Tropicals of the South Pacific

Wow, has it really been 3 months since my last blog!?!

My mom and I showing off our Leis in American Samoa!

Summer has flown by this year (the rainy weather till July probably didn’t help). I hope all you flower lovers have had a wonderful summer filled with sun and sunflowers! I, myself had an amazing summer! The main reason was the two and a half week vacation I took in June! It was the trip of my dreams! My mom and I traveled 5,088 miles to the tiny island of American Samoa, and of course on our way back home we took a little jaunt over to Hawaii!



Where is American Samoa one might ask? Well it is located in between Hawaii and Australia, a little west of Fiji.

Here are some little facts about the island in case you are curious. It is 76.83 sq miles (which is just a little bigger the Washington DC), with a population of about 68,200 people. The capital is Pago Pago and the 1^st contact with the Europeans was in 1722.

 Now, you’re probably wondering why we decided to vacation on a tiny island in the middle of the pacific that most people have never heard of. Well my uncle met a beautiful Samoan woman while he was in the Air Force, stationed in Hawaii in 1973. He promised her that when he retired that he would take her home. So in 1985 they moved back to a little village on the south side of American Samoa and have lived there ever since.

Here are some photos of the gorgeous island.



American Samoa

Maliu Mai, American Samoa

Napali Coast, Kauai

Our second half of our amazing vaca was spent on the equally beautiful island of Kauai also known as the “Garden Isle”. It is the oldest island in the Hawaiian chain (6 million years old), and is also the rainiest place on earth! The Wai’ale’ale mountain gets an average rainfall of 460 inches of rain a year. All that rain makes for the lushest island in Hawaii!

Now, enough with the geography lesson, let’s get to the flowers! Everyone knows that tropical islands are known for their amazing plants and flowers, but I about died when I saw Ginger and Ti leaves growing wild in my uncle’s yard! Oh, what I would give to walk out my front door and pick a bouquet full of colorful, fragrant, tropicals!

Everywhere we went around the island I saw some plant or flower I have never seen before! It was an amazing experience and made me love what I do even more!

For those of you who don’t know, my floral dream is to move to Kauai someday and do wedding flowers there. Could you even think of a better job?? I was very excited to look at all the wonderful flowers that grow on the“Garden Isle” and Kauai didn’t disappoint! We went to as many gardens we could get to (in between the helicopter ride and zip lining) and I saw some of the most incredible flowers.

The map of the National Botanical Gardens that my
mom and I walked through!

Some of the coolest vines I've ever seen

When you think of Hawaii, what else do you think of besides some Birds of Paradise?



Even the resort we stayed at had an amazing orchid garden, which inspired this arrangement. Orchids are amazing flowers. There are many different kinds, in hundreds of colors! I had a ton of fun with this arrangement and made me feel like a little piece of the islands were in my living room!

Uwe ka lani, ola ka honua.

When the heavens weep, the earth lives.