Before embarking on another Valley Isle van tour, we joined eleven fellow passengers back at the Maui Tropical Plantation for a breakfast of fruit and muffins.

The road to Hana is a narrow, treacherous road that has the most tropical plants I’ve seen in one place! Condensed into a rain forest area, many of the plants were new to me.

I learned from native Hawaiian van driver/guide Joe that there are several types of banyan trees. Ones that look groomed are different from those in their natural state with many branches hanging down.

Monkeypod trees originally came to Hawaii from the Philippines, and Captain James Cook brought to the islands the aptly named Cook pine trees. African tulip trees arrived from South Africa over a century ago and have beautiful orange blossoms. Giant bonsai trees (nicknamed as such) also originated from South Africa.

Mango trees can grow very large, and their fruit ripens in summer. (Guide Joe gave us his mother’s recipe for pickled mangoes!) Other trees with edible fruits included bananas, papayas, breadfruit, coconuts, and avocados.

Bamboo plants are prolific, and there are many types, including the smaller diameter Japanese bamboo.

By far, my favorite plant was the rainbow eucalyptus tree with their random stripes in many colors dripping down the bark. Another type of eucalyptus, the twisted bark trees, were often covered in split-leaf rhododendron. Other plants growing around trees (like kudzu in the Deep South) were the morning glories with a plethora of white blossoms every morning. Large-leaf plants often tucked between trees were giant elephant ears called ape (ah-pay) in Hawaiian.

Some of my favorite beautiful plants included the nicknamed lollipop flowers and decorative tea plants (not edible) that come in a variety of brilliant colors.

Ginger blooms year-round, but it has white blossoms in winter and red and pink in summer.

On the road to Hana, we went over 54 narrow stone bridges, many of them built over mountain streams with gorgeous waterfalls.

We stopped once to take photos of a stunning rainbow, but even though it misted occasionally, we never experienced rain.

One of the most memorable stops came at Wa’anapanapa State Park where there’s a black sand beach and huge, colorful leaves from the kamani trees. According to our guide Joe, this big-leaf plant is like a “fake almond tree” where the skin of the nut is edible but the nut itself has to dry up first to eat at a later time.

Places we drove along the north shore of Maui included Opana Point, Uaoa Bay, Kaumahina State Wayside, Ke’anae Point, Pu’a Ka’a State Park, and Nahiku where three celebrities had lived (George Harrison, Jim Nabors, and Kris Kristofferson). Oprah has also bought more land on the coast near Hana—presumably to keep it in its natural state and away from developers.

Near our returning point, we stopped by Ho’okipa Park (for us, the second visit) where we witnessed dozens of sea turtles basking in the sun. Some of the biggest waves for Maui surfing are at this beach, too.