The Big Island of Hawaii is home to a number of excellent botanical gardens and arboretums: the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, Lava Tree State Park, Manuka State Wayside Park, Nani Mau Gardens, the Sadie Seymour Botanical Garden, and the World Botanical Garden to name just a few. My personal favorite is the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden.
Located at Onomea Bay, just north of Hilo, off of Highway 19 the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden is located in a valley bordering the ocean.
The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden was created through the efforts of Dan J. Lutkenhouse, who first encountered Onomea Valley in 1977 while vacationing with his wife, Pauline. Mr. Lutkenhouse purchased the 17-acre parcel for its seclusion and beauty and decided instead to establish a botanical garden to preserve the valley and its beauty forever.
The Garden is a non-profit enterprise "dedicated to providing a plant sanctuary, a living seed bank, and a study center for trees and plants of the tropical world and to preserving the incredibly beautiful natural environment of Onomea Bay for generations to come."
It is without question, one of the most beautiful places in Hawaii. As you wander the trails throughout the Garden, you pass through many different environments, including coconut groves, mango and monkeypod trees, palm jungles and a giant fern tree forest.
You pass waterfalls, streams and at several points you even reach the ocean. There are over 2,000 different species of plants in the Garden.
Related Features About the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden
Read our feature on the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden.
View our gallery of 36 photos of the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden.
Contact Information
Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden
27-717 Old Mamalahoa Highway
P.O. Box 80, Papaikou, HI 96781
(808) 964-5233
Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden vwebsite
