Kauai’s beautiful Allerton and McBryde botanical gardens

The lush “garden isle” of Kauai is a natural spot for the unconventional duo known as the Allerton and McBryde Gardens – the Allerton Garden and McBryde Garden.

These botanical gardens in Kauai are two of five garden sites that make up the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG).

(The other three NTBG gardens are in Florida, Maui and elsewhere on Kauai.)

Side-by-side botanical gardens in Kauai

In the secluded Lawai Valley between rugged cliffs, the two neighboring Kauai gardens encompass 350 acres of land.

They showcase a magnificent variety of tropical plants.

We’re not green thumbs.

But we love visiting gardens – and we’ve strolled through some of the world’s most beautiful gardens.

In Puerto Vallarta, we’ve hiked miles of tropical forest trails – past tangled vines and with the symphony of birdsong in our ears – at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens.

And in Victoria where we live, we take out-of-town company to Victoria gardens, like the world-famous Butchart Gardens. We walk most days through the Government House Gardens near our house too.

Allerton Garden and McBryde Garden: History

Guided visits share a bit of the quirky history of these Kauai botanical gardens in the southwest part of the island.

The Allerton Garden was once a favored retreat of Hawaii’s Queen Emma in the late 1800s.

She loved to plant rose apples, mangoes, bamboo and bougainvillea on the valley cliffs (you can still see some of these plants today).

The McBryde family (who owned a large section of agricultural land nearby) bought the property from her, conveying the lower valley to Alexander McBryde in 1899.

Alexander moved one of Queen Emma’s cottages to the valley floor, and lived in it for many years.

He also planted ferns, ginger, plumeria and palms in beachside gardens.

The Allertons, world travelers and wealthy philanthropists, bought the property from Alexander in 1938.

Robert Allerton, who was an artist, and his adopted son John Gregg Allerton, an architect, then set about creating unique outdoor “rooms.”

These garden rooms feature walls of plants, European statuary, fountains, gravity-fed pools and cascading waterfalls.

Later, Jacqueline Kennedy enjoyed visiting the Allertons’ garden estate – in part, rumor has it, because the Allertons had an impressive collection of ballet slippers.

Allerton Garden

Today, the Allerton Garden covers an 80-acre area.

And it’s a garden masterpiece – a unique and whimsical combination of garden rooms, sculptures, water features and exotic plants.

You can also see the garden’s towering Moreton Bay Figs that were featured in the Jurassic Park movie.

Remember the enormous exposed buttress roots that hid the raptor eggs?

Today, these trees are a favorite spot for visitor photo-ops.

Fittingly, best-selling author Michael Crichton (who wrote the Jurassic Park book) once married in the gardens too.

McBryde Garden

The McBryde Garden has a more scientific focus.

It is a veritable Noah’s Ark for plant conservation, for protecting endangered tropical plant species from around the world from extinction (in particular, endemic Hawaiian plants) and for growing Hawaiian fruits like breadfruit.

This includes 27 “canoe plants” that the early Polynesians brought with them in their voyaging canoes to Hawaii to sow for food, medicine and shelter.

Even world hunger is tackled.

Breadfruit, for example, is an important fruit grown in Hawaii.

Thousands of breadfruits originating here have been shipped to developing countries, with information on how to grow the trees for food.

We’re suckers for gardens! In Vancouver, BC, get your flower fix at the VanDusen Botanical Garden

Limahuli Garden and Preserve

The third Kauai botanical garden in the NTBG collection of gardens on Kauai is Limahuli Garden, located on the north shore of Kauai.

Part of the 985-acre Limahuli Preserve, the garden is a 17-acre terraced garden with taro fields and other native Hawaiian plants.

We haven’t had a chance yet to personally tour Limahuli Garden.

Just another reason to revisit Kauai in future, right?

Where to stay? See our reviews of the best hotels and resorts in Kauai