Hawai‘i’s fast rising star of palm tree expertise offers a book on gardens. You may want to turn down the offer.The title of David Leaser’s new book, Tropical Gardens of Hawai‘i, is alluring to be sure. The glossy jacket is attractive enough to justify the opening words of the book, “If God were designing the Garden of Eden today, surely He would consider a lush tropical place with jagged green mountains, swaying coconut palms, and fresh air subtly scented with the perfume of exotic flowers. This is Hawai‘i.” Even when you peel off the jacket… to set it aside, and keep it clean! (Don’t you do that? Anyway!) The “naked” book has been given a luxurious, green, leather-like cover with silvery stamping. Clearly, this is a book to be reveled in, thrilled by and enjoyed repeatedly.
Maybe not.
Let’s back up a little and sing the praises of Leaser’s earlier books. As far as I know, this man came out of nowhere only a few years ago, and gave us what seems to be a very fine book called Growing Palms. (I suppose someone with a patch of ground to plant a tree in would know better than I.) Then there was a photo book about palm trees and one titled Betrock’s Essential Guide to Palms. (I didn’t read that last one. No need.) In these books, though, I loved Leaser’s photographs. There was always a slightly haphazard feel to them. Again, as far as I could tell, he used none of the long-lens tricks, sky filters or polarizing devices. He was pointing (even if the setup took hours) and shooting. The effect was entirely appropriate to the style of the books. The species of palm was identified and, often in a crowded setting, isolated in the way that antique botanical prints—the plant version of Audubon’s bird paintings—did so well. Making art of science, bending science to artful ends. That worked.
Tropical Gardens of Hawai‘i is not the same sort of book. A garden is not a species to be studied. It is not even a collection of species. Each is a unique creation—someone’s idea of the perfecting of nature. Sadly, the photographs here are of the same sort as in the palm books, and that doesn’t work for me.
If what you want is a guide to the great public gardens of the islands, this book can certainly give you guidance. The text within each chapter is remarkably like a tour guide’s rap or a brochure, in fact. The pictures, in the end, are in the middling range of the sort you’d expect in such brochures, or in guidebooks.
If you are hoping for an armchair book that will transport you to the place where you remember and believe that you are “closer to God in a garden than anyplace else on Earth,” this is not your book.
Maybe a guide to gardens was exactly what Leaser intended. Maybe the book was a complete success in fulfilling all his dreams for it. For me, the presentation promised more, and—once my hopes were up—I couldn’t settle for so much less.
3 out of 5 Shakas
Tropical Gardens of Hawai‘i
By David Leaser
Mutual Publishing, Honolulu, 2008
Hard cover, 191 pages, $32.95
ISBN 1-56647-862-6