Leucospermum oleifolium

Photos by Mark Leichty

Michelle and I were able to take a wonderful vacation to Maui for almost two weeks over Thanksgiving. Besides spending a lot of time relaxing on the beach, we visited some amazing botanical gardens on the island. We drove the road to Hana on Thanksgiving Day and stopped at Garden of Eden Arboretum near the halfway point. If you’ve ever driven the Hana Highway, you’ll remember that it was one of the windiest, slowest, yet most beautiful drives of your life. The arboretum is near the halfway point and was a welcomed stop to walk around in a tropical paradise.

My favorite garden was Kula Botanical Gardens, in the uplands of Maui on the western slope of Haleakala, the highest point on the island, at over 10,000 feet. The garden is at 3,300 feet elevation and has beautiful specimen plants from all over the world. It was designed and built by Warren and Helen McCord beginning in 1968. Warren, now 91, was gracious enough to give Michelle and I a private tour. He has an impressive collection of Proteas in the center of the garden. Leucospermum oleifolium or Overberg Pincushion was one of my favorites. This beautiful compact three-foot shrub was in full bloom in November. It is a South African native where it grows in mass on the South-Western Cape in well-drained soils at elevations up to about 3,000 feet. Leucospermum oleifolium belongs to a group of Proteas called Flat Pincushions. Its frilly yellow-orange flowers are pollinated by a host of birds and small insects. Each flower produces a few nut-like seeds which in their native habitat are stored underground by ants and germinate only after fire has burned off the parent plants. Proteas can also be propagated from cuttings.

There is a growing interest in Proteas in the horticultural community. The flowers are widely cultivated for the floral trade in warmer climates in the U.S. There are also adventurous gardeners who are trying these beautiful plants in their gardens as far north as Seattle, that I know of. They would need protection from winter freezes, but they are worth the effort.