Passage II

Senator Fong's Plantation and Gardens

[1]

With a full career in both politics and business, Hiram Fong never set out to develop one of Oahu's most spectacularly horticulture attractions. [A] Fong, whose political career spanned over thirty years, was one of the first two senators from Hawaii to become a state in 1959 and the first Asian American to serve in the US Senate. Prior to working in politics, Fong paid his own way through Harvard Law School and, upon graduating, was a part of a law firm. [B] All the while, gardening was his escape.

[2]

(19) Wanting to experiment with growing fruit, he planted bananas, then papaya, lemon, jackfruit, and avocado. [C] By also choosing to plant crops such as bamboo, coconut, betel nut, and turmeric, he broadened the types of plants in his garden. He cultivated slopes covered with ti and pili grasses and forests of trees such as kukui, hala, and koa, vegetation previously an abundance on Oahu.

[3]

After he retired from politics in 1977, Fong continued to oversee his companies, but he focused on gardening, personally importing and planting countless species of plants. Eventually, he divided his land into five gardens, each one named for a US president whom had served while Fong was a senator. The Eisenhower Plateau is dedicated to native Chinese plants, such as the Hong Kong orchid tree and the Java plum. The Johnson Plateau features exotic fruits. (24) Kennedy Valley, with its rain forest canopy, recommends ginger and palms from all over the world. Nixon Valley will abound with flowers—plumeria, crown flower, and bougainvillea are just a few—while the Ford Plateau highlights hillsides of pili grasses.

[4]

The preserve, bearing his name, is now named Senator Fong's Plantation and Gardens, complete with a visitors' center and guided tours. [D] Until his death in 2004 at ninety-seven, Fong spent every weekend tending to his flowers and trees and a moment to mingle with visitors. He credited gardening for his long, healthy life.