We are invited for the first time to tour the lovely garden at the Hamakua Chocolate Farm, a one-of-a-kind destination that blends tropical botany with artisan chocolate production on the lush Hamakua Coast.
Morning Tour - 10:00 am
Afternoon Tour - 2:00 pm
NOTE: It is best to wear sturdy shoes as there will be lot of walking up and down uneven gravel roads and stairs. Between the lower gardens and upper gardens there is a 100’ elevation gain.
Owners Dan Corson and Berndt Stugger have spent the past 20 years transforming this former sugarcane land into a richly layered garden and working chocolate farm. Their passion for exotic plants—especially palms—is evident throughout the property. Their palm collection has been developing for 18 years and features impressive mature specimens like Bismarckia, Carpoxylon, Metroxylon, Johannesteijsmannia, and Marojejya.
Many of their more recent plantings highlight palms from Madagascar and New Caledonia, as well as unusual stilt-rooted species like Socratea, Verschaffeltia, and Iriartea.
While not a palm-specific garden, palms are thoughtfully integrated across the landscape—sometimes in focused collections, other times nestled among diverse plantings that include cycads, rare heliconias and gingers, spice trees, orchids, carnivorous plants, a tree fern walk, and a grove of rainbow eucalyptus.
The garden is designed as a series of vignettes—narrow paths that lead to open, expansive spaces—revealing surprises that shift with the seasons. It's a garden deeply rooted in tropical inspiration, creative vision, and a shared love of plants, food, and travel.
Don’t miss this opportunity to explore one of the island’s most creative and evolving tropical landscapes with your fellow palm enthusiasts!
Space is limited to 30 people in the morning and 30 people in the afternoon. Each tour will be further divided into 2 groups of 15 for a more comfortable experience.
Please carpool when possible to help us avoid parking congestion.
Join us for a unique educational event in an outdoor botanical classroom. This is a rare chance to geek out with local legend Jeff Marcus as he guides us through his extensive palm collection to demonstrate interesting palm morphology and taxonomic mysteries. The Marcus garden is a wonderful example of how private gardens can play a role in conservation and taxonomic research. Several new species of palm have been named in his garden, and herbarium vouchers made from palms in his garden have been sent to world renown botanical gardens including The Royal Botanical Garden at Kew in the United Kingdom.
Choose between the Morning Session at 7:45am - 12:00pm or the Afternoon Session at 12:45pm - 5:00pm. Shuttles will be provided from/to the Hawaiian Acres Community Association. Session times allow for sign in and shuttle rides from the community center. Lecture starts at 8:30 AM for morning session and 1:30 PM for afternoon session. Shuttles hold 12 people and attendees. No parking will be available at Floribunda. No sales will be made. This event is limited to 30 registered members per session. Your HIPS membership allows you to register 2 seats.
No place is like Floribunda Palms, where you can take a photo like the one on the left showing a Dypsis leucomalla in the foreground with the maroon crown shaft of a tall Lemurophoenix halleuxii and a trunking Masoala madagascariensis in the background.
And no one wants to miss seeing this beautiful garden favorite in the photo on the right! And check out the red leaf on that Geonoma conduruensis (pauciflorus) too.
So grab your notebook and register now!
Let's Hang Out and Eat Ice Cream
Grab some ice cream and hang out with your HIPS friends in the incredible Moani-Lundkivist Garden.
Bob Carrere and Andy Pesce welcome us back to their garden for an afternoon of plant bartering or selling.
HIPS will provide drinks and ice cream, served in the garden pavilion. Enjoy wandering past hundreds of palm species in one of the most famous private palm gardens in the world. If you missed the previous garden tours, be sure to see it this time.
We can’t have a plant sale without plant sellers!
All HIPS members are invited to sell or trade plants at this meeting. This is not a fundraiser for HIPS. There is no cost to set up ~10X10 area of plants you want to pass along to new homes. Seller keeps all money from the sale. Of course, we are looking mostly for palms, but all plants are welcome. Use this opportunity to clear out some those extra babies in your shade house and convert them into cash. The event begins at 1:00, so vendors should set up between 12:30 and 1:00 on Kumakahi next to the property. This is a dead end that will be blocked off to regular traffic and parking. Bring a pop-up canopy if you are worried about rain. Your sales area will be immediately next to your vehicle, so setup should be quick and easy. Please test all plants for fire ants and treat as needed.
We should have plenty of space, but please email Rick Kelley <ricklkelley@att.net> no later than Friday, September 21st if you plan on selling so we know how many vehicles to expect.
Please be considerate of the neighbors. Carpooling is appreciated, parking will be along the streets.
Special Invite: NTBG, Kauai Palm Collections
HIPS has been invited by Tiffany Knight, Director of Science and Conservation at the National Tropical Botanic Garden (NTBG), Kauai, to tour the McBryde Pritchardia collection (not open to the public) and the McBryde and Allerton palm collections. The garden has an extensive collection of over 900 Hawaiian Pritchardia palms from most all of the known species throughout the islands.
The event will include tours over two days within the McBryde and Allerton gardens and a dinner presentation at the research center. Attendance is limited to 50 people.
This tour is a fundraising event for the NTBG Science and Conservation Center to support their efforts in Hawaiian Pritchardia research, conservation, and collection management. Now more than ever, due to Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle infestations on Kauai it is critical that action is taken to protect Hawaii's Pritchardia biodiversity.
We will learn more about their plans on using phylogenetics to help gardens identify species of Pritchardia and perhaps provide information about what wild population the specimen may have descended from. We will also hear about their program to distribute Pritchardia palms to the public.
Tiffany Knight, Susan Fawcett (she gave the Pritchardia lecture at UH last year), and the wonderful NTBG plantsman Dave Lorence will be our guides.
A minimum donation of $100 is required to attend this event payable at registration. HIPS will give 100% of the money donated to NTBG.
Registration to open in October.
Contact Us:
Hawaiiislandpalmsociety@gmail.com
550 Akolea Rd
Hilo, Hi 96720
