Places on Kauai: The Limahuli Garden and Preserve

Basic Information

• Name: Limahuli Garden and Preserve
• Where: Kauai, Hawaii
• Founded: 1976
• Cost: $20 adult, kids free
• More Information: Official website

Directions

The Limahuli Garden and Preserve is very easy to find by taking the Kuhio Highway to Kauai’s beautiful North Shore.  Near the end of the Kuhio Highway the Limahuli Garden sign can be seen on the south side of the road.

Hawaiian Meaning

According to the book, “Place Names of Hawaii” the word “Limahuli means ‘turning hands”.  This name comes from all the work that was done to build the walled terraces in the valley.

Narrative

There is a lot of must see sights on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai, however, I recommend that the Limahuli Garden and Preserve be towards the top anyone’s list of must see locations.  The garden offers visitors beautiful views as well as an opportunity to learn more about Hawaii’s cultural history.  Adjacent to the parking lot there is a visitor center where entrance tickets can be bought into the garden:

I found the workers at the visitor center to be quite nice and informative about the garden.   Limahuli Garden is one of five Hawaiian gardens that are part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG).  The NTPG is a nonprofit dedicated to saving tropical plants.  The Limahuli Gardens were established in 1976 after the land was donated to the NTPG by Juliet Rice Wichman.  However, the land was not opened to the public until 1995.  The land Ms. Wichman donated contained a robust system of taro terraces and archeological sites that a park would better preserve.

The valley where Limahuli is located at is one of the many “Ahupua’a’s” in Hawaii.  An ahupua’a is a system of land management that early Hawaiians used to manage resources from the mountain tops all the way down to the ocean.  The ahupua’a’s were established in the various valleys in the islands and each was ruled by a chief.

Agricultural terraces to promote agriculture is one of the key features of every ahupua’a:

Water from the valley is channeled through the terraces to irrigate them:

Taro was the staple crop of ancient Hawaiians and required a lot of water to grow.  Fortunately Hawaii had plenty of water on the leeward side of each island to support these crops:

In the middle of agricultural terrace is this small hut that workers would have used at one time:

The hut was pretty large and would have been a handy location to store things and get out of the rain at:

From the visitor center there is a short 1-mile walk around the perimeter of the publicly accessible 17-acre garden area that allows visitors to better experience the beauty of this valley.  985 additional acres ascend above the garden that is not open to the public and is instead considered a protected preserve.  The trail around the perimeter of the garden is well maintained throughout the walk:

It even has a few small bridges to cross:

Along the way there is a wide variety of beautiful plants to be seen in the garden:

Here is a picture of a stunning Bird of Paradise flower:

There is even fruit that can be seen such as from this pandanus tree:

The pandanus fruit are extremely large and edible, but don’t taste very good:

The trail eventually reaches the main creek that drains the valley.  The view from the creek offers some beautiful views of the pointed peaks above the garden:

Here is a closer look at some of the peaks that were still impressive even when covered in clouds:

From the creek the trail stops its ascent up the valley and instead climbs up a small hill back towards the trailhead.  Here is the view from the trail looking back towards the creek:

A short distance up the hill there is a nice lookout with benches:

From the benches visitors can enjoy views of the jagged peaks towering overhead:

As I followed the trail through a dense forest I noticed the remains of prior agricultural terraces and structures:

The trail through this section is narrow, but still in great shape through the dense forest:

The trail eventually begins descending back down the valley:

Along the way I spotted these ti leaves that are used in traditional Hawaiian cooking and for making clothes:

There was one spot along this section of the trail that opened up with a view of the massive peak that overlooks the park:

As I continued down the trail I came to a large garden area that had stunning views of the adjacent mountains and ocean:

In the garden I spotted this sign that said that the trail was called the Kealakohola Trail or “Whale Trail”:

The views at the garden were really amazing:

Here is a historical picture to compare the valley to from the NTBG website.  I find it pretty amazing how deforested this section of the island once was:

Here is the view from the garden looking towards the ocean:

In the garden section I spotted a species of native ohia tree:

The ohia tree has an interesting legend associated with it due to its bright red blossoms.  The legend states that if you pick the tree’s lehua flower it will rain on the same day.  This belief goes back to a legend involving Hawaii’s goddess of fire Pele.  She wanted a great warrior named Ohia to marry her.  He refused because he was already in love with a woman named Lehua.  Pele was angry and turned Ohia into a twisted tree now called a ohia tree.  Other Hawaiian Gods took pity on Lehua for losing her lover and thus turned her into the Lehua flower so she could forever be with Ohia.  So if you pick the Lehua Flower you are separating Lehua from her lover which will cause it to rain due to Lehua’s tears.  Somebody must have picked a Lehua flower because I was dealing with rain all day long at Limahuli Gardens.

Also in the garden I spotted a native koa tree which full sized trees were used to make Hawaiian canoes:

Towards the end of the garden I came upon one of its more interesting plants, the alula.  This plant is native to Kauai and Niihau.  Botanists had to climb down steep cliffs along the Napali Coast to find samples of the endangered plant to preserve it.  Those samples were used to plant the alula in botanical gardens around the world.  Some of those samples were given to the NTBG as well to plant at Limahuli.  The alula is easy to spot because it looks like a cross between a palm tree and a cabbage:

After checking out the various plants in the garden I began to descend down towards the visitor center:

Soon the terraces near the visitor center came into view:

Here is a closer look at the terraces:

Here is a closer look at the pointy peaks backdropping the terraces:

After the descent from the upper garden I found myself walking through the taro fields again:

In front of me was the visitor center where my short hike began:

Here is the view looking back towards the gardens from the trailhead:

Conclusion

It took me about 1.5 hours to walk the one mile trail at a very leisurely place.  This is not a trail that anyone should walk as quickly around; I recommend taking the time to stop and take in all the beauty around you.  Also the visitor center provides a nice guidebook that describes the various plants in the garden.  With the time I spent in the visitor center and my walk around the trail, my visit to Limahuli Gardens came to two very well spent hours.  This valley is so beautiful I stop by to see it every time I visit Kauai.  I recommend other visitors do so as well.