Foster garden to receive face-lift

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

A master plan for Foster Botanical Garden released last week details the first major upgrade at the 13.5-acre park in more than 40 years, while users of the city's Community Garden plots are worried they will be displaced for years while the park is rebuilt.

A major, four-phase renovation is planned for Foster Botanical Garden, which is home to hundreds of rare and endangered plants. The 13.5-acre garden, founded in 1854, has not had a significant upgrade in more than 40 years. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Shortly before that, a new entry to Foster garden was built from School Street. That building, now an isolated area far from where visitors enter the garden, is used by the Friends of Foster Garden and constantly suffers the drone of freeway traffic.

The master plan would create a new entry at Vineyard Boulevard where the maintenance buildings are, at what was the back of the garden 40 years ago.

The garden is home to hundreds of rare, endangered and beautiful plants. It is a quiet place within easy walking distance of downtown, a place to sit and think or explore the natural plant history of the Islands.

For about 20 years, it also has been home to about 60 100-square-foot plots used for the city's Community Garden program. Anyone can sign up for a plot at various city parks and use it to grow fruits, vegetables and flowers.

Last year, the community garden users were incensed when the city let it be known that their plots would be eliminated in the redesign. Ben Lee, city managing director, later told the gardeners they would be allowed to stay, but would be moved, and the uproar subsided.

The master plan includes the move, but the current plots are expected to be removed during phase one later this year to make room for the Lyon Orchid Conservatory. The new plots will not be available until some unspecified time in phase four, likely several years down the road.

Dolores Mollring, 65, a Downtown Neighborhood Board member who has a plot in the community garden, said many of the gardeners are elderly and depend on their plots for food and to stay active and social.

The city administration has included more than $2 million for planning, engineering and construction in phase one in the 2002-2003 fiscal budget, and expects to break ground by the end of the year, according to Eric Crispin, deputy director of the Department of Design and Construction.

Money for later phases will depend on future city administrations, Crispin said.

"Obviously, we'd like to accommodate the gardeners," Crispin said. "At one point there was a question as to whether they would stay or go, and the master plan accommodates the same number of active plots we have right now. The best answer I can give you is we will certainly do our best to accommodate the community gardens, although I can't promise that they won't be down for a period of time."

Mollring said the plans for Foster garden are good for the community, beneficial for the plants and should prove a financial asset for the city with more people visiting, but she said fears the gardeners "are a little insignificant thorn in their side."

Key aspects of the master plan include new and improved garden areas, a new visitor center and the orchid conservatory in honor of the garden's first director, Dr. Harold Lyon.

Also planned are new maintenance facilities, garden pathways, an interpretive plan and displays, a noise buffer along the freeway, expanded visitor parking and enhanced street frontage along Vineyard Boulevard.

The 26 exceptional trees at Foster Botanical Garden, plus an additional 23 significant trees identified by the garden's staff, have been protected in the plan.

Foster Garden had its beginning in 1854, when the property was owned by physician William Hillebrand, who collected plant species from around the world.

Thomas Foster bought the property in 1880 and built a family mansion with a five-story tower to watch passing ships in Honolulu Harbor.

Foster's widow, Mary, formed a partnership with the Hawai'i Sugar Planters Association and Lyon to care for and expand the garden, and in 1930 the property was deeded to the city.

By adding adjacent parcels, the garden reached its current boundaries in 1964.

Crispin called Foster Botanical Garden the jewel within the botanical garden complex.

"The master plan includes meeting space for local garden clubs and organizations, improvements to the display space and signage of the botanical collections and to the visibility of the garden at its main entrance," Crispin said.

"Right now, it is a very well-kept secret. People who go are always amazed at the quality of the specimens we have there."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.