Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden Listed For Sale with Hawaii Life

Owner Bishop Museum has just listed the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden complex for sale with Hawaii Life. The listing includes three contiguous parcels with a total of 11.82 acres, residential, agricultural and commercial structures, and more than 200 species of plants that grew in the traditional farms and native forests of the Kona district prior to the late 18th century arrival of Captain Cook. Asking price: $1,970,000 (MLS 613952)

Bishop Museum Seeking New Steward for Ethnobotanical Garden

Two years ago, the decision by owner Bishop Museum to close the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden complex to the public made front page news in Kailua Kona’s West Hawaii Today newspaper, which called it “an educational and cultural gem.” The Museum has kept the gardenʻs longtime manager in place, a group of volunteers comes weekly to plant and weed, and a non-profit formed to save the Garden has sought support of State and County preservation funds to attempt to purchase the Amy Greenwell Garden.

The Museum enlisted Hawaiʻi Life’s assistance specifically to identify a new owner with the desire and means to provide stewardship for this remarkable educational and cultural resource. The three parcels comprising the Garden complex have deed restrictions requiring ethnobotanical use, while various zoning and land use designations would allow a new owner to envision additional possibilities, or restore the educational, conservation and research activities that took place across the decades.

Past workshops taught use of plants grown on site. Shown are poi pounders and board; kapa anvil, and decorated ipu (gourds)

Amy B.H. Greenwell Plant Collections and Site Improvements

The visitor to the Amy B.H. Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden will find interpretive panels, plant labels and signage to allow for self-guided tours. The garden is arranged to group plants into those that typically grew in zones along the coast; in the lowland farms; and in upland forests. Polynesian-introduced plants provided food, medicine, dye, and fibers for early settlers and many are still used today.

Remnants of the Kona Field System walls at the Garden have aided archeologists in understanding early Hawaiian agricultural practices.

Site improvements include:

• Visitor Center completed in 2011 with 1,130 sq ft of exhibit, retail and office space, bathrooms, and a new parking lot.
• Amy Greenwell’s previous residence dating from 1955, a modest home near the road.
• Back office of 1,152 sq ft dating from 1949, adjacent to 650 sq ft carport, 888 sq ft workroom and 720 sq ft nursery.

Visitor Center was completed in 2011. Entrance to the Garden is to the left through the gate.

Qualified buyers are welcome to contact us for more information or to tour this unique and irreplaceable Hawaiian botanical and cultural resource.