Wayne Wiram relaxes on a homemade hanging chair in his front garden.

So Wiram, who intended to get into remodeling immediately, first had to get rid of the fleas. This is not a story about insect control, but while Wiram was successfully battling his flea problem, he had time to think about his garden.

"The house I bought was a typical tract house, single wall, two-story with a covered patio and a two-car carport, on 10,066 square feet of land. But look at the view!" he said. The house, on a dead end off Aiea Heights Drive, has an unobstructed view of Pearl Harbor, Ford Island, the Arizona Memorial, the Waianae Mountains and the sea. It is spectacular.

So one goal was to maximize the makai view and plant out most of everything else. By using trees and tall hedges around the boundaries of the property - more than professional landscapers would plant on a lot this size - Wiram has managed to do this.

The heavy planting also provides an immediate garden view from every room in the house. There is almost no lawn. Instead, a swimming pool, a lily pond and paved terraces for lawn furniture occupy what otherwise would be grass.

Wiram created a pond on one side of his Aiea Heights home.

Another aim was to provide long vistas like he remembered from plantation houses in the South where he previously lived. Tara was out of reach in Aiea, but by using every square inch of his sloping lot, he has managed to make it look bigger than it really is. The way Wiram has created these vistas is by taking advantage of the width of the lot, rather than the depth.

"The key to the whole plan is a pinwheel effect," he said. "The longest view is not from the front to the back of the lot, but from side to side. But even that isn't very long. So each vista focuses on something ahead of it, and you circle the garden like a pinwheel.

"It's partly the surprise element, like little European parks. You find one where you least expect it. You need surprises in a garden."

A small garden statue, which looks like terra cotta but which he frankly admits is plastic from Kmart, stands on a low pedestal surrounded by greenery. The $19 figure was given a light rubbing of umber and then green acrylic paint, which was then partially removed with a damp cloth. It was then lightly sandpapered, and the result looks from a distance like an antique.

The house was completely remodeled, and a pool was added along the view end of the lot. Because of the slope and the fact that the living room is on the upper floor, the pool is below the view line. "When you consider a view, you want to be able to see it when you are seated, because that's the way you spend most of your time in a room. You aren't standing," Wiram said.

"Another thing to remember about a view is that it's like a picture, and it should be framed. Because of the view of Pearl Harbor, I have used the concept of the bridge of a ship in this room," he said.

The expanse of glass windows plus the horizontal, rather than the more commonly vertical, guard rails on the deck add to the effect. (Don't try this at home if you have young children - the horizontal railing works like a ladder and would not be a safeguard.)

A pair of travelers palms frames the pool from the ground level, and an old mango tree shades and frames the lily pond. "Betsy Sakata (the water garden expert who waterscaped Ala Moana Center mall) found this royal blue water lily for me. It's called Star of Siam' and unlike most water lilies, it blooms year around," he said.

A matching blue plumbago, much darker than the usual nursery blue flowers, is planted near the pool. Several clumps of bamboo, cautiously contained in buried pots and not planted in the ground, are also used in the landscaping. The pond gets almost full sun to ensure the blooming of the lilies.

A pool and new deck were part of the house remodeling.

"The only complaint you hear about bromeliads is mosquitoes, but they haven't bothered me." His solution is to spray the cups of the plants every two weeks, not with mosquito spray but with the caterpillar spray made for use on edible plants. "It's safe, it doesn't smell, and it works," Wiram said.

In Wiram's pinwheel plan, the visitor enters the property from the edge of the lot, walks down the driveway to the solid entry gate, and the pool is the first thing seen. From the second floor, the view is of Pearl Harbor. On the ground floor, the dining area looks into the lily pond garden. Because of the heavy planting, curtains are unnecessary in any of the rooms.

The final view in the pinwheel concept is the garden on the street, which is screened by a soft hedge of wili-wili.

Two small terraces, each with a table and a few chairs, are partially shaded by a weeping banyan tree. One is shaded in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

The planting is dwarf Thai ixora, red geraniums and purple petunias mixed together in low borders. The only lawn is a small patch near the front gate. "I do a lot raking of fallen leaves, but not much mowing," Wiram said.

Somehow, all of these plants, pools, trees and statuary in a riot of color and shapes contribute to the landscape Wiram had envisioned. There on an Aiea hillside, he has done what he intended to do. He has provided a secluded garden filled with surprises.