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In The Garden
Friday, February 11, 2000
By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
Alfred Ceridon, front, Rogelio Aquino, right, and Nestor
Guzon, left, tend the taro at Ala Moana Center.
When you think Ala Moana Center, you think: shopping. Instead, try to think of of it as a mini botanical park in a concrete jungle -- with lots of shopping. Ala Moana landscaping
goes nativeThe center's signature koi ponds are still there, but the rest of the landscaping has gone native and on a large scale. Hapu'u ferns, ohi'a trees, taro lo'i, clumps of dark-stemmed bamboo, a variety of bananas, patches of 'uki 'uki and a whole slew of other plants of ancient Hawaii have become the main attractions.
"We wanted to do something distinctively Hawaiian, something that would set us apart," said Ersel Kilburn, the center's assistant general manager. Eventually the center will label the plants and have volunteer docents lead educational tours.
Late last year the center completed its new landscaping, which not only doubled in size but also went for a natural look. Instead of relying on the usual commercial landscaping formula of lining up colorful tropical -- but not necessarily Hawaiian -- plants in orderly configurations, the center wanted something as close to nature as possible.
"The unique thing here is that we try to duplicate what would be found in nature all the way from the ocean to the mountains," said Stan Duncan, vice president of PBR Hawaii, which designed the landscaping.
The planters in the center have been reshaped with curves and finished with lava and coral rocks. On the Sears end, they are filled with plants of the mountain forests. Gradually, the plants become those found in lower elevations, ending near Liberty House with plants of the coastal regions.
Non-native plants, such as bromeliads and colored ti leaves are mixed in to add color.
So far the plants have done well. The koa tree is the only plant that isn't thriving, although it is still alive and getting plenty of extra care. A few edible ferns get picked now and then, and some border plants get squashed when careless shoppers set down their bags.
"Overall, we are not seeing too many problems," said Eric Parker, project manager at Takano Nakamura Landscaping Inc., which maintains the landscaping.
By comparison, finding and installing the plants was tougher. Many of the plants, because they are rare, needed to be ferreted out from backyard growers on the Big Island and carefully handled to avoid loss during the transplant.
"We went to great lengths to make sure that the plants were not damaged," Parker said. "For example, the breadfruit tree. It's a big tree and breadfruit trees are fragile ... . If anything gets broken, it wouldn't look good, and everything had to look good from day one."
The breadfruit tree was in a 90-gallon pot, with the root ball measuring about 5 feet in diameter. The tree was placed horizontally on a pallet carried by a forklift. A crew of workers held the branches and walked next to the forklift to move the tree to its new home.
The breadfruit tree is part of a planting of agriculture plants that include a variegated banana, sweet potato and other edible plants. But don't think you'll be able to get a free lunch. The maintenance crew will rotate mature plants with young ones and remove any fruits before they become ripe.
"People shouldn't bother with the taro, either," said Tracy Katoku of Takano Nakamura Landscaping. "Because the taro is grown in containers, their roots never really form the way they are suppose to ... . There's really nothing to eat."
And if that doesn't discourage you, remember this: Kilburn, whose duties include overseeing center security, is a steel-eyed, no-nonsense former assistant police chief. And he's got surveillance equipment right at his desk that allows him a close-up view of any corner of the shopping center. And he has a particular fondness for these Hawaiian plants.
Gardening Calendar in Do It Electric!
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