Cool, cool stuff at the Garden Club of Honolulu show at the Honolulu Academy of Arts this past weekend.

The Cactus & Succulent Society of Hawaii had some of their things on display as well. I learned to love succulents when we were living in McCully, since that’s all that would survive in the pots on my lanai.

The two coolest things on display were the miniature landscapes and the succulent quilt.

The official rules for the miniature landscape competition state: "My Little Grass Shack -- Home, sweet home -- Miniature Landscape. A miniature landscape of rooted plant material in a box furnished by the committee for display on a pedestal. No time limit on plant ownership. Accessories permitted. Key card required. One to three exhibitors per entry. To be judged 40 points cultural perfection; 35 points scale, balance and design; 15 points suitability and compatibility of plant material; 10 points suitable labeling." Sounds completely unromantic, right? Here are three of the four entries:



See the hammock? It’s strung between two desert rose sprouts, each about 4 or 5 inches high. The containers they provided were about 2 feet wide and 1.5 feet long.



This one won a best of show award. See the little plants in the pond at the bottom right that look like miniature taro? Ultra cool.



I like the volcano rock used in this one, although as a whole it doesn’t seem as natural as the others. I couldn’t get close enough to get a picture of the fourth entry, but the first and second seen here are by far the outstanding entries.

The succulent quilt is one of the neatest things I’ve seen in my lifetime. The artists used different plants to create Hawaiian quilt patterns in an approximately 1 x 1 foot square. The squares were then put together in a koa bed frame provided by Martin & McArthur (my first shopping spree when I become a millionaire), which really pulled the whole thing together. I talked a bit with one of the women who made one of the squares, and she told me that none of the "quilters" knew what the others were doing until it came time to put the squares together.











I like that last square the best.
- posted by Lori @ 4:19:00 PM | permanent link | |