WAILUA — Maryanne and Charles Kusaka’s front yard in Wailua Houselots was on national TV in 1999. “Rebecca’s Garden” heard about her yard and came calling. This month the committee for the Wailua Kapa‘a Neighborhood Association’s Front Yard Pride Award
WAILUA — Maryanne and Charles Kusaka’s front yard in Wailua Houselots was on national TV in 1999. “Rebecca’s Garden” heard about her yard and came calling. This month the committee for the Wailua Kapa‘a Neighborhood Association’s Front Yard Pride Award also came calling, a press release states.
Of course lots of Kaua‘i residents and visitors alike stop and talk to them while they are working outside — which is a majority of the time.
Maryanne will receive the award at the meeting today at the Kapa‘a Library at 6 p.m. The speaker from O‘ahu is Dr. Karl Kim from the University of Hawaii: Identifying Kauai’s Important Agriculture Land.
Past Kaua‘i mayor, current Mokihana Club vice president and a being a Realtor are only a fraction of her many varied interests; she is indeed a fascinating lady.
Yellow is her favorite color, but yellow orchids don’t grow well in full sun. But her second best color does immensely well — lavender-purple. They’ve had the home 40 years on Nonou Road in the Houselots, the release says. They’ve been gardening for all 40 years, but her passion for orchids has only been since 1992 — one month before Hurricane Iniki. She bought 36 “Lavender University Blend” plants, all 8 to 12 inches tall. During the storm, the neighbor’s roof blew off and right over the fledgling orchid garden — instead of destroying them it saved them!
Every five or so years, she replaces all the orchids in her main bed in the front of her house. She moves them to other parts of her lot and starts with a brand new set of orchids.
Once you learn the science of orchids “your result is a beautiful garden.” The best way to learn about orchids is to talk to other gardeners. They need the right wind, the right sun and the right water and they’ll thrive. Under Maryanne Kusaka’s care they sure do.
To nominate yourself or a neighbor for The Neighborhood Pride Award, call Helena Cooney, chairman, at 822-1885 or e-mail Helena1824@aol.com. The only criteria is that they must do the work themselves.
