Choice of tree landscaping on raw lava

[Chas]

As long time members here know already, I have "lava envy".

Next door is a house where the owners cleared only the area for the house and driveway. They have really nice pahoehoe throughout the yard, interspersed with various plantings. I never see them weeding it. It looks beautiful and natural.

Contrast that with our lot, that was ripped almost pin to pin (before we bought it). I am constantly weedwacking or spraying to keep up with the invasive species growing everywhere. I think the previous owners wanted to plant grass and make it look like the mainland. 

[dobanion]

Just the kind of feedback I was looking for. Keep em coming.

[kalianna]

I'll second the no vote on the "booger-villains" as we call them. Every year we cut ours down to the ground and it keeps coming back. If you must have them, put them along a fence and keep them pruned. For ornamentals, I'd suggest ginger and heliconia instead. And although the coco palms are lovely and useful when young, ours are now huge and drop 20' fronds almost daily as well as coconuts that threaten to kill us. I'd also recommend Brazilian Cherry and Mountain Apple. Both are large, lovely dense-leafed trees that produce fruit within a few years.

[Chas]

Wow. Speaking of my lava obsession, I just discovered some more on the boundary of my property! I was pushing back the crap that creeps over (Naupaka and that vine with the yellow flowers) from my neighbor's yard and uncovered about 40 sq. ft or so.

I'm so excited!!! (It's the little things in life).

Hey dobanion, aren't you the one that was doing the spray concrete thing? How did that work out? Sounded interesting.

   

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

pushing back the crap that creeps over ... vine with the yellow flowers) 

[/url]Sphagneticola trilobata (wedelia) 
[url=https://plantpono.org/high-risk-plants/sphagneticola-trilobata/]

[Chas]

Yep... that's the crap. Horrible plant. Half of neighbor's yard is that stuff. Impossible to control.

ETA: BTW, this is the same neighbor that has the lava. That stuff doesn't grow in the undisturbed lava area, it's creeping over from where they cleared for the house. Need I say more?

[kalianna]

Oh yeah, the Evil Little Yellow Flowers. They send off vines that can be 20-30 ' long. Nasty. You can't get rid of it if it's in your neighbor's yard, but Uluhe will eventually choke it out. That was a revelation.

Chas, I meant to ask you what your objection to Ironwood is.

[Durian Fiend]

Cleaning up palms all day long, I'll consider myself warned.

They're not nearly that bad, unless you have dozens of them.  And besides, what's more beautifully tropical than a palm?

[dobanion]

Yeah, I'm the "spray concrete guy." My dome is doing fine, it's lived in. Property improving nicely.

I'm noodling over building another one on the lava.

You guys hate Wedilia too? We had a huge patch of it at my house, deliberately. All the plants I remember from my childhood on Oahu seem to be horrible weeds.

[Chas]

Glad to hear that you got your dome built. I remember back when you were posting about it. I imagine it would be like an Adobe house (the material, not the company ), cool in the daytime and retaining a little warmth at night.