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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Friday, February 28, 2003

HAWAI'I GARDENS
New book offers experts' take on challenges of growing koa

By Heidi Bornhorst

Olive Vanselow, left, receives the first copy of "Growing Koa," for the library at Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden.

Craig Elevitch

We should all grow koa. It is a wonderful, beautiful tree, and the wood is highly prized here in Hawai'i and around the world.

Koa is also a key component of Hawaiian forest ecosystems. Many native Hawaiian birds, insects and other plants depend on it.

There are some problems and challenges with growing koa, however, and happily, there is a new book that helps us to perpetuate this splendid tree.

"Growing Koa: A Hawaiian Legacy Tree" was written and edited by Kim M. Wilkinson and Craig R. Elevitch. Wilkinson and Elevitch are plant scientists in the truest sense.

They have been growing and trying to grow koa in many areas in Hawai'i for many years. This great, informative book is a result of those efforts.

There are lots of color pictures, which really help bring different points to light. Many Hawai'i people are pictured, along with great illustrative images all about koa.

The cover features a picture of a nice koa tree, with a perfect half moon beside it. The small moon perfectly replicates the shape of the koa's phyllodes (they look and function like leaves).

The book is dedicated to the wao lipo, that wonderful mysterious region of the forest where the tallest, most majestic trees grow and the deepest shadows fall. Hannah Kihilani Springer gave the book an inspiring dedication.

The authors also gathered a lot of mana'o and mo'olelo (thoughts and stories) from some of the most knowledgeable people on koa. The mo'olelo from Nainoa Thomson is especially poignant, as he and members of the Polynesian Voyaging Society searched and searched the forests of Hawai'i in vain for the perfect size and shaped koa for a sailing canoe.

Foresters and botanists shared what they know and have learned about planting and growing koa. I got the honor of sharing a chapter about koa in the landscape.

The authors and their sponsors, Muriel and Kent Lightner, will give 250 copies to libraries, schools and educational institutions. Olive Vanselow was given the first copy, for the library at Ho'omaluhia. Mahalo nui loa, Craig and Kim.

What's in bloom

Drive down Vineyard Boulevard for a colorful glance at a Hawaiian spring, where bright gold trees bracket the flaming blossoms of African tulip. The subtle pale hue of pink Tacoma peeks out from smaller spaces. Interestingly, all three of these brilliant blossomed trees are in the Bignoniaceae or trumpet-flower family.

While the blossoms of gold trees are ephemeral, you can nearly always find African tulip in bloom. It is a major alien weed, but it is so pretty in someone else's landscape! Many many African tulips grow along the freeways, and the cheerful large bright orange blossoms are a sight to cheer the weary commuter.

Nurturing the 'dinosaur' plants

The prehistoric glen in Foster Botanical Garden is full of "dinosaur" plants or living fossils,

the cycads. The Garden Club of Honolulu, with stalwart members including the energetic Heidi Ho Conjugacion, Peggy Melim and board member Adelaide Kisner pruned dead cycad fronds, weeded and raked. "There were 16 gardeners," says Congugacion, including "one 3-year-old grandkeiki — total island-style kid, barefoot and with her own bucket." The volunteers are more important than ever, with dwindling city resources allotted to the gardens. They are appreciated!

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable landscape consultant. She has retired from Honolulu's botanical gardens and now volunteers there.