HAWAI'I GARDENS
We could have a River Walk like San Antonio's
By Heidi Bornhorst
I recently attended an urban forestry conference called "Green Engineering" in San Antonio.
We learned a lot at the conference, at supplemental educational tours and by traveling around the city.
Water is a resource in critical supply, especially in the heat of Texas and even here in Honolulu.
We need to rethink how we work with water and trees in an urban environment.
Engineers and city planners need to work with arborists and horticulturists and integrate our disciplines, re-engineer our cities, our waterways, sidewalks and living spaces for trees and plants in order to function more beautifully.
San Antonio is just any old city until you hit the River Walk.
A cool breeze wafts of the river (feels just like trade winds in the afternoon) and huge old interesting trees like California redwoods tower over the river.
Many fan-leaf palms grow there.
Horticulture is at its finest down here in the microclimate of the river.
Dwarf crape myrtle trees (lagerstroemia indica) tower over head (we find this one as a large shrub at best in Hawai'i) while white gingers blooms in well-mulched beds.
Hibiscuses were blooming everywhere.
There was very lush and profuse taro. The familiar plants looked a little different in this habitat as they spilled over each other in horticultural abundance.
We saw the city gardener crew do some maintenance. They accessed the planters by mini barges that easily navigated the river and hauled the supplies.
Gardeners are also park rangers and helpful guides in San Antonio, increasing the safe and pleasant feeling in this large city.
There are many lushly planted city parks with healthy shade trees in addition to the River Walk.
The River Walk was what convinced me to go to San Antonio. Land along the river is prime real estate, filled with quaint B&Bs, trendy restaurants and lots of entertainment.
They even dye the river green on St. Patrick's Day, which is something we should do with the Ala Wai Canal and other archaic cement-channel streams.
Let the Ala Wai loop back on itself thru Ala Wai Golf Course and up along the stream heading mauka. Create trails, bike paths and sidewalks with trendy restaurants and outdoor Hawaiian music. Grow mullet and awa in fish ponds right next to the restaurants.
Re-create wetlands for native birds and to grow taro. We always have a shortage of poi, so let's grow it in these former rich taro paddies. Fresh water should be kept on the island, not channeled out to sea.
Nu'uanu Stream is another place where a River Walk / 'ahupua'a adventure has been envisioned for many years. This could run all the way from Honolulu Harbor to Foster Botanical Garden to Nu'uanu pali with forested trails and disability-friendly sidewalks — now this is eco-tourism worth writing home about!
We could have a great River Walk right here in Hawai'i.
Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable landscape consultant.
