Wahiawa Botanical Garden Walk

I saw an article in Sunday's Honolulu Advertiser about the Wahiawa Botanical Gardens which is pretty close to our home. Mom thought my aunt and uncle would like to go and check it out and our neighbors were also game so we decided to go together today. I called ahead and was told that we should bring umbrellas and bug spray. We went out last night and bought some for the occasion.


When we got there we were relieved to see clear blue skies so we left our umbrellas behind. We also figured we didn't need the bug spray so we left that in the car.


The place was being decorated for Halloween but mom saw something that she didn't like right away!


"That's my grandson's name," she moaned. It gave her the willies.


The gardens were very beautiful. They had spent quite a bit of resource to really renovate the garden paths to make it accessible to everyone. We saw orchid plants clinging to huge branches.


There were a lot of plants I'd not seen before.


Everyone on this trip enjoys gardens and loved discovering all the strange and wonderful plants we saw.


And that's when we realized our mistake. We should have used the bug spray. The mosquitoes followed us like a blood sucking cloud. Then my uncle drew my attention to the handrail which I thankfully was not holding. It was teeming with a giant trail of GIANT ants. Yuuuuck!


Art found the gorgeous blossom on this candle tree interesting since the flower came right out of the big trunk instead of the branches.


There was no way I was going to sit down because that's what the mosquitoes wanted me to do. A sitting target!


The gardener told me this was a relative of the shrimp plant.


Art said there was more to see in another area but I think everybody had enough. As beautiful as it was, ants and mosquitoes are no fun!


We stopped by at Makino Chaya to pick up the $5.50 box lunch I ordered the night before. Our neighbors, aunt and uncle could not believe what we got. It was an extremely generous serving and the variety of food was fabulous. What a terrific way to end the outing!