The National Tropical Botanical Garden
If you've had enough of our cold and snow, and are lucky enough to be heading
off to one of the few tropical locations in the U.S., you might want to
check out the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG). Located in the only
tropical and sub-tropical regions in the United States, the privately-funded
NTBG includes four gardens and three preserves in Hawaii and
one in south Florida. Although Florida and Hawaii are an ocean and a continent
apart, they share similar climates because both lie near the Tropic of Cancer,
latitude 23.5 degrees north of the equator.
If you do get to Kauai or Maui you should make reservations to visit the local
NTBG. Tours of NTBG's four gardens in Hawaii and its garden in Florida are
offered as part of their public education program. Tours focus on each garden's
unique character and aim to make your visits to these gardens both enjoyable and
informative.
The National Tropical Botanical Garden is chartered by Congress as a private,
not-for-profit institution and is dedicated
to the conservation of tropical plant diversity, particularly rare and
endangered species, through plant exploration, propagation, scientific research,
and education. The NTBG’s five gardens and three preserves total nearly 1,800
acres. In recent years the NTBG has been able to assemble what is believed to be
the largest collection of federally-listed endangered plant species anywhere,
including the largest collection of native Hawaiian flora in existence. NTBG
botanists have made more than 1,200 plant exploration trips throughout the
Pacific Islands, discovering more than 30 new species and the first new genus in
Hawaii found since the early 1900s. Horticulturists have pioneered propagation
techniques and established growing protocols for over 45% of the existing
Hawaiian flora, including 248 rare and endangered species.
The Breadfruit Institute of the NTBG was founded in 2002 to promote the study
and use of breadfruit for food and reforestation. The Institute manages the
largest and most extensive breadfruit collection in the world. With more than
120 varieties from throughout the Pacific region, it is actively involved in
programs to study and conserve diversity of this important staple food crop in
the Pacific Islands and parts of the Caribbean. These multipurpose trees are
easy to grow, require little labor or materials, and produce nutritious, tasty
fruits as well as timber, fiber, and medicine for humans, and food for
livestock.
You can read about many of the accomplishments of NTBG staff in the
Garden Chronicles, the NTBG's
Plant Science Newsletter and in
Plant Talk,
the Bulletin of the NTBG, with news and views on plant conservation worldwide.
If a trip to one of the gardens isn't in your future, you can still see and
learn about some tropical plants with the "Meet the Plants" feature of the
NTBG's website. This database allows you to search for information on specific
plants by scientific name, or bring up a list of plants that meet certain
criteria, such as appearance, geographic origin, toxicity, edibility, and more.
You can also browse a gallery of beautiful photographs; clicking on the photo
brings up the individual plant profile. Each plant profile contains information
on the taxonomy, botanical description, geographic distribution, medicinal uses,
native legends and names (if applicable) and a section on other resources with
more photos for that plant. Another possibility is to take a
virtual palm walk
on their website.
West of the town of Poipu on the south shores of Kauai, Lawai-kai, as it is known in Hawaiian, extends over an area of more than
100 acres adjacent to the McBryde Garden (described below). Once a retreat of
Hawaii's Queen Emma, the cliffs of the Lawai Valley still cascade with her
favorite deep-purple bougainvillea. This masterpiece of garden art of outdoor
"rooms," rippling pools, and dramatic sculpture was created by Robert and John Gregg Allerton
– originally of Chicago, Illinois.
The Bill and Jean Lane Visitor Center, a restored 1920's sugar plantation
home, houses a gift shop and is the check-in point for transport into the
Allerton and McBryde Gardens. All tours require a 15-minute tram ride into the
Lawai Valley from the Visitor Center. The landscaping immediately around the
clapboard house is similar to what would be found surrounding a plantation home
– typical ornamental plants of that period, and a kitchen garden planted with
pineapple, sweet potato, sugar cane, and other crops grown by early plantation
farmers.
