On our last day here on Kauai we found sunshine greeting us this morning. The boats are back in the water now that the high surf warnings are over. It is another beautiful day in paradise. The bad weather stopped us from taking a few of our planned excursions, but we decided to squeeze one in this morning before packing up for home.
Kauai is home to three National Tropical Botanical Gardens. Two of them are just down the road from us - The Allerton gardens and the McBryde garden. These tropical gardens exist to preserve, research and provide education about the huge diversity of tropical plant life. Over 90% of the plant and animal species exist in the tropics. Year by year some of the species are vanishing. The research facilities at the gardens explore ways to use the plants, how to propagate them so they will continue to exist and to provide habitats to maintain their growth.
The Allerton Gardens are in a valley along the Lawa'i stream. This area was originally owned by a Hawaiian Queen who brought in many plants and began the cultivation of the gardens. Later the property was a sugar plantation. The Allerton family bought the property and built a beautiful plantation house on a picturesque beach. We learned on the tour that sunset tours of the house with access to the private beach and an alfresco meal of Hawaiian appetizers is offered several nights a week. I am going to look into this for our next visit. The tour took us down the cliffs into the valley where we walked paths along a huge variety of palms, fruit trees and shrubs and flowering plants. Some of the plants are native to Hawaii, others came on the canoes that first visited the islands, still others arrived with Captain Cook and his explorations. It was a fascinating and beautiful tour.
Our flight home does not leave until 11 pm. We booked the room until tomorrow so that we could nap and shower before our long flight home. The day is warm and breezy. It will be hard to put shoes on to go home after a week of flipflops. But it is almost spring in Minnesota. Heading home.
Kauai is home to three National Tropical Botanical Gardens. Two of them are just down the road from us - The Allerton gardens and the McBryde garden. These tropical gardens exist to preserve, research and provide education about the huge diversity of tropical plant life. Over 90% of the plant and animal species exist in the tropics. Year by year some of the species are vanishing. The research facilities at the gardens explore ways to use the plants, how to propagate them so they will continue to exist and to provide habitats to maintain their growth. 
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