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The Merwin Conservancy

We tend a garden that speaks to the world.

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Main Content



On the last day of the world
I would want to plant a tree
– W.S. Merwin


VIDEO STILL FROM "THRESHOLD," A SHORT FILM BY SAYLER/MORRIS

Take a Walk in the Garden

       

Take a stroll through The Merwin Conservancy.

Enter the Garden

Our Mission

We inspire innovation in the arts and sciences by advancing the ideas of W.S. Merwin – his life, work, house and palm forest – as fearless and graceful examples of the power of imagination and renewal.

Our Founders

William Stanley Merwin
(1927 – 2019)

Paula Dunaway Merwin
(1936-2017)

In 2010, William and Paula Merwin established The Merwin Conservancy to preserve and share the home and garden they made together on Maui. For over forty years, learning from the land as they went, the Merwins transformed a damaged landscape into a lush and rare palm garden. It is now one of the most important assemblages of palms in the world, and a singular place of stillness, wonder, and inspiration.

Putting Life Back Into the World

"In gardening, as my wife and I go about it here, what are called concerns–for ecology and the environment, for example–merge inevitably with work done every day, within sight of the house, with our own hands, and the concerns remain intimate and familiar rather than far away. They do not have to be thought about, they are at home in the mind. I have never lived anywhere that was more true."
— W.S. Merwin

Latest from the Garden

Artist in Residence: Ada Limón (December 2022)
ABOUT ADA LIMÓN: Ada Limón is the author of six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book
Protecting What We Love: Hāmākualoa, Our Shared Home
In our last 2022 installment of the “Peʻahi Stories” series, we gather up the voices of neighbors who have shared
Artist in Residence: Carrie Fountain (October 2022)
ABOUT CARRIE FOUNTAIN: Poet and author Carrie Fountain has published three collections of poetry: The Life, Instant Winner, and Burn
The Green Room Returns to Honolulu with U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón
An evening of poetry and conversation with poet Ada Limón, 24th Poet Laureate of the United States.
Crossing Borders
Dear Friends, I am just back from southwest France—another place dear to W.S. Merwin, the other place to which he
Poems in Translation: Here Together /  Ici Ensemble
In honor of the celebration of GARDEN TIMEʻs translation into French, we offer one of the bookʻs poems in translation.
Nā Inoa Ola: The Living Names
Months ago, we began this blog series with a deep dive into the name of the ahupuaʻa and stream we
A Connection Between Artists, at Long Last
Last week, we hosted the first-ever meeting between The Poem Forest author and Merwin Conservancy writer-in-residence Carrie Fountain and the
Join Us for “Garden of Verses,” This Friday, September 30th
On Friday, September 30th at 12:00 pm Hawai‘i (3:00 pm Pacific, 6:00 pm Eastern), The Merwin Conservancy will gather virtually with friends around the

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Photos: Larry Cameron and Tom Sewell

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