The idea that we are living within a world swirling with unseen energies is not a new one...
The Chinese idea of Tao comes closest to what mystics, tribal peoples and modern day physicists explain as the basis of all life.
(white plumeria, Kauai )
The Tao, as Alan Watts writes, is not God “in the sense of ruler, monarch, commander, architect and maker of the universe,” but an “intelligent rhythm” (Watts, “Tao: the Watercourse Way”P 40):
(from The Living Centre)
“The great Tao flows [also “floats” and “drifts”] everywhere
to the left and to the right,
All things depend upon it to exist,
And it does not abandon them.
To its accomplishments it lays no claim.
It loves and nourishes all things, but does not lord it over them.
(Jim's Golden Laceleaf Elderberry)
A flourishing garden spotlights this intelligent rhythm.
It is our everyday “repository of life …….with no claim to its accomplishments”.
(NY Botanical Garden Cascade)
Alan Watts uses a stream as his principal metaphor for the Tao.A stream, he says, cannot be held in a bucket and such is the nature of the Tao, or energy that lies within and around all natural life.How lovely it is that flowing water of any kind in your garden can symbolize the invisible field of the Tao that flows all around us!
So how do we access the unknowable energy that pulsates around and through us? As Watts describes, "we know intuitively that there is a dimension of ourselves and of nature which eludes us because it is too close, too general and too all embracing to be singled out as a particular object.”(p.55)
He counsels us to “watch the processes and patterns of nature...... so as to have vivid awareness of ‘what is’ without verbal comment”.
On April 29, 2010 Anne Raver of the New York Times asked:
"How does Tony Avent, the horticultural mythbuster, grow so many plants successfully in his garden?
Rule No. 1: he uses the same mix of 40 percent native soil, dug on his own land, and 60 percent compost for every plant.
''The soil for every plant we have is prepared exactly the same, whether it's a pitcher plant or an agave,'' ....
After he switched to organics, he said, ''it took about a year before everything started jumping. Our insect problems disappeared. It was just amazing.'' ...."
(Tony Avent runs the wonderful Plant Delights Nursery - offering an incredibly diverse collection of plants and the catalog is a collectors' item)
This observation took me back to 1972 when I was a landscape architecture student at the University of Hawaii and also minoring in tropical agriculture
The university farm was in Pearl City ( next to Pearl Harbor) and it was divided into one large section devoted to standard agriculture (agribusiness majors) plots and a very small section reluctantly relegated to organic gardens (run by us 'hippie haoles' who were studying tropical agriculture)...
I had come to Hawaii via Kenya and was very interested in saving the world through tropical organic gardening.
This is me in Pearl City, Hawaii tending to my vegetable garden years ago - note the Kenyan Kikoy I was wearing..the latest in fashionable gardening clothes.. .:-)
The agriculture students got stipends for their seeds, fertilizer and pesticides...
the organic students got nothing....and you know what happened?
Well, every semester the organic plots got better and better because the soil was being improved consistently with fish emulsion and compost ( a local health services organization was training mentally disabled students on how to make compost on premises)
while every semester the big fertilized plots run by the aggies got worse and worse...this was back when 'organic' was some weird, unrealistic approach to agriculture....and no professor back then would acknowledge what was pretty evident to the eyes.
Of course, it didn't help when the campus newspaper did a cover story on our 'new organic plots' at Pearl City..and they interviewed me.
I talked about how our crops were flourishing and about a new (ha!) organic pest control called BT -bacillus thuringensis. After that interview, I presented a report to a Hawaii legislature committee on why Oahu should use their sewage sludge in a soil fertilizer similar to Milwaukee's Milorganite ....
Now, almost 40 years later, I marvel at how long it took society to understand what we - the hippie haoles - knew: Organic is the only way...it is Nature's Way.
And look at what they offer at Pearl City today:
Organic Gardening!
Live demonstrations by UH Master Gardeners including Organic Gardening 101, Building Healthy Soil, and Composting! First demonstration begins 9AM -10AM, next session 10:30AM -11:30AM.
Composting Worms for Hawaii
Small-Scale Vermicomposting
Backyard Composting Recycling a Natural Product
Building Healthy Garden Soil
Organic Gardening Resources
We have come a long way....
The truth is that true tranquility lies in compost and happy earthworms....
Johnsen Landscapes & Pools - designed and installed
And if you live in Connecticut you should know about these people too:
The flowers of Hawaii are everywhere and are used in a variety of ways...You cannot be in Hawaii without noticing the flowers. Leis of flowers are worn on the head and around the neck by both men and women. Flowers rule!
So without further ado, here are some luscious flowers I saw along the way....
and my absolute favorite, the fragrant Plumeria or 'melia' in Hawaiian
(I used to wear one in my hair to college classes: if you are looking wear it over the right ear, if you are married wear it over left ear)
There are more than 300 named varieties of Plumeria. The flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar and simply dupe their pollinators.
