Waimea Valley

Waimea Valley is an important center of Hawaiian religion and includes stone terraces and walls of historic interest. Much of the garden floor was once cultivated for taro, sweet potato, and bananas, with new crops and orchards introduced by Europeans after their arrival.

Historical nature park

Formerly known as the Waimea Valley Audubon Center and the Waimea Arboretum and Botanical Garden, the Waimea Valley is a historical nature park including botanical gardens. It is located at 59-864 Kamehameha Highway, Haleiwa, on the north shore of Oahu, Hawaii and is open daily except for Christmas and New Year's Day; an admission fee is charged.

The garden was managed until 2003 by the City and County of Honolulu, when management was assumed by the National Audubon Society. In 2008, management was handed over to Hi'ipaka LLC, a non-profit company created by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs.

The garden now contains 35 distinct collections, representing some 5,000 taxa from around the world. It contains one of the finest collections of Polynesian plants in existence, as well as excellent collections of very rare Hawaiian plants, rare and endangered species native to Lord Howe Island, and individual gardens dedicated to plants from Guam, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands, the Ogasawara Islands, and the Seychelles.

Other major collections include the hibiscus evolutionary garden, araceae, bauhinia, bromeliaceae, heliconia, liliaceae, as well as bamboo, begonia, ferns, tropical fruit, etc.

The garden valley is approximate 0.75 miles in length, with a small waterfall and swimming hole at the valley's high end.

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See also

* List of botanical gardens in the United States
* Waimea Bay, Hawaii

References

Further reading

*cite news
last = Hill
first = Tiffany
coauthors = Jessica Hamamoto
title = Waimea Valley reopens
work = News
publisher = "Ka Leo O Hawaii"
date = 2008-04-21
url = http://media.www.kaleo.org/media/storage/paper872/news/2008/04/21/News/Waimea.Valley.Reopens-3336542.shtml
accessdate = 2008-07-23