Princeville, Kaua’i – There is a reason they call Kaua’i the Garden Island: today was the first of many garden tours to come over the next two weeks. Princeville Botanical Gardens is a private property in the Anini Stream valley. When the Robertsons purchased the property in 2001, it had been devastated by decades of cattle grazing and overgrown with invasive species. They spent several decades using sustainable practices and painstaking labor to restore this land, transforming it into an amazing display of native and canoe plants, as well as medicinal plants, fruit trees, and rare and endangered palms and flowers.
I was blown away by the energy and dedication it must take to create and maintain this Edenic sanctuary. The place is incredibly beautiful, and I really just came here to post pictures.
Since I’m here, it needs to be said that the three-hour garden tour is long. It does include a chocolate tasting in the middle of it. Everyone appreciated this break! But it felt like a force. I mean, they grow cacao at Princeville Gardens, but we were sampling chocolates from around the world, which was… strange. Then again, maybe I was still recovering from my overdose of chocolate on yesterday’s tour at Garden Island Chocolate.
So I learned that… you can overdose on chocolate, but not on flowers!