On Kaua'i, I tapped into Hawai'i's distinct nature as a community rich in culture and history during my Environmental Journalism fellowship at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG).

On Kaua'i, I tapped into Hawai'i's distinct nature as a community rich in culture and history during my Environmental Journalism fellowship at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG).

In 1999, after devoting many years to chronicling Asian America, I took a sojourn in search of serenity. Discovering my new muse on the garden isle of Kaua'i, the oldest and the lushest of the Hawaiian Islands, I knew I would return one day to capture the other-worldly landscapes on film.

This Spring, my NTBG fellowship, gave me a special entre to learn about Hawaiian culture and revisit my childhood interest in botany. During my intensive week studying ethnobotany and tropical ecology, I sat down with world-renowned plant ecologists, horticulturalists and ethnobotanists who have dedicated their life's work to finding a cure for illnesses, feeding the world, and saving the planet.

Globally, nine percent of the world's 250,000 plant species are endangered. Half of Hawai'i's native plants are threatened with extinction, as the situation is far more critical on oceanic islands.

Chartered by Congress in 1964, the National Tropical Botanical Garden administers a network of five gardens and three preserves in Hawai'i and Florida focusing on tropical flora. Everyday, I have class in one of the three gardens on Kaua'i - McBryde, Allerton or Limahuli. With over 1,800 acres encompassing diverse tropical ecosystems and extensive living collections of species facing extinction in the wild, NTBG is the premiere facility in Hawaii advancing scientific research, public education, and plant conservation.

THE MCBRYDE GARDEN AND THE CANOE PLANTS OF ANCIENT POLYNESIA

The McBryde Garden, a botanical Noah's Ark for tropical plants encompasses 259 acres of...