Once a month, as darkness falls, the National Tropical Botanical Garden sheds light on the wonders in its Allerton and McBryde gardens. The guided Twilight Tour coincides with the rise of the nearly full moon (the moon rises earlier a few days before the full moon).

“In the evening, there is less noise, both literally and figuratively, because there are fewer distractions,” said Tobias Koehler, director of the two gardens. “NTBG is just a five-minute drive from the busy hotels and restaurants in the Poipu area, but it’s so quiet you might hear the call of shearwaters heading out to sea to feed. You can also focus on details you might have overlooked during the day, such as the water-repellent leaves of the lotus plant and the bright orange flowers of the endemic and critically endangered kokio species of hibiscus.”

For years, Bob Nishek, a longtime guide, occasionally took garden volunteers and fellow Sierra Club members on informal moonlight tours of Allerton and McBryde gardens. Word got around, and others began expressing interest in such an activity, leading to the launch of the Twilight Tour six months ago.

Guides’ backgrounds vary, from botany, horticulture and education to journalism, gardening and marine biology. Stephen Tanji was trained in classical French cooking.

“As a chef, I used to turn plants into tasty meals,” Tanji said. “My favorite part of my job now as an NTBG guide is taking visitors from being at the gardens just to see pretty plants to appreciating them on a much deeper level, including their uses not only as food but for medicine, shelter, fuel, fabric and more. Plants also produce oxygen, purify water, provide habitats and prevent soil erosion. They are essential to life on Earth.”

The Allerton and McBryde gardens are beautiful in daylight, but, according to Tanji, they are magical and mesmerizing, at night, when different sights, sounds and smells appear. Tour routes are based on the weather and guests’ interests; thus, no two are exactly the same.

If Tanji were your guide, he might point out the angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia), which emits a faint aroma during the day. After the sun sets, however, its fragrance permeates the air as it tries to attract nocturnal pollinators.

He might also take you to places that aren’t shown on regular daytime tours, including a teahouse that was constructed in the early to mid-1900s by Japanese immigrants employed by McBryde Sugar Company. That sugar plantation formerly operated in Lawai Valley, where Allerton and McBryde gardens now bloom.

Another interesting stop might be Phoenix House, a 15-by-15-foot brick structure with a 30-foot ceiling that gets its name from the phoenix-shaped weather vane on its roof.

“Aside from two bookcases, a few stone cherubs and a large copper Medusa head mounted on the wall above the door, it’s empty and the history of it is unknown,” Tanji said. “Besides adding a layer of enigma and intrigue, it overlooks the entire 80-acre Allerton Garden and the beach that borders it. The view is spectacular!”

Twilight Tour participants represent a mix of people — photographers hoping to snap extra­­- ordinary images, adventurers who enjoy the thrill of exploring the gardens after hours and nature lovers who have been on tours during the day and want to see something different.

One of Tanji’s favorite stories is about an 87-year-old woman from California who was one of his Twilight Tour guests. As the group strolled on moonlit paths, she shared stories about growing up in Malaysia. When she was a young girl, she said, she would wade in ponds at night with her father to catch bullfrogs among night- blooming water lilies. In Malaysia, bullfrogs are a popular street food.

“Allerton and McBryde gardens are full of bullfrogs,” Tanji said. “As the woman told her stories, she would run and try to catch a frog. The sight of an octogenarian giggling and chasing frogs in the dark was one of the funniest and sweetest things I’ve ever seen. It reminded me that being in nature can stir up wonderful memories and teach you things, whether you’re visiting a place for the first time — or you’re in your own backyard.”

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About the National Tropical Botanical Garden

The mission of the National Tropical Botanical Garden is to discover, protect and study tropical plants from around the globe and to share knowledge about them. It manages nearly 2,000 acres in five botanical gardens: Allerton, McBryde and Limahuli on Kauai; Kahanu on Maui; and The Kampong in Miami, Fla.

(Limahuli Garden is currently closed; it was badly damaged during a flood in April that also closed the highway leading into the area. Repairs to the garden and road are underway, and both are expected to reopen in the middle of next year.)

The National Tropical Botanical Garden is home to the largest collection of native Hawaiian plant species in the world, many of which are threatened and endangered. In 2003, it established the Breadfruit Institute to spearhead efforts to conserve, study and use breadfruit for food security and reforestation initiatives. The Institute propagates 150 varieties of breadfruit — the largest collection in the world — at the McBryde and Kahanu gardens.

In addition to the Twilight Tour, the gardens offer seven other tours at Allerton, McBryde and Kahanu gardens. Go to ntbg.org/tours for more information.

Tax-deductible contributions to the nonprofit gardens can be made by going to 808ne.ws/2AS0H8j.

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.