Senator Fong's Plantation and Gardens, a 725-acre garden on Oahu's windward coast, is owned by former U.S. Senator Hiram Fong, the first Asian-American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Before his retirement in 1977, his career spanned for more than thirty years and seven presidents. The former senator's imposing estate began in 1950 with Fong's purchase of a small plot, which over the next half-century grew to its present massive size. The gardens serve as holistic nature preserve, bird sanctuary, and educational center. It has the largest collection of fruit and nut trees on the island, including a meadow of over 150 of the senator's favorite fruit tree, the lychee.
Other examples of both native Hawaiian and tropical plant life on display are the breadfruit (once a common staple among Pacific islanders), the now rare Sandalwood tree, whose fragrant wood first brought foreign traders to Hawaii, and the wiliwili, whose rarely appearing red fruit makes valuable leis. The gardens are also resplendent with tropical flowers, many used in lei-making, especially the fragrant plumeria. You may still spot the former senator toiling in some of the gardens. Fong says he hopes to have the gardens completed in another 10 generations, so there's a lot to be done.
The only way to see the estate is by its tram tour, which is included in the admission price (ask for tour guide Luana). The tour takes you through the garden's five scenic valleys and plateaus, all nestled against the majestic and quite imposing Ko'olau Mountain Range. Many are named after U.S. presidents with whom the former-senator worked. Even Nixon got his valley. Interspersed among the gardens are several lily ponds fed by mountain streams, bordered by hyacinths and teeming with prawn, catfish, golden perch, and mountain guppies. Voted `Best Attraction 1999' by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, the gardens contain a wide and exotic variety of palms, fruit and nut trees, ferns, and fragrant flowers, all of which have found verdant soil and a nurturing climate in Hawaii.
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