Today I planted a san pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi) and a variegated awapuhi ginger which are quite the opposite extremes. The cactus was planted on a sunny windy slope on the hot and dry south side of the house and the ginger was planted under the deep humid shade of the hapuu ferns on the north side of the house.
Funny story is that I won the san pedro as a door prize at a cacao association meeting right before the pandemic hit. It’s native to the Andes mountains above 6600 feet in elevation and the cactus was cultivated for over 3000 years in the region for religious medicinal and spiritual healing purposes (ie. tripping out). It’s a popular ornamental cactus grown around the world but becomes not so legal should one decide to extract mescaline from it, which of course is not part of our plan…
This awapuhi ginger is an unusual one because of the variegation on the leaves. Even the flower will be green and white striped but will turn into a deep red like a standard awapuhi ginger flower. The flowers are full of gooey liquid that can be squeezed out and was used as a shampoo and conditioner since ancient Hawaiian times. Paul Mitchell sold a chain of hair salons in NY and moved to Hawaii in the 80s to start a farm then launched his signature awapuhi hair care products and became a bazillionaire! He passed away but his farm is still in Paauilo about 40 minutes away from where we are.
Originally posted on 2021-04-27, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.