National Tropical Botanical Garden Exhibit Opens At U.S. Botanic Garden in D.C.

Kalāheo, Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i (May 29, 2007) – The National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG), headquartered in Kalāheo, Kaua‘i, has taken its plants and species to the East Coast.

NTBG was chosen as one of only 12 public gardens throughout the nation to mount an exhibit that will be featured from now until October 8, 2007 on the Conservatory Terrace of the U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG), adjacent to the Capitol building on The Mall.

Entitled “The National Tropical Botanical Garden: Rooted in the Past, Growing in the Future,” the exhibit was chosen through a proposal competition and funded by the U.S. Botanic Garden and private donors. The display, approximately 25 by 40 feet, includes hundreds of native Hawaiian plants and species brought to Hawai‘i by the Polynesian colonizers more than a millennium ago. The exhibit’s theme emphasizes NTBG’s pioneering work in using scientific evidence from fossils, archaeological sites, historical documents, and interviews with venerable local residents to design their ecological restoration projects.

“This is without a doubt the largest assemblage of native Hawaiian plants ever seen outside the Islands,” noted Dr. David A. Burney, Director of Conservation and Director of Living Collections and Horticulture at NTBG. Dr. Burney and

Michael J. De Motta, Assistant Director of Living Collections and Horticulture, designed and created the exhibit. Plants for the display were carefully packed by De Motta, Nursery Manager Robert Nishek, and other staff into a large shipping container and sent via air freight from NTBG’s Conservation and Horticulture Center on Kaua‘i to the nation’s capital back in January. Dr. Burney worked with USBG staff to unpack the plants, repot them for long-term display, and select an ideal location in the USBG Production Facility to grow out and condition them for the exhibit.

Featuring many rare and endangered native plants, this living exhibit also includes five large display panels containing information about NTBG and the four key types of island habitats preserved by the organization’s programs for collecting, curating, propagating, and restoring tropical plants. These include native coastal vegetation, dryland forest, wet forest, and traditional Hawaiian crop plants. The centerpiece of the display is a thatched-roof hut, accented by a traditional style dry-stacked lava stone wall that surrounds a miniature pond filled with taro plants.

“It was a lot of work to grow, ship, and prepare the plants for the display, but it gives us the chance to bring to the attention of the entire nation the importance of conserving these rare and beautiful plants,” De Motta points out. “Dr. Burney and I could not have done it without great support from NTBG’s staff and also the help of the USBG staff.”

After the summer’s seasonal terrace displays come down in the fall, NTBG’s plants will not be coming home. The plant collection is being “adopted” by the USBG to use in a permanent exhibit on Hawaiian plants being built inside the Conservatory, a giant glasshouse containing some of the nation’s finest plant displays. The USBG Conservatory is open daily 10 a.m. -4 p.m., and is expected to host over 300,000 visitors free of charge during the coming summer.

Pictures and text in the exhibit highlight scenes and programs in NTBG’s four gardens in Hawai‘i. In addition, information on collaborative projects at Ka‘upulehu Preserve on the Big Island and Makauwahi Cave Reserve on Kaua‘i’s south shore emphasize NTBG’s cooperative arrangements with other landowners in the Islands in order to expand its efforts conserve the threatened native flora of the Islands.

NTBG’s display is part of a series of exhibits, entitled “Celebrating America’s Public Gardens” offered this summer, jointly sponsored by USBG and the American Public Gardens Association. The latter is the flagship organization of professional gardeners, and will host its annual meeting there the last week of June. In addition to the “Sense of Place” exhibits featured on the terrace, the new National Garden adjacent to the Conservatory will host exhibits by eight more gardens around the nation entitled “Green Today, Growing Tomorrows.”

“We are very pleased that Hawai‘i is represented in this national exhibit,” stated Chipper Wichman, NTBG Director and CEO. “It gives us the opportunity to share the beauty and fragility of Hawai‘i’s native flora with hundreds of thousands of people.”

Federally chartered by Congress in 1964 as a non-profit organization, NTBG is comprised of a network of gardens and preserves, including McBryde Garden, Allerton Garden, and Limahuli Garden and Preserve on the island of Kaua‘i; Kahanu Garden on Maui; The Kampong in Florida; and three preserves on the Big Island of Hawai‘i. With nearly 1,800 acres encompassing various tropical ecosystems, extensive living collections of endangered or at-risk species, and precious cultural and historical features, NTBG plays an important role in the complex web of life. For membership or more information, call (808) 332-7324 x246 or visit OurGardenOurWorld.com.

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Editor’s Note: A photo of the exhibit’s creators at the display in D.C. is available by calling Danielle Douglass of Becker Communications at (808) 533-4165.

Media Contact
Caroline Witherspoon or Danielle Douglass
Becker Communications, Inc. (808) 533-4165