HAWAI'I GARDENS
Fragrant plants lend sweetness to garden
By Heidi Bornhorst
We love fragrant plants here in Hawai'i. What garden is really complete without a gardenia, pua kenikeni, paka- lana, kwai fah, alahe'e, koki'o ke'o ke'o or other fragrant plants?
Aren't gardenias (kiele in Ha- waiian) the epitome of Lei Day and spring? Gardenias and other white, night-fragrant flowering plants are perfect for the "pau hana garden," or what poets might call the moonlight garden, where you can relax in the evening and take in the scent.
There are about 250 species of gardenias, and we are able to grow quite a few here, including our native Hawaiian na'u, tiare from Tahiti and the double gardenia from China.
The Lyon Arboretum plant sale tomorrow will feature gardenias galore. (See calendar on this page for more information.)
Heaven Scent is what the growers are calling a new form that is very large and nicely fragrant.
It is single-petaled (usually) — like a tiare, only much bigger. Some of the flowers come out semi-double. You can pick the flower as a bud and let it open in water inside. Glen Nii and Marugame Nursery both will offer this new variety.
I first encountered this flower in a hedge at a Maui resort where one of my niece dances in a hula show. Her sister and I found this blossom that Noelle said looked like "a tiare on steroids." She plucked a cutting, and I took it home; it grew well for me in Wahiawa and now in Palolo. I have two plants that bloom frequently.
Landscape architect and native-plant grower Dennis Kim and I took the new gardenia to a botanist at the Bishop Museum. He tore it apart and looked it over carefully, but couldn't tell us the name or its origin. He's researching it.
The Lyon sale also will offer a selection of plants from more than 30 nurseries from around the island. There will be fruit trees, herbs, native Hawaiian plants, orchids, day lilies, cacti and succulents and landscape garden plants, plus jams and jellies for sale, keiki activities and plant advice.
Lavender and gold blossoms abound
Many flowers are in bloom, including several varieties of orchid. Lavender with fragrant pendant blossoms, honohono orchids (pictured above) provide the old-fashioned perfume of the season. Hang them from a tree outside your bedroom window and inhale the fragrance for a sweet night's sleep.
Phaleonopsis, the butterfly orchid, is also abundant right now. These come in shades of lavender purple and white, and the newer hybrids have golden and orange hues and stripes.
Many of the silver trumpet trees, Tabebuia argentea, are coming into bloom. There are some really nice ones by the Hongwanji temple as you come down the Pali, and in Kaimuki along the freeway.
One of my favorite roadside plantings is along H-1 near 6th avenue: There are several species of gold trees, accented by yellow plumeria, be-still tree and kolo- mona. All they need are a few rainbow showers and native wiliwili to provide blooms all year round.
Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant.
