Allerton Garden

Allerton Garden, also known as Lawa`i-kai, is one of five gardens that makes up the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kauai.

Allerton Garden is located in the Lawa`i Valley and spans 80 acres. The garden was created by Robert Allerton, a wealthy man from Chicago, who was interested in art and design. Allerton and his adopted son, John Gregg, traveled the world collecting art and deriving inspiration for his gardens. In 1937, they stopped in Kauai and were taken away by Lawa`i Valley’s beauty. By 1938, they had purchased the land and property and had moved into their new home on Kauai.

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They designed their garden with plants from Southeast Asia and the Pacific and decorated it with statues they’d collected around the world. Allerton advocated for a tropical botanic garden in the United States in the 1960s and in 1964 the Pacific Tropical Botanical Garden was chartered.

After Allerton’s death in 1964, the property was inherited and maintained by John Gregg until his passing in 1986 wherein Hideo Teshima acted as superintendent of the garden in partnership with the National Tropical Botanical Garden.

Today, Allerton Garden is home to a variety of trees, plants, and a fruit orchard that complement the garden’s beautiful landscape design. You may recognize some of the more iconic plants such as the Moreton Bay Fig trees that were the backdrop for scenes in the film Jurassic Park.

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There are daily guided tours that last approximately two hours. Admission for adults is $40 and children $15, children five and under are free.