On behalf of the Hawaii Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society, thank you to all who attended the
2008 Western Regional & Board Meeting and Vireya Seminar held in Hilo, Hawaii this past September.
For those that were not able to attend, here's a recap. Our chapter held its monthly meeting the Sunday
starting the convention week. Everything was in place and everyone felt good considering "Murphy" of
"Murphy's Law" had reared his head a couple of times already. The registration table went up on Tuesday
and our first tour happened on Wednesday.
One of our goals in hosting the conference was to expose our guests to places not on the "tourist" path.
Our island is very diverse, from lava fields to rich forests, from a dry side to a wet side, and from sea
level to the top of a volcano. So, our first tour day was set with diversity in mind.
We visited a vireya nursery, an organic fruit farm and a 5-acre palm garden with 5000 palms on it. In
between we traveled on what the locals call "Red Road" along the coast of Puna that dead ends right at a
cafe where lunch was enjoyed. By the way, this was also the place of the once famous "Black Sands Beach."
A nice trail has been made through the lava field that ends at the beginning of a new "Black Sands Beach"
where you can see many coconuts trees already growing, with more being added all the time to replace the
ones taken away by the lava. Our night consisted of a fabulous welcoming performance by a Taiko Drummers
troupe, ranging in age from 7 to 71.
Jurahame Leyva and Mitch
Mitchell. Photo by Paul Anderson |
We chose to use Harper rental vans instead of a commercial bus which turned out to be an advantage on Thursday's tour because with the vans we had no time restrictions, no deadline time to be back at the hotel. Thursday's tour was planned for the Volcano National Park with a stop at a winery and an orchid nursery/gift shop. After lunch at the Volcano House about half the group resisted going on... As one person shared with me, "Why would I want to go to a winery and orchid nursery when I can see an active volcano?" So, the group was reorganized with one van going down the road towards the lava and the other to the winery and orchid nursery with a gift shop. Friday's tour consisted of visiting our Hawaii Chapter members' gardens. Five very diverse gardens were visited by a caravan of three Harper's vans with a lunch stop at a local favorite, DeLuz's Coffee Shop. While the tour was going on, other chapter members were busy decorating a pavilion for the night's Fellowship Dinner. At sunset we gathered to a feast of food, fun and fellowship. Our musicians showed up to a surprise, "Do you have a sound system?" they asked. I answered, "Um, I have a small PA system" (oops!). Being the troopers they are they managed to find a regular big bass to replace their electric (need to plug in) bass guitar. They did a background, local style jam session with music that drifted in and out of one's awareness allowing for conversation between friends, old and new.
Tim Walsh at the vireya
display. Photo by Paul Anderson |
Saturday was the big day, especially for us. We eagerly wanted to share vireyas with our mainland
counterparts. On the agenda were Kaye Hagan of Tasmania, Australia, Fred Renich of California,
Erik Nilsen of Virginia Tech and Richard Marques of Hawaii. A special bonus was the formal presentation
to the public of the Kimalia Foundation Trust, created by Robert "Mitch" and Sandy "Betsy" Mitchell. The
Aloha Banquet that evening was filled with food, friends and fun. Stealing the show was a 7-year-old
hula dancer who delighted everyone with her little body and big hula. A fun filled raffle ended the night
but not the weekend.
A post convention tour on Sunday ended the weekend with visits to the vireya gardens at our Panaewa
Rainforest zoo and three more members' gardens. Thus we came to the end of five days of non-stop
activity. We hope you had as much fun as we did. Till we meet again...