Emmie and Richard Ishida have lived in the same home for more than 40 years; their yard is truly an incredible sight.

From the front, hidden by a single-story home, there is no clue to what Ishida is talking about or why the retired couple was picked No. 1 in the Star-Bulletin's search for the nicest do-it-yourself yard.

But go beyond the garage and immediately you understand why the Ishidas find respite in their own back yard. "Its expansiveness and tranquility give us a feeling of being in a park all our own," Emmie Ishida explained.

There's very little front yard to their 11,000-square-foot property, so there's ample space in back, allowing for a spacious expanse of cushiony green grass. Dotting the manicured lawn are mature, leafy trees that regularly bear the likes of lychees, pomelos, tangelos, tangerines and macadamia nuts.

"Last year, the pomelos were so heavy they were touching the ground," said Emmie Ishida, 71, who worked for the federal government. When there were two tangerine trees (one since removed), "we would fill 50 buckets" with fruit.

A single coffee tree provides the Ishidas with a regular supply of beans, which they pick, dry, roast and grind themselves. "We drink really fresh coffee," Emmie said.

But Richard Ishida, 75, didn't stop within the yard's boundaries in wielding his green thumb. He leads visitors through a back gate that opens to a state-owned embankment, sloping above a stream.

What was once an overgrown, neglected area is now a tropical garden, blanketed with colorful flowers and fruitful trees: heliconia, ilima, epidendrum, violets, various ginger, impatiens, ferns, papayas and bananas among them.

Emmie credits Richard for most of the upkeep, which means mowing every two weeks and raking fallen leaves daily. But her touch is evident: While Richard wanted to have borders around each tree, for example, Emmie was able to convince him to let the grass grow directly up to the trunks.

The yard wasn't created in a day, nor is it static, according to Richard, a retired food import wholesaler.

"I redid it about 10 years ago," he said, having changed the grass several times. "I've done a lot of digging and replanting."

The secret to a having a plot of paradise?

"Do a little bit (maintenance) at a time; don't let it go," Richard said.

Give others a yard and they'll turn it into personal oases with immaculate green carpets or landscaped with flowering shrubs, fruit trees, ponds and terraces.

Alan Suwa found himself torn between the "pristine lawn" and the "Japanese-garden" look when he and his wife, Paulette, moved into their Mililani Mauka home five years ago. Today, "I've got a mix," Suwa, 43, a project manager for Haseko (Hawaii), said of his ever-evolving sod canvas.

For still others, a yard, like a home, is a place of memories."My grandpa loved to work in his yard and make it look nice," wrote 10-year-old Andrew Hoover of his grandparents' home in Wahiawa. "When Grandpa passed away in October, Aunty Marti moved in with Grandma and the both of them work hard every week to make the yard look as perfect as when Grandpa did it."

The yards of Andy's grandma, Florence Gruber, and the Suwas were among the finalists in the Star-Bulletin's "The Grass Is Always Greener" contest, which revealed that for many people, a yard can be more than a weekend battlefield with the weed-whacker. There were only 34 nominees, which meant that: 1. There aren't a lot of nice yards out there. (Not! Just a drive around town shows that a lot of people give more than passing notice to their yards.) 2. They were professionally done, which nixed consideration. 3. People were too modest. 4. People didn't care about yet another dumb contest (say it ain't so!).

Or maybe, they just didn't think about it. Paulette Suwa, for example, asked, "Did you check out my brother-in-law's yard? It's so nice." Well, it turns out his yard was not nominated, which proves you can't get to first base without stepping up to bat.

It wasn't easy whittling down the list, since there were heartfelt plugs about people and yards that stood out for many more reasons than simple aesthetics.

Francis X. Pitcavage, for example, said his Enchanted Lake neighbor, Art Hollinger, deserved to win because "Art puts pride in his yard ... weedless, closely cropped, fine like a golf green ... In a world of subdivisions, small living spaces, in a world growing smaller and smaller everyday, Art has his beautiful patch of grass in which generations of Hollinger children have played, gathered, laughed, watched fireworks and most of all, loved."

