HAWAI'I GARDENS
Lokelani Gardens taste of abundance

By Heidi Bornhorst

Mauka gardens are great, as you can really grow an array of different flowering plants. Pat Lee has lots of goodies in her Waimea garden approximately 2,600 feet above sea level on the Big Island.

There is an "English flower bed" sort of garden on a raised patch of lawn.

Big fat dahlias in many colors, garden heliotrope in lavender purple and white with a lovely fragrance, perfect for mini flower arrangements and tussy mussies. Daylilies grow and flower well in this climate.

Agapanthus or Nile lilies are bold and beautiful with tall robust stalks and still blooming here in July. Down in the lowlands they are long pau — a spring bloomer mainly.

A bed of nasturtiums grows on the side for garden color, beta carotene nibbling and elegant dinner plate garnish (think Merriman's, where Lokelani tomatoes are a long time gourmet favorite).

She also had bushes and bushes of 'ono sweet tart poha berries lining her driveway. Now that is garden wealth. This is indeed a tasty treat to step out into the misty morning and have a nibble of.

The new tropical vireya rhododendrons also give nice color to the garden. These lovely blooms come in bold colors of apricot, peach and cherry blossom.

Pat's daughter, Erin, is co-owner of Lokelani Gardens. They usually win the tomato tasting contest at Merriman's every year. Feeding the soil with green sand, rock phosphate, humic acids and compost and other beneficial organics, improve the soil and the taste of the tomatoes.

The growing has been largely taken over by their partner, Calvin Escorpeso. He was getting ready to give the soil a boost and maybe increase the size of the "old-vine" tomatoes. Maxicrop, a seaweed based amendment, is applied along with fish emulsion and molasses to the drip line of the mature plants and gives them a beneficial boost.

All hands welcome

Q. We love Waimea Arboretum and are overjoyed that the Audubon Society will now be managing this garden and cultural jewel of greenery and rare plants. We missed the volunteer native plants cleanup day (we were moving), but my whole family still wants to come help the garden. How do we do that? The phones don't seem to work.

A. They have a new phone number and are overjoyed at your offer of volunteer help. Large, valuable botanical gardens like Waimea need a lot of maintenance.

You can phone volunteer coordinator Kelly Perry at 638-9199.

The 300-plus volunteers on June 28 really did an awesome job. But given the size of the gardens, and the backlog of work, it is daunting, and much needs to be done to catch up.

What's in bloom

Mangoes are in bloom again.

It is not the regular season but there are quite a few trees around the Islands that are blooming for a second time.

Some arborists and foresters were discussing this at our Kaulunani meeting in Kona, and we happily concluded that these late-blooming mangoes might avoid the anthracnose that often affects mangoes in their normal spring blooming time.

Rain comes and the blossoms get infested with anthracnose. Then the big spring winds come and knock off more blossoms. Perhaps we will get a really bountiful crop in a few months.

Please remember to keep your garden columnist in mind if you have a few extra fruits — mangoes don't fruit well in the wet, windy valley where we live.

Odds and ends

Dwarf crepe myrtle also is looking good and blooming in many gorgeous colors all over the Islands. The blossoms are white, pink, purple and colors in between. There are big trees of dwarf crepe myrtle on California Avenue in Wahiawa. Take a cooling drive and check out these flowering beauties.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable landscape consultant.