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Introducing Cedro Espino

All the time she was waiting to come to Hawaii, Jientje talked about how much she wanted to photograph Foster Garden.   Last Wednesday we arrived in the parking lot and immediately Jientje was charmed by the berries on a tree, a bird on a nearby branch, and Cedro Espino.

What truly amazes me about meeting Cedro is that I have been to Foster Garden many, many times and I have never explored off the path from my car to the front gate.  With Jientje that is all we did explore.  We never went inside the garden proper.  Long before we got to the entrance, Jientje was thirsty and tired.  I told her there was a drinking fountain and benches just inside, but she wanted Perrier and air conditioning, so we left and never did make it back.

Still, I have been to Foster Garden many times so I was not disappointed for myself.  In fact, I was quite content because if it wasn’t for Jientje’s whims and sudden changes of direction, I might never have noticed Cedro standing all alone at the edge of the parking lot.

Here he is.  Cedro looks quite charming, no? See him flirting with Jientje?

Cedro Espino

Actually, he is rather a prickly sort of fellow. It isn’t wise to get too close.

branch

In fact, while talking with the grounds keeper, we learned that not even the most devout tree huggers fancy Cedro. I thought that very sad, but I must say I do understand why.

up close

Foster Botanical Gardens, Honolulu, Hawaii

34 Comments

    1. Gigi — and, as Jientje discovered, not a tree to lean against, either! She automatically tried to use the tree for balance while taking an awkward shot and remembered only at the last second to look before she touched.

  9. This must be a distant relative to our “bottle trees” here. The thorns look very similar! They give lots of shade though!

  10. Oh what a SHAME! Because my first thought was WHAT A GREAT CLIMBING TREE! But no… not great at all… a great TREE yes… a great climber? No. A great photographic specimen? YES!!!

    1. Melli — I looked at tthose spikes — some over a half inch long — and thought I would have used them as traction when I was a kid and tried to climb that tree anyway. It is probably best I encountered it as an adult with some concept of my mortality (and a greater aversion to pain).

  11. Nice pictures. Could you imagine it would be like a maze for a lizard or something to crawl up that…might be fun for them to say the least 🙂

    1. Nessa — that story is one of dozens of such instant course changes. We almost never made it to any original destination, but it wasn’t my vacation so that didn’t stress me too much.

    1. Susan — I think we all have at least one of these folk in our own family. Let’s just be happy that we aren’t they. Are we?

  16. That is amazing! I have seen some thorns on rose bushes, but never on a tree! I wouldn’t want to be walking too close to that tree with someone who didn’t like me.

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