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Growing Native Hawaiian Plants
BORNHORST, Heidi Leianuenue, Growing Native Hawaiian Plants: A How-to Guide for the Gardener. Revised Edition. Bess Press (3565 Harding Ave. Honolulu, HI 96816), 2005. 104p. ISBN 1-57306-207-3 (pa). $14.95. Illus.
In Growing Native Hawaiian Plants: A How-to Guide for the Gardener, author Heidi Bornhorst offers home gardeners basic guidance on how to propagate and grow native Hawaiian plants. The book begins with a chapter on propagation advice, followed by Bornhorst’s guidance regarding how to grow seventy-five native Hawaiian plants. The plants are organized into six categories: ground covers; grasses and sedges; shrubs; vines; ferns; and trees.
Bornhorst has impressive credentials in this field. She has a master’s degree in horticulture and a long history of involvement in horticultural pursuits in Hawaii. Notably, Bornhorst has served as director of the five unique public gardens in the City & County of Honolulu, collectively known as the Honolulu Botanical Gardens. These gardens, which nurture many native plants, include the Foster Botanical Gardens, Ho`omaluhia Botanical Garden, Koko Crater Botanical Garden, Lili`uokalani Botanical Garden, and the Wahiawa Botanical Garden. She continues to educate others about native Hawaiian plants through her landscape consulting business, her newspaper columns for the Honolulu Advertiser, speaking engagements, and through this excellent book.
Her extensive professional knowledge enables Bornhorst to capture complex concepts such as propagation and translate them into terms that are accessible to the everyday gardener. Further, her experience teaching others about native Hawaiian plants has armed her with the judgment to discern what information to include in this basic text. This information includes the plant’s Hawaiian name, followed by its scientific name and family, and whether it is endemic, indigenous, or naturalized. Attractive color photographs compliment the descriptions of each plant that follow. Bornhorst then describes the propagation and care, landscape use, pests, and other uses of each plant. Her commentaries, which often include a plant’s favored elevation, climate, or soil preferences, make this guide a useful tool for gardeners throughout the Hawaiian islands.
One of the most attractive features of this book is the additional information she shares about each plant, such as historical use, associated Hawaiian myths or folklore, suitability for use as lei-making material, and her own experiences. This information transforms these plants into interesting attractive creatures, that readers may remember, recognize, and most importantly – seek to plant and preserve. Consequently, this 104-page guide is inviting fare for anyone interested in learning more about this subject.
This revised edition is a worthwhile acquisition for those who purchased the first edition that was released in 1996. It discusses 33 additional plants, includes more photographs, and features new sections about growing native Hawaiian plants in water gardens, as potted plants, and as houseplants. This edition is printed on heavy glossy paper that compliment the photographs. It could perhaps be improved by listing the plants within the various categories alphabetically to facilitate locating them, by including a simple index, and by perhaps binding the book in a more durable fashion. These, however, are minor criticisms.
Readers who seek either a more technical guide, or information about plants not included in this book, are advised to consider, Growing Hawaii’s Native Plants: A Simple Step-by-Step Approach for Every Species by Kerin E. Lilleeng-Rosenberger (Mutual Publishing, 2005) or A Native Hawaiian Garden: How to Grow and Care for Island Plants by John L. Culliney and Bruce P. Koebele (University of Hawaii Press, 1999). Both of these resources are more extensive in scope, as well as more technical in style.
In her introduction to this book, Bornhorst explains that her “main objective is to get people to know and grow our wonderful native Hawaiian plants.” This inviting book certainly accomplishes this objective. It is a highly recommended addition to public and personal library collections regarding home gardening in Hawaii, Hawaiian ethnobotany, and native Hawaiian plants.
In Growing Native Hawaiian Plants: A How-to Guide for the Gardener, author Heidi Bornhorst offers home gardeners basic guidance on how to propagate and grow native Hawaiian plants. The book begins with a chapter on propagation advice, followed by Bornhorst’s guidance regarding how to grow seventy-five native Hawaiian plants. The plants are organized into six categories: ground covers; grasses and sedges; shrubs; vines; ferns; and trees.
Bornhorst has impressive credentials in this field. She has a master’s degree in horticulture and a long history of involvement in horticultural pursuits in Hawaii. Notably, Bornhorst has served as director of the five unique public gardens in the City & County of Honolulu, collectively known as the Honolulu Botanical Gardens. These gardens, which nurture many native plants, include the Foster Botanical Gardens, Ho`omaluhia Botanical Garden, Koko Crater Botanical Garden, Lili`uokalani Botanical Garden, and the Wahiawa Botanical Garden. She continues to educate others about native Hawaiian plants through her landscape consulting business, her newspaper columns for the Honolulu Advertiser, speaking engagements, and through this excellent book.
Her extensive professional knowledge enables Bornhorst to capture complex concepts such as propagation and translate them into terms that are accessible to the everyday gardener. Further, her experience teaching others about native Hawaiian plants has armed her with the judgment to discern what information to include in this basic text. This information includes the plant’s Hawaiian name, followed by its scientific name and family, and whether it is endemic, indigenous, or naturalized. Attractive color photographs compliment the descriptions of each plant that follow. Bornhorst then describes the propagation and care, landscape use, pests, and other uses of each plant. Her commentaries, which often include a plant’s favored elevation, climate, or soil preferences, make this guide a useful tool for gardeners throughout the Hawaiian islands.
One of the most attractive features of this book is the additional information she shares about each plant, such as historical use, associated Hawaiian myths or folklore, suitability for use as lei-making material, and her own experiences. This information transforms these plants into interesting attractive creatures, that readers may remember, recognize, and most importantly – seek to plant and preserve. Consequently, this 104-page guide is inviting fare for anyone interested in learning more about this subject.
This revised edition is a worthwhile acquisition for those who purchased the first edition that was released in 1996. It discusses 33 additional plants, includes more photographs, and features new sections about growing native Hawaiian plants in water gardens, as potted plants, and as houseplants. This edition is printed on heavy glossy paper that compliment the photographs. It could perhaps be improved by listing the plants within the various categories alphabetically to facilitate locating them, by including a simple index, and by perhaps binding the book in a more durable fashion. These, however, are minor criticisms.
Readers who seek either a more technical guide, or information about plants not included in this book, are advised to consider, Growing Hawaii’s Native Plants: A Simple Step-by-Step Approach for Every Species by Kerin E. Lilleeng-Rosenberger (Mutual Publishing, 2005) or A Native Hawaiian Garden: How to Grow and Care for Island Plants by John L. Culliney and Bruce P. Koebele (University of Hawaii Press, 1999). Both of these resources are more extensive in scope, as well as more technical in style.
In her introduction to this book, Bornhorst explains that her “main objective is to get people to know and grow our wonderful native Hawaiian plants.” This inviting book certainly accomplishes this objective. It is a highly recommended addition to public and personal library collections regarding home gardening in Hawaii, Hawaiian ethnobotany, and native Hawaiian plants.
Reviewed by Leslie Chow, LIS Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa, April 2007.
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