50Th Anniversary for National Tropical Botanical Garden
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TRAVELERc’S GUIDE TO GARDENS Additional Information National Tropical Botanical Garden 3530 Papalina Road Kalaheo, HI 96741. (808) 332-7324. 50th Anniversary for National Tropical Botanical Garden www.ntbg.org. by Margaret A. Haapoja n The Southshore Visitor’s Center and Garden (providing access to the McBryde and Allerton gardens) is open 8:30 a.m. N THE Hawaiian Island of to 5 p.m. daily, free of charge. Kauai, the National Tropical n Days and hours of operation for individu- OBotanical Garden (NTBG)— al gardens vary—check website for details. then known as the Pacific Tropical Botan- n Guided tours of the individual gardens ical Garden—was established five decades can be reserved in advance for a fee. ago. It traces its roots to 1964, when Presi- dent Lyndon Johnson signed a bill creating Another nearby site to explore: the entity that now comprises five gar- Na ‘Aina Kai Botanical Gardens, Sculpture dens—four in Hawaii and one in Florida— Park & Hardwood Plantation, Kilauea, HI. each with distinct collections and programs. www.naainakai.org. Chipper Wichman, NTBG’s chief exec- Lawai Stream, shown here at Stillwater Dam, flows through part of NTBG’s McBryde Garden. utive officer, says the Garden has changed dramatically over the past half century. and horticulture center that includes a LimahuLi Garden and preserve botanical garden in the United States. “When we broke ground here in 1970, you micropropagation lab. North of Princeville on the humid, wind- Kawaka Winter, Limahuli’s director, could count the number of employees on A complete renovation now in prog- ward shore of Kauai, the road narrows hopes that the garden will help visitors ap- the fingers of your two hands,” Wichman ress will make the McBryde Garden even and crosses a series of one-lane wooden preciate the importance of their connection says. “We now have over 100 employees, more visitor-friendly. Scheduled to open bridges. A small sign signals the entrance with nature. “People need to understand and we’re a key player in implementing the on August 19 this year as part of NTBG’s to Limahuli Garden, a 1,000-acre site do- that the health of their ecosystem directly global strategy for plant conservation.” 50th anniversary celebration is a biodi- nated to NTBG in 1976 by Juliet Rice correlates to the health of their bodies and NTBG has been celebrating its anni- versity trail chronicling the evolution of Wichman and her grandson, Chipper, their lives,” Winter says. He has recruited versary all year with special events at its life on Earth. Visitors will travel through who’s now NTBG’s CEO. Limahuli is community members to participate in res- gardens in Hawaii and Florida (see side- time in a series of tunnels, starting with surrounded by steep cliffs and valleys as urrecting traditional varieties of taro, once a bar on page 44 for upcoming events). In exhibits showing the earliest forms of velvety as green corduroy. In 1997, the staple in the diet of native Hawaiians. Sev- honor of the anniversary, here’s a brief Allerton Garden features imposing specimens of Moreton Bay figs, which are native to Australia. plant life and ending their journey in an American Horticultural Society gave Li- enty-two varieties, a fraction of the approx- chronicle of the history and programs of orchid garden and tea house. mahuli a special award as the best natural imately 400 that grew in Hawaii 150 years the five NTBG gardens. stream empties into the azure water of mcBryde Garden ago, are now cultivated at Limahuli. “Only the Pacific alongside the Allerton man- In 1964, Robert Allerton’s check for $1 four of them are commercially grown,” says aLLerton Garden sion. Sights and sounds of civilization million made possible the purchase of the Winter, “so the vast majority are main- Located in the Lawai Valley of Kauai, the disappear as birdsongs and the melody NTBG’s original 171 acres adjoining the tained only in collections such as ours.” Allerton Garden dates back to Hawaiian of flowing water take their place. The Allerton Garden. That property is now Guests touring Limahuli also learn Queen Emma, who planted slips of bou- Allertons intentionally incorporated the the McBryde Garden, which has from the about the garden’s work to conserve gainvillea there in 1871. Curtains of the bril- music of running water to lead visitors beginning been the primary research and threatened native species and control liant magenta-flowered woody vine now from one garden room into another. educational component of the NTBG. invasive plants. “When people leave Li- cascade down the cliffs at the garden’s en- A statue of Diana, the Roman goddess Here scientists study native Hawaiian mahuli,” says Wichman, “they look at trance. Much of the credit for this garden’s associated with the woods and mountains, plants, some 50 percent of which are rare the environment in