Today Pam Fraser of Ladysmith, Vancouver Island, Canada, is taking us on a little tropical vacation.

A few days ago you asked readers to send some tropical pictures for us to enjoy on these wintry mornings. These are some from a November 2017 trip to Maui, Hawaii. They were taken at the Garden of Eden, a large garden attraction on the road to Hana and well worth the stop. This garden has plants from many tropical areas of the world.

Happy spring dreaming to my fellow gardeners!

Croton (Codiaeum variegatum) provides lots of colorful foliage, with beautiful palms behind.

Anthurium, a perennial for shade in the tropics, is commonly grown in colder climes as a houseplant.

Heliconia psittacorum is a beautiful flower native to the Caribbean and South America.

This beautiful display of red bracts is from red ginger (Alpinia pupurata).

Although the Garden of Eden does not offer a huge display of flowers as you would see at public gardens like Butchart on Vancouver Island, there is lots of amazing color in the foliage of this ti plant (Cordyline terminalis).

This is bamboo on steroids, with some members of my family. The grandson in the stroller is now four and is showing some interest in gardening. Hooray!

This rainbow eucalyptus tree (Eucalyptus deglupta) from Australia has incredibly colorful bark.

Bismarck palm (Bismarkia nobilis), originally from Madagascar

Norfolk pine (Araucaria heterophylla), from Norfolk Island in the South Pacific, is another one that is familiar as a houseplant when small in colder climates.

View from the garden

I had to include a Hawaiian sunset. They really are amazing.