Blooming On Kauai

Spending time poolside is what guests look forward to when they travel to your Kauai resort.

The pool area of your property should be a retreat and set the tone for a relaxing, tropical experience. What separates a typical hotel pool from a luxurious poolside escape is its surroundings, and that means selecting the best swimming pool plants to establish privacy and engage the senses.

Thinking about a fruit tree for your Kauai landscape? Adding an edible to the plant palette is beneficial for your property because fruit trees add color and interest—and they produce a tasty harvest you can enjoy and share with guests.

Kauai’s warm, tropical climate is an ideal growing environment for a variety of fruit trees. But what’s best for your property?

That’s a tricky question because, as you know, choosing the right plant for the right place is critical to growing success.

A mango that thrives on the dry western side of Kauai could struggle to produce a bounty on the cooler, moist east side. Bananas like their space. And avocados are popular, but you can only harvest them once a year. Papayas, on the other hand, require continuous harvesting.

Winds are tricky on Kauai. There’s a careful balance between preserving views and breaking gusts of salty air that rush off the Pacific and onto commercial properties.

Many of us on Kauai appreciate the lovely breezes. They temper humidity and just make for a perfectly relaxing climate. Though, steady trade winds do kick up and push stronger winds on to our properties, and wind tunnels from between buildings set close together like on resort properties.

But again, there’s a balance. Guests want clear views of mountains, beaches and water—nothing blocking the way. But windbreaks are beneficial for creating protected, calm spaces.

The good news is, you can find a happy medium by planting trees and shrubs that deflect wind and divert it from your property. For beachside resorts and commercial properties with ocean views, even slender palm trees can act as a form of windbreak to stop gusts from completely barreling through the property.

Kauai property owners located farther inland might prioritize a windbreak over a view. Whatever is most important on your commercial property, here are the five best windbreak trees on Kauai.

Is the palm tree on your Kauai commercial property dying? Better yet, what does a dying palm tree look like?

Blunt questions, but ones worth asking. There are signs that palm trees are struggling, and if you catch palms before they decline severely you can save a very expensive tree from demise.

Help is on the way!

When your commercial property is on an island, the risk of tropical storms and hurricanes is a reality that must be factored into landscape maintenance activities. After 30 years in business on Kauai, No Ka Oi has helped clients deal with devastating and costly blows.

The coconut palm tree on your Kauai resort is 90 feet tall with a trunk that’s rail thin and full of holes — some large enough to fit your hand. The landscaper who last spiked the tree to prune coconuts warned you that the next time he climbs that tree, it will be to take it down. The question is, how much will it cost to remove a palm tree?

Large coconut palm trees are practically a symbol of resort leisure on Kauai. Many of our clients ask us how much coconut trees cost, and we always like to spell out the numbers when helping our commercial property owners make decisions for their budget, so we explain that there are actually two parts to this simple question. How much does it cost to buy the coconut tree—and what’s the cost of maintaining it every year?

This article will answer those questions and help you understand that the initial price tag on a coconut tree is just the beginning of the cost. It’s important to look at the long-term expenses that any landscape will require, and that’s why we share this information with you.