Wahiawā Botanical Garden — Attraction in Oʻahu

Visited Monday, 21 February 2022

This was a quick and easy outing. The Botanical Garden is right off of California Avenue and has a very small parking lot.

Both parking and entrance to the garden are free.

As you enter, there are the offices to the left (they were closed since it was Presidents Day) and bathrooms to the right. Surprisingly, the female bathroom was clean and well-maintained.

The trails throughout the garden are paved, some were gravel, and others were concrete. There was a lot of moisture in the air, and it had rained earlier in the day, so the downhill concrete trails were slippery. But, there are handrails and signs posted, advising visitors to use the handrails.

There were huge, sprawling, beautiful trees throughout the garden. Each tree/plant was labeled with its scientific name, and some included the plant's origin. There were a few information podiums that described the trees or its fruit. The fig tree is one such example.

We also saw Palmer the Camel. I wished there was a back story about it in addition to the artist.

Back in the parking lot, there is a bridge at the end of the parking lot that looks like a part of the Garden, but it leads to the road behind the Garden to the nearby neighborhood. It was a great place to take pictures, and there was a cherry blossom tree near the road. Like us, I saw a few visitors venturing towards the bridge. It had a great view back towards the garden but not much else. I'm not sure if it is even part of the garden.

Overall, it is a quick outdoor experience...

This garden is a bit more “wild” than O’ahu’s other botanical gardens. It is really just the lower section of the gardens that is this way, though.

When walking down to the lower portion of the garden, we encountered a number of different bird species. I did appreciate the more “wild” feeling I got walking along the initial portions of the lower level of the garden, but eventually, it got a lot more wild, and I got the impression that it wasn’t really maintained or gardened at all, for that matter.

I felt that the hand-out map could have more landmarks with which to identify where you are in the garden. I think the lower portion may not be mapped out very accurately, or at least it does not include all the detour paths that leave the main trail of the lower portion of the gardens.

A number of these detour paths, even those with concrete stairs part of them, seemed to go to nowhere interesting. There were also a number of (I think detour) paths that were blocked off, prohibiting visitors from using them. One such path I saw just had a few debris on it. An hour or two of work by an employee could clear this path.

On more positive notes, the upper portion of the gardens seemed well maintained. Also, we didn’t have to pay any admission fee to enter this garden, so I...

I really enjoyed the afternoon my friend and I spent at these Botanical Gardens. We were greeted by a lovely staff person upon arriving. Entry is free and there is sufficient information available in printed form to help visitors become familiar with the various flora and fauna in the gardens. The size of the gardens is great as well. I think my friend and I must have walked around for 3-3.5 hours. I'm sure we didn't see absolutely everything available to see but we saw a good portion of the area.

It was quite peaceful and serene in the Gardens. Nevertheless, don't forget this is still nature so remember to wear sunscreen + insect repellent + wear a hat. It's best to bring this with you too to be able to reapply your sunscreen and bug spray later.

There was a decent amount of parking available, not a lot per se but a sufficient sized lot considering there wasn't a large crowd.

I thought the camel figure was completely random at first. However, I later read there was an event done at the Gardens about the Sahara, the camel suited the theme and it was made out of materials from the gardens.

Overall, great afternoon activity to do alone or...