Koali'ai flowers
It’s pretty sad that I’ve spent seven years of my life on Maui but only noticed the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens are few weeks ago when I went to a No Koa Ikaika Maui baseball game. I still didn’t think much of the gardens (which sit across the street from Iron Maehara Stadium in Kahului) until the July-August 2012 issue of Maui No Ka Oi Magazine showed up in the mail (it’s not yet online) and I read Paul Wood’s great story “Planted with Purpose.”
My girlfriend and I strolled around the place on Saturday, and couldn’t believe how serene it all was. Now I could attempt to describe the wonder that is looking at rare, endangered plants (including a wiliwili tree) that exist nowhere else on the planet, but I think it’s best if I just let Wood take it:
“Nowhere else in this cluster of geographically related, sea-wrapped mountains can you easily park your car and stroll into a world populated entirely by native plants,” Wood wrote. “The leaves are unfamiliar, the flowers subtle, the names unheard-of. But you’ll be looking into the authentic face of Hawaii, a botanical personality that evolved in perfect isolation by means of one accidental introduction every 35,000 years or so over millions of years.”
Photo courtesy Maui Nui Botanical Gardens
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