The Lahaina Restoration Foundation will commemorate the Lahaina Banyan Tree’s 150th anniversary with a birthday party at the historic site on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22, 2023 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Photo Gallery: See Some of Honolulu’s Exceptional Trees
We spent weeks contemplating some of O‘ahu’s oldest, biggest and most impressive trees to capture their natural magnificence.
February 18, 2021
This kapok tree is one of three exceptional trees on the grounds of the Department of Agriculture on South King Street. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
The idea came while we were walking through a park just minutes away from downtown. It seemed simple enough: Photograph the oldest trees in Honolulu. Finding them, however, is anything but simple. First, we had to eliminate ones that grow in the wild. After all, how could we say with any certainty that a giant koa which the U.S. Forest Service says is difficult to date because the tree doesn’t grow rings is older than another species on another island? Then, with quarantine rules firmly in place, we decided to restrict our hunt to O‘ahu. (Sending regards to Lahaina’s 147-year-old banyan, the oldest in the state.)