Hawaii Kai Nursery

Landscaping work is not the kind of work most people get excited about but when you got to do it, you gotta to do it. Manual labor is definitely not on my top list of favorite things to do. It is a chore and it is not my hobby. So the search for foliage and flowers begins after much procrastination on my part LOL.
On this particular weekend, my landscaping work calls for more bougainvillea plantings. The idea is to fill in some bare patches around the existing bougainvillea tree beds and re-​train the thorny branches to grow upward. Sounds easy until your first couple of cuts from the deluge of the ever-​present thorns on those spiky branches. We looked at some local ads and didn’t really know if we really wanted to buy imported bougainvilleas from the big box stores. Trying to «support local», so we called around to get some referrals. Off we went to Hawaii Kai Nursery because we were told the lady there specializes in bougainvilleas and nothing else.
I recommend using GPS to find this nursery in the back area of Hawaii Kai’s residential subdivision. Take caution as you drive through a very small, winding section of the 2-​lane road. Thick walls of tall grass made a natural wall barrier, hence making visibility briefly limited. Upon arrival, we drove up to the property’s only entrance and decided to park by the side of the fence since there wasn’t a driveway nor a designated area for vehicles to park. When we passed through the metal gate, an elderly lady came out to greet us. We asked if she was Mary and she questioned us how we knew her name LOL. Told her we assumed she was the minute we saw her sign Mary’s Bougainvilleas hung on the side of her fence. She chucked! The nicest and sweetest lady Mary seemed to be, and she was so genuine.
First impression of the nursery revealed Mary’s (nursery’s owner) preference for bougainvilleas. Right at the center of the nursery stands a gorgeous white gazebo sporting lovely fuchsia bougainvillea flowers and vines completely wrapped around the charming square trellis. You can tell this masterpiece was lovingly groomed and manicured for years to look this stunning. A perfect backdrop for a wedding photo it would make.
There are 4 different areas where you can see bougainvilleas about «knee high» tall (3-​gallon pots) and they were all orderly lined up in many rows. All those bougainvilleas were blooming nicely and the colors so vibrant in the sun. Flowers of bright purple, delicate whites, California gold, almost neon fuchsia and peachy-​orange hues covered the bougainvillea pots. I gravitated towards the orange, pink and fuchsia colors but there was one bougainvillea variety I’ve not previously seen: the Thai delight. This variety is attractive, delicate and very eye-​catching with the pink edges on the top portion of the white flowers.
Mary was very informative once she learned what we wanted and gave us specific trimming and caring instructions. More importantly, she made sure we understood what to expect from the plants and its growth is really dependent the particular variety. I would recommend anyone to check out Mary’s Bougainvilleas if you’re in the market for some ornamental «paper flowers». Her prices were super reasonable and her bougainvillea flowers looked so beautiful and healthy. I loved how she’s so down to earth, genuine and she didn’t try to hard sell us. We’re planning to buy additional pots from Mary after discovering our garden could use a few more bougainvilleas.