Kalanimoku Native Garden Restoration

Last week, several of our interns helped the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) with a garden project.  Kalanimoku is the DLNR building located in downtown Honolulu.  A garden area was given to DLNR, which they turned into a native Hawaiian garden.  However, it was unkept and overgrown with both native and non-native plants.  Sean Soon (DLNR intern) initiated a project to restore the garden into a native Hawaiian dry-land garden.  Thus, all plants that were not dry-land (including natives) were removed.  Over three days, a total of 8 interns from Reef Watch Waikīkī, State Parks, and DLNR transformed the native garden into something we can all be proud of.  Although not quite completed, the garden now looks clean and beautiful!  The next step is completing the mulch cover and planting more native Hawaiian dry-land plants.

Putting mulch down

Six of the eight interns: Jon (State Parks), Dan (RWW), Kevin (DLNR), Sean (DLNR), Alex (RWW), and Leah (DLNR). Not pictured: Cassidy (RWW) and Tracy (State Parks).

The entire area was covered with this mat to kill unwanted weeds.

After

Before

The garden was a prime location for the homeless. Needles, bottles, lighters, and clothes were some of the things we found while clearing the garden.