Also near the Visitor Center is a garden devoted to native Hawaiian plants. Hawaii contains a remarkable diversity of
"indigenous" (found in Hawaii and elsewhere in the world) and "endemic" (found
only in Hawaii) plants, many of which are not only endemic to Hawaii, but to one single island or even a
single volcano. There are about 1,100 native plant species in Hawaii
today, and about one-third of them are endangered. The NTBG has the world's largest collection of native Hawaiian flora
– 268
species, many of them rare and endangered. The collection includes the
native white hibiscus koki'o ke'oke'o (Hibiscus arnottianus), a rare species found in the wild only in the northwest
valley of Kaua'i's Napali Coast. Koki`o is the Hawaiian name for several
native species of the genus Hibiscus
– there are 5 indigenous and 5 endemic Hawaiian species, including the
red-flowered koki`o `ula (H. kokio ) and the official state flower of
Hawaii, the yellow-flowered ma`o hau hele (H. brackenridgei). Many
people are amazed at what isn't native
– coconuts (brought by the ancient Polynesians when they settled Hawaii),
pineapples, papayas, mangoes, oranges, sugar cane or thousands of other plants
associated with the islands, including bird of paradise (an import from South
Africa).
The
open-air tram takes visitors on a narrow dirt road lined with vegetation, with
periodic glimpses of the cliffs, valleys and the ocean below. There is one stop
along the way to view the Lawai Valley and gardens from above. Green palms
fringe a dirty brown river emptying into the turquoise and cobalt blue ocean
near the fringe of white sand beach.
On the opposite hillside vivid purple bougainvilleas spill down the steep
slopes. The tour guide indicates two of these plants were planted by Queen
Emma, wife of Hawaii's King Kamehameha IV, during the late 1800s.
The
tram continues down the former sugar cane train railbed into the valley,
slowing to observe certain plants (including the familiar houseplant
Schefflera, here a tree in bloom
– called the octopus tree, for the tentacle-like spikes of red flowers) and through lush growth. The growth is not as
dense as it might be, as the area was destroyed by Hurricane Iniki in
September 1992, but most of the replacement plants have brought back much of
the garden's former beauty.
We
disembarked from the tram at the bottom of the valley, next to
a planting of lotus, and began the walking tour by taking a bridge across the
river. Our guide pointed out the naupaka kahakai (Scaveola sericea)
growing in the sand. It is one of the most common shrubs of the outer
strand, with a pantropical distribution. The plant has large smooth-edged leaves
and white flowers that mature to fleshy white fruits. The flowers are typical of
a Scaveola, with the petals arranged so it appears as though some petals are
missing.
In
the mid-1800s, Queen Emma built a small vacation home on
the bluffs overlooking Lawai Bay and planted the oceanfront property with her
favorite plants (many introduced species). The McBryde family purchased the land at the
turn of the century to
grow sugar cane. In 1937 the Allerton family acquired it,
and Robert and his adopted son, John Gregg Allerton, transformed it into a
landscaped garden complete with fountains, sculptures, and meditation pools.
John, an architect by training, designed and built the house in 1937-38 and then the two of them
began clearing and developing the hundred-acre tropical estate.
They spent 20 years, with the help of hired gardeners, to create the tropical
paradise.
Robert's garden philosophy was based on contrast of
textures, the sound of wind, and the sound of moving water.
Water features were constructed of poured concrete,
imported granite, marble and slate. Giant clumps of yellow-stemmed bamboo soar 25 feet to form
a canopy high overhead in the Chinese bamboo garden, which lies low in a valley,
so the cliffs buffer the noise of the ocean and wind.
The gardens were also designed to incorporate some of the
sculpture and garden ornament from their estate near Monticello, Illinois.
Paths were laid out to maximize the experience of going through
these gardens, with vistas onto the different pieces of magnificent sculpture.
They obtained cuttings and seeds from locals, and learned about the exotic
plants of the South Pacific (obviously completely different than the flora of
the Midwest!), visiting many other islands to import species not found on Kauai.
These plants were used in the series of formal and informal gardens
around the Allerton House.
Tropical plants from all over the
world grow here, including Moreton Bay fig trees (Ficus macrophylla) from Australia, whose gigantic,
trunk-buttressing roots provided a backdrop for the movie Jurassic Park. The Tropical Fruit
Orchard includes mango, lychee, pomegranate and others.