Its common name "Frangipani" comes from an Italian noble family, a sixteenth-century marquess of which invented a plumeria-scented perfume. They are associated with temples in both Hindu and Buddhist cultures, where they are known as "Champa". (theincense, nag champa, contains this along with other scented resins)
The native plants of Hawaii are of the most interest to me...Here are some interesting facts about the sacred plant of the hula goddessses:
A'ALI'I
If you want to know all about Hawaiian flowers please go to Noel's blog - A Plant Fanatic in Hawaii'...today's post is gorgeous.
And if you go to Hawaii you may want this great guide book to its flowers:
In my opinion, an interesting garden blog entry is similar to a salad nicoise – it is best when a variety of fresh, bite sized ingredients that complement and enhance each other are used. It should be an appealing mélange of slightly filling information with a splash (not too much!) of vinaigrette opinions to round out the flavor.
So in the spirit of salad nicoise - not too filling but appetizing nonetheless - I present to you my latest entry:
KAUAI! Almost forty years ago (gasp) I hiked the Kalalau Valley goat trail on the side of a cliff for 2 days to get to an uninhabited magical beach that you can now see in some episodes of ‘Lost’:
Kalalau Valley - where I hiked to many years ago
Back then, the island of Kauai was a sleepy backwater where life moved slowly…it still is, although wealthy celebrities have since discovered it. But here I am once again, enthrall to the ‘Garden Island’ and her sultry charms.
This is the home of the 80 acre Allerton Garden (part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden). On my first day here I head directly to the south shore to see this unbelievable hidden gem, first a home of Hawaiian Queen Emma and then transformed by an artist and an architect in the mid 20th century.
I take a wonderful tour with John, a surfer dude who is training to be a font of tropical plant knowledge ( he is not quite there yet...I stopped asking hard botanical questions after he explained he was studying as fast as he can).
John giving his wonderful Allerton Garden Tour
John points out the native plants (brought to the Hawaiian Island by birds and waves most likely), the ‘canoe plants’ (brought here by ancient Tahitians) and the naturalized invasives (brought here by the ranchers, sugar cane growers, colonizers and the well meaning know-nothings)….
Allerton Garden - 'Lawai Kai' - on the Island of Kauai (in the State of Hawaii) August 2010
All around me in this deep verdant valley paradise are exotic species – breadfruit, calabash, ginger, cava, yellow bamboo, Travellers palm, Monkeypod tree, Kiawe ( mesquite), bird of paradise, Ti plant, Ixora. I studied horticulture at University of Hawaii, Manoa campus, (the legendary ethnobotanist, Bea Krauss, was a lecturer there when I attended) and I used to know the name of every plant here. The plants greet me like old friends and I remember their Latin names in fits and starts as the slow tsunami of memory engulfs me -‘Strelitzia' just popped in my head….
Strelitzia reginae - Bird of Paradise
Ixora
Allerton Garden is a series of tropical garden rooms dotted with European statues, myriad water features and a luxuriant golden bamboo grove.
Golden Bamboo Grove in Allerton Garden
The focus is on landscape design but it is the plants that capture my imagination.
Along the tour John stops to show us a large stand of native Shampoo Ginger or `awapuhi kuahiwi. The botanical name is Zingiber zerumbet. (got that, John?). Shampoo ginger was introduced to Hawai'i by the early Polynesians who used the sap from the flowers as a shampoo.
In the summer, new leafy stems emerge from ground level and grow to be about 2 to 3 feet tall. The leaves are followed by the emergence of flowering shoots that develop tips that look like pine cones. After several weeks, most the flowering heads gradually turn a bright, eye-catching red.
awapuhi - shampoo ginger
John cut a bulbous flowering head and squeezes. Out gushes a gingery-fragrant, watery sap. This slightly slippery liquid is a natural shampoo and is what made Paul Mitchell a millionaire.
John squeezing the shampoo sap
The garden was created by wealthy Robert Allerton and John Gregg, an architect (Gregg was the adopted 'son', he was about 20 years younger than Allerton).
They purchased the lower portion of Lāwa‘i Valley in 1937 and moved into their new home in 1938 which was designed by John Gregg (shown in the photo above).
They spent about 25 years designing the gardens and in 1964, the last year of Robert Allerton’s life, the Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden was established. A gift from Robert to the fledgling institution made possible the purchase of land adjacent to the Allerton Garden, which became McBryde Garden. In 1986 when Gregg passed away, the Allerton garden joined it.
Here are some photos of features in Allerton Garden:
The fascinating aspect of Allerton Garden to many people is that it is the locaiton for several movies. In fact, this past June and July it was closed to the public because the latest ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ was being filmed there. Here is one location you will see in that upcoming movie:
Allerton Garden View
And this is where in ‘Jurassic Park’ the scientist and his niece and nephew find dinosaur eggs, “Life found a way”. Remember these trees?
If you ever go to Kauai, put the Allerton Garden in Lawai kai on your ‘must see’ list!
Look at this to see why I went back to Kauai - there is no other place like it for garden lovers..
