Correspondent Tom Wilmer visits with Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort's head gardener, who talks about the many environmental and economic benefits of using native Hawaiian plant species.
When the Hilton resort opened back in 1988, the landscape architects created a 62-acre tropical paradise by planting exotic plants and trees. Today, to maximize the resort’s ecosystem, Hilton head gardener Raymond Keenan is removing exotics and introducing native Hawaiian plants across the resort.
Additionally, Keenan has been enhancing the ecosystem at the resort’s anchialine pond (a landlocked body of water with a subterranean connection to the ocean) by removing invasive fish species and mitigating use of fertilizers in adjacent areas.
You are invited to subscribe to the Lowell Thomas Award-winning travel show podcast, Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer, featured on the NPR Podcast Directory, Apple Podcast, the NPR One App & Stitcher.com. Twitter: TomCWilmer. Instagram: Thomas.Wilmer. Member of the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Underwriting support provided by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.