I spoke to the Friends of Honolulu Botanical Gardens recently. They are celebrating the 85th anniversary of Foster Botanical Gardens’ being donated to the city by Mary Foster.
There are so many interesting aspects to their story. I thought I’d share some of them with my readers.
But first a little quiz: Who brought monkeypod trees and mynah birds to Hawaii? Which singer wrote a hit song about Foster Botanical Gardens? Who first suggested Portuguese come to Hawaii as laborers?
How is Foster Gardens connected to the founding of Hawaiian Airlines? Where were the vineyards that gave Vineyard Boulevard its name?
Three people are particularly significant in the gardens’ history: William Hillebrand, who started the gardens in 1855; Foster, who took over when he left Hawaii; and Harold Lyon, who took over after her death in 1931.
Hillebrand came to Hawaii around 1851 from Germany. He was a physician who suffered, I believe, from tuberculosis. His doctor recommended he seek out a warmer climate, which was thought to be helpful to those with the disease.
A few years after Hillebrand came to Hawaii, King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma founded the Queen’s Hospital, in 1859. Hillebrand was hired as its first physician.
In the warm climate of Hawaii, Hillebrand’s symptoms did improve. He would return the favor manyfold, with the introduction of more than 10,000 species of plants and animals.
Hillebrand’s impact on Hawaii would turn out to be profound. It was he who recommended the sugar growers invite the Portuguese to come to Hawaii as laborers. Today they represent a significant percentage of our population.
He also traveled to Asia collecting plants and animals. Among the species he brought to our shores are mynah and rice birds, monkeypod trees, royal palms, shower trees, poinciana, plumeria, lychee and a few species of banana.
In the 1850s, Honolulu was a dry and dusty place. Hillebrand was one of the prime promoters of shade trees along our streets.
Hillebrand bought what today is Foster Botanical Gardens from Queen Kalama in 1855. Many of the magnificent trees that tower over the center of the gardens were planted by him.
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Hillebrand left Hawaii in 1871. Mary Robinson married Thomas Foster, and they bought his estate and took over management of the gardens.
Mary had a famous sister, Victoria, who married Curtis Perry Ward. The two of them built an estate along what became Ward Avenue.
Thomas Foster was in the shipping business. He founded Inter-Island Steamship Navigation Co., which brought goods between the islands.
They in turn founded Inter-island Airways, which today is called Hawaiian Airlines, in 1929.
When Mary Foster owned the gardens, she had what has been described as a 150-year-old land tortoise from the Galapagos Islands. Her nephews liked to ride it. They climbed aboard its back while it ambled around the premises.
Mary Foster was good friends with Queen Liliuokalani, who founded Liliuokalani Botanical Gardens just mauka of Foster’s. The H-1 freeway has bisected their properties, but at one time they were connected.
Foster had become a Buddhist and took Liliuokalani to services at the Honpa Hongwanji in 1901. Her attendance was noted by newspapers all over the world and did much to enhance the image of Buddhism in the islands.
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The third significant person in the life of the gardens was the brilliant botanist Harold Lyon, who worked with the Hawaii Sugar Planters Association. Mary Foster met him in 1889, and they spent many afternoons talking.
When she died in 1930, Foster left the gardens to the city along with $10,000 for their upkeep. Foster left $50,000 to Indian and Sri Lankan schools and hospitals, and many there have her name on them.
Lyon took over the gardens and ran things for more than 27 years. In that time he introduced more than 10,000 new plants and trees to Hawaii.
Lyon loved orchids and introduced many new species to Hawaii, such as the Vanda orchid. Lyon predicted orchids would one day grow in Honolulu yards as commonly as papayas. Islanders were skeptical at the time.
One of Lyon’s major contributions was cataloging all the plants in the gardens, something Hillebrand and Foster had neglected. The task took decades.
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Joni Mitchell’s hit song “Big Yellow Taxi” was about a trip she made to Hawaii. The “Pink Hotel” is the Royal Hawaiian. In the second verse she says “they took all the trees, put ’em in a tree museum.” The tree museum she visited was Foster Botanical Gardens.
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One of the mysteries I have been pursuing has been to locate where the vineyard was that gave Vineyard Boulevard its name.
Don Francisco de Paula Marin had planted a vineyard somewhere along its route, I knew, but where it was exactly eluded me.
On a wall inside Foster Botanical Gardens, I found a map that showed its location: directly makai of the gardens.
Marin had started the vineyard around 1815. Today Zippy’s, Maunakea Street and Borthwick Mortuary occupy the site.
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Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
