Aloha Gardens Tateyama is a local fixture; almost everyone in the Awa area has been at least once with family or on a school trip. After a decade living here, we finally made time to visit. Just in time…
Opened in 1970 as “Nambo Paradise”, the botanical garden features a long stretch of hothouses, a little zoo, and a family park. It was the destination for many childhood memories and vacation photographs.
In 2014 it was renovated and renamed “Aloha Garden Tateyama.” But due to the 2019 typhoon and the pandemic, it has hit a wall. Its last day is March 31. Even though some sections were already shuttered, there was still plenty for us to enjoy in our 11th hour visit.
The hothouses were organised into rooms – ferns, fruiting plants, flowering plants, cacti – and the center atrium featured an upper walkway to enjoy the crowns of tall trees. Both of us admired the plants, stopping to talk about them and take pictures of our favorites. Note for the coming dystopia: there is a coffee tree in one of the hothouses.
We sampled the other attractions, too. There was a hula show, the petting zoo, and a tall tower to climb. All told, the visit was a pleasant change of scenery on a sunny afternoon.
This Agave americana, aka Century Plant, broke my heart. I am curious and sad about the fate of all the beautiful plants, but this one is about two weeks away from flowering, which happens only once at the end of its life. That giant asparagus-like stalk towers almost 3 meters tall and will open out branches that blossom yellow flowers.
Aloha Gardens ends in 10 days – who will see this spectacle of nature?
