so now I need to remove the mountain apple. I will move it to the pot of the other hāpuʻu that I am sure is dead!

The mountain apple needs its own pot.

The hāpuʻu on the right is dead, I will transplant the mountain apple in to that pot.

And I took the "after" photos for the hāpuʻu that were planted and potted last month. Here they are compared with their "before" photos.

Hāpuʻu #1, June 10th.

Hāpuʻu #1, July 10th; one new frond at full length, 2nd one about a foot tall.

Hāpuʻu #2, June 10th.

Hāpuʻu #2, July 11th; no new growth visible.

Hāpuʻu #3, June 10th.

Hāpuʻu #3, July 11th; one frond unfurling.

Hāpuʻu #4, June 10th.

Hāpuʻu #4, July 11th; one frond is just starting to grow.

Hāpuʻu #5, #6, & #7, June 10th.

Hāpuʻu #5. #6, & #7, July 11th; #5 & #7 have sprouted a new frond, #6 is still green & alive.

Hāpuʻu #8 & #9, June 10th.

Hāpuʻu #8 & #9, July 11th; both have sent up new growth.

Hāpuʻu holding area; there are 3 very small hāpuʻu that I salvaged from other areas around the yard.

I took a closer look at the white ginger after I cut the fronds off of the hāpuʻu that had fallen in to it. I found more flower bracts, including one that was just starting to bloom. I would like to make starts of the white ginger and plant some under the bedroom windows by the heliconia; the fragrance would then be able to drift into the bedrooms.

Guess how many flower bracts there are. Answer in tomorrowʻs blog!

I also split the popcorn orchid; I replanted the larger piece in the orchid pot. That's the one I repaired last month; it is holding up well. I put the smaller piece on an old hāpuʻu stump; I hope it takes well to its new location and blooms next year.

The main part; Iʻm going to keep it in the holding area while I'm here.

The smaller piece has been placed on an old hāpuʻu stump.

I finished taking photos of the plants that I missed yesterday. I found that the dragon fruit has 2 little flower buds forming. And there are a few small green fruit on the persimmon.

Japanese chestnut; no flowers seen.

Dragon fruit.

Flower buds on dragon fruit.

Seed capsules on unknown plant; I have never seen it bloom.

No bananas forming yet; one that fruited earlier has died back.

Persimmon; it has green fruit about the size of a large marble.

I think I am getting used to the Saffron Finch trying to wake me up; I think I slept through the earliest part of its wake up call! I got out of bed a little late today, about 6:30.

Thirteen minutes before sunrise.

Forty-three minutes after sunrise.

As I went in for lunch I looked out the back porch window at the ʻAlenuihāhā Channel; it was choppy. Its name translates to "great billows smashing". I could also see a little bit of rain out over the ocean. I basically had the same lunch today as I did yesterday.



Before I went to cut flowers to take to the cemetery in the afternoon, I decided to experiment with the macadamia nut cracker that Lem made. I wanted to see if it could be used to help remove the husks from the nuts; my fingers get very sore from doing them by hand. I discovered that it can! And it does a really nice job of removing the husks; you just have to position it properly so the force being exerted pushes the nut out of the husk.

Today's harvest.

Putting pressure on the husk of a partially opened hull ...

... pops the nut out the opening.

If the husk has not cracked open, find the seam; it will act like the hull had a crack in it.

You usually have to squeeze the other half as well to get the nut out.

I cut spathiphyllums, agapanthus, heliconia, and an unknown plant with red berries to take to the cemetery; I will take anthuriums tomorrow. Just as I was finishing cutting the heliconias it began to drizzle. I was hot & sweaty so I took a shower before I went to the cemetery; the rain had stopped by then.


Towards the end of arranging flowers for the family grave sites, my GI tract began to rumble. I made it to the church bathroom in time; I am glad the doors were unlocked for the people working there today! I think I have viral diarrhea; so I will be fasting for the next 24 hours or so.

I had put food out for the cats about lunch time; Mom Cat came by almost immediately. But she did not walk up to the bowl right away; she waited about half way down the ramp. I left before she approached the bowl since I needed to eat lunch & go to the cemetery. Later in the evening both Mom Cat and Wiley came to eat; I have not seen The Tabby yet.

Mom Cat starts up the ramp but stops short of the porch.

She goes to sit in the sun and wait until she thinks its safe to come up and eat.

Although it is not yet in the Central Pacific region, Tropical Storm Cristina is starting to show up on the Central Pacific map; its at the very easterly edge of the map. 

Longitude 140 W is where the Central Pacific region starts.

Cristina is predicted to be a remnant low by Tuesday morning.

We set a new high record number of positive COVID-19 cases today; 42. That brings our total known cases up to an even 1200. Thirty-eight of the cases are on O'ahu; the health department has not yet said how many are associated with known clusters. There have been no new deaths or hospitalizations today.





Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jill & Kasimir!