A shrubbery!!!

• The hula ho'ike's only a week away now, and just when I think I've procured all the supplies I need for the big event, something else comes up.

• Now, we've each been assigned to bring a lehua branch to the event, so we can create a border between us and the audience (we'll all be on the grass - there's no stage).

• Umm. I'm no horticulturist, so even though we were told there's lehua all over the city, I didn't know the difference between it and the good ol' bottle brush, which it resembles. Or where I can find it. Or how I'll possibly have time later in the week to go get some, as my boss is on vacation and I'm running the department solo, which inevitably means some long days are ahead of me.

Lehua:

Bottle brush:

See? Similar, and yet, distinctly different when you get up close. The leaves are entirely different.

One of my hula sisters who's a landscape architect told me of a spot where she'd seen some lehua and hooray, it's on my commute! So all this week, I've been studying the trees as I drive to and from work, to see if I can tell whether they're lehua or bottle brush. And whether there's one I can surreptitiously approach next week and snip off a piece. There are several in front of some fancy homes, but I don't think the homeowners would appreciate my cutting off a bit...

• Guess what? It all looks the same from the car. I also had several near-crashes on my drives, trying to find some. So last evening, on the way home, I stopped and got out of the car to look. The first spot? Terrible. Sad, old blooms, hardly any color. Not suitable.

• But I then found some a short distance away, completely by accident, and in a spot where I could probably snip some without anyone noticing.

Felt like the search for the Holy Grail...