Princeville Botanical Gardens: The Tours Begin!

Summer of 2010 is upon us. Tours are just starting. Please call 808 634.5505 for information and reservations.

The Vegetable Garden

This garden has been my oasis. There is nothing like smelling the fresh dug earth, feeling the sun warming my back, hearing the bees in the flowers and having conversations with the little bird that likes to eat up the worms. The vegetable garden is organic as is the rest of our 8 acres. We compost all our kitchen and garden scraps and use that on the plants. We are also making our own aerated compost tea out of worm castings from our own worms!

It's been a very satisfying adventure and the vegetables are so yummy and fresh!

The Creek

When we first hiked around through the jungles of this property, we arrived at the creek and the lightbulbs went off and the hearts melted. The creek is the underlying pulse to the gardens, the reason it all started. First there had to be a good path to the creek. Then a nice area "to be" by the creek. Well, then it just slowly snowballed, picking up speed as the years went by.

This area is truly magical. The creek all by itself is magical. This is also where our Michael likes most to sprinkle his stardust, so he has added his life energy, botanical expertise, and back-breaking work to this area. You will feel like you have truly arrived in an island paradise.

Sacred Valley

When we first arrived on this land and explored the valleys, I had the distinct "hit" that something very sacred had taken place in this valley and it still carried the feeling. Thus the name, "Sacred Valley". Once we cleared the valley of weed trees it revealed it's beauty. One end feels like a park. We've planted Rudraksha (Blue Marble) trees to sit under for picnics and the surrounding hills have Avocados, Mangosteens, Mangos, Noni, Nutmeg, Atemoya, Allspice, Monkey Pod, Silk Floss Trees, Palms and Coconuts. It feels very peaceful there.

The other end of this valley holds the Cacao trees, Pili Nut Trees, a huge old granddaddy Mango, Koa wood trees other hardwoods and ornamentals.

Past our boundary, the valley continues down to the highway - very wild. The perfect home for pigs, chickens and songbirds. We hear a symphony of birdsong every sunrise and sunset. So lovely.

Chocolate!

Bill loves chocolate. You probably do too! We have cacao trees planted down in our Sacred Valley where they are thriving. It's the perfect environment for them - out of the wind and a good overstory of Kukui, Mango and Guava trees to protect them from too much sun.

In 2009 a friend made some real chocolate from our pods. It was amazing! So good. This year I am giving it a go and as of this writing just finished the fermentation process. The whole process of making chocolate from fresh cacao beans is quite involved and we will fill you in on it when you visit the gardens.

Palms

When Michael started working on our land in 2002, Bill put in an order of 500 baby palms (at least 75 varieties) from Floribunda on the Big Island for him to take care of and nurture. Most all of those palms have been planted and there were more orders after that! Needless to say, we have a lot of palm trees in the garden. Some of those babies are 25-30 feet tall already. Palm lovers are in for a treat!

I have become infatuated with palm flowers and their seeds as you will see by the following photos. Many of them seem like they come from another planet - or Dr. Suess! Nothing tops mother nature for creativity.

Ti Plants

The longer we have lived here in Kauai the more we appreciate the Ti plant. The early Hawaiians used it to make their hula skirts and wrap the "laulau". Laulau actually means "wrapping" or "wrapped package". The local dish is ti leaves wrapped around pork, chicken or fish with chopped taro leaves and steamed to make a tasty morsel. There are many other uses for ti plants in the Hawaiian tradition and are held sacred. We are awed by their beauty, color and what seems to an infinite amount of variations. They light up a hillside year round like nothing else can.

Many of our neighbors have been kind enough to share their ti's with us so we have a lot of different types for you to see. You just stick them in the ground and off they go! So satisfying!