LICH O`AHU LANDSCAPES SITE TOUR 2025 CONFERENCE & TRADESHOW - OCTOBER 3, 2025

As part of the Landscape Industry Council of Hawai`i 2025 Conference & Tradeshow Mr. Bradley Tanimura, tour guide extraordinaire, and "dad" planned and organized the 2025 outstanding Landscape Site Tour.

1st Stop

We began the tour at Park Lane at Ala Moana Center with presenter Eric Plumber in charge of the maintenance and Tanya who guided us through their beautiful landscaped grounds including, the art walk, the first resident Hala Tree, waterproofing information, Peach Plumeria Trees, art sculptures, and palms. Thank you, Eric and Tanya for sharing your Park Lane gardens with us. Everything is looking great.

2nd Stop

Our second stop was the Board of Water Supply Halawa Xeriscape Garden. Bradley Tanimura drove us in a very large van to Halawa. Thank you Bradley.

Michele Harman, BWS community relations specialist, guided us through the BWS property with an extra treat to explain to us about the hydrology and geology of the BWS wells and then she toured us through the heritage gardens, xeriscape gardens, and native Hawaiian gardens. Michele showed us the UH Hybrid Hawaiian Cotton plant and the native Ma`o which she said was pest resistant and helped to save the cotton industry. She showed us native plants (her specialty) such as the tall Alahe`e that grows fast, and the native Moloka`i Hibiscus. It was an enjoyable tour of the Board of Water Supply xeriscape garden. Thank you, Michele.

3rd Stop

Our third stop was to Geobunga, an outdoor living supply company, who treated us to a delicious lunch.  We had a chance to tour Geobunga with Jessica, commercial sales, Peter, the store manager Sam, operations manager, and Dennis the corporate regional sales manager. Thank you for the kind hospitality, the yummy lunch, and hats too. There were many pots, river rocks, and so many landscape products to choose from.

4th Stop

The fourth stop was to the Department of Agriculture Quarantine Branch.  Kent Dumloa the DOA Educational Specialist and David Niide the DOA Plant Quarantine Inspector presented a slide show about the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle and showed us around the Hawai`i Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine Office on Auiki Street in Honolulu. The DOA prevents the introduction and spread of harmful pests and diseases into the state, as well as certifying plants for export out of the state. We were impressed with the long snake time line collage made by Kent, that graced the hallway to the conference room and the many invasive pest species preserved in jars. Yikes. Thank you, Kent and David.

5th Stops

Our last stops were located in the heart of town, the Ala Moana Pedestrian Bridge and Victoria Ward Park Makai. Anchor Park. Maintenance extraordinaire workers, Justin Wong, project manager and Kevin Fujikawa, senior project manager, from Takano Nakamura Landscaping, Inc. guided us around and across the Ala Moana Pedestrian Bridge and through the beautiful Victoria Park, the first phase is part of a 1.4-acre park with 18 native tropical plants and the 42-station irrigation system. Justin and Kevin even provided us with colored brochures of the projects plans and maintenance.  The tour, brochure, and landscape projects were impressive. Thank you, Justin and Kevin.

It was a mighty fine Landscape Industry of Hawai`i O`ahu Landscape Sites tour. We had a great time visiting many new landscape spaces with new and long-time friends, great presenters, a delicious lunch, and under the guidance of our own fearless leader Bradley Tanimura.