Tag: landscaping

Naupaka

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By Heidi Leianuenue Bornhorst

Naupaka is such a simple and elegant native Hawaiian plant to grow in beach gardens, xeriscapes, and to nurture in the wild.

It makes a great hedge, or specimen plant.  It protects our coast and holds onto the sand.  You can also grow it in large pots.  

Naupaka is a less thirsty plant, perfect for your xeriscape garden. It is also salt and wind tolerant.

Grow it from seeds or cuttings or buy some potted ones and support your favorite local nursery.

Strategic landscape designed naupaka hedges can protect beach homes from the strong ehukai, salty winds. 

It is beautiful with its soft green leaves and half flowers which are white with a hint of purple. White fruit follow the flowers.

Beach Naupaka, Naupaka kahakai is known as Scaevola taccada to scientists.

It is an indigenous Hawaiian plant, which means it got here on its own, but it grows in other tropical areas too.

We also have native endemic species of Scaevola, Naupaka kuahiwi that inhabit our uplands. They too have a half flower, which features in Hawaiian love legends. 

It is the easiest plant to care for if we keep it simple:

• Minimal water once established.

• No fertilizer.

• Keep turf grass away from the root zone.

• Minimal trimming, and only by hand.

As with many of our native Hawaiian plants, modern ‘mow blow and go’ landscape techniques do not agree with naupaka.

The worst is gas powered hedge trimmers, this will mutilate naupaka. Do minimal trimming and shaping with hand clippers or loppers.

Do not TOP naupaka.  Prune carefully, and minimally and only when you are in a good mood. 

​Topping is where you mindlessly cut trees or plants.

The new growth is soft, and the older branches are very woody and tough.  

Power equipment trimming shakes up the roots and then makes the branches grow too dense, making habitat for insect and disease pests.

Turf grass should be physically separated from the Naupaka planting area.  Use a nice stone, coral, or brick edging to keep grass and naupaka separated.

Hand weed out any invading grass. Grass will compete and rob water, nutrients, light and space from the naupaka.

An edge also makes it easier to mow the lawn.

Thoughtful Landscape design and old fashioned garden maintenance will help you keep your naupaka thriving and Beautiful, as nature designed.

CRB, what we can all do to save Niu and other trees.

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By Heidi Bornhorst

Alien Coconut Rhinoceros Beetles are currently Endangering our Niu (coconut palms), native Hawaiian Loulu palms, hala, banana and more.

Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle

This is an existential threat, not only for beauty, but for life.

Without Niu we may starve.

​Imagine Hawaii with no Niu. 

Coconut Rhinoceros beetles (CRB) are a serious alien pest. We really need to take this problem seriously and attack / control them on all fronts.

For years, At Every Arborist and landscape conference, we were warned about these chunky hungry beetles and warned to KAPU !! keep them out of Hawaii.

CRB are Major and serious pests in other places such as Polynesia and overall world tropics.

Now they have spread from a Navy site in 2013, to the west side, devastating the north shore and Waialua. They are bad in Waimanalo.

I was at Wahiawa Botanic Garden recently and so devastated to see all of our native Loulu palms being munched and destroyed. This upland Botanic Garden has a collection of rare Loulu palms (CRB love our native Loulu palms even more than Niu or coconuts). They also attack Royal palms. 

(We have the famous ET grove of Royals, on Royal palm drive in Wahiawa.)

Auwe! we stopped at Kahana state park, where the precious Niu of Mary Mikahala Robinson Foster grow tall and graceful, said to be some of the best nuts for eating and drinking. 


 Coconuts at Kahana state park,
attacked by CRB

I sadly observed the classic cut out fronds, characteristic of CRB feeding on new vulnerable growth. These Niu are iconic and getting munched to death, as I write this. 


 Coconuts at Kahana state park,
attacked by CRB

We need to get everyone to pay attention and help with control. Our Governor Green and Mayor need to get behind these efforts: Education and control.

Neighbor islands are getting hit with CRB too.

Know the life cycle, they spend the bulk of their life feeding on and in, rotting vegetation, compost piles and the like.

It should be on the News every night, along with other crimes affecting Hawaii. 

