Foster Botanical Garden's Midsummer Night's Gleam 2017

Lights and prehistoric cycads.

Waiting for the magic to start.

Jumbo flowers made from wire and fabric.

Throw the seed into the papaya and win a potted plant.

Lights and mobiles.

Effervescent sculptures made from plastic soda bottle sections strung together.

Luminaries and a packed lawn.

Can't get enough of the string lights in the garden.

The walkways are lit with candles that glow in white bags.

When else will you see a Pandanus lit like this?

Star Wars inspired LEGO landscapes. (The theme this year is Star Wars.)

Tree of wishes.

Live music and dancing.

The Amorphophallus titanums are in there, but currently in the vegetative phase.

There they are!

Jedi knight training, Lightsabers 101.

This is a branched palm!

Happy gleam to all, and to all a gleam night!

Native vs invasive

Here are photos of two different ecosystems on the same island in Hawaii. In the above photo, I cannot identify any species native to Hawaii. In the two photos below, there is surely a mix of native and non-native species, but native species appear to predominate. Maybe it would even be fair to say that endemic species predominate. It's not really fair to compare the two directly because of elevation and other differences, but just some Saturday shower thoughts as I dig through old photos.

It seems to me that highly invaded ecosystems tend to have lower species diversity and less complexity, but it's hard to say for sure. Womp, that just catapulted me into the black hole that is Google Scholar.

Honolulu Biennial 2017, in images

You can learn more about the artists and Biennial at honolulubiennial.org and by accessing the Biennial Guidebook PDF here.