Local landscaper’s attention focuses on special client

Landscape designer Leland Miyano has created gardens for Bishop Museum, Spalding House art museum in Makiki and the East-West Center in Manoa, along with many private estates, but one of his most discerning clients is his mom.

“She doesn’t hold back,” he said. “She’s got a very artistic eye, so if something’s not right, she’ll make a supervisory comment.”

Because of her love for gardening, Florence Miyano, 93, is the one who first got him interested in plants. As early as age 3, Leland Miyano remembers being fascinated by the popping buds of a kalanchoe plant in the garden of his childhood home in Waipahu.

Miyano, 62, is also a noted sculptor and author of several books, including “A Pocket Guide to Hawai‘i’s Flowers” and “Hawai‘i’s Beautiful Trees” (Mutual Publishing). His 1-acre garden in Kahaluu has been featured in numerous publications, including “Martha Stewart Living,” but for now he is focusing on caring for his mother and beautifying the grounds of her Diamond Head residence.

Her open-style home of brick and mahogany was designed in 1960 by architect Stephen Oyakawa, an associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. The front yard stands out from the rest of the neighborhood due to the striking, 20-foot-tall, branching columns of Alluaudia, a succulent from Madagascar planted decades ago.

The expansive front courtyard has gotten most of his attention so far. The centerpiece is a poinciana tree that hosts a variety of hanging baskets filled with tillandsia, pigtail anthuriums and mistletoe cactus that will eventually grow out to provide a curtain of privacy.

Next to it is a long table covered with a red tablecloth, where the family gathers for dinner beneath a string of LED lights.

Hundreds of potted succulents of varying heights, textures and colors line the side of the home, leading to a chair by the sliding glass door where Florence Miyano likes to sit to admire the scene.

Each pot of succulents is a landscape in itself, thoughtfully chosen and arranged, according to Leland Miyano. Some are in larger ceramic pots, antiques that were gifts from family friends like the late Jenny Tam and late Betty Ho, both notable members of the Garden Club of Honolulu.

Succulents are a good fit for the hot and dry climate but still require maintenance and care, he said.

Driftwood collected by Miyano serves as sculptural accents.

Sometimes Florence Miyano strolls slowly around the courtyard for exercise. Sometimes her son will give her a potted plant to trim and groom with a pair of clippers. Most of the time, however, she just sits and enjoys the garden.

The two have a running joke between them that he’s her favorite son because he’s her only son. She also has two daughters, Lois Tselentis and Babs Miyano-Young. Her husband, Katsumi Miyano, had Alzheimer’s and died two years ago. She has four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The first task in getting the courtyard in shape was to clear out the overgrowth and weeds, Miyano said, and then reorganize many of the potted plants his mother already had, ranging from desert roses to amaryllis and polka-dotted begonias, which were piled together at random. He is repotting them from plastic into terra cotta pots.

Sometimes Miyano takes his mom to plant sales, where she will pick out what she likes — usually anthuriums, hibiscus and roses. Sometimes he brings her white torch ginger from his own garden in Kahaluu to place in a vase.

The courtyard is still a work in progress.

Miyano said he eventually will work his way to the sides of the home and the backyard.

“My plan is just to make my mom happy and to keep her engaged,” he said.

“Garden Party” spotlights Hawaii’s unique and exceptional gardens. Call 529-4808 or email features@staradvertiser.com.