About the Book

“What? Grow endangered native Hawaiian plants in my home garden?” What a concept, but the natives are simple to grow because they belong here!

For many, the dream of owning a home in Hawai`i is becoming a reality. Hawai`i has some of the fastest-growing areas of the United States, because the weather is warm year-round, the pace of life is more relaxed than on the mainland, prices are still affordable in many areas, and the spirit of aloha abounds.

This book will help readers develop their properties, from clearing the land of invasive plants while maintaining native vegetation, to planting trees, vegetables and more.

“This is a very useful book with a gardener’s joy shining between the lines. It’s chock full of new ideas and old ones worth repeating. It’s refreshingly written without a know-it-all approach. Instead, it’s by a humble novice with her curiosity intact. Her grateful attitude includes a sense of wonder at what nature provides in return for a bit of hard work.” David Orr, Coordinator of Botanical Programs, Waimea Valley Audubon Center, Oahu.

“Super Simple Guide to Creating Hawaiian Gardens is far more comprehensive than any other Hawaiian gardening guide! Barbara Fahs offers a unique and perfect solution to the question ‘How?’ often asked by newcomers and residents in Hawai`i. She not only outlines the essentials of organic gardening in Hawai`i (an important point), but includes easy-to-grow edibles and ornamentals, native, Polynesian and medicinal plants. Furthermore, Super Simple Guide emphasizes land stewardship: plants not to grow, ‘weeds’ to encourage, and gardens without poisons. As a long-time kama’aina and keen gardener, I heartily recommend this book for both healthy living and an awareness of invasive plants, which can easily spread into Hawai`i’s diverse natural ecosystems.”

Angela Kay Kepler, PhD, award-winning author of numerous books on Hawaiian plants

About the Author

Barbara Fahs writes the popular column “The Healthful Herbalist” for Hawaii Island Journal. She is also the owner and creator of Hi`iaka’s Healing Herb Garden near Hilo, on the Big Island (www.hiiakas.com). Formerly, she was a technical writer and editor in the high technology industry of Silicon Valley, California. She was inspired to write this book because many of the visitors to her garden ask, “how did you build it?” As a California certified Master Gardener (1994), she has built many organic gardens, but never one like this, which she forged from solid pahoehoe lava and transformed into a lush, green sanctuary that specializes in threatened Hawaiian medicinal plants. Even before her move to Hawai`i in 1998, Barbara had the vision of creating a healing garden. She was motivated by the Pele family legend, and especially by Pele’s youngest sister, Hi`iaka, who was a gardener, an herbalist and a healer. Barbara first visited Hawai`i and the South Pacific in 1968, after completing her BA in cultural Anthropology from University of California, Santa Barbara. It was then that she knew she would someday live on a Pacific island.

Terry Lee is a multi-media artist who divides her time between the Big Island and southern Oregon, where she owns the Wild Iris Gallery. In addition to her illustration talents, she is a sculptor of clay and stone and a painter in different mediums, primarily watercolor and acrylics. She also designs fabric and clothing and has been a popular fixture at Big Island farmer’s markets with her colorful and whimsical sarongs. She loves to design and build homes and currently has one in progress in Hawai`i. Terry says, “My purpose in life is to create and spread beauty. My inspiration and therefore my art are a gift from a higher Spirit.”