Tag Archives: cacao

short…

23 Thursday Oct 2025

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had a wonderful, but short, visit with my Ottawa daughter over the last few days…

she had been to Calgary for an event and stopped here on her way home…

lots of time together as we caught up in person… late nights and early mornings while she was here… and lots of laughter…

always cake from Baked Expectations when she arrives;-)…

we spent a lovely morning at The Leaf noticing the growth since she was last here and counting cacao pods…

she also spotted the first chileo on the second tree… made me laugh cause I’ve been looking for ages trying to spot one on that tree…

we visited the butterflies although they weren’t very active as it was cool and overcast but it was fun to see them together… the Canadian Museum of Nature, in Ottawa, currently has a butterfly display as well so we often compare which butterflies we each see, lol…

we worked on a plan for our next trip together and did lots of research on the computer…

dinners in and out as we ate some of her favourites and then we were headed back to the airport for her flight home…

always a treat;-)…

mango…

24 Thursday Jul 2025

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had fun in the Tropical Biome today checking on all the fruit…

saw cacao pods just beginning to grow…

also spotted jackfruit, star fruit, two bunches of bananas, and many breadfruit…

also spotted flowers on the mango, but a gardener advised the tree is too young to produce fruit, so likely they will die off…

I learn something new every time I am in the space;-)…

favourite…

22 Sunday Dec 2024

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I have two favourite spots in the Tropical Biome…

I always stop and visit with the cacao trees to see how they are doing, particularly as my daughter loves to visit them when she’s in town, lol…

and then there are the koi… standing on the bridge watching them swim around is such a joyful time for me…

they move much slower at night as many of them as sleeping, but I got a nice picture of this one… it is usually difficult to get good photos because of the light reflecting in the water so I was pleased with this one…

we are truly blessed to have this wonderful spot to visit all year round;-)…

producing…

28 Friday Jun 2024

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spent more time at The Leaf on Tuesday morning before my daughter headed home… it is such a wonderful point of happiness for me, and my daughter…

we discovered, after chatting with Linda, one of the gardeners, that the second cacao tree has now got two cacao pods on it… this is very exciting as only the first tree had been producing pods…

we spotted a little lizard on the third tree… apparently it arrived with one of plants, lol…

Linda was very excited to show us the mango tree that had just been planted…

we also learned there are fifty fish in the pond, and all the smaller ones were babies from the largest ones… the excess fish have been moved to another location to keep the population stable…

butt…

19 Wednesday Jun 2024

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on Friday I put out all the cushions and pillows as it was supposed to be sunny all day…

it is a bit of a process, because I put one out at a time, which helps me get steps, particularly as I spend a lot of time in the garden on my butt, reading…

it looked beautiful… the poppies, which don’t match my colour scheme at all, were blooming and dancing in the breeze and many of the pots and planters had flowers smiling…

I was surprised when my daughter arrived for a visit… she has been staying with a friend who has a lovely guestroom, lol… we spent a lovely time in this beautiful space, talking about everything and nothing…

she left and shortly after Hilda the Gardener arrived for some maintenance… we visited as she tidied up all the beds and pathways… it looks so nice when she is done;-)…

later as I was enjoying the space my daughter called and suggested we go to The Leaf…

I walked over to the other side of the bridge and she picked me up and we headed to the biomes…

we had a fun time checking out all the growth since she was here last year and had a lovely visit with the three cacao trees;-)…

always wonderful to spend time with her;-)…

fruit…

22 Thursday Feb 2024

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recently I’d seen an Instagram post about one of the trees in the Tropical Biome that was flowering…

the branches of the Kapok are bare, but at the very top of the tree, flowers were budding…

I was happy to spot it on our visit Tuesday…

there were lots of volunteers throughout the space and they provided a great deal of information particularly about some of the fruiting trees… we saw cacao pods, jackfruit, star fruit, breadfruit and the fingerlings of bananas…

we had a quick visit with the lead gardener as we discussed the three cacao trees, two of which currently have pods growing on them…

the Tropical Biome is really beginning to feel like the old Conservatory with all the lush growth…

so blessed to have this amazing space to spend time in on a regular basis;-)…

elevators…

20 Friday Jan 2023

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spent an hour and a half wandering through The Leaf in the daytime…

we took ample time to search out the plants as we wandered through the tropical biome… and we found the cacao tree;-)…

the waterfall continues to over perform…

I am betting that there are people working very hard to figure out how to end up with less splash, lol…

I spent at lot of time on the bridge, watching the beautiful koi swimming around the pond… a lovely treat;-)…

there were a lot of people there, but it didn’t feel too crowded… we wore masks but the majority of others didn’t… since I was last in the space there have been large fans added, so there did appear to be a lot of noise, but once through the doors into the Mediterranean biome, it was quiet…

the Shirley Richardson Butterfly Garden was a much busier place with numerous butterflies flitting about… it is always fun to search for the ones that have landed and are blending in with the foliage… as visitors move through this area they are quiet and will sit and patiently watch the action…

there are two elevators to take you up to the canopy and the Butterfly Garden and only one was working… seems to slow the flow down a bit…

there was ample space for jackets in the coat room, many volunteers to answer questions and direct the flow of people, and lots of open space…

crossword…

01 Wednesday Sep 2021

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the cleaners were here today and while they were inside the house, I was in the garden on the back deck spending time with googly finding the answers to the Happy Mail for Chocolate Lovers crossword that I received in an email mid-August;-)…

it was fun learning new facts about the various places where cacao grows…

Maui, day five…

15 Monday Apr 2019

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today we went to Ali’i Kula Lavender… we thought it was just a lavender field but it turned out to have a whole lot of flowering plants and trees as well…

had a lovely wander around and took a few photos, lol…

from there we headed over to Maui Chocolate and Coffee Tours at Kupa’a Farms where we had a wonderful visit with Ann and Janet and Gerry… we talked about jewellery and Instagram and then we got to see cacao trees… somebody was very happy…

we saw all kinds of other trees and learned how chocolate is made, followed by a great chocolate tasting…

what a glorious afternoon…