By Dean Sensui, Star-Bulletin
City workers Jon Takata, left, and Henry Tacub plant
one of the trees chosen by St. Andrew's students.

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A new tree grows
in the royal garden

It will replace a huge tree
that crashed in high winds
last November

By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

Queen Emma Park near St. Andrew's Priory is the plot that marks the spot where two pink bombax trees, native to Central America, will grow.

They were planted Friday and will be dedicated at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow.

A mighty Australian Moreton Bay fig tree came crashing down last year, a victim of high winds in November.

Since then, St. Andrew's students, teachers, alumnae and community members expressed hope the stately tree might be replaced with something Queen Emma, founder of St. Andrew's Priory, might have chosen herself.

The large tree that fell was legendary. It is believed Queen Emma herself planted it some 130 years ago.

"The whole park used to be part of her royal garden," said St. Andrew's history teacher Paul Soufl.

The tree came down in the middle of the night, so no one was hurt and the city hauled it away, he said.

When it became known another Australian Moreton Bay fig tree -- native to the Moreton Bay region of Australia -- was not available, Soufl's senior Hawaiian history class researched the kinds of trees Queen Emma preferred.

"They all wanted to do something," Soufl said.

By Dean Sensui, Star-Bulletin
Paul Soufl helps in the planting of his students' trees.

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He said the huge fig tree had stood 100 feet high or more, and students played under its broad branches all the time.

The giant fig had been planted roughly in 1867 or 1868.

Class research determined that William Hillebrand, Queen Emma's chief botanist, was also head of immigration at that time, about 1868 or a little before, Soufl said. Hillebrand traveled around looking for plantation labor and brought back tree specimens from all over.

"So he combined a love for plants with a regular paying job," Soufl said.

Hillebrand planted a bombax tree at Queen's Hospital.

"That's still there, and he had written in his diary that he had named it the Queen's Tree," Soufl said.

It produces flowers the queen loved.

"They come in white and pink," Soufl said.

The two pink bombax trees were planted with the assistance of the city parks beautification program.

The entire Priory student body plans to be on hand for tomorrow's dedication.

The Priory also is adopting a part of Queen Emma Park, where students will replant and maintain a garden of native Hawaiian plants.