Here are some of the immediate steps we can all take:

No mulch piles

No dead stumps

Netting 

Traps with lights and netting

Public awareness and education

Government support and action 

Search for Biocontrol 

Education


 Coconuts at Kahana state park,
attacked by CRB

Chemical treatment to save Coconut palms (Must label as treated, and cut off any flower and fruit on treated palms!) A high lift or skilled coconut climber is key for this.

Everybody’s dog, chickens and pigs can find and eat the grubs.  

A Gourmet opportunity for an innovative local chef?

Nui/Coconut, Cocos nucifera is the Tree of life for Hawaiians, do we really appreciate and treasure Niu in Hawaii as well as we could? 

Can you imagine Hawaii with no Coconuts? CRB also attack Hala, Loulu palms, banana and more.  

Let’s get together and scientifically, attack this pest.

Netting all around the vulnerable crown of the palm. Netting of mulch piles. Nets with Lights 

As my friend Mari Zane says Ho! Beneficial use for those illegal gill nets!  (Her Loulu and Niu on the north shore were early casualties, but there is hope for the shorter ones.)

Wrap the nets around the crown.  The nets will get the ones inside coming out of the bore holes, and get any on their way in.

Contemporary Landscaping, a nursery in Waimanalo, uses a low net about four feet tall, lit at night. This attracts and captures beetles. 

Trapped beetles attract more beetles to the light, and a chance for more control.

Brown Cannon made a trap using a netted Hula hoop and is capturing them out in Waialua. He sets this hula hoop net  (great recycling!) over a barrel of woody mulch.

We can all get smart and do our part!

Just when Hawaiian gardeners, City parks folks and landscapers were convinced to wisely use mulch, we find that mulch piles are endangering NIU.

CRB grubs love rotting vegetation and spend most of their life there.

​We can have mulch piles and mulch dishes if we are akamai.

Turn the mulch frequently disrupting the grubs. 

HOT mulch will help to kill them.

Turn your mulch and have animal helpers, keiki or your arborist ready to spot and capture the grubs. 

(Dogs, pigs and chickens can be trained to eat the grubs of CRB)

Mulch and green waste piles are perfect habitat for these alien pests and their voracious grubs.

Hot mulch is OK:  turn it and burn it!

Or spread mulch and compost thinly. Water it and look for CRB grubs.

As always water and nurture your palms, keep them as healthy as possible.

Let’s work together to protect and save this vital part of Hawaii. !!!

Miniature Forest Revolution

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The Miyawaki method

By Heidi Bornhorst

Koa trees, Loulu palms, mulch dishes Ho`omaluhia

Aloha Hawai`i Gardeners: are we ready to plant and nurture a miniature forest Revolution?

I have wanted to learn about the Miyawaki method for a while. Thanks to generous friends: Chirstine and Pokey, I got my hands on one of the books about the Miyawaki miniature forest method, and plunged in.

The book I just read is called, “Miniature Forest Revolution”, by Hannah Lewis. 

Developed in Japan and now spread around the world this is a new and akamai way of forest restoration.

Dr Akira Miyawaki was a Botanist, ecologist, and researcher. He networked with others in Japan and around the world to plant mini climax forests and nurture them. 

I have advocated for years, to simply plant a tree, nurture a garden, keep one plant alive, Volunteer at a garden.  Go hiking, learn about our Hawaiian forest. Nurture our Hawaiian forests and learn more. 

Learn about and nurture our living soils.

This is a new way to do it and is very inspiring.

Trees and forests really do heal our land. Compost really does work. Watersheds can be restored by the forest. Healthy forests of multi layers cover the soil and nourish it. 

Koa tree and Uluhe ferns

With plants covering soil and adding their leaves to the living soil mix, we have less runoff when it rains.

We like to keep soil alive and where it belongs: on Land

When soil washes into the ocean after heavy rains we have fresh water killing the reef and silt and mud smothering the reef, clouding the water and adversely affecting fish, honu and all the saltwater living life forms.

Healthy forests funnel rainwater down into the ground enhancing our water sources. 

There are so many benefits. 

To follow the Miyawaki method you get rid of grass and weeds and plant climax species really close together like how they occur in nature. 

