Saturday, September 26, 2009

Up-Country Maui Day!


Tall grasses swaying in the wind.
Breezes that blow softly on my skin.
Quietness that calms me
Birds to cheer me
Words that soothe
Thoughts to uplift when friends are feeling down
I pray for their happiness
when I am unable to console
God is the one
Who brings me joy!


I discovered gardening when I was 25 years old. I was taking care of my sister Pamela Jansen who had been in a major car accident in 1978. We lived at our parents small home in the San Fernando Valley of California. Pamela had been in a coma for over 5 1/2 weeks and when she awoke there were years of recovery. Life became very precious to me when I nearly lost my sister. I was still searching for my happiness at that time, but found great joy in planting and designing my first garden.

Now, over thirty years later, I am still planting and discovering something new all the time. I wrote a book about my love for planting organically called Amaryllis, Amaryllis How Does Your Garden Grow? "Organically, Of Course!"

I write about all my favorite plants, how to compost, how to plant bulbs, native plants, roses, and designing your first garden.

Up-Country Maui is an amazing place to garden. Cool nights and sunny days nearly year round are perfect for planting. The famous sweet Maui Onions are grown Up-Country Maui on the slopes of Haleakala. Many flowers flourish on the mountain. The Giant Proteas originally from Africa are right at home on Maui. Even many of my favorite plants from the mainland love it up here, like my heavenly blue morning glories above and my favorite dahlias below.





My lilikoi vines are full of passionfruit!


I love to plant Basil and all kinds of herbs to use in my cooking. I have Thai Basil, Italian Basil, cinnamon basil sometimes, sage, rosemary, oregano, dill, varieties of thyme, and Hawaiian hot chile peppers that have re-seeded themselves.


This was taken before the lilikoi had ripened, but now they are falling off the vine daily. So I'm making lots of lilikoi "passion-fruit" jelly!


Beautiful Native ferns.


Just a short post today, but a reminder to do something that you love. This will help you find your passion in life and bring great joy to yourself and others.

- Marilyn
The Artful Hawaiigirl

Aloha!

2 comments:

  1. Don't know exactly how I came accross your blog but I love it and just wanted to tell you that! Beautiful pictures and awesome looking recipes! Wonderful blog! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Laura for following me and commenting. You are a busy young mom. Good luck with your career. Hope my recipes and post about Maui will inspire you too.

    ReplyDelete

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