Janet Leopold loves coming to work. “Just think about having a place you can talk about and say, ‘My job is to share the great work these people do,’” she said. “These people” are the staff and volunteers at the
Janet Leopold loves coming to work.
“Just think about having a place you can talk about and say, ‘My job is to share the great work these people do,’” she said.
“These people” are the staff and volunteers at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, where Leopold is the director of communications.
During a brief walk through the library, the NTBG headquarters and its lush gardens near Kaleheo, she easily introduces people and quickly outlines what they do.
The NTBG, explains its website, is a not-for-profit institution, “dedicated to discovering, saving, and studying the world’s tropical plants and to sharing what is learned.”
In just over 40 years, the NTBG has grown to encompass nearly 2,000 acres of gardens and preserves.
It is, in a word, stunning.
Thousands of species have been gathered from throughout the tropical world, through hundreds of field expeditions by staff and through collaborations with other institutions and researchers, to form a living collection that is “unparalleled anywhere.”
Leopold can tell you about the collections, about the filming of Jurassic Park that took place there, as well as the “dirty room,” where parts of plant specimens are brought in after being collected in the field.
It’s there, to be sure no bugs survive, the specimens are pressed between paper, dried and spend two weeks in a freezer before being allowed in the clean area.
“I like to tell the story of the dirty room,” she says, laughing.
Outside, Leopold leads a walking tour of Allerton and McBryde gardens, beaming with pride as she points out the fountains, the streams, the birds, the flowers and the trees that make this one of the most visited places in the world.
And Leopold’s job is to bring the past, present and future of those gardens to the masses.
Not a bad gig.
“It is magnificent to be able to share the stories,” she said.
•••
First, can you outline how you came to the National Tropical Botanical Garden?
I moved to Kauai in late 1988 from Southern California and began looking for work on the island. Fortunately a few months later NTBG advertised for a person who could work in a number of areas. I had been offered the position of head of publicity by one of the large hotels on the island. Of course the beauty of the gardens tempted me to apply for the position at NTBG, but even more was the fact that I would be working for an organization that protects some of the world’s most precious resources. So I started here in early 1989; next year I’ll have been here 25 years.
What are some of your main responsibilities?
In a nutshell, it is “getting the word out” to all kinds of people in all kinds of places using all kinds of ways. There is so much critical work going on in such a wide range of areas. While “the bullets” are scientific research, plant discovery, conservation, horticulture, and education, it is what’s within each of those that I find the most fascinating. I’m an incessant note-taker, always with an ear out for the stories here, whether it’s our field botanists discovering a new plant species, children learning about their natural environment, or staff helping to increase the endangered native bird populations and protect a green sea turtle nesting site.
I serve as editor of our magazine for Garden members, write and edit other pieces, handle our website, Facebook, and Twitter, work with reporters, photographers, and film crews, and write press releases. And as with all of us at NTBG, wear a number of other miscellaneous hats.
What are a few of the biggest challenges facing the botanical garden?
Being able to do all the work we want to do, but more importantly need to do. A species going extinct is like a knife in our hearts and this is happening all too much. There’s a saying by a Sengalese environmentalist, “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” So it’s not only about one of our staff members saving a specific plant, it’s about how we affect the hearts and minds of everyone, because everyone depends upon plants for their very existence.
In the real world of nonprofits, how much we can do often comes down to support dollars. We have a lot of dedicated supporters, but could use more. Becoming a Garden member or making a donation helps us in so many ways. Tour fees and sales in our gift shop are also sources of support.
Why should anyone visit the botanical garden?
We have something for everyone! Three of our gardens are on Kauai and each is very different. Beyond the intriguing plants and their stories, there’s history, there’s culture, there’s topography, there’s stream life. People sometimes say they had no idea that these treasures existed in any one place.
Will you chat about the library and resources there?
Our library is part of our Botanical Research Center. It’s like no other library on Kauai, filled with books and journals on plant research. What makes it even more unique is that on the same floor there’s are herbarium, which is kind of like a library of dried plant specimens. PhDs from all over the world come here to do research, but so do local kids when they’re writing papers for school. Then there’s the fact that the very plants that they are studying are often growing in the open air in our nearby gardens. That combination is almost non-existent anywhere else.
Can you explain the difference between the Allerton Garden and the McBryde Garden?
Allerton Garden was a former estate, with artfully designed “outdoor rooms” filled with fountains and statuary, with a European flavor but using tropical plants. McBryde Garden is NTBG’s flagship garden, more expansive, more exploratory, with the largest collection of native Hawaiian species in the world. You could almost liken it to meeting two sisters, each very pretty and interesting, and each having their own distinct character, so that you want to spend time with both.
When people contact you, what are some common requests/questions you hear?
Mostly they’re questions about understanding the NTBG institution. Because you have National in your name or because you have a Congressional charter, are you government funded? No. Are you one garden? No. Is Limahuli Garden in Haena part of you? Yes. Can someone just drive up and tour the Southshore Gardens? No, but that’s part of the experience; from our Visitors Center across from Spouting Horn you board our vehicles to take a spectacular ride down into the Lawai Valley, where the gardens are located.
The free Mother’s Day tour is coming up soon. How does that work?
Our Mother’s Day Open House this year offers free tours of the Allerton Garden. It is a walk-at-your-own-leisurely pace tour, and we’ll have volunteers at various spots who can answer questions and tell stories. We will send the first group of visitors down into the valley starting at 9:30 a.m. It’s first-come, first-served and the trips down run to accommodate those who have taken a place in line by 1 p.m. They’ll be lots of activities going on at the Visitors Center, too.
This is our 25th year of offering this free event for our community. I’ve volunteered myself for almost all of these. I’m always happy to see new faces, but also enjoy seeing some of our Kauai ohana year after year. Bringing them here is a great thing to do for Mom and the family.
What was it like watching the filming of some scenes there for Jurassic Park?
Interesting to say the least. You never realize until you watch a movie being made how many times they shoot a scene, sometimes only to capture a matter of seconds for the film. Watching the actors react to seeing a dinosaur that isn’t really there is funny. And I had a great time attending the midnight preview of the movie here on Kauai. The theater was filled with locals who had been involved in the movie in some manner or other, and we all cheered when “Filmed on Kauai” came up in the screen credits. By the way, this gives me the chance to say that seeing the famous ‘Jurassic trees’ in Allerton Garden is part of our Mother’s Day experience.
Can you give a bit of background, history on the botanical garden?
NTBG was born from the vision of having a tropical garden in the U.S. that would be a resource for the entire nation. Robert Allerton was one of our five founding trustees and made a sizeable contribution for the first land purchase. That was completed in 1970 and is part of the current acreage of McBryde Garden. We added a garden on Maui, then Limahuli Garden, then a garden in Florida. When John Allerton, Robert’s heir, passed away he left his garden in trust, and NTBG took over management. Over the years, we also added preserves. All in all, NTBG’s gardens and preserves total about 2,000 acres.
What the best part of your job?
Getting into the gardens. I spend so many hours at my computer, it’s a real treat for me.
If there was one thing you could tell people about the botanical garden, what would it be?
Come learn with us! Visit, volunteer, take a course, attend a lecture. Part of our mission is “to enrich lives”.” When you participate with the Garden, you not only enrich your life, you enrich ours.
