LAVENDER FARM

On the road to Polipoli State park in upper Kula you find Alii Lavender farm. Eight acres of Lavender. I never knew there were so many different varieties. Over 20+ with names such as French and English Buena Vista. The friendly staff in the farm shop provided much information. I did not know you should consider Lavender as a plant for a rock garden. No watering unless the soil is completely dry, no fertilizing. It comes from mediteranian cliffs. They have no drip irrigation at this farm. Most lavender blooms June through August. Some cultivars bloom year round.

Ulupalakua picnic

What to do on a Sunday afternoon? we headed out for a picnic at Ulupalakua Ranch's winery. S short stop at Kula ace hardware to get propane for the grill and look at all the nice plants. Very nice lemon, orange and tangerine trees. Olive trees and fig trees in addition to many pretty flowers and vegetable plants. Then Up Pulehuiki to check the persimmons. Hashimoto Persimmon farm had trees laden with bright orange persimmons. Under their trees was a nice carpet of white clover. Their leaves are just starting to turn yellow and orange. As we passed Chings store everything changed from dry and brown to lush Green grass. Keokea and Ulupalakua were very green. Surprising for this time of the year. We found a picnic table and enjoyed sun tea, crackers with cheese and plums. The huge camphor tree and cook island pines were massive and old. A turkey sat on the top rail of the fence eyeing us to see if we were leaving any crumbs. On the way home we stopped by the pumpkin patch.

PUMPKINS

We stopped by the Kula pumpkin patch. What fun! Pumpkins of every size and color. From a muted corange to bright flourescent orange. Miniature horses, a corn maze and the produce stand.