Kauai

[Dan OKeeffe]

Hello All,

I will be heading to Kauai next spring.  Do any of you have recommendations on gardens or nurseries to visit.?

Thanks

[mike in kurtistown]

Just did that a month ago. Venues of the National Tropical Botanical Garden - the Allerton Garden and McBryde Garden in the south, and Limahuli Garden in the north.

[Dave-Vero]

I concur on the three NTBG gardens.  Limahuli is a great place to learn about traditional farming.  

The guava plantation near Kilauaea has nice guava juice.  Taro fields near Hanalei are worth a peek.  

For plant life and birds, the real deal is up on the plateau.  You don't need to be terribly fit to do some hiking, but you need to bring clothes and sneakers that won't be ruined by red clay, plus a jacket suitable for cool, wet weather.

[bgl]

Dave,

I have to admit, I got a laugh out of your statement "sneakers that won't be ruined by red clay". Needless to say, I know exactly what you mean, but I think it'd be a challenge to find sneakers that won't get ruined....!  I knew I'd have that problem when we were on the IPS Biennial in New Caledonia in 2000 since the highlight of that Biennial was a climb halfway up Mount Panie, which is definitely palm heaven! For that reason, and that reason alone, I brought along my oldest running shoes, and wore them on the messy hike/climb up Mt. Panie. After we got back down to the bus, I took off my filthy shoes and put on a clean pair that I had in my little carry-on bag. An hour later we stopped at a local Melanesian village to eat dinner, and I quietly took my filthy shoes and parked them next to their little garbage area. For all I know, some Melanesian kid might have cleaned them up and may still be using them!!

Bo-Göran

[Dave-Vero]

bgl,

One of the big contrasts between New Caledonia and Hawai'i is that the former seems to have been continuously occupied by terrestrial plants since it separated from Australia some 65 million years ago.Missouri Botanical Garden.  Hawai'i is oceanic, so the ancestral Pritchardia somehow crossed an immense stretch of ocean.  Bird transport, perhaps?

But yes, the soil on Kaua'i reminds me of volcanic soil in the Piedmont of North Carolina!