By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Thelma Greig spends several hours
a day working in her garden.
THERE are condominium lanais with more square feet than the entire garden of Thelma Greig, but it is doubtful that any of them contain more plants and are as well-tended. Greig started her garden in Kaimuki 60 years ago when she moved in, and at the age of 83 she continues to spend several hours a day there. "I'm the oldest person in the oldest house on the block," Greig said. The garden occupies 350 square feet, and there are 12 varieties of palms on the property among dozens of other tropical plants. Tiny garden flourishes
A 60-year-old compact Kaimuki retreat
undergoes constant renovationIn one of the sunniest areas on the island and on a heavily traveled street, Greig has created a quiet, shaded garden. All those trees not only cut the sun but they muffle the traffic noise. In the center of the tiny garden, she herself built a brick patio with a sun roof. "I've relaid those brick three times because the roots from the ironwood trees on the street have cracked them," she mentioned, as if bricklaying were a standard pursuit of small, elderly ladies.
"The bricks came from (former Honolulu mayor) Johnnie Wilson's brick factory at the back of Kapakahi Valley (mauka of Waialae-Kahala). I'd drive my car up there and I paid only a few pennies for each brick because I'd find the chipped ones or the over-baked ones. They were glad to get rid of them."
Her career has been photography and her hobby is hiking. Gardening happened because Greig is a recycler. "I never planned the garden, it has evolved over the years. Everything in it is rescued. One day I was walking in Kahala and I saw several hapu logs put out with the trash. So I picked them up, put them in my car and now they form the wall of Puu o Opala," she said.
"Do you know your Hawaiian? It means 'Hill of Rubbish,' and it's where I keep the compost. Waiahole is one of my favorite trails, particularly where you walk over kukui nuts and flowers that have fallen from the trees. So I replicated the Waiahole trail around the compost pit with kukui nut shells I've found at the beach. The flowers fall by themselves."
She explained that she didn't dig the pit where she throws her garden rubbish, that it was dug by the U.S. government shortly after Pearl Harbor. "I came home one day during the war and there was a big gun emplacement in my yard, covered with camouflage. When the war ended, they didn't remove it for months, and when they did, it left a big puka in my yard. They never filled it in, and it makes a perfect place for compost."
Greig has lived in the general area since she was born in the family's Kapahulu home in 1914, the eldest daughter of Franklin Pope and Daisy Georgina Beazley. "That's only about 3-1/2 miles away as the mynah bird flies," she said. A graduate of Roosevelt High School, she attended the University of Hawaii where she majored in zoology and learned to draw. "A professor from the Smithsonian gave a course in zoological illustration, and it was a wonderful experience. We had our classes at the Bishop Museum, and we learned to draw their specimens."
But in the 1920s, job opportunities for female zoological illustrators were zilch, so Greig became a professional photographer. She spent four years as an apprentice in a professional studio darkroom, learning the trade, then launched her career. If you are in your 60s and were born at Queen's Hospital, the odds are good that Greig took your first photograph. She started by taking photos of newborns and then expanded into medical photography.
Two men with the same name have been influences in her two major interests. Ray Jerome Baker, the late photographer of Hawaiian scenes and people, has inspired her camera work, and Ray Baker, the palm expert at Lyon Arboretum, continues to teach her about the cultivation of palms and has given her gardening advice. Both shared her love of the outdoors.
According to her granddaughter, Kelimia Mednick, it has been only a few years since Greig gave up leading weekly hikes up the treacherous Haiku Stairs in the Koolau Mountains. "She has volunteered as a hike leader for 40 years and was the first woman president of the Hawaii Trail and Mountain Club," Mednick said.
"In those 40 years I hiked all but one of the mountains of Oahu, and I was one of the first women to climb Mount Waialeale on Kauai. So what do you do when you can't hike anymore? I had thought of working on Ray Jerome Baker's photo collection at Bishop Museum, but I decided I wanted to be outside. So now I'm a volunteer guide at Lyon Arboretum--the oldest one they have."
In the 1930s Greig met ethnobotanist Beatrice Krauss, and the two have been friends since. Krauss asked Greig to illustrate her newest book, "Plants in Hawaiian Culture," published in 1993. Greig did the the line drawings and plant photography for the book, which has become a classic in its field. "It was a long siege," Krauss said later, "but we still remain good friends."
Through all these years, Greig has cultivated her garden. "In the beginning, I tried for low maintenance, but it took more time than I planned. Some days I work for five or six hours. Because of all the trees, there isn't a lot of light in the garden, so I don't have many flowering things. I just go to Star Market and I buy flowering plants in pots, and stick the whole pot in among the greens. When they're pau flowering, they go into the compost."
One of the advantages of a small garden is that Greig can tell you the history of each plant in it. Many grew from seeds she picked up on mountain trails, others were gifts from friends. "My garden has changed many times," she said. "Gardens should. Change is interesting." She eyed a browning bromeliad, shook her head and said, "Poor thing is suffering badly." More change was on the way.
Gardening Calendar
Send queries along with name and phone number to:
Evergreen by Lois Taylor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com.
Please be sure to include a phone number.
Evergreen by Lois Taylor is a regular Friday feature of the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin. © 1996 All rights reserved.
