A look at 4 Hawaiian gardens (O'ahu and Kaua'i)

[Hilo Jason]

My wife and I spent a week on O'ahu and a week on Kaua'i this past December. I've been meaning to post these pictures for a few months now but just have not found the time. So since it was raining all day here and I couldn't be out in the yard, I finally got around to doing this. On O'ahu we visited Foster Garden, Lyon Arboretum and Ho'Omaluhia. Then on Kauai we visited the Allerton Garden, however we did not take the tour since we did that the year before. We just took some pictures from their display gardens when you first get there which are still amazing.

I hope you enjoy, and please forgive me for any wrong ID's, I did my best to keep track of what was what.

.........

Ok, first up is Ho'Omaluhia, this was a very nicely kept garden with ID labels on almost everything which made it very nice for someone like me who doesn't usually see palms like this in person!

Almost as soon as you get out of the car and head down the first available walking path, you see this:

My wife and I for scale!

Even the bromeliads are on steroids in Hawaii!

[Hilo Jason]

A very nice Heterospathe Glauca

And a larger Heterospathe Glauca

And the largest Heterospathe Glauca I saw there!!!

I believe the fruiting palm in this pic is Euterpe Oleracea

[Hilo Jason]

Areca ???

A couple of giant Neovetchia Storckii

Looking up into a canopy of normanbya normanbyi

More Neovetchia Storckii, I believe

[QUINNPALMS]

Awesome pics !

[Hilo Jason]

This section of the garden was one of my favorites:

The taller skinny palms towards the front are Kentiopsis Oliviformis and then there are a few Metroxylon behind them

Metroxylon with my wife for scale

Zoomed in on their petioles - these are amazing palms!

Most of these were one of the Clinostigma palms, and the darker green one behind me was a Cyphophoenix

[Hilo Jason]

Zoomed in on the Cyphophoenix

What a site to look up at! Sorry, I don't remember what these are, hopefully someone can chime in with an ID.

Archontophoenix Purpuraea

Neovetchia Storckii in the sunlight. It was cloudy most of the day, so it was great to get some sunny moments

[DoomsDave]

MORE!

[DoomsDave]

FBJ:

Great pictures!

Some of those palms will grow here in So-Cal.

Cyphophoenix alba is one. I've got one starting to trunk outside my bedroom window. (Of Doom.)

[Hilo Jason]

Corypha ???. I thought large Bismarckia's were stunning fan palms, then I saw these!!! Truly gigantic palms! Notice my wife for scale in front of the largest one that has been flowering and dying!

This was the SMALLER of the three!!!

Dypsis Lastelliana

Dypsis Saintelucei!!!!!!

[Hilo Jason]

Dypsis Decipiens

Lodoicea maldivica

Not a bad place for a picnic! Lodoicea maldivica in the distance

Beccariophoenix Madagascariensis (Windows)

[DoomsDave]

:drool: :drool:

[Hilo Jason]

A couple more eye grabbing Dypsis Lastelliana

Dictyosperma Album

Dypsis Decipiens triple in the foreground, HUGE Dypsis Pembanas in the background. Clumping on the left, solitary on the right

Here's the clumping Dypsis Pembana, must have been 40 feet tall!

[Hilo Jason]

Single Dypsis Pembana

Looking up at the single Pembana

A couple different Caryotas with an unreal backdrop!

Borassus ?? - another gigantic fan palm. I was almost expecting to see a dinosaur come out from behind these!

[Hilo Jason]

Up next was the Lyon Arboretum. This was another amazing garden, although not kept up quite as much as Ho'Omaluhia which made it more fun as an adventure, just a bit harder to ID palms since not everything appeared to be labeled. A lot of the trails were overgrown but they did offer maps at the giftshop area that helped quite a bit. I will say that the mosquitos almost carried me off a couple times at this one!

This pretty much summed it all up, a great sign!

This was one of the first sites we saw. I never could get to this palm to see what it was. I know it was not Chambeyronia since the leaflets were too narrow

From the main trail I saw huge Dypsis leaves sticking up out of the brush, I ventured off the path and found this Dypsis Prestoniana (not labeled, but looks like it to me)

I then looked up and saw this Neovetchia Storckii towering above me

[Hilo Jason]

Across from the D. Prestoniana was this Cyphophoenix (not sure if it's elegans or nucele)

With me for scale

No idea what these were, but they were quite the sight

Areca ??

[Hilo Jason]

This was the overall look on one of the small side trails. Amazing!

Dypsis Lastelliana? (Or are they Leptocheillos? They seem so much skinnier than the Lastelliana from the previous garden)

Cyrtostachys renda

Archontophoenix Purpuraea

[Hilo Jason]

I really wish I remembered the ID tag on this. It's a Dypsis and one of the large ones.

Here's a closer look at it

Clinostigma ??

Another Clinostigma ??

[Hilo Jason]

Kentiopsis - not sure if it's Pyriformis or piersoniorum. Maybe BS Man can help?

