Full bloom and what a magnificent bouquet it is- the total number of flowers has been estimated as ten million!! I can see busy honeybees dancing from flower to flower in pure nectar bliss.

Is it snowing in Honolulu?!

No, that's just the small flowers of the talipot palm falling and covering the ground. A musty-sweet smell is in the air. If you look close at a flower, you can see the six dark stamens that produce the pollen.

Although Telly's flowers have not yet bloomed, it is still a spectacular sight. You can see in the photo how Telly is practically as tall as the huge Palmyra palm right behind it. A giant green geyser of slender peduncles is erupting on Foster Botanical Garden's Main Terrace!

Telly is sprouting hair this week! Smaller branches are coming off the flowerstalk to fill out the huge inflorescence. Along these smaller braches are tiny bumps (flower buds) which will eventually bloom into millions of flowers. Looking up at Telly from the ground, its amazing to think about all the energy going into this grand finale of flowering.

Telly's flowerstalk is really branching out this week! It looks like a pine tree without any needles.


Here's a view from the other side.

Here you can see the branching flowerstalk emerging from the top of Telly. We will be able to chart its growth against the palm on the right.

Romel Silva, our plant propagator here at Foster Garden, was the first to notice a flag-leaf (a new leaf that is much smaller and indicates flowering) emerging from the very top. This meant that Telly was ready to bloom! On Arbor Day, November 14, we walked over and he pointed out a giant green spike coming out of Telly's head! I had been noticing the leaves hanging down and turning brown, but I wasn't totally sure if Telly was going to bloom.