LIHUE — Lee Ridley of the Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club was not taking any chances with his wiliwili tree and rare palm purchases Friday during the Arbor Day sale presented by the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division
LIHUE — Lee Ridley of the Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club was not taking any chances with his wiliwili tree and rare palm purchases Friday during the Arbor Day sale presented by the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife at its Pua Loke nursery.
“They’re riding in the front with me,” Ridley said. “The other plants are secured in the back of the pickup, but these are in the front. The palm, a Pritchardia Remota, is one of the rare plants, originating on Nihoa Island.”
A steady stream of shoppers, ignited by a burst of early arrivals, poured over the offerings which featured plants on the listed “endangered” endemic plants of Kauai.
Deborah Ward of the state’s DLNR said what this means is the plant is found only on Kauai and is being offered for sale under the new rules governing “endangered species” in Hawaii. All of these plants come from special nursery grown, and not wild-collected stock. A numbered tag will accompany each “T&E,” or threatened and endangered, plant being sold to authenticate the species.
One of these was the Hibiscus clayi, or aloalo, which is known from scattered locations on private and state lands on Kauai, including the Kokee region, Moloaa Valley, Nounou Mountain, and as far south as Haiku near the Halii Stream.
“We also had five specimen of the green hibiscus,” said Augusto Ruaboro. “But they went real fast. These are our Kauai plants.”
JoAnne Georgi said she was looking for fruit trees, but finding none, settled for Pua kenikeni, a popular and fragrant flower used for lei while its host plant is a popular ornamental in yards.
Ambyr Mokiau-Lee of the DLNR said this was only her second Arbor Day sale on Kauai, and it was better than last year’s.
“It’s good to have the write-up ahead of time,” Mokiau-Lee said. “A lot of people wait for this Arbor Day sale and know what they want. The write-up definitely helps get these people in to shop.”
Ridley said he’ll be back next year.
“There were a lot of good plants,” he said. “But because of the weather, there weren’t too many selections. I’ll be back next year to see what they have.”
Arbor Day celebration continues today when the Kauai Landscape Industry Council, in collaboration with several other community organizations, hosts a tree giveaway from 9 a.m. to noon in the back parking lot of the Big Kmart store.