Barbara Mateo paid tribute to her mother, Esther Hopu, for having a Kaneohe yard, immaculately groomed and always filled with blooms, that is a neighborhood landmark: "When giving directions, everyone says '

'Turn left on Mikihilina Street where the house with the nice lawn and manicured pine tree is,' " Mateo said. "I have suggested that she hire a yardman. However, she says that he won't weed the lawn the way she does," Mateo wrote. "I think that speaks for itself."

We wish we could have given prizes to all the entrants, especially Andy Hoover's grandma and aunty so they could "buy a new lawn mower." Unfortunately, we're limited to only one prize, grand or otherwise: $100 each to the nominee and the winner. What this contest has shown is that a beautiful yard is not built in a day. For the people interviewed, a yard is a work continuously in progress.The winners are: Richard and Emmie Ishida of Kaneohe. The runners-up were:

David Sasaki and his wife Mary of Wilhelmina Rise have gone for the tiered approach. Photo by Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin

One level is devoted to vegetables, herbs and a flower shade garden; a second to a rose garden, and the bottom level to colorful flowering vines that wind their way across a chain-link border.

"A lot of it has been trial and error," David Sasaki, 53, a public health veterinarian with the state Department of Health, said of the plants. Gardenias, for example, didn't take, but the begonias and Australian poinsettia took off.

It's meant a lot of work, but the Sasakis, who moved from an apartment with potted plants, were thrilled at having enough space with more than the promise of a rose garden. "The yard is both practical and pleasurable, yielding food, sources of attractive, fragrant flower arrangements and materials for floral crafts," they wrote.

John Ching did more than just plant a few fruit trees.

Instead, John, 36, a tropical fish wholesaler who now serves as "Mr. Mom" to three youngsters, brought in tons of topsoil to cover the gray rocky earth. Then, because "I always wanted ponds," he threw in some fish ponds.

"The water seemed to collect here," Ching said in explaining why the front pond is where it is. A friend gave him invaluable suggestions on layout. But while the water lilies, dwarf bougainvillea and agave plants were planned, the ferns simply blew in. "I said, 'Oh, it looks all right,' so kept it," Ching laughed.

A weeping willow graces the back yard, which looks out over Salt Lake. There's also a gazebo Ching built ("without plans") and a fenced enclosure for turtles (now numbering 300) that he sells to pet stores.

"He has neatly made both our front and back yards into wonderful places for our three children to play tag, kickball, 'lion safari,' and hide Easter eggs in," Lori Ching wrote.

Alan and Paulette Suwa's yard in Mililani Mauka is a vision in progress.

Although the front and side yards are filled with plants, flowers, trees, rock temples, little hills and a paved walkway, "I'm not quite there yet," he said. He finds himself changing his mind - he intended to have white flowers only in front, but has since added yellow to the color scheme - and he's had to give up some ideas - the gardenias under the pink tecoma tree just didn't make it.

A turtle crawled into their yard shortly after they moved in and the Suwas took that for a a good omen. "I would have done a traditional waterfall but I just had to do the turtle instead," Suwa said.

Some advice: Crocuses are easy to grow and make for attractive borders, Suwa said. And dwarf versions of plants "make sense for small yards."

The Suwas have a secret weapon in their yard arsenal: Suwa's father Jack, a former state representative. The elder Suwa's home outside Hilo is famed for its landscaping, with tour buses often pointing to it as a landmark.

The red anthuriums are ablaze at the home of Florence Gruber of Wahiawa.

It was because "my husband hated mowing," that their entire front yard was given over to red anthuriums, which thrive in the cool Wahiawa clime.

While the front of Gruber's house is aflame year-round with red anthuriums, her spacious back yard has lots of green open space, perfect for a grandson like Andy to run around.

After her husband's death last year, her daughter, Marti Gruber, moved in. Marti not only has helped her cope with the loss of her lifelong love, but also with the demands of the yard, Gruber said.

Gruber, 79, who worked at Schofield Barracks headquarters before retiring, has lived in the home for 40 years. There are still remnants of the vegetable garden that once sprouted parsley, lettuce, onions, green beans and the like. The bulbul birds finally made her do away with most of the vegetables, but the orange and tangerine trees are often laden with sweet fruits.

"Between the anthuriums and heliconia, I always have flowers," Gruber said. "I also started planting red ti plants. With the anthuriums, they make a stunning arrangement."