{"id":11151,"date":"2012-02-12T15:34:53","date_gmt":"2012-02-12T23:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/?p=11151"},"modified":"2012-05-12T08:58:33","modified_gmt":"2012-05-12T16:58:33","slug":"inside-hawaii-tropical-botanical-garden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2012\/02\/12\/inside-hawaii-tropical-botanical-garden\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many regular readers of this blog already know that, for me, heaven has an address. A short drive up from Hilo on the Big Island, <a href=\"http:\/\/htbg.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden (HTBG)<\/a> is an earthly paradise. In the natural greenhouse of <a href=\"http:\/\/htbg.com\/onomea.html\" target=\"_blank\">Onomea Valley<\/a>, HTBG offers meandering trails through a tropical rainforest. The flowers may look unreal, but they&#8217;re some of Mother Nature&#8217;s best work, like this brilliant lobster-claw <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/21\/heliconias\/\">Heliconia<\/a>, large red Torch Ginger, and bizarre black Bat Flower.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Heliconia_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11158\" title=\"Lobster Claw, or Heliconia flower\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Heliconia_800px-96x128.jpg\" alt=\"Lobster Claw, or Heliconia flower\" width=\"96\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Heliconia_800px-96x128.jpg 96w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Heliconia_800px-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Heliconia_800px.JPG 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 96px) 100vw, 96px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Etlingera_elatior_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11155\" title=\"Torch Ginger at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Etlingera_elatior_800px-128x85.jpg\" alt=\"Torch Ginger at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden\" width=\"128\" height=\"85\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Etlingera_elatior_800px-128x85.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Etlingera_elatior_800px-300x199.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Etlingera_elatior_800px.JPG 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Tacca_chantrieri_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11162\" title=\"Bat Flower at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Tacca_chantrieri_800px-128x76.jpg\" alt=\"Bat Flower at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden\" width=\"128\" height=\"76\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Tacca_chantrieri_800px-128x76.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Tacca_chantrieri_800px-300x180.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Tacca_chantrieri_800px.JPG 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Once home to an ancient Hawaiian fishing village, Onomea Valley now hosts over 2000 tropical plant species from around the globe, many rare or endangered. HTBG has over 40 acres (16 hectares) of plants, with plenty of orchids everywhere. Besides the central Orchid Garden, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/17\/up-a-tree-2\/\">many more are attached to the trees (remember to look up!)<\/a> We had the good fortune to visit earlier this month, when Dave snapped these great photos.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Harlequin_Phalaenopsis_hybrid_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11157\" title=\"Harlequin Phal flowers\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Harlequin_Phalaenopsis_hybrid_800px-128x96.jpg\" alt=\"Harlequin Phal flowers\" width=\"128\" height=\"96\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Harlequin_Phalaenopsis_hybrid_800px-128x96.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Harlequin_Phalaenopsis_hybrid_800px-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Harlequin_Phalaenopsis_hybrid_800px.JPG 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Odontoglossum_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11159\" title=\"Odontoglossum hybrid\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Odontoglossum_800px-85x128.jpg\" alt=\"Odontoglossum hybrid\" width=\"85\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Odontoglossum_800px-85x128.jpg 85w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Odontoglossum_800px-199x300.jpg 199w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Odontoglossum_800px.JPG 533w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 85px) 100vw, 85px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Oncidium_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11160\" title=\"Oncidium hybrid\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Oncidium_800px-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"Oncidium hybrid\" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Oncidium_800px-128x128.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Oncidium_800px-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Oncidium_800px.JPG 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Of course, paradise includes beautiful waterfalls and tasty bananas. It even has a deliciously fragrant Golden Gardenia tree in the parking lot. Pending your next trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, you have can a bit of paradise delivered. <a href=\"https:\/\/store.htbg.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">HTBG&#8217;s online store<\/a> offers dazzling tropical bouquets for shipment to the rest of the USA. Other garden gifts can be shipped worldwide. <a href=\"https:\/\/store.htbg.com\/mm5\/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&amp;Store_Code=HTBGS&amp;Category_Code=MEM\" target=\"_blank\">HTBG members<\/a> enjoy free garden entrance. All proceeds support the non-profit conservation group which takes care of this little piece of heaven.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Onomea_Falls_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11161\" title=\"Onomea Falls runs through Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Onomea_Falls_800px-85x128.jpg\" alt=\"Onomea Falls runs through Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden\" width=\"85\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Onomea_Falls_800px-85x128.jpg 85w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Onomea_Falls_800px-199x300.jpg 199w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Onomea_Falls_800px.JPG 533w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 85px) 100vw, 85px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Banana_flower_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11154\" title=\"Banana flower with baby bananas starting to grow\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Banana_flower_800px-76x128.jpg\" alt=\"Banana flower with baby bananas starting to grow\" width=\"76\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Banana_flower_800px-76x128.jpg 76w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Banana_flower_800px-180x300.jpg 180w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Banana_flower_800px.JPG 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 76px) 100vw, 76px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Gardenia-carinata_at_Hawaii_Tropical_Botanical_Garden_800px.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-11166\" title=\"Very fragrant Gardenia tree\" src=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Gardenia-carinata_at_Hawaii_Tropical_Botanical_Garden_800px-128x128.jpg\" alt=\"Very fragrant Gardenia tree\" width=\"128\" height=\"128\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Gardenia-carinata_at_Hawaii_Tropical_Botanical_Garden_800px-128x128.jpg 128w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Gardenia-carinata_at_Hawaii_Tropical_Botanical_Garden_800px-300x300.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Gardenia-carinata_at_Hawaii_Tropical_Botanical_Garden_800px.JPG 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 128px) 100vw, 128px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many regular readers of this blog already know that, for me, heaven has an address. A short drive up from Hilo on the Big Island, Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden (HTBG) is an earthly paradise. In the natural greenhouse of Onomea Valley, HTBG offers meandering trails through a tropical rainforest. The flowers may look unreal, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,21,6,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-botanical-gardens","category-conservation","category-photos","category-warm-growers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11151"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11191,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11151\/revisions\/11191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.aboutorchids.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}