Criman Residence, Kaneohe

Our initial site visit with Lizzy was a birthday gift from her husband, Erik. Talk about thoughtful! The garden we ultimately built on their large, sunny/rainy lanai was
a functional and fun combination of a custom planter, customized wooden barrels and Lizzy’s pots, and it featured plumeria trees Lizzy had started from cuttings.

Operating instructions

Foodscapes maintenance visits are lessons – our clients learn by working in their garden with us. To accommodate Lizzy’s demanding work schedule, we did our monthly maintenance on Saturdays. Not only was Lizzy a great, hands-on learner, she’s so photogenic she made our garden shots look fabulous! However, her hands-on lessons ground to a halt when she told me the joyous news that she was expecting a baby. For the next six maintenance visits, I would hardly let LIzzy do anything. Boring! But then Baby William arrived, and although Lizzy didn’t sleep much, at least she could garden again.

Gardens & families grow and change

I believe that great gardeners and great mothers have many qualities in common. One of those qualities is knowing when to press the pause button. We paused Lizzy’s garden in October 2019 so that no other life forms would compete for her attention, besides the one that was now crawling on all fours and eating solid food! And then, another pivot. The Crimans left Hawaii for greener career pastures. As he grows, young William probably won’t recall his Mom’s beautiful edible garden in Kaneohe. But, someday, when all his friends are refusing to eat green things, he may feel the tug of a distant memory that makes him think to himself “Vegetables…hey…they’re not bad!”