(Koa and `Ohi`a lehua trees are two Climax species that we do now know how to nurture and grow)

Soil preparation is key. Get rid of weeds and grass and mix in compost. Lots of compost and organic matter gets incorporated into the original soil. Drainage is also very important. 

Adding mycorrhizae or native soil from a healthy forest area might be advisable.

Soil tests help determine what soil type and fertility you have. 

After all this planning and preparation, the fun begins: Planting the forest.

The plant mix is trees, shrubs, ferns and ground covers, throw in some vines. A different plant mix would be suitable for various soil types, rainfall amounts and elevation. We have so many microclimates and soil types in Hawai`i.

Elevation is a very important consideration for growing native Hawaiian plants.   

For example, Koa seeds collected at 5000 feet on the richly soiled flanks of Mauna loa, would probably not thrive in Kapi’olani park.   It is partly soil (they do not like sandy salty soil), but even more it’s elevation. Cool night temperatures and other factors 

Often lowland plants can grow at higher elevations, but high elevation plants struggle and lower, hotter elevations. 

For the first few years you tend the forest, watering, and weeding. The book says you do this for three years. Maybe in Hawaii we need to tend to it longer with watering and weeding and adding to the mulch beds.

Then it can basically care for itself but it’s still good to do some nurturing. 

That is what horticulture is: Close monitoring, observation, and careful tending of your plants.

Like in a natural forest, leave the leaves. They nurture the soil.

Rachel admires koa tree

Dragon Fruit

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By Heidi Bornhorst

Q: Heidi when did dragon fruit come to us here in Hawaii?  Seems kinda recent to me but one of my gardening writing friends tells me its been here since the late 1800s.

Pls inform

Mahalo

KD, Kahala

A: Like you, I think it’s recent. I know night blooming cereus, a relative of dragon fruit, has been here for a long time and has an interesting survival at sea/ revival by Horticulture story. So, I did some digging.

Ken Love, one of my go to Fruit experts, informs me that yes, it’s a recent arrival to our shores and gardens.

Love says that Greg Adams brought them from Vietnam in the late 60s or early 70s. Since then others have introduced cultivars from places like Israel.

They are native to Mexico and Central America where we get the common name pitaya. Now widely grown by masterful Horticulturists and entrepreneurial Farmers in Thailand and Vietnam, we are seeing more in Hawaii home gardens and fruit markets.

There are some reports of it getting here early, maybe by that epic plantsman and translator for Alii, Don Francisco de Paula Marin. He brought us our first mango, grapes and Yellow Plumeria, among many other wonderful plants that now enhance our Hawaii gardens.

I think the red fleshed one is gorgeous especially in a mixed fruit platter. To me the white one is more ono but less colorful and pretty. I’m still waiting to try the yellow fruited one.

Scientists call it Hylocereus.  H. undatas is the white fleshed one, H. roja is the red fruited one and H. amarilla has yellow flesh. All are in the Cactus family, Cactaceae.

They are fun to grow if you don’t mind thorns.  The stalks are heavy and need support on a sturdy trellis or fence.  You get more fruit if you hand pollinate.

We always wonder how nutritious our Hawaii grown fruit are and dragon fruit has some great nutrients.  It is high in lycopene, as are tomatoes and watermelon. It’s a good source of calcium and iron.

Night-blooming cereus or panini o ka Punahou is a kind of cactus. The most famous planting of it in Hawaii is on the rock wall surrounding Punahou School in Makiki.

Night-blooming cereus

The plant, Hylocereus undatus, is from Mexico, where it is called pitahaya. It first landed in Hawaii around 1830 on the brig Ivanhoe, which was carrying plants collected in Mexico. Most of them died and were tossed overboard, and the nearly dead, dried-out cereus cutting looked like a goner, but First Officer Charles Brewer took care of it on the long voyage and planted it in Honolulu.

Dr. Richard Criley of UH Manoa, has been monitoring the night blooming cereus flowering cycles at Punahou school, for about 20 years, and sometimes sees fruit.  Maybe young scientists are hand pollinating them. He contends that hand pollination is needed for them to set fruit here in Hawaii.

They set fruit in Mexico where they are naturally bat pollinated. Our native bats are insect eaters and they are rare.