Archontophoenix Tuckerii

This was not labeled but is some sort of soon-to-be giant Dypsis!!!

[Hilo Jason]

I don't remember the name of these. The crownshaft was a stunning blueish purple!

Burretiokentia ??

Up next.... Foster Garden....

[Darold Petty]

Thanks for the great images ! I think photo #4 in post 15 might be a Pinanga. ?

[Hilo Jason]

Foster Garden was up next. Here's a quick look at the amazing weather we had that day:

Roystonea Oleracea - the tallest royals I've ever seen in person! Check out my parents and I for scale!!!

Looking up at the Roystonea

Lodoicea maldivica

[Hilo Jason]

Rainbow Eucalyptus

A canopy of Veitchia

A forest of Licuala's

[Hilo Jason]

For all of my cycad friends out there! Quite the sight with the Rainbow Eucalyptus in the background

Not sure the ID on this cycad, I think it was an Encephelartos of some sort

This was an incredible branching fan palm, sorry I don't remember the name. It was amazing to see how large this was and how much it was branching!

Looking up at the branching

That's it for Foster... up next Allerton Garden on Kaua'i...

[Hilo Jason]

After our time on O'ahu we went to Kauai for a week. The year before we had visited the Allerton Garden and taken the official tour, which is required for entrance. However, their parking lot area and display gardens are quite the site in themselves so we spent some time there. Here are those pictures...

Rainbow Eucalyptus!

Another Rainbow Eucalyptus with an overall look at this garden area

Dypsis Madagascariensis

another Dypsis Madagascariensis

[Gtlevine]

Great photos! I was at that garden back in 2006 and absolutely loved it, good to see it again even in pictures.

Gary

[Hilo Jason]

Dypsis Lastelliana on the left with a huge Bismarckia Nobilis towering above on the right

A closer look at the Dypsis Lastelliana

A nice view! Bismarckia Nobilis (center), Dypsis Madagascariensis (right) and I believe a Dictyosperma Album on the left

And although a very common site through Hawaii, I do enjoy the Dypsis Lutescens quite a bit

................

Well, that does it for my best pictures from these gardens. it's unreal to be able to see these kinds of palms in person. Photos don't really do them justice. I'm hoping I can return to these gardens within the next year or so and spend some more time exploring them.

Also, in case you missed it, last October I went on a palm trip to South Florida and you can view all of my pictures from that trip here: http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=31500&st=0&p=507237&hl=fairchild&fromsearch=1&#entry507237

Thanks for looking!

[Hilo Jason]

Thanks for the great images ! I think photo #4 in post 15 might be a Pinanga. ?

I think you are right, thanks Darold.

[Hilo Jason]

Great photos! I was at that garden back in 2006 and absolutely loved it, good to see it again even in pictures.

Gary

thanks Gary! This was a great trip to have our new camera on!

[Kim]

Jason! You've been holding out on us! A fantastic survey of palms in public gardens in Hawaii, really wonderful photos, and good with the IDs. Your wife is the perfect scale model for palm pics, I like her style. If you have more, post 'em, I really enjoyed these, thanks!

[Hilo Jason]

Thanks Kim! I think Virginia makes the perfect palm model as well I will look back at some of the photos and see if I have more to post. I went through them all and picked my favorites this time around.

[LJG]

Thanks for posting. I love seeing the mature NewCals.

[bgl]

Jason,

Thanks for all these really outstanding photos. Lyon and Ho'omaluhia are two of my absolute favorite gardens, and so very different from each other. It's been a few years since I was there, and clearly, it's time for another visit. The Lodoicea at Ho'omaluhia is just stunning! As are so many of the palms. Well, most of them actually! And Foster Botanic Garden is great as well - much easier to cover because of its smaller size, but still outstanding. The branching palm in #23 is their very famous Hyphaene thebaica. If they had no other plants at all, that palm ALL BY ITSELF would be worth a visit!

Again, thanks for this very enjoyable tour!

Bo-Göran

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Great pictures Jason

There is a big Chambeyronia lepidota at the Lyon arboretum did you by any chance see it ???

Troy

[Pedro 65]

Jason, Fantastic shots . What an incredible backdrop to these gardens ,outrageous, Very 'Jurassic Park' . Ive NEVER seen such a colourful Arch purpuraea ( Mt Lewis Alexander) is this photoshopped? Thanks for posting, Love the location, a Must See when we visit Hawaii. Pete

[Palmlover]

Jason,

Pretty awesome pictures!

[Dypsisdean]

You must have your photos mixed up. I keep hearing these don't do well in Hawaii.

Thanks for the tour.

[Daryl]

Great photos of some terrific gardens...keep 'em coming!

Daryl

[Tropicgardener]

Some absolutely amazing gardens there, thanks for sharing

[Hammer]

Wow. I keep using that word on the forum and it never seems to fully convey my awe at seeing so many amazing trees. Well done.

[Central Floridave]

Excellent photos, thanks for posting them. They go good with my early morning coffee!