The Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden is located in Captain Cook (the parking lot hosts the Pure Kona Green Market on Sundays) and covers 15 acres, planted with endemic and indigenous Hawaiian plants and also plants brought by the first Polynesian arrivals to the islands.
The garden is also a designated community forest and contains over 200 species of native and Polynesian-origin plants.
Amy Greenwell was part of a ranching family who have lived in the area since the mid-nineteenth century. Amy was interested in botany and ethnobotany and donated the property to the care of the Bishop Museum in 1974.
Plants include kale (taro) and mai’a (banana). There is also an archaeological area, spread over 5 acres, which encompasses historic agricultural land.
Parts of the garden reflect different ecological zones: Coastal zone, dry forest, Polynesian-introduced area and wet forest, each zone changing with the elevation.
(above) ‘Ulu or breadfruit.
(above) hue wai (gourd water containers)
The Amy Greenwell garden is worth visiting if you have any interest in Hawaii’s native plants and the way in which native Hawaiians grew crops in the area.
Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden
The garden is open Thursday to Sunday 9am – 2pm.
