Foster Botanical Garden

Lonely Planet review

O'ahu's natural heritage is exotic and beautiful. Plants you've only ever read about can be spotted in all their lush greenery at the Foster Botanical Garden, O'ahu's main botanical garden. In 1850 German botanist William Hillebrand purchased 5 acres of land from Queen Kalama and planted the trees now towering in its center. In 1867 Captain Thomas Foster bought the property, continuing to plant the grounds.

In the 1930s the garden became the property of Honolulu. An impressive 14-acre collection of tropical flora, the garden is laid out according to plant groups: palms, plumeria and poisonous plants. The economic garden has nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon, as well as a black pepper vine that climbs 50ft up a gold tree, a vanilla vine, and other herbs and spices that have commercial value. The herb garden was the site of the first Japanese-language school in O'ahu and where many Japanese immigrants sent their children to learn Japanese, hoping to maintain their cultural identity and the possibility of some day returning to Japan. During the bombing of Pearl Harbor a stray artillery shell exploded in a room full of students. A memorial marks the site. At the other end of the park, the wild orchid garden makes a good place for close-up photography.Among the garden's many extraordinary plants is a tree so rare it has no common name - the East African Gigasiphon macrosiphon . It is thought to be extinct in the wild. The native Hawaiian loulu palm, taken long ago from O'ahu's upper Nu'uanu Valley, may also be extinct in the wild. The garden's chicle, New Zealand kauri tree and Egyptian doum palm are all reputed to be the largest of their kind in the USA. Oddities include the cannonball tree, the sausage tree and the double coconut palm capable of producing a 50lb nut. All of the trees are labeled, and a free self-guided tour booklet is available at the entrance. Included in the admission price is an hour-long tour, starting at 13:00 Monday through Saturday.