The palm trees, landscape lighting, the moon and a thin layer of clouds made for a beautiful photo at Kona Resort.

A baby pineapple glistens after an afternoon rain in Captain Cook.

Far away on a distant sea lies the Island of Old-Fashioned Baked Goods.

A hat and a pole morphs driftwood into a fisherman along Ali’I Drive near Laaloa Beach Park, also known as Magic Sands, in Kailua-Kona.

A green anole blends in well with its surroundings.

When the first Polynesian arrived in the Hawaiian Islands, there were no coconut palms here. There were no mountain apple, breadfruit, kalo and many other plants we think of as Hawaiian. If you think that kukui, bananas, and ti are natives and seem to grow easily, then it is time to rethink! These plants are alien, non-native species brought to Hawaii by the Polynesians as they migrated across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean. These are referred to as canoe plants. They were important to the survival, especially when Polynesians explored new islands and found those like Hawaii lacked the variety of fruits and medicinal plants they needed.

As French chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud puts it, “Kitchens should be designed around what’s truly important — fun, food, and life.”

Gardening in the shade is often thought of as a Sisyphean endeavor, swimming upstream against all odds with limited plant choices and no hope for color.

The Acapulco Gold is a dinner-plate-sized hibiscus that is easy to grow and is a prolific bloomer

The annual sunflower (Helianthus annus) has a long history in North America, with evidence of its cultivation for food, ceremonial and medical use by Native Americans dating back to at least 1,000 B.C.

A male Kalij pheasant greets the day.

The Kilauea volcano summit eruption within Halema‘uma‘u Crater is seen this week from the eruption Viewing Area near Keanakakoʻi Crater inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

In a recent conversation with three farmers living in my old neighborhood on Rabbit Hill Road in South Kona, I realized that Kona Coffee has a dubious future. My experience is that farmers are a resourceful bunch. Always faced with new challenges, they move forward or sideways trying not to let the latest problem get them down or cause them to quit farming. However, these farmers feel that their livelihood has been severely threatened in the last few years.

A Kona couple monitored this saffron finch bird’s nest for days and on Mother’s Day the eggs hatched with a happy mom. The finches have lived in their yard for generations and this is such a rare treat to see.