(Explanation of artwork) This is my dream garden that I would surround my house. I tried to use a Hawaiian theme since there are so many unique plants native to Hawaii exclusively. The water would fall from the waterfall through the taro patch, into the fish pond, and then be pumped back up to the top again.

Kalo is the Hawaiian's primary source of food. All this plant's parts can be used. I chose this because I love eathing poi.

The coconut tree's parts can also all be used. These two particular trees woudl serve as a gate into my yard and home.

The ohia lehua is the flower of the Big Island. According to legend, if you pick this flower rain will come. I'll need water for my garden.

The roselani (pink rose) is the flower of Maui. This flower reminds me of the good times I spent with my cousins who live on Maui.

The tahitian gardenia grows on the bushes that would surround my garden. They are very pretty flowers to wear in your hair. This is my best friend's favorite flower. : )

The plumeria comes in three different colors and carries a very sweet fragrance. Because I often pick this flower as a hula dancer, it'd be helpful to have plenty growing near my home.

Question: Do plants think about photosynthesizing?

When I think about plants, I don't really think abotu how they play a role in my life. But the more I think about it, the more instances come to mind. My mom is real big on gardening, hiking, and photographing exotic plants and color schemes. The only superstition I know her to have is always plant and do hardcore gardening when the moon is full. Without me realizing, I think she's rubbing off on me! We go hiking togeher sometimes. The pictures in my collage are some of the ones she took on some of our hikes.

Hula is one big plant category all by itself. I don't take hula anymore, but I remember all the leis and flowers... and stress! My younger sister dances for a halau and for her last performance we had to make her five haku-style leis. It took hours! ... But every haku lei I've ever seen is beautiful. I've never seen an ugly one. I guess I was wrong... very wrong, when I thought plants had little to do with my life.

Life as a Venus Flytrap

The morning sun gleams through the kitchen windows, the start of the gloomy day (one of many.) I extend what's left of my leaves across a tiled square on the window ledge to catch some of the dull yellow buttery glow of sunlight, leftovers of the good sun that cannot pass the roof overhang, and I use this as my energy. Over the past few days, I haven't been as lucky with catching bugs, because the flies and other bugs that had been rapidly produced disappeared when one of the children cleaned up the rotten fruit that had been collecting in their back yard. Now I have to depend on photosynthesis to make my glucose.

Finally! The sun has slowly but surely shifted and bathes me with its warm light. As my chloroplasts begin to convert the light into ATP's and my roots use capillary action to soak up water, I hear for the first time a familiar noise, a noise unheard for days... the steady buzz of a fly's wings!

YES!! Now the fly smells some rotting meat odor coming from my leaves, placed there by one of the family as an attempt to feed me As the fly draws closer, a sweet-smelling nectar is emitted from my leaves to further attract the fly. A few days ago when the meat was placed there by a young boy, the child touched the leaf and now the leaf is rotting. As the fly buzzes closer, it's all I can do to keep from grabbing it as it circles lower.

Finally, the flapping of its wings ceases, and it lands on one of my working leaves. As the fly lands on the leaf, it contacts some of the trigger hairs near the center of the leaf and "snaps the trap."

"NO!" the fly screams, but the leaf muffles the fly's high-pitched screams. The leaf begins to suck the juices out of the fly and at about noon as the sun gets higher, only the fly's exoskeleton remains. One of the highlights of my gloomy day.

Then a young boy decides to water me. He grabs some non-diluted water from the sink and drowns me with the poisoned liquid. Once, my mom told me that we are special, we can only be watered with rain or diluted water. Obviously, their mother never taught them, and they never realized I was beginning to die, although I was. My lower body was beginning to turn a moldy brown, my leaves a sick yellow. AHH!

At least I can still do photosynthesis and cell respiration to make my energy. Before the day was over, I had caught one more fly on a leaf whose hairs were starting to lose power because it had been used so much. I noticed that I was turning more and more moldy brown and sickly yellow, and my stem wasn't really supporting me. But maybe... tomorrow will be a better day...

My garden would be in a square with a round pond in the middle with a fountain spraying water. Around this pond would be brick road with a bench around the fountain. There would be four paths branching off from the fountain, breaking the garden into four separate squares. In the top left hand square, there would be a herb garden. I would grow an herb garden to have fresh herbs to cook with. I would choose parsley, mint, chives, basil, oregano, and chamomile. Parsley, chives, basil and oregano are good for cooking in many dishes. Mint is good for a final touch on a dish or in m~nt tea. Chamomile is also good for tea, skin, hair and is nice smelling. In the top right hand square, I would have a Japanese style garden. I would have tiny white rocks as ground cover, with a willow tree n the middle. Near this willow tree, I would have a huge rock that could be used to sit on. Also in this area, bonsai plants and a small Japanese bamboo water feature would be placed accordingly. I would have this small Japanese style garden for me to relax and enjoy the sound of water. I also really like bonsai plants, and having some around would be a nice touch and variation to my whole garden. In the bottom left hand corner I would have brightly colored flowers. This area would have red, yellow and pink flowers that would be arranged next to white picket fences that would enclose the area. In the center of this square would be green grass. I would pick Chrysanthemum's because they grow in varieties of red, yellow and white. Cosmos also grow in red, pink, yellow and orange with yellow centers. For the all yellow flowers, Sunflowers and Daisies are my favorites. The red flowers I would choose would be Roses, so I could also use them to give to friends and Scarlet Star Glory because they are good for wrapping around fences. I would also have pink Roses and Common Immortelle, which are used in dried flower arrangements. Lastly, in the bottom right corner I would have a lush green garden. I would have a tangerine tree because I like tangerines and also because of the deep green color of the leaves. I would also have a banana tree because of the fruit and purple flower. I would also have plumeria trees of all different colors, white, yellow, pink, and magenta because plumerias are my favorite flower. That would be my garden, and it has all the different types of plants that I love. It would be a perfect place for me to relax.