Limahuli Garden and Preserve

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Limahuli Garden and Preserve.

Makana Mountain ridge, as seen from the garden.

Alula plant at Limahuli Garden.

The Limahuli Garden and Preserve (17 acres of garden, 985 acres of preserve) is a botanical garden and nature preserve located in Haena on the wet north shore of Kauai, Hawaii. It is part of the National Tropical Botanical Garden. The garden portion is open to the public daily except Mondays and Saturdays; an admission fee is charged. The preserve is not open to the public.

The preserve is situated within a highly picturesque tropical valley covering three distinct ecological zones. The Makana Mountain ridge looms behind, and the preserve's Limahuli Stream includes an 800-foot waterfall on its descent from the valley's high end at 3,330 feet to sea level just below the garden. This area is sometimes known as Bali Hai, from the name used in the movie South Pacific filmed at this location.

Today's garden and preserve was established in 1967 by Mrs. Juliet Rice Wichman, and by her grandson Chipper Wichman, currently director of the National Tropical Botanical Garden. The preserve's forest was formerly a cattle ranch from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. After grazing ceased, it was overrun by invasive species in part due to a deliberate decision to reforest the region with fast-growing trees (1921-1946). More recently it was devastated in Hurricane Iniki in 1992. It is now being replanted with Hawaiian native species to restore its pre-European condition.

The garden currently contains a wide range of native and Polynesian-introduced plants, including Aleurites moluccana, banana, breadfruit, Brighamia insignis, Broussonetia papyrifera, Charpentiera elliptica, Cordyline fruticosa, Curcuma domestica, Cyanea hardyi, Diospyros sandwicensis, Diplazium esculentum, ginger, Hibiscadelphus distans, hibiscus including Hibiscus waimeae, kava, koa, Lipochaeta succulenta, Metrosideros polymorpha, Munroidendron racemosum, Nototrichium divaricatum, Pandanus tectorius, Pisonia wagneriana, plumeria, Pritchardia limahuliensis, sugarcane, taro, and Wilkesia gymnoxiphium, It also contains an archaeological site of interest.