There are several varieties of native ginger plants and anthuriums, as well as
the trailing night blooming cereus cactus (Hylocereus undatus) imported from the Caribbean. Orchids abound (of the 400
species of orchids grown in the park, half are either endangered or extinct in
the wild ), with many growing in the trees. With thousands of varieties of
plants, these gardens have something for everyone.
McBryde
Garden, Kauai
This treasure house of tropical flora is secluded between the rugged cliffs
of the picturesque Lawai Valley. Over 250 acres of garden and preserve on the
verdant valley floor is the site of the first garden of the NTBG. The Lawai Valley was chosen for
its diversity of climate, soils, and topography. The area affords a
kaleidoscope of distinct micro-environments which are cool, hot,
wet, dry,
lake, cliff or meadow. Over the years, this garden has become home to the largest ex situ collection of native
Hawaiian flora in existence, extensive plantings of palms, flowering trees, heliconias,
orchids and many other plants that have been wild-collected from the tropical
regions of the world. 'Spice of Life' showcases plants important to the
cut-flower industry, timber trade, and food and spice markets; 'Reading Palms'
introduces a variety of palms and their uses in products such as oils, thatch
and furniture; 'Canoe Plants of Ancient Polynesia' identifies plants that
voyagers of long ago carried across the Pacific to provide food, medicine,
building materials, clothing and shelter; and 'A Walk Among the Natives'
harbors the world's largest assemblage of native Hawaiian plants.
NTBG headquarters are also located at this site, with major research, education
and main propagation facilities. Its research library contains 8,000 volumes and
serials and over 35,000 dried plant specimens are housed in the Garden's
herbarium.
Limahuli
Garden, Kauai
Located on Kauai's wet north shore in Haena
at the end of the Kuhio Highway, Limahuli Garden and Preserve
extends over 1,000 acres in a verdant tropical valley covering three distinct
ecological zones. It butts up against the Na Pali
Coast, 15 miles of wild shoreline and mountains. Ongoing programs in watershed protection and studies in plant
and animal stream life are conducted at this site. Numerous cultivars of taro (Colocasia
esculenta), an important food crop for the
Polynesians, flourish here today on lava rock terraces built by early
inhabitants over 700
years ago.
In 1997, Limahuli Garden was selected by the American Horticultural Society
as the best natural botanical garden in the U.S., noting its research, teaching
and educational programs have demonstrated the best sound environmental
practices of water, soil, and rare plant conservation in an overall garden
design.
Kahanu
Garden, Maui
On the Hana coast, along the far eastern shores of the Hawaiian island of
Maui, Kahanu Garden grows amid black lava flows in splendid isolation. Its 472
acres encompass plant collections from the Pacific Islands, concentrating on
plants of value to the people of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia
– including Pritchardia palm, coconut, banana,
vanilla and kava. . Fringed by one of Hawaii's last undisturbed native pandanus
forests, Kahanu Garden contains the
largest known collection of breadfruit cultivars. This collection of more than
120 varieties serves as a germplasm repository for this important South Pacific food crop, housing
cultivars from over 17 Pacific island groups and Indonesia, the Philippines,
and the Seychelles.
The Kampong, Florida
Located on Biscayne Bay in Coconut Grove, Florida, The Kampong contains a
fascinating array of flowering trees and tropical fruit cultivars. In the early
1900s, noted plant explorer David Fairchild searched the world for plants of
economic and aesthetic value that might be cultivated in the United States. He
and his wife Marian (daughter of Alexander Graham Bell) took up residence here
amid some of his collections, borrowing the Malaysian word kampong for
his home in a garden. Catherine Hauberg Sweeney, who had also traveled extensively in Indonesia and
Malaysia, purchased The Kampong from the Fairchilds in the 1960s. She later
gifted the property to the National Tropical Botanical Garden to continue in the
tradition of promoting work in horticulture, of providing a valuable germplasm
resource, and of preserving the property for posterity. The Kampong is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
– Susan Mahr, University of Wisconsin
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