Without Jill, I would have never taken this photo of the plumeria tree.
I have to give most if not all of the credit of this photo of a plumeria to my wife, Jill. We were in Maui for our honeymoon, and we were driving the Road to Hana. About halfway through the morning, we pulled off the main road to drive out to the point at Ke'anae peninsula. We had parked at the lookout on the easternmost point of the peninsula and were awestruck by the beauty of the clear water and the slow and powerful waves.
When we parked the car, we immediately scrambled out on the volcanic rock to get a closer view of the waves and the blue blue water. (I know that's two "blue"s, but that was the clearest water I have ever seen in my life!) It's the crashing of waves against volcanic rock that makes many of the black sand beaches that Hawai'i is famous for. We spent a good 15 minutes taking in the waves. As I snapped photo after photo of the waves, I was completely unaware that this photo would ever be taken.
From here, we moseyed across the parking lot to look at the Old Stone Church, a.k.a. Ihi’ihio Iehowa o na Kaua. After passing on purchasing anything from a local vendor, I turned to head back to the car. That's when Jill said, "You've got to come take this picture."
Sure enough, just around a slight bend in the road was this perfectly framed plumeria tree. Jill had seen the solitary tree on the way in and immediately recognized its beauty. I spent some time just taking in the beauty of where we were, the sound of the ocean, the smell of the salt water in the air. Taking the photo was easy, nature had done all the work for me in framing the tree with the sandy ground, the rocky beach, and the blue ocean.
"You've got to come take this picture," said Jill.
The flowers of the plumeria tree are used in leis.
When in bloom plumeria trees are quite the sight to see. Even though there isn't a single flower on this tree, its isolation from other plants focuses all your attention on the tree. The curving and interlacing branches draw in your eye. The green foliage suspended against the blue sky keeps your eyes from focusing on anything else.
The plumeria tree is an iconic symbol of Hawai'i. The flowers of the tree are the primary flowers used in leis. You may be more familiar with one of its other common names: frangipani, melia, and temple tree. The plumeria tree flowers in the spring, but some species bloom from March to October. Each flower consists of five petals that are 2-3 inches in diameter. Their colors vary from white to yellow, from pink to red, and many colors in between.
Although prevalent throughout the Hawaiian islands, the plumeria tree is not safe from all threats. The "Iolani" cultivar was eliminated due to plumeria stem borer, which is an infestation of long-horned beetles. The plumeria tree is not frequently found in the wild now, but it is kept as a landscaping tree or grown commercially for the use of its flowers in leis.
As Jill and I drove away from Ke'anae peninsula, I turned to take one last look at the plumeria tree. I don't know how I had missed it on the way in, but I am glad she had the keen eye to see it. We left the peninsula with eyes that had been filled with the beauty of nature, and bellies that had been filled with banana bread from the famous Aunty Sandy's Banana Bread shop.
I turned to take one last look at the plumeria tree
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[…] The flower was in the shade of some nearby palm trees by the time we came back. This allowed for the perfect lighting conditions with no shadows at all. I had never seen a flower that looked anything like this! Little did I know that in a few minutes I would take one of my favorite photos of all time out on the Ke'anae Peninsula. The photo was of a plumeria tree. […]
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