All you want to know about the hawaiian palm :

The official botanical name of the Hawaiian palm is Brighamia insignis ‘Kirsten’. Kirsten is just a further specification of insignis.

The Brighamia belongs to the group of the Campanulaceae (campanulacées). This is a group of plants with a very similar way of flowering of which the campanula is the most know sort. In this group of plants you find the Brighamia which has two types, the Brighamia insignis and Brighamia rockii. Both are only found on Hawaii. They look very similar but the Brighamia insignis has yellow flowers and yellow seeds and the Brighamia rockii has white flowers and black seeds. Holland  made a further selection in the Brighamia insignis plants and selected a plant that is better adapted to growing in greenhouses, which they named Kirsten. This is therefore a further selection in the insignis group which is called a variety.

You can find the original Brighamia inignis only in Botanical gardens. It looks exactly the same as the variety Kirsten. The difference can only been seen when you grow it on large scale and under specific greenhouse conditions. It is therefore also not suitable for placing back in the nature because we most probably lost a lot of valuable characteristics which are not necessary in a greenhouse, but very necessary on Hawaii. (by andré from hawaiianpalm.nl)

You like your little brighamia and you want to know how to take care of it. So read the following advices.

Cares :

• Compost : use special cactus compost, it's the best for the Brighamia. Or you can use a normal compost mix with draining materials like sand or volcanic rock
• Watering : let the compost dry on 2 to 3 centimetres of depth before sprinkling.
• Temperature : the best is beetween 15°C (60°F) and 22°C (72°F). Never below 8°C (45°F)

My brighamia is infected by red spider mite, what can i do ? :

There is a very easy way to get rid of it. Just break of all the infected leaves until just 4 – 5 small leaves in the head are left and then wash it very carefully under the water tap with luke-warm water and just wash off all the insects. Very thoroughly wash off the stem and don’t forget the bottom side of the leaves. Check if some other plants have problems with red spider mite and wash these as well so that you eliminate a new source of infection. Within a few weeks new leaves have developed again and your plant is like new. (by andré from hawaiianpalm.nl)

Pix contest :

Take a beautiful picture of your hawaiian palm and send me it by email. To see if you are a good photographer watch the top here.