Tranquility in green

Gardens can be a haven for quiet reflection and prayer, so it’s no surprise folks would want to honor their loved ones at Lyon Arboretum in lush Manoa Valley. But there aren’t sufficient trees and benches there to accommodate all the requests for memorial plaques.

A new Garden of Remembrance, recently installed on the Diamond Head side of the visitor center, aims to ease that problem while offering another tranquil feature to the 200-acre tropical rain forest.

"You can’t go wrong with the mountains as a backdrop," said noted landscape architect Stephen Haus, who spearheaded the project.

Haus, 59, is the author of "Gardens of Hawaii" and has designed award-winning projects around the globe, including other volunteer-built gardens on the grounds of the arboretum, a branch of the University of Hawaii that serves as an educational and research center.

He said he was moved to give back to Lyon Arboretum for the time he spent living in one of the cottages there from 1983 and 1992 while teaching classes in garden design.

"Coming from a year of garden study in Kyoto, Japan, and growing up in Massachusetts, I had no exposure to tropical plants," he said. "My nine years at the arboretum exposed me to a rich palette of plants to work with."

A lotus fountain is the focal point of the Garden of Remembrance. The design was inspired by Haus’ travels to Sri Lanka and the royal baths of Polonnaruwa. ("Travel is my greatest inspiration," he said.) Big Island artist Mark Kimball sculpted the custom-molded clay blossom mounted in the center of the scalloped, black-cinder basin.

Installing the fountain in March was no easy feat. A four-man crew was needed to roll the 1,500-pound piece down the ramp of a truck and onto a cart after it was shipped from the Big Island by Young Brothers and delivered to Manoa.

It barely made it, Haus said. "If it didn’t fit, we would have had to have it helicoptered in.

"We had gravity working with us on a downhill ramp, so the only issue was applying the brakes on the cart when we generated too much speed."

SERVING as a backdrop to the fountain is an onyx slab into which a "tree of life" design has been cut. The slab is supported by a lava rock foundation with engraved bronze bricks anchored to the front ledge. Flowering vines — turquoise jade, maroon and yellow Indian clock vine, and purple passion flower — frame the slab.

"When the jade is in bloom, it’s almost fluorescent," Haus said.

Succulents grow around the lava rocks surrounding the lotus fountain, adding pops of color. The entrance is landscaped with palapalai ferns, black taro, heliconia and prayer plants, so named because their oval leaves turn upward at night, resembling hands held in prayer.

One of the garden’s honorees is May Moir, who had a beautiful succulent garden at her Nuuanu home, Haus said. Another is Ray Baker, who was the arboretum’s collections and grounds manager for 38 years. An overlook with sweeping views of Waahila Ridge through a grove of albizia trees is named after him. The rock wall at the overlook doubles as a bench in the garden and is planted with blue agapanthus and an array of bromeliads.

The space for the Garden of Remembrance was originally used to store recycling bins and took six months to develop at a cost of about $40,000 so far. An additional $35,000 is needed to complete the second phase that includes a second onyx panel and more bronze plaques.

The wheelchair-accessible garden was funded by the Friends of Lyon Arboretum and memorial donations for the bronze plaques of $7,000 each.

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