Situated on the western side of Kuliwai Lagoon in the Kuliʻouʻou area of Honolulu, this garden was designed and built in the late 1940s. The architecture and gardens of Japan were the inspiration for both the garden and the adjacent house. The lava boulders and stepping stones were all imported to the site and were carefully placed, with the exception of the largest boulder, which fell off the truck and landed in the middle of the lawn area where it remains today.
Plants were carefully chosen to suite the location, which is close to the ocean and demands salt-tolerant material. In the Japanese tradition, trees and bushes were selected for their sculptural quality and pruned to maintain a pleasing line. Japanese-style gardens of this type were very popular in the late 1940s through the 1970s, but the high cost of maintaining sculptured gardens led to the demise of many of them, although there has been a resurgence of interest in recent years.
During her lifetime the original owner, Mrs. R. G. A. Crowe, was responsible for the design and maintenance of her garden. A perfectionist, she spent many hours each day pruning, picking up leaves, and grooming plants. Although the house was rented for 10 years after Mrs. Crowe’s death, the garden was maintained by a landscape crew under the direction of a close friend of Mrs. Crowe. The current owners, who acquired the property in 2000, are updating, restoring, and revitalizing both the house and the garden.
Persons associated with the property include former owners, Mr. and Mrs. R. G. A. Crowe ( 1946-1992); Mr. and Mrs. R. Dougal Crowe (1992-2000); Albert Ely “Bert” Ives (architect and landscape designer, 1946-1950); and Yolanda Clay (landscape designer and gardener, 1989-2000).
The Crowe Garden has been featured in Horace Clay and James Hubbard, Trees for Hawaiian Gardens (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Cooperative Extension Service, 1962), p. 38.
Submitted to the Smithsonian Archive of American Gardens by The Garden Club of Honolulu in 2000.
Hawaiian Garden History and Design 