Let's Celebrate!
HIPS members are encouraged to visit the Botanic Garden at UH Hilo to celebrate National Botanical Gardens Day on May 10, at 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
There are many tours and lectures throughout the day.
Schedule:
10 AM
Designing with Palms in Hawai’i
From towering behemoths to delicate miniatures, palms are a signature element of the tropical landscape — but not all species are equally suited for every design. This guided tour, set among a mature planting of over 150 palms, showcases their diversity of form and offers insights into which species are best suited for your residential garden. Learn how to select palms that offer the ideal combination of hardiness, visual impact, and low maintenance for your site. Tour by JR Miles, Horticultural Manager
Noon
Founder’s Tour
Explore the garden with Don Hemmes, who helped transform this space into a thriving living collection. As the founding curator, he’ll share personal stories, reflections, and behind-the-scenes moments from the garden’s earliest days. Learn how the collections came together, what inspired the plantings, and how the vision evolved over time. Whether you’re a plant lover or just curious, this tour brings the garden’s story to life in a way only Don can. Tour by Dr Don Hemmes, Professor Emeritus of Biology
2 PM Why Plant a Cycad?
Cycads are bold, sculptural plants that bring a dramatic, prehistoric flair to Hawaiian gardens while requiring very little upkeep. This talk explores why cycads make excellent landscape choices—from their drought tolerance and slow growth to their value as conservation ambassadors. You'll also learn which species to avoid and which to seek out locally for a healthy, long-lived addition to your home garden. Tour by Rob Talbert, Co-curator
By Invitation Only:
Newcomers are invited to join one of our members in their garden. Invitations will be sent out in June for members who have most recently joined HIPS.
If invited, you will be able to choose which garden you would like to visit using a map showing relative locations of the available gardens. Each garden will have a description to help you choose.
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
