Luana Ohana Forest

We have been doing a bit of research about what kinds of trees we want to replace our lovely Ohia trees as they die.  Right now, our property is surrounded by a stately Ohias, but so far, the only ones dying are up nearer to the front of the property.  If you have a mental image for Hawaii of white sand beaches and palm trees then that’s not where we live.  We live in a tropical forest with many kinds of beautiful trees.

Whatever we choose to plant needs to appear natural in this forested setting.  As we began our tree search, however, we were finding an abundance of palm trees (hundreds of kinds), fruit trees by the dozens,  and lots of exotic imports.  Although there are LOTS of beautiful palms available, and we have a few, that was not the direction we wanted to go.  Given the infected, dying ohias, using them as replacements just didn’t seem wise either.  Because of our age, we don't have 20 years to wait -- we want to enjoy our forest soon!

Many phone conversations and emails later, most of which simply referred me to other leads that just didn’t pan out, we got a hit and it led me to a charming dedicated tree and forest LOVER --  Jill, of Future Forest Nursery right here on the Big Island.  Jill is a silviculturalist whose passion of 24 years has been “silviculture” – controlling (growing, planting and monitoring) the establishment and quality of forests – for a variety of uses/reasons.

She listened as I explained my desire for a “real forest” sidestepping the easy palm solution.  Despite the fact that her chosen profession regularly deals with thousands of trees and large forest-related projects, she listened as I gave her my “Tree Wish List” of 1) Native and endemic Hawaii trees, 2) hardwood trees 3) eucalyptus, 4)flowering/ornamentals.   Her reply was “I have all those!”   So I made arrangements with her to come and pick them up at her magical wonderland property up in the hillsides above Kailua-Kona.

We are very excited about our new baby trees, which Jill assured us we would be fully enjoying within five years.  So, here are a few photos of the 13 different varieties that will be part of Luana Ohana Forest.

I asked Jill if it was OK to share her contact info with you and she said yes; however, she also said to remind people that sometimes it takes months for new seedlings, so she is always rotating a variety of trees.  Her website is extensive and well worth a visit: www.forestnursery.com.   MAHALO JILL!