In 1988, Joyce and Ed Doty of Kilauea embarked on a dream to develop the most unique botanical garden in Hawai’i. They planned, designed and developed the 12-to-15-acre, $3 million project, which boasts 60 life-size bronze sculptures, a 1.6 million
In 1988, Joyce and Ed Doty of Kilauea embarked on a dream to develop the most unique botanical garden in Hawai’i.
They planned, designed and developed the 12-to-15-acre, $3 million project, which boasts 60 life-size bronze sculptures, a 1.6 million gallon lagoon, a maze representing a large flowering plant, water features, gazebos, arbors, bridges, benches – all mixed among thousands of colorful tropical flowers, plants and trees.
The Jodys waited a year before the county adopted rules to allow the project on agricultural lands, and breathed a sigh of relief when the County Planning Commission gave them the go-ahead last month.
Today, the couple will celebrate the fruits of their labors with the official opening of the Na ‘Aina Kai Botanical Gardens, which is located at the end of Waipa Road in Kilauea.
The project is a unique blend of a rich tapestry of gardens and forests of different tropical plants and trees and art, Jody said.
Sculptures with whimsical themes distinguish this garden from almost any garden or arboretum in the world, Jody said.
Pieces boasting themes of children playing, pigs, sea turtles, dogs chasing chickens, frogs and people fishing punctuate every nook and cranny of the garden, she said. The collection bronze figures were sculpted by 24 different artists from the mainland.
There are only two other projects like hers in the United States, Jody said, one on the East Coast and one in Michigan.
When the Na ‘Aina Kai Gardens opens, it will join three other arboretums or gardens on Kaua’i that are visited by thousands of visitors each year: Limahuli Garden in Ha’ena, the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Lawa’i and one at Smith’s Boat by the Wailua River.
The Jodys have taken steps to keep the garden in commercial operation for years to come.
The garden is part of a $6 million, 200-acre project that includes the 117-acre Kilohana Farms and Hardwood Plantation farm and a 45-acre exotic fruit farm.
To keep the entire project in agricultural use, the Jodys handed the property over to the Na ‘Aina Kai Botanical Gardens Foundation, a non-profit, private organization.
“A lot of people love the land, and I don’t want to see houses all over it,” Jody said. “I saw the immense joy when local residents came here on visits. It made us realize it was important for us to carry it on.” Proceeds from the sale of harvested tropical hardwoods, tour fees and donations will be used to keep the garden open, Jody said.
The 1.6 million gallon Ka’ula lagoon, with 200 Japanese Koi fish the Jodys raised (they started with 18 before Hurricane Iniki), is among the garden’s top showpieces, Jody said.
Jody took a personal interest in the construction of the project, building first a clay model to help the contractor visualize the lagoon before construction work started.
The lagoon was built by John Groark, a Honolulu contractor and Jody’s husband, Ed, a residential and commercial contractor from Northern California. The water for the lagoon comes from the Morita Reservoir and is recirculated in it.
A tour through the garden will take visitors past key features, including: • An entryway gilded with colorful orchids and features the first of many bronze sculptures.
• Waterfall by an authentic Japanese teahouse.
• A shower tree park “bursting with blossoms of red, pink and yellow in the spring.” l An orchid house courtyard at a visitor center.
• A rose arbor.
• A poinciana maze, which was designed by Joyce Jody, that represents a large flowering plant.
• Cactus and succulents within a part of the garden the Jodys have named the International Desert Garden. Among the most unusual offering is a allaudia, a succulent from Madagascar. It boasts long, skinny branches with tiny round leaves.
• Thousands of plants and trees that are found throughout Hawai’i – bougainvillea plants, hibiscus flowers, ginger plants and croton flowers and palm trees.
Rare Hawaiian plants won’t be found in this garden because there “was too much regulations concerning that,” Jody said.
“That isn’t our thing,” she said. “We leave that up to the National Tropical Botanical Garden.” l A greenhouse with five different bog environments that houses 48 species of carnivorous plants.
• A “forest garden” nest to the tree farm that leads to the ocean.
• A Polynesian gazebo where people can have lunch while watching albatross or whales breaching in the ocean.
• A marsh which can be traversed on a boardwalk.
• A meadow that leads to Kaluakai Beach.
• A canyon for exploration.
The land on which the garden sits was once used for cane cultivation and pasture land.
Joyce Jody, the original owner of the 200 acres, said she wanted to develop the garden partly because of her love for horticulture.
“I develop an interest in horticulture after I came to Kaua’i 20 years ago,” Jody said. “I fell in love with its beauty.” She personally planted thousands of mach orange trees that make up the hedge around the poinciana maze, among her pet projects in the garden.
One project led to another and the work took on a steamrolling effect, Jody said. “We really got interested in the hardwood tree plantation because we felt that it represented a future industry for Kaua’i” she said. Some 60,000 trees have been planted within the 200-acre parcel.
The trees will eventually be harvested and sold to homebuilders, woodworkers and musicians who can use the wood to make instruments, she said.
Proceeds from the sale of the woods, donations and admission fees will be used to keep the 200-acre project going.
Future plans call for tours of the hardwood and tropical fruit farms and the creation of a garden for children.
“It has been an obsession with me,” Jody said. “These ideas just come, and since I have the room to do it, I do it.” Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and lchang@pulitzer.net