Its thorny stems send out aerial roots from the nodes or sections of stem. You can grow it from cuttings but watch out. It looks innocent at first but as it grows it can take over your rock wall, climb up slopes or trees, or even up your utility poles and lines.

(This happened at my parents’ home and they were without a phone for three weeks! I told my mom to keep it in a pot, but she is too kindhearted and said, “It looked so cute and helpless in the pot.”)

Helpful ideas for weed eradication and creative ways to reuse erosion debris

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By Heidi Bornhorst

I asked my friend and great Gardener, Mari who lives Mauka of Sunset beach how bad the shoreline erosion was, and can she access her beach?

NO, she said sadly, It’s still blocked off and there is a steep Cliff, and dangerous drop off, it is too dangerous to walk down to Sunset Beach or Kammieland.  

Plus, she continues, there’s so much beach litter and trash everywhere that are a result of “temporary” sandbag burritos and black saran shade cloth.

Along with the liter there are multiple safety issues including rebar, concrete and other structural debris from coastal houses. These houses are now too close to our North shore surf swells, breaking waves and high tides.

BUT, says Mari, there is one upside to this trash and mis-use of our public beach.

My friends and I gather up the black matting erosion control debris that is floating in the ocean. (And yes, its very heavy when waterlogged).

What do you do with it then? We dry it out and SOLARIZE a most hated weed.  You know that Asparagus pokey groundcover? Or sometimes called Asparagus Fern?

Asparagus “fern” is not a fern,  Asparagus sprengeri is actually in the Lily family and is related ot our edible asparagus. It is very pokey, and if it pokes your bare gloveless hands, it’s kind of toxic.

I used to favor it for landscaping because it is extremely tough, xeric, and a good ground cover in a dry neglected garden.

But as a maintenance gardener I HATE it! Its pokey and the pokes from the minute thorns on the stems, can get infected. (remember to put on your garden gloves!) It has underground storage tubers, like little potatoes that make it a drought tolerant survivor plant and also Supremely difficult to eradicate.

You can dig and dig it out, but if one small tuber is left behind, Auwe!  It will all sprout up again.

And it has RED FRUIT, with several black seeds inside.  Birds love to find and eat red fruit and then they poop out the seeds everywhere.

AN ALL AROUND PESTY PLANT !!

We were talking about the wave erosion, high tides and overly heated water, and global warming change to north shore  and illegals things people are doing..

How’s about the guy pouring concrete and rebar on the beach?  Didn’t someone see it and report the Concrete Company?! Really unfortunate and unsafe issues here. Something needs to be done to save our beaches and Kai for everyone. Hard to watch.

Though there are many things we cannot control, the reuse of this beach trash to help eliminate a weedy plant in the garden, this is AKAMAI!

SOLARAZATION is a great way to control weeds without using dangerous chemical herbicides.

Often we use layers of wet newspaper, cardboard or even carpet to smother and solarize weeds, and turf grass where we don’t want it etc. Then after the weeds are safely killed, you can peel them away, restore the soil, and plant useful plants in place of alien weeds.

The black saran or shade cloth which some use as weed controlling ground cover, or in this case to slow down the power of wave erosion, can be used to solarize and kill weeds in our gardens.

This a beach clean up with a purpose!

Mahalo to Mari and her North shore friends who help clean our beaches and then grow good productive gardens.

Arbor Day 2022, Brachychiton acerifolium, Illawarra Flame Trees

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By Heid Bornhorst

Heidibornhorst.blog

After three years of lockdown, we are finally, Happily, able to celebrate Arbor Day in Kapi`olani Park once again.

On Saturday November 19, 2022, we will gather with ScenicHawaii, Inc., Kapi`olani Park Preservation society, some Dedicated City tree workers and Arborists, Volunteers, and all of us who love and cherish trees and our Park.

We will be planting and ceremonially mulching four new trees courtesy of the Division of UrbanForestry led by Certified Arborist Brandon Au and DUF/ City and County of Honolulu Parks Department.

Citizen Forester Emily Perry will be representing our busy parks director Laura Thielen.

The trees are drought tolerant and are native to coastal subtropical forests of Australia.

The common name is FLAME Tree, or Illawarra Flame tree. Also called the lacebark tree.

