substitutions

the first thing on my to do list for kauai was to visit limahuli garden, the smallest of three national tropical botanical gardens on the island. while i'm sure the others are quite impressive, what drew me to this particular garden were two things, first, the taro fields, and second, the archeaological significance of the site.

limahuli isn't really just one garden. it's a series of gardens, starting with the taro fields (nearly all of the taro grown comes from this region of this island). from there it meanders through a plantation era garden, an ancient archaeological site, a native forest, an invasive plant forest and an endangered plant preserve.


one of my favorite endangered plants, alula, looks like lettuce on a stick (or as the guidebook says, cabbage on a baseball bat). it's actually thought to be extinct in the wild but the botanists at limahuli are working to propagate it in the preserve for eventual re-introduction into the wild.

i'm not sure whether it's its comical appearance or it's tenacity in the face of destruction that makes me love it so much, but either way, it's unlikely i'll be finding it in a nursery near me. which brings me to an interesting conversation i had with an older couple who were also visiting the gardens. when i remarked how beautiful the grounds were, the man replied "yes they are, the problems arise when people get back from vacation and try to recreate them at home." which is, of course, what i wanted to do.

but there is one big difference between me and his fellow mid-western weekend gardeners. okay two. the first is that i live in california which has a climate that often works well for tropicals, so yes, i start with a leg up. but that's not the big one. the big one is this. despite my love for the little alula (and the taro, and the stunning hot pink ti plants, etc., etc.) i know that you can't just put any old plant in any old place and have it grow. i also know that there are a whole mess of plants that look a lot like other plants. can't have a ti plant? try a more temperate-friendly type of cordyline. can't manage the size and invasiveness of bamboo? how about nandina?

as for my new little buddy, there's even a pinch-hitter for him. sure, it's not quite the same, but it's close enough to remind me, and best of all, i have pots of them sitting in my mother's yard just waiting to go in the ground.