Native blooms

Maui Nui Botanical Gardens protects isles' precious flora

By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 14, 2011

~~<p>In a quiet corner of Maui Nui Botanical Gardens, set in a grove of kukui trees, is a bench dedicated to the late Rene Sylva, a renowned local conservationist. The view from the bench looks into lush Iao Valley, past the garden's most mature collection of native greenery.</p>
<p>Sylva, a self-taught botanist, began planting kukui and mamane trees, kupukupu ferns, awikiwiki vines, kooloa ula shrubs and much more in that spot in 1976, when it was part of the 6-acre Maui Zoological and Botanical Gardens. He was the zoo's groundskeeper.</p>
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In a quiet corner of Maui Nui Botanical Gardens, set in a grove of kukui trees, is a bench dedicated to the late Rene Sylva, a renowned local conservationist. The view from the bench looks into lush Iao Valley, past the garden's most mature collection of native greenery.

Sylva, a self-taught botanist, began planting kukui and mamane trees, kupukupu ferns, awikiwiki vines, kooloa ula shrubs and much more in that spot in 1976, when it was part of the 6-acre Maui Zoological and Botanical Gardens. He was the zoo's groundskeeper. Login for more...