Pa Kanu Ola

Pa Kanu Ola The collection began, strangely enough, with the acquisition of a Pritchardia thurstonii, a non-Hawaiian Pritchardia.

Pa Kanu Ola , garden of life essence, originated as a banana, citrus and coconut grove which grew to include a collection of Native Hawaiian palms, and exotic and tropical palm species from all over the earth. Pa Kanu Ola, the Garden of Life Essence, was created around the collection of Loulu (Native Hawaiian Pritchardia Palms), the only palms native to the Hawaiian Islands. William Chang (Bill) w

as attracted to this fan palm because there were no thorns on the rachis, a feature that caught his attention. Familiar with a variety of fan palms, none he remembered presented thornless rachis. In further study over a period of several years, obviously not intensively, he came to find that the Thurston Palm (Pritchardia thurstonii) was just one species of a genus. Furthermore, this particular genus contained twenty some odd species that were enĀʻōīādemic to Hawaii. And.... to deepen the attraction, it turns out that these Pritchardia are the only palms endemic to the islands of Hawaii. And so, that first acquisition in the early 70s brought about the start of the Loulu collection with the acquisition of a Pritchardia arecina specimen from a swap meet in Hana in the mid-80s. And eventually lead to the establishment of the Garden at Wakiu which was re-named Pa Kanu Ola in 2014.

This Pritchardia arecina was grown from a seed off a mature tree growing in Marion Cabral's arboretum in upper Nahiku at...
07/12/2025

This Pritchardia arecina was grown from a seed off a mature tree growing in Marion Cabral's arboretum in upper Nahiku at about the 1000 feet elevation.

This Pritchardia munroi, native to East Molokai and West Maui is the oldest palm growing at Pa Kanu Ola in Hana on the e...
02/20/2025

This Pritchardia munroi, native to East Molokai and West Maui is the oldest palm growing at Pa Kanu Ola in Hana on the east end of Maui.
"Shaggy", our family's name for this tree on account of its skirt of persistent dry leaves, was planted on this spot in the garden in 1991.
Since then,the garden transformed from growing mainly bananas, coconuts, citrus fruit and ulu to where it now features over a hundred species of palms which were almost all germinated from seeds purchased and gathered by trading with palm collectors just about everywhere.
Pritchardia munroi is one of the more than twenty species of Pritchardia that are native to Hawaii. Effort to gather them all to grow in Pa Kanu Ola is ongoing.
So far, in addition to "Shaggy", the collection includes Pritchardia arecina, which is native to the slopes of Haleakala in East Maui, Pritchardia affinis (recently renamed Pritchardia maideniana) which was initially recognized growing on the Kona coast of the Big Island. Also from Molokai, Pritchardia hillebrandii.
Also from Hawaii Island around the volcano area, Pritchardia beccariana; and from the northeast end of our island chain Nihoa, we have Pritchardia remota. Related closely from Niihau, we have Pritchardia aylmer-robinsonii.
Our only specimen from Oahu, Pritchardia martii, did not survive beyond the very early seedling stage.
We continue to add to the collection as opportunities present themselves.

This "majesty palm" (Ravenea rivularis) stands at the southern corner of Pa Kanu Ola.
07/10/2024

This "majesty palm" (Ravenea rivularis) stands at the southern corner of Pa Kanu Ola.

06/25/2024

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Hana, HI
96713

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+18082695414

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