Even with simple shades of grey...every day reveals something different to observe.
And while not observing here, I observe elsewhere. A week ago I was on Oʻahu, having been invited to share thoughts at an ʻAha ʻĀina Aloha at UH West Oʻahu at Kapolei on the ʻEwa plain. Cultural Plantscapes was my topic of interest. And interesting too was the work being done on the campus.
Iʻve suffered from perplexment. How to order my thoughts and ideas so they are presented with clarity and some logic has been the task. Itʻs become a problem of circularity...how, when, and where to jump in and get a process started.
OBSERVATION: There arenʻt a wide variety of native plants being planted in various projects. We see a bit more than a handful of species, most from Oʻahu, being propagated and sold in numbers sufficient for landscaping. Such as kou (a native: Cordia subcordata), pōhinahina (native too: Vitex rotundifolia), kokiʻo keʻokeʻo (Hibiscus arnottianus, a hibiscus from Punaluʻu, Oʻahu with white flowers and red stamem), kokiʻo ʻulaʻula (Hibiscus kokio, a columnar hibiscus with small red flowers), ʻukiʻuki (Dianella sandwicensis, an endemic lily), an endemic sedge, (Carex wahuensis), and a few others.
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| Carex wahuensis |
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| ʻukiʻuki (Dianella sandwicensis) |
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| kokiʻo keʻokeʻo (Hibiscus arnottianus) |
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| kokiʻo ʻulaʻula (Hibiscus kokio) |
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| stringing lei kou |
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| joyful parading pāʻū riders Kuʻulani and Pixie in their finest lei kou for Kamehameha Day |
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| pōhinahina (Vitex rotundifolia) |
What do all these plants have in common (aside from being commonly-planted natives)? Theyʻre all easy to propagate, they grow quickly, survive well, and are generally adaptable to a variety of environments, given sufficient water, fertilizer, and pesticides.
Theyʻve all, in my opinion, become too common.
But hereʻs The Thing:
Nurseries apparently donʻt have the wherewithal to invest in time and space needed to grow native trees in numbers sufficient for landscaping needs. Many agree: Wouldnʻt it be cool to have native plants become "regular", to become commonplace in our surroundings? But we canʻt buy them because nurseries arenʻt growing enough of them. And if they do have them theyʻre expensive because...of the time and space required to grow them. Consider: an ʻōhiʻa, our most common and adaptable endemic tree, in a nursery, takes maybe 5 years to reach 4 or 5 feet tall. A plantable size. Other native trees take longer.
But. If we desire to have native plants in our lives, if we want them planted everywhere, if we want a diversity of species (rather than a handful of just the easy-to-grow ones), the demand by developers, institutions, and homeowners must reach critical mass so nursery owners can rely on that demand for their income. But developers have limited lead time. For many species, nurseries canʻt meet their needs.
Too: Landscape architects and designers (and developers) need to increase their knowledge and understandings of native species. So we can enjoy a wide variety of them, rather than the same handful repeated ad-infinitum. Iʻve gotten a reputation among some, and the nickname Dr. Vitex, because I despise pōhinahina. Despise it. Itʻs everywhere! Way in the back of wet Pauoa on Oʻahu, on the arid plain of ʻEwa, in Hilo, the Konas, the Kohalas...everywhere! Why? It grows way too easily, quickly and cost effectively. And itʻs native. Despite the fact that Iʻve never seen it growing wild on the Island of Hawaiʻi. But it checks all the boxes. And so it gets planted.
Then: Thereʻs this law:
It was passed in 2015, and became effective in 2016. Sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
And good now we have a Law. But. The law says "Hawaiian Plants" includes endemics (found only here), natives (naturally occurring here and elsewhere), and Polynesian Introductions. And yes Iʻm grateful get one law, and Iʻm happy consciousness is being raised, but... including Polynesian Introductions, in my mind, does nothing to encourage the propagation and outplanting of endemics and natives - those precious and sometimes rare species needing our help the most.
So when I talked to a Landscape Architect working on a plan for the grounds of a new building for UH West Oʻahu, he was proud that almost 100% of the plants he used were "Hawaiian". Yup. They were within the parameters of The Law. And in the mix get wiliwili (2ea), and ʻōhiʻa (3ea). Iʻm grateful theyʻre on the list. But why not more? Why not, taking into account the nature of ʻEwa, plant species, both endemic and native, who would be comfortable there? Wiliwili (to replace the famed grove at Kaupeʻa, bulldozed during development, where spirits dwelt), this one from Maui, again by the Starrs referenced below:
Loulu hiwa (specifically, Pritchardia martii) once an extensive palm forest on that plain but now restricted to the Koʻolau and southern Waiʻanae:
Maiapilo (I learned it as puapilo), with lovely fragrant blooms opening at sunset that fit in a cupped hand and is an endemic, rare, caper relative. The flowers wilt and turn mauve the next morning. This one I found at Paniau:
And while weʻre at it, koʻoloa ʻula (Abutilon menziesii) a shrub of the hibiscus clan, very rare and lovely, and a kamaʻāina of ʻEwa, this image from Forest and Kim Starr, Starr Environmental, Bugwood.org :
Maybe a couple reasons why not: Canʻt get the plants of suitable size, and/or the designer didnʻt know of their existence.
So at University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu, natives were planted, but they lack diversity, and some, like Carex and ʻukiʻuki, seem out of their element in the hot arid environment.
Best to end this now. Iʻll regroup and write more on this topic in the morning...
As always, with aloha,
BobbyC
maniniowali@gmail.com
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