By Heidi Bornhorst
Tall rainbow shower trees today grace the once hot, dusty, barren median of Vineyard Boulevard near Queen Emma Street and Punchbowl. The rainbow shower, a made-in-Hawai‘i hybrid and official street tree of Honolulu, is a great choice to beautify and shade this busy thoroughfare.
 |
| Recently planted Rainbow shower trees now decorate the median strip along Vineyard Boulevard between Pali Highway and Punchbowl Street.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser |
But these trees did not just spring up on their own. Planting and caring for trees, especially in public spaces such as along roadways and in our parks, take a lot of advance planning, coordinating with many agencies and utilities, and long-term tree care, pruning and maintenance.
Honolulu is recognized as a "tree City USA" and, as such, home to many wonderful trees in public spaces, and people who care deeply about them.
Some people have jobs caring for trees. For others, trees and beautiful public landscape are a passion and a mission. Groups such as the Outdoor Circle and Scenic Hawai‘i help government agencies make the right planting decisions and spur our public servants on to make our Islands even more beautiful.
Last October, we lost a great champion of trees, Betty "Iwalani" Crocker. She had a long life with many passions and interests, but chief among them for the last 30 or so years was the beautification and greening of Hawai‘i.
She was a member of the Outdoor Circle and the founder of Scenic Hawai‘i. A milestone in her life was when the driver of a backhoe, with a wrong plan in hand, started to remove one of the huge monkeypods on Punahou Street. Crocker talked to this powerful man on his rumbling equipment, put herself between the tree and the backhoe, and then, when the police came, got the job halted until she could call people in charge. Eventually, the tree was saved and the correct plan was implemented. That majestic tree still thrives today.
Crocker, who was 79 when she died, had been working with the city, state, business and community groups to beautify the Nimitz Highway corridor (remember when it was "shame" to bring visitors into town on Nimitz; it was so junky with a barren, hot look).
Now, not only are there trees but there are color plantings all along the roadway: bougainvillea, bright orange cape honeysuckle, and golden scrambled egg bushes brighten the highway and cheer and welcome us and our guests. Pu‘uhale school also was graced with the green and colorful planting paintbrush wielded by Crocker and her many supporters.
Sand Island Access Road was another of Crocker’s missions, and she had a lot of help and support from others. This road was a raceway for large trucks and whizzing cars. It was totally barren. Today, large monkeypod and rainbow showers shade the thoroughfare. Beautiful ground covers and shrubs, including golden glory buffel grass, native Hawaiian hibiscus and golden Galphimia, brighten up the median.
Mayor Jeremy Harris said of Crocker: "Betty was a remarkable person who left a legacy that will last for generations to come. The trees she loved have become monuments to her passionate commitment to making our city a greener and more beautiful place for everyone. Each time I see a tree-lined street, I think of Betty and how she touched the lives of so many."
Driving on a shade-tree-lined street is different than along a barren, hot asphalt desert. Where there is no shade, the glare gets in your eyes. You are hot, sweaty and can’t wait to put on your shades, crank up the AC and the radio and speed away to a cool shady place.
On a tree-lined street, the pace and your heartbeat slows. You put on a Hawaiian music station, roll down the window and breathe in the clean air from the healthy, growing trees.
Think of your favorite streets — often they have beautiful shade and flowering trees. Punahou is an example, with its large monkeypods. Paki Avenue and Kapi‘olani also have great monkeypods, towering over and shading the busy roadway with the effect of calming us down, too.
There are more recent beautifully planned and planted streetscapes. It is sad for her many friends and family that Betty Crocker has passed on. But we are happy that she devoted so many years of her life, her vibrant energy and networking skills to bring diverse people together to achieve a vision of a cleaner, greener, shadier Hawai‘i.
Heidi Bornhorst is director of the city’s botanical gardens — Foster, Lili‘uokalani, Wahiawa, Koko Crater, Ho‘omaluhia. Write to her care of The Advertiser Homestyle section, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Or e-mail her at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com.
[back to top] |
The Great Index to Fun