Foster Botanical Garden

A garden in the midst of busy downtown Honolulu? Yes! And here at Foster Botanical Garden, visitors find a refreshing change from the chaos of the city. As the oldest of the Honolulu Botanical Gardens, Foster Garden displays a mature and impressive collection of tropical plants. Some of the magnificent trees in this 14-acre garden were planted in the 1850s by Dr. William Hillebrand. They marked the beginning of a heritage that became The Honolulu Botanical Gardens.

Foster Garden traces its beginning to 1853 when Queen Kalama leased a small area of land to William Hillebrand, a young German doctor. A botanist as well as a physician, he and his wife built a home in the upper terrace area of the present garden. The magnificent trees which now tower over this area were planted by him. After twenty years in Hawaii, he returned to Germany and produced the excellent botanic treatise, Flora of the Hawaiian Islands (1888).

The Hillebrand property was later sold to Thomas (Captain) and Mary Foster who added to it and continued to develop the garden. Upon Mrs. Foster's death in 1930, the 5.5 acre site was bequeathed to the City and County of Honolulu as a public garden. The Foster Botanical Garden opened to the public on November 30, 1931, with Dr. Harold Lyon as its first director. Over a span of 27 years, Dr. Lyon introduced 10,000 new kinds of trees and plants to Hawaii. The Foster Garden orchid collection was started with Dr. Lyon's own plants.

Through purchases by the City and gifts from individuals, under the directorship of Paul R. Weissich (1957-89), Foster Garden expanded to over 13.5 acres. In addition to being a pleasant place to visit, Foster Botanical Garden is a living museum of tropical plants, some rare and endangered, which have been collected from throughout the world's tropics over a period of 150 years.

More than 75,000 visitors view the garden annually. Guided tours are given to thousands of school children as well as visitors from around the world. Honolulu's botanical garden system has broadened to other sites and now includes, in addition to Foster Botanical Garden, four other gardens on Oahu.

AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST IN THE GARDEN

Lyon Orchid Garden - a collection of Old and New World orchid species.
Main Terrace - the oldest part of the garden dating from 1853.
Middle Terraces - palms, aroids, heliconia and ginger plants.
Economic Garden - herb garden, spices, dyes, poisons and beverage plants.
Prehistoric Glen - primitive plants from around the world.
The Orchid Conservatory - blooming orchid display.
Exceptional Trees - 24 trees designated "exceptional" throughout the Garden.

EXCEPTIONAL TREES (Act 105)
"Exceptional trees" by reason of age, rarity, location, size, aesthetic quality, endemic status or historical and cultural significance may be designated by the County Arborist Committee as worthy of preservation. Foster Garden contains 24 of over 100 trees that have been designated exceptional on Oahu. Act 105 was enacted by the Hawaii State Legislature in 1975. This Act requires the counties, who possess primary control over land development, to safeguard the exceptional trees from injury or destruction.