HAWAI'I'S GARDENS
Tabebuia helps make Island holidays cheery
By Heidi Bornhorst
Q. Would you please identify the gorgeous trees on the corner of Vineyard and Pali Highway? I have noticed them for a number of years. Each year I wonder what they are. They seem to be in bloom during our "winter" months.
— Ann Williamson
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
A. Those trees are part of our wonderful legacy of tabebuia trees— the gold trees, silver trumpets, purple trumpets and so on. Dr. Harold Lyon, original director of Foster Botanical Garden, thought these would be great tough, less-thirsty flowering trees for Hawai'i, and he was right.
This tree brightens up the of Punchbowl and Vineyard intersection with its flash of gold against the cloud-studded sky.
There is a marvelous collection of all kinds of tabebuia at Foster. Many seeds were collected and grown into trees all over.
There's another species of tabebuia in front of Harris United Church on Vineyard. If you notice, all along Vineyard there are majestic gold trees. The church gives the garden kokua on parking for plant sales and other events. The church may have gotten a seed or seedling from the garden way back when. Today, it is cheerfully blooming for churchgoers and passers-by.
If you drive out 'Ewa way, there are a lot of tabebuias blooming golden all along the freeway. There is a really nice planting at the Kunia cloverleaf interchange.
These make for a pretty season's greetings, even if they really are blooming at the "wrong" time of year.
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Q. What do you think is our most gorgeous holiday season fruit tree? I want to plant one for next year's décor and festivities.
A. It's that time of year when tangerines, mandarins and oranges are in luscious golden orange fruit. They are such a sight. I always try to find where I might stick one into my overabundant garden.
Our neighbor shared some super 'ono mandarins with us. She said they were sour the first year, and now in the second year of this tree's fruiting, the fruits are perfect and plump, so 'ono and sweet and flavorful.
I almost hate to peel and eat them, because they are such a pretty and festive holiday decorative element. They smell good, too.
Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Submit questions to islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.
