Peace and beauty in a quiet, green Hawaiian garden
The Transplanted Gardener had already glimpsed Hawaii鈥檚 several times before his island-hopping vacation and didn鈥檛 even know it. You鈥檝e probably seen it, too.
The Kauai estate鈥檚 picture-perfect beach [photo above] was a secluded setting in the movie 鈥�South Pacific.鈥� Its leggy, snakelike banyan trees [first photo at left] were home to dinosaur eggs in 鈥�Jurassic Park.鈥� We caught a glimpse of it in 鈥�Raiders of the Lost Ark.鈥� And 鈥淔antasy Island鈥� 鈥� you know, 鈥淏oss, da plane鈥�? That was the Allerton Garden as well.
To paraphrase another movie: It was not Iowa, but it might have been heaven.
The strongest feature of this once-residential garden is in its construction of garden 鈥渞ooms鈥� 鈥� in this case, imposed settings but with mostly native plantings. The Allerton is a green garden, a quiet one, its drama orderly and understated. Ornament and structure are used sparingly, and so to great effect. [See second photo at left.]
The Allerton is also a garden of stone and water, of stability and movement. [See third photo at left.] And when the trade wind picks up in the bamboo grove, it is a garden of gentle sound as well.
Chicago cattle heir and Mayflower descendant Robert Allerton transformed himself from failed artist to premier landscape architect in the carving of this 80-acre formal garden where Hawaii鈥檚 Queen Emma once raised taro and rice.
Fifty years ago, the famous photographer and writer Cecil Beaton, writing in Harper鈥檚 Bazaar, called the garden 鈥渁 well-ordered paradise (where) nothing appears artificial, yet nature is so under control that not a leaf is out of place.鈥� It still is.
For more information: The Allerton Garden, 4425 Lawai Road, Koloa, HI 96756. Phone: (808) 742-2623.
Editor鈥檚 note: Craig Summers Black, The Transplanted Gardener, is one of eight garden writers who blog regularly at Diggin' it. Look for more of what he's written by clicking here. The Monitor鈥檚 main gardening page offers articles on many gardening topics. And you can access all our Diggin' It blog posts.These are new URLS, so you may want to bookmark them so you can return easily. See also our . You may want to visit . Take part in and get answers to your gardening questions. If you join the group (it鈥檚 free), you can upload your garden photos and enter our next contest.
