Tucked into mountains crafted by eons of wind and rain, Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden has been a studio for a dedicated group of artists for 25 years.

Back before it had a fancy name (plein-air painting), dozens of artists wandered the lush garden, set up an easel, picked a palate of greens from their paint box and painted outdoors.

Through May 10, work from 47 of those garden artists will be featured in "Aloha Ho'omaluhia XXV," a retrospective exhibition of 25 years of annual shows. Some of the artists were founding members of the group. Many still participate each year in the annual show. Others have moved on to greener pastures. All the work reflects the great love and even greater concern each artist had, and still has, for the garden.

The show at Gallery 'Iolani at Windward Community College is dedicated to one of Hawai'i's most noted artists, the late John Wisnosky. "He was the pied piper of the gardens," says founding member Noreen Naughton. "John named our first show 'Aloha Ho'omaluhia' because we were saying hello and possibly goodbye to a wonderful garden." She says that each year, the participating artists were asked to respond to the beauty of the place or to the environmental concerns they had. "Those concerns loomed large in the shadow of construction."

The garden originally was built in 1982 by the Army Corps of Engineers as a flood-protection area. Free and open to the public, it became a respite from a fast-moving world. Twenty-five years ago, there was great concern that the homage to transportation, the H-3 Freeway, would take away the pristine artists studio of Ho'omaluhia. The freeway was authorized in 1960. Community protest grew into the 1980s when construction began. "Battles were fought and won," Naughton says, "the route was actually changed. The freeway did become a reality, but the gardens were saved."

Past fear still shows in the eyes of founding artists when they describe the powerful image that was Jonathan Busse's assemblage, created for the first exhibition. Naughton says, "He painted a representation of the Ko'olau mountains and placed a three-dimensional construction of a highway attached on hinges in front of his painting. When the highway swung in front of the painting, like the shutters of a window, it closed the view."

Another entry in an early show consisted of bananas, real bananas. "They decomposed during the show. That was part of the art. Interesting but a bit overwhelming in fragrance toward the end," says Naughton, known as the Hau Tree Lady, who has painted the trees from the time they were planted to the wildly lush tropical forest they are today. She doesn't pinpoint her favorite spot, suggesting that the viewer have a look at the exhibition, then walk the gardens in search of the artists' point of view.

Showing concurrently, the 2009 annual exhibition, titled "Aloha Ho'omaluhia XXV," runs through May 30 at the Visitor Center Gallery inside the garden. Toni Martin, artist and director of Gallery 'Iolani, suggests that the best way to appreciate the amazing art is to visit the gardens, see the annual show then make the short trip to the Windward Community College campus to see the retrospective.

"When we decided to do the retrospective show, our main intent was to let people know what a treasure we have. The gardens are a respite from our high-tech world." Martin's work is included in the exhibition. Her pastel, titled "Ho'omaluhia," has been accepted in an international Pastel Society of America show in New York. "I hope the title brings even more awareness," she said.

Sounding a bit like a script for a travelogue, the founding artists talk about painting in the garden. They mention the gardeners and the staff being incredibly helpful and kind. "I like to stay late, to get the late-afternoon light," says another founding artist, Linda Hutchinson. "Two things I have to watch for, mud holes by the lake and ducks. They watch you paint by the lake and they are curious."

Tales are told by several of the painters about nibbling ducks. The best guess seems to be that in a duck's line of vision, a canvas or watercolor paper might look just like a slice of bread. Another surprise was an annual reception where piglets came in search of pupu. They were quickly chased away.

Hutchinson says she has always painted outdoors, starting back in Hawai'i Kai in the carnation gardens. "Now my style of painting has a fancier name, plein-air. It is still the same: I am out there painting in the plain air." She says that the thing that makes painting in Ho'omaluhia Garden easy is running water and bathrooms. "I brought my teenage kids hiking in the gardens when I first moved to Ha'iku. It only took one or two visits, and I was hooked. I kept painting in the park, was invited to join the Ho'omaluhia group, and the rest is history — 25 years of history."