'Frozen' in Kauai: A Hawaiian Winter Wonderland

My niece Myra LOVES the Disney movie "Frozen" even though it is a few years old already.  If you ask her what her favorite part in the movie is, she will reply with, "Olaf.  He is always smelling the flowers."  Her answer inspired me to see if it were possible to make a "Frozen" themed garden out of plants from the nursery for here on Kauai.  Myra says that the colors of cold are blue and white, so there you have it- the two colors I would focus on would be blue and white.

Now, you will have to use your imagination on what the final outcome would look like because I have neither the budget nor the space to actually plant this, but there are three types of plants I would use in my "Frozen" themed garden- plants with blue flowers, plants with white flowers, and variegated or silver-leaf plants.  I know it can be hard to look past all the GREEN in these plants, but once again, let your imagination do the work.  Of course the plan and placement would take into account each plant's individual needs.  I hadn't realized all the blue that I would be able to muster up around the nursery for this project!  And we have numerous plants with white blooms for all the seasons of the year.

I asked Roxanne to use her talent of bouquet-making as a "palette" for my idea, and she happily obliged.  I grouped some plants together I thought would be good for the project too! As you will see, I would use groundcovers, shrubs, and trees to get the job done.  In my mind's eye I envisioned a curtain of Blue Jade Vine and the cascading flowers of the Bridal Veil Clerodendrum as the backdrop, a ground covered in Dwarf Variegated Panax and White Frost Euphorbia, and numerous other trees and shrubs as specimen plants.  In fact- I didn't even include all of them in the blog- there are too many!  Without further ado, meet the most likely candidates that would make my vision come true.  Let me also add, I am not a landscape designer, but I love organizing spaces and working with color themes and am mildly (okay maybe more than mildly) OCD so I rather enjoy these kinds of projects and challenges!

BLUE- The Ice

WHITE- The Snow

VARIEGATION / SILVER - The Frost

And of course no Winter Wonderland would be complete without a Norfolk Pine or two.

I also thought it would be fun to have three moss rock step stones in between my white groundcovers and shrubs as Olaf's coal buttons.

Lastly, I wanted to include a plant representative of one of Olaf's most prominent features- his carrot nose.  For this I think Marmalade Bush would be a fitting plant.

This sort of "theme gardening" may be a great way to get your children or grandchildren involved in planting and maintaining an outdoor garden or container space.  Pizza garden?  Why not?  Tomatoes, basil, oregano, etc.  Moana? Oh my goodness, do we ever have the plants for that theme!  We would love to hear what ideas your keiki come up with for gardens.  You may be starting to build the career of a future landscape designer or architect!  Maybe we will write a blog recommending plants for his or her theme.  Comment on this blog if you have any entertaining ideas to share with us and our readers!

This blog was imagined by Dana, Kauai Seascapes Employee.