We set out to sustain an uplifting, productive and everchanging garden, one with something new to see on every visit, and one that sustains body, mind and soul.
We recognize that a garden is a library, an endless resource; There is always something to learn, and something there to teach us.
It is a place to enjoy, a place that teaches, a place of peace, a place of beauty.
It started with a shed and a swimming pool in a weedy jungle. We adopted it; and it adopted us.
We lived in a one room shed, sleeping in a low-roofed loft. And we started to introduce what we believed was order.
We removed weedy, invasive, macaranga, koa haole, kolomona, African tulip, guinea grass, white shrimp plant (although honeybee
It started with a shed and a swimming pool in a weedy jungle. We adopted it; and it adopted us.
We lived in a one room shed, sleeping in a low-roofed loft. And we started to introduce what we believed was order.
We removed weedy, invasive, macaranga, koa haole, kolomona, African tulip, guinea grass, white shrimp plant (although honeybees loved it), tall fiber bananas that produced inedible fruit, and innumerable invasive, choking vines. We discovered that there were some treasures among the weeds: macadamia, santol, jabong, avocado. We planted the big trees first, some hardwoods, fruits, and flowering trees.
As we cleared we nurtured grass and propagated and planted ground covers. With yard work happening only after work and on the weekend, and meanwhile planning and building a house, this was a process of about 20 years.
Meanwhile we scoured the island for appropriate plants to fill the cleared areas: hardwoods, palms, fruits, flowers, natives, spices, aromatics and more. There are now dozens of varieties of palms, several timbers, four mango, three avocado, two pomelo, limes and lemons, three breadfruit, two hala, starfruit, soursop, cashew, macnut, uncountable flowers. Plants for weaving, plants for lei, plants for shade, plants for food, for color and for fun.
It goes on and on
Gardens don't just happen.
It takes a vision, a bit of inspiration, some careful planning, plenty of perspiration, lots of waiting, a heap of flexibility, digging, dragging, endless weeding, ability to prune and propagate, trial. error and learning, patience and hope.
Our garden was a jungle and in many ways still is. We work daily to a
Gardens don't just happen.
It takes a vision, a bit of inspiration, some careful planning, plenty of perspiration, lots of waiting, a heap of flexibility, digging, dragging, endless weeding, ability to prune and propagate, trial. error and learning, patience and hope.
Our garden was a jungle and in many ways still is. We work daily to attempt to impress a kind of order, but the jungle is always winning.
Our team of two that cuts, prunes, plants, weeds, waters, designs, repairs and installs still loves each other after all these years. Both have literary backgrounds, one writing and one managing collections. Between them is far more than a century of commitment to islands, and things that grow on islands.
And this ever-present fascination with poking into the ground a twig or speck of seed, and watching it sprout and leaf and bloom and fruit, and then attract its own community of butterflies and bees, bugs and birds...magical.
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