Maui Nui Botanical Gardens — Attraction in Maui

If you like plants, appreciate xeriscaping, are intrigued by ethnobotany, enjoy history and strolling through pretty places, this is a WONDERFUL way to pass an hour! You can deep dive and spend longer but 30-60 mins will give you good appreciation. Plants featured have ethnobotanical significance rather than typical showy gardens. You can see plants from several islands, including endangered plants not possible elsewhere. Learn which plants provided dyes, material for clothing and sails, were used in hula, religious offerings, torch oil etc. The audio tour was informative and the voices were pleasant. (If you've ever had audio tours with an annoying voice you know what I mean) There were classes on traditional plant use the day we visited. Students were preparing and weaving ahu'awa cordage, hala mats and ipu (gourd) preparation. The place is run and maintained by volunteers. They sell propagated plants, but are distributing plants for free to anyone affected by recent fires. This alone makes your $10 entry fee worth it. There is shade and many places to sit in case anyone in your party is slightly less interested in plants than you are. It's mostly flat in case you have any one with mobility issues. Free parking in front of the gardens, though the signage is confusing. My only suggestion for improvement, and this is because I see blank canvases everywhere: The gardens are on the site on an old zoo and garden, so there are little cement buildings that used to house animal displays. They are pretty stark and bleak. They should have one of the many talented island artists mural the heck out of them. I'm thinking pollinators, birds, animals previously held there. Each little building could have a theme. Overall I learned new things, got in some steps and had nice conversations with...

Place has potential and has a lot of open space that can be planted. Walkways need repair and would liked to have seen more tropical plants with flowers for a much needed pop of colour.

It wasn't really organized well as to which way to go or any sort of system as to what was where. A lot of the plants were all very similar in size and appearance.

The huge Chinese Banyan tree is the main attraction for me, but no where near the size of the one in Lahaina.

The cool part was the audio recorders they give out. Several but definitely not all the plants had 2 sets of 3 digit numbers on the bottom right hand corner of a sign or placard. You punch in the code and it tells you information about the plant.

With some financial support and planning this could develop into something good in the future. I was pretty underwhelmed and I guess they need to charge admission just to upkeep what they...

I attended the Lā 'Ulu 2019 Breadfruit Festival at the Maui Nui Botanical Gardens today. This is truly a local event intended to enable residents and visits alike to (re)gain a sense of traditional Hawaiian culture and customs.

This free community event included food booths, breadfruit cooking demonstrations, Pacific 'ulu varieties for sale, Hawaiian plant sale, free cultural activities, Hawaiian music and hula!

Visitors had the opportunity to attend cooking demonstrations, taste a wide variety of 'Ulu recipes (including hummus, curry, chips and desserts.

A wide variety of not-for-profit cultural and environmental and educational organizations took advantage of the opportunity to share their respective purpose, accomplishments and vision. I found the festival to be enlightening, relaxing...