That is great - Mucuna bennetti , right? I tried it, but it died on me after a couple years. Too dry I guess. I have something in flower at the moment called Hawaiian Sunset Vine. It's a type of Morning Glory/Ipomea. I also got some seeds of Hawaiian Woodrose ( Merremia tuberosa) though everyone has told me not to grow it as it is too invasive... Ian (in Brazil!)

the Hawaiian Sunset vine is gorgeous, my favorite colors! OK, my favorite colors tend to be whatever flower I'm looking at.

The woodrose is neat, but terribly hard to control. A friend lost electrical power to her house because a vine dragged too much on the line. Last time I checked, you couldn't take it out of Hawaii. But those things change, it might be OK now.

Jade vines, red or the jade color, so beautiful, but also kind of terrifying -- the speed with which they cover trees. But spectacular, yes! I love vines, but won't plant any on my property. Already a major struggle to control the invasive maile pilau and similar.

Let's see, what am I growing that I consider to be spectacular? Everyone's taste is different. Do you like palms? These are some Licuala peltata var. sumawongii. The leaves are getting bigger and bigger, now more than 3 ft. across.

Growing a quince. Well, quince is already a fruit many people have never heard of, but I'm growing a rare variety. It was discovered in the Majes Valley, Peru (which is in climate zone 11) so it's an unusual lower chill variety. And to top it off this particular variety is considered edible raw (at its best in warm climates), which is kind of an unusual thing because quince usually needs to be cooked first.

For those who have never actually seen a quince before, they produce yellow fruits like a big apple and the fruits are fragrant enough to perfume the space inside a small room. The smell is like apple, pear, lemon/orange, and green mango, difficult to describe.

If you live in Hawaii plant a lychee tree. fruit has the fragrance of roses, probably one of the best tropical fruits

Anyone growing Climbing Guinea flower?

Gorgeous! Is that purple one sandpaper vine (petrea)? Lovely flowers.

And what's the red flowered plant?

Plumeria/frangipane don't do well for me, it's too cold and wet where I am.

The first photo is a POINCIANA tree - very spectacular when in full flower - the purple flower is from the PETREA vine - and then a few examples of my FRANGIPANI. Cheers.

I bought a poinciana tree several years ago. It grew and grew, but never flowered. We eventually realized it was an albizia--a nasty invasive tree that causes a lot of damage in storms--and had to cut it down. Glad yours is pretty!

I guess frangipane is the almond filling, and frangipani the flower (called plumeria here in Hawaii).

Aloha ......Sorry your "poinciana" turned out to be and albizia - they grow everywhere here and at this time of the year the streets are a blaze of bright crimson/orange flowers - I do love them - my wife spent college years in Hawaii and she always calls frangipani - plumeria - and when I make leis for special occassions for her she always tells me they remind her of her years spent in Hawaii. Mahalo.

Yes indeed - a fine looking specimen - thanks for sharing.

Parker25, I would really love to know the botanical name of this "Peruvian Quince" you mention. I've searched those words and found nothing

@ Florida_Joes

Check here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quince

and here:

https://www.thekitchn.com/quince-tough-fall-fruit-with-a-secret-reward-ingredient-intelligence-73041

The 2nd link makes quince sound very interesting.

Thank you Solo Voyager,

We had quince trees when I lived in NY USDA zone 6. I just never heard of a variety that could grow in garden zones that have no chill period. They normally need a long cold winter rest period to bloom. I don't have a winter chill period now in zone 10 so it would be nice to know more about this paticular Peruvian variety of quince. I can't find any mention of a tropical variety anywhere. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps it's actually a guava and not a quince at all.

I agree. I saw somewhere as I was looking around yesterday where the quince required a lot of chilling in order to bear fruit. Not unlikely as it originates in the same region the apple came from, the Mid-East - Georgia and that locality. The Wikipedia page does show a small amount of quince grown in Peru, though.

I'm in USDA 12a/b. I don't think quince could bear fruit here.

I would love to be able to grow blueberries here. I'm told there are a few warm tolerant varieties that may be able to bear here. But, I don't trust that they can. The coolest temp I've seen here is 56°F, and that is rarely reached during the winter months.

Maybe in Peru quince is grown at a very high elevation where it would probably always be cool with chilly nights. Blueberries grow well in my zone 10 with no chill period, but 58° is a common overnight low here during winter so I don't know if that's important. I get the feeling shorter winter days is all they need for dormancy as sometimes we have stretches of above average winter temperatures in the 80's and they remain dormant through it . Here they don't loose there leaves like in the northern states. They just stop growing and sit there until the days get long again. They start loosing their old leaves only before flowering, fruiting and producing new leaves.