One thing our mentor Paul Weissich, Director Emeritus of the Honolulu BotanicalGardens taught us, is to look beyond flowers when you view trees.

What does the bark look like? How is the truck shaped? What is the growth pattern? What kind of shade pattern does it adorn the ground with? What are the leaves like? Are they good for mulch and soil nurturing? For Keiki art projects?

As we Arborists say, “Touch trees”. Place your hand on the trunk and look UP! What do you see, in the Tree Canopy? I love doing this with keiki of all ages!

When we plant a tree, we are investing in, and finding out about the future. This small tree, grown from a tiny seed and planted today. What will it grow into in the Future?

We can read about the size and growth habits in a book, but how big will it really get here in Hawaii? Will it grow big and strong with proper nurturing and akami tree maintenance?

Will it withstand the abuse that trees sometimes take in public park spaces? Will most people be happy and respect the growing young trees? We sure hope so! Trees ensure a healthy, happy future for all of us.

Known in Scientific Latin as Brachychitonacerifolium, the Illawarra Flame trees are in the Sterculiaceae plant family.

We don’t have many of these trees in Hawaii.  A few grow at Foster and Ho’omaluhia Botanical gardens. These were grown from seed by the Horticulturist and Plant propagators at Foster Botanical Garden.

They are particularly striking when in bloom,with bright red orange or scarlet flowers. The flowers look like a hanging red bell when viewed from the side. If you look directly at them, they look like stars.

The leaves are shaped like a kukui leaf, or a mainland maple tree leaf.  This is what the species name acerifolium means.  Acer is the Latin name for Maple, and folium as you might guess is referring to the foliage or leaves, maple shaped leaves.

The trees will grow up and into a pyramid shapewith a tall, greenish grey, smooth round shapedtrunk. In time they can grow up to about 100feet tall (30 – 35 meters). They are a popular street tree in Australia and around the subtropical world.

The seeds of Brachychiton species are edible. But like many plants in the sterculia family they have irritating hairs, which must be removed or carefully removed to get to the edible seeds. Native Australians ate them raw or roasted. They are nutritious, containing 18% protein and 25% fat with high levels of zinc and magnesium.

There are uses for this tree in its native Australia. Fiber is made from the bark and a kind of gum can be extracted. The wood is soft but dries hard. Shingles, among other things, are made from the wood. The roots of young trees are edible, but let’s not do this in our park!

A related tree, Brachychiton rupestris is called the bottle tree.  It grows a big fat water retaining trunk over time, somewhat like the Baobab tree from Africa.

Mahalo to Wikipedia for some of this info, I also referred to our old standard book: In Gardens of Hawaii, by Marie C. Neal.

Pandan Wangi

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By Heidi Bornhorst

Pandanus amaryllifolius
Working at the Honolulu Zoo, we were helping move and relocate plants for the community gardens from behind the zoo on Paki, to a new garden on Leahi and Paki.  As we were helping the (unhappy) gardeners, I heard Victorino Acorda, one of our best Gardeners and true plantsman exclaim in delight!
‘Pandan wangi!  Makes the rice taste so good Heidi!  I’ve been looking for this plant since I moved here from the PI!’
He was almost crying; he was so happy!
Then the other day I was stuck in morning traffic on Mo`oheau St in Kapahulu.  To amuse myself I looked closely at gardens along the street.  There was a really nice garden with a southeast Asia flavor.  First, I noticed nice clumps of lemon grass and some healthy papaya trees.
What was the clumping bright green plant in front of the lemon grass?  PANDAN WANGI!


So attractive in this landscape design and so useful.
We have it growing in the southeast Asian plant section at Ho’omaluhia Botanic Garden.  One year it was a featured plant at our plant sale, and we hope to feature it again once we can open up our gardens safely once again.
It is fairly easy to grow.  You can divide the clump and make new plants.  
 