a much different way. artistic design, impressive classic statuary, presides over her pool and gazes a lattice- and endangered. Scattered along the floor They realize there’s a struggle taking place and interesting plants goes to Robert Aller- work gazebo. Two bronze mermaids frame of the valley are major botanical collec- between native and introduced plants.” ton and his son, John. The Illinois natives a 126-foot-long runnel like bookends. tions, including 24 species of Pritchardia, purchased the property in 1937 and began Massive buttress roots of Moreton Bay fig the only palm endemic to the Hawaiian Kahanu Garden developing the gardens, a project that con- trees provided a perfect setting for film- islands, and 20 cultivars of breadfruit tree Near the village of Hana on the island of sumed the rest of their lives. It became part ing portions of the movie “Jurassic Park.” (Artocarpus altilis), which produces a sta- Maui is Kahanu Garden, a remote site that of NTBG in the early 1990s. Throughout, the emphasis is on the textures ple food item of the South Pacific. features the largest heiau, or ancient tem- At the entrance to Allerton Garden, and shapes of foliage plants. Giant glisten- The McBryde Garden also includes ple of worship, in Polynesia. The heiau has a panoramic vista unfolds above the tops ing leaves of monstera contrast with fine an administrative office complex, an been a National Historic Landmark since of swaying palms, towering banyans, and foliage of maidenhair ferns. Wide expanses 8,000 volume research library, a her- 1964. Beneath the heiau, Hawaii’s largest monkeypod trees. Verdant tropical veg- of neatly manicured lawns are framed with barium housing 70,000 specimens of stand of hala (Pandanus sp.), a palmlike COURTESYOF THE NATIONAL TROPICALBOTANICAL GARDEN(2) etation carpets the valley, and the Lawai tall tropical trees. preserved plants, and a conservation COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN Terracing is an effective technique for gardening on steep terrain at Limahuli Garden. tree, lines Maui’s rugged coastline. Kaha- 42 the American Gardener July / August 2014 43 nu is known for its displays of Some of the first plantings native Hawaiian plants such as were brought to the Kampong taro, sweet potato, sugar cane, from southeast Asia by David and bananas. The garden is Fairchild, who owned the designed to demonstrate and property in the early 1900s. celebrate the cultural relation- The intrepid American plant ships between the Polynesians explorer and horticulturist and these “canoe” plants, filled his garden with orna- which were so named because mental, edible, and ethnobo- they were transported around tanic plants. Visitors can tour the Pacific on canoes. his home, where he wrote Kahanu also contains the memoirs of his travels, such largest collection of bread- as The World Was My Garden, fruit in the world, some 130 published in 1938. American cultivars. These trees were botanist and philanthropist collected by Diane Ragone, Catherine Sweeney, who fol- director of NTBG’s Bread- lowed Fairchild as owner of fruit Institute. Scientists at the Kampong, donated the the Institute are studying garden to NTBG in 1984. breadfruit’s nutritional val- Today, it contains a diverse ues and conducting tissue array of plants from the trop- culture experiments with ics and warm subtropics, cultivars from the Kahanu including fruits, palms, flow- collection with the goal of ering trees, flowering shrubs, distributing plants to trop- and vines. ical nations that might benefit from a The Kampong was the home of horticulturist Through a collaboration with Florida new food source. “We’re just at the tip and plant explorer David Fairchild. International University, NTBG is now of the iceberg in terms of breadfruit po- developing the International Center for tential,” says Wichman, “and Diane has Bay south of metropolitan Miami. The Tropical Botany (ICTB) at the Kampong. unlocked that potential through micro- Kampong—from the Malaysian word The ICTB will provide research-based propagation. We now have pilot bread- for “village”—contains a fascinating array knowledge and tools to preserve and sus- fruit projects in 25 countries, and more of tropical fruit cultivars and flowering tainably cultivate tropical plants and devel- than 60 countries have expressed interest trees. The focus at this garden is to use the op programs to educate future generations in breadfruit.” property’s unparalleled living collections of biologists specializing in tropical plants. for educational programs. It serves as the KamponG Garden mainland campus for the NTBG’s educa- LooKinG ahead to the next 50 The only NTBG garden outside Ha- tional offerings and is a living classroom In this era of climate change and focus waii, Kampong Garden is in Coconut that universities and colleges use to teach on sustainable agriculture, the mission Grove, Florida, located along Biscayne botany and horticulture.