Those who know this plant usually just call it pandan. There are many ways you can cook with it.
Some call Pandan, the Vanilla of the east, or the vanilla of Southeast Asia.
You can boil with whole leaves and combine them with other ingredients.  You can wrap foods in them and then cook them (like we do with Ti leaves).
If you’re handy with your blender, grind some fresh leaves with water and then freeze the juice in a mold or ice cube tray and use it for drinking or cooking later.
You could also add it to GREEN SMOOTHIES
Some just buy a bottle of pandan paste.  Lexi had some from Singapore, she had it quite a while I smelled it and then read the label.  It smelled really ono. The ingredients not so much.
How do we make it from the fresh leaves that we can grow in our Gardens?
You can just chop it up and add to the rice pot as you cook your rice.
You can make tea with the leaves. You can add your favorite tea like jasmine to the pot.  Pour hot water over both and let steep for Five minutes.
I made some with just hot water, poured over and steeped over leaves. it tasted ok
On 9 28 21 trying strip leaves lengthwise in 3s, add Olena and ginger powders, and three mamaki leaves, bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or so. It Smells really good!
There are lots of Creative and Foodie things you can do with pandan:
• Twist the leaves into Roses like we do with Ti leaves
• Little cups for deserts
• You can make green smoothies with it
• Pandan Chicken and Pandan Rice
• Grilled Fish stuffed with Pandan are just a few recipes that are popular.
And many desserts, variously featuring coconut milk, and various sugars like palm sugar.
If you look online there are lots of recipes, some quite layered and complex.  Some really pretty drinks and you insert a leaf tip to give it that final Flare of Gourmet Drink décor.
It gives the dish a lovely green color and subtle flavor.
I took some in mixed arrangement as a hostess gift for Lexi Hada and Barney Robinson.  One of their guests, Teua from the Cook Islands admired it, drew it out of the arrangement and sniffed it.
As he ran his hands over the glossy thornless leaves, we talked about it.  He recognized it as a Pandanus, or HALA relative but NO THORNS! We all wondered how it would be for weaving.
The Latin name, Pandanus amaryllifolius refers to this. The growth is much like a hala, but the leaves are soft and shiny with no thorns.
Besides being ONO, it’s a very attractive garden accent or spotlight plant in your garden.
I also like it as an exciting and exotic foliage element in a Tropical Flower arrangement.
We plan to feature it at a Future Covid 19 safe FOHBG plant sale.
 

Helpful Tips for Beautiful Landscapes

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In my experience, people visiting Hawaii are truly interested in our unique plants and wonderful Hawaii gardens. Visitors vote and share with their cameras, with the questions they ask and the notes they take. Did you know that gardens and trees do not depreciate? They just keep on growing. The same cannot be said for buildings, sewers, sidewalks, pools and all the other accoutrements that make up Hawaii’s hotels.

At the Hale Koa Hotel, I researched and planted many new things in its 72 acres of gardens for the enjoyment and benefit of visitors, especially those who returned every year (or twice a year). Gardeners can be valuable customer service representatives and serve as front-line ambassadors. A nice gardener who can answer guests’ questions is more likely to bring new business and happier repeat customers.

Some people may or may not believe we have seasons in Hawaii, but professional Hawaii landscapers know we do.

For me, learning how to properly care for all the amazing plants here in Hawaii is a continual process, so I thought I would share with you some helpful landscape tips.

Tips and suggestions for a beautiful and professional Hawaii landscape

1. Create a highly visual and unique visitor experience by using native Hawaiian plants and well-adapted beautiful exotics in hotel gardens, interiorscapes, and landscapes.
2. Plant plants where they belong (salty soil, dry or wet area, shady or sunny).
3. Plant in layers — low, medium, high.
4. Plant shrubs + ground-covers around trees like a “lei,” to protect the trunk and highlight the tree.
5. Group plants that require the same conditions.
6. Understand how big a plant will become and how quickly it will grow.
7. Create and retain shade trees and shady walkways.
8. Understand how hard or easy a plant is to prune.
9. Use ground-covers as much as possible. They save on water, weeding, mowing and edging.
10. Hire a professional from the start and do the job right the first time.

Caring for landscapes using good Hawaii based horticultural and Arboriculture science principles and akamai maintenance practices will save money and beautify Hawaii. That is a great thing for all of us and our visitors

Heidi Leianuenue Bornhorst is a landscaping consultant, gardener trainer, and specialty VIP garden guide. She has been a professional horticulturist for more than 33 years. She is also a Certified Arborist. You can contact her via email at heidibornhorst@gmail.com or at 739-5594.