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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

This Unfolding Story
Dear Friends,Lately my nights have holes in them. Well before dawn I wake for a spell, and it's not at
Brian Selznick in the Green Room on May 20th
We welcomed renowned author and illustrator Brian Selznick to Hawaiʻi, and to the Green Room on Oʻahu at the Hanahauʻoli
Evolving to Endure
Dear Friends, March is a month of remembrance here in the garden. It is the month of Paula’s birth, and
“In The Meantime,” by W.S. Merwin
IN THE MEANTIME Day after day this summer’s rainkeeps them from setting upour tombstonelet us stay home together my loveand
Love Notes on Post-its
Inside the covers of books, in drawers and in glasses cases, we still find small love notes. View this post
Uprooting and Renewal
Dear Friends,In the early and windy weeks of February, one of the last remaining ironwoods that W.S. Merwin planted in
Scientist-in-Residence: Dr. Bill Baker (January 2023)
Dr. Bill Baker of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was scientist-in-residence in January 2023
Dr. Bill Baker in The Green Room (Online Broadcast)
In January The Merwin Conservancy held its first "Green Room" arts and ecology event of the year,  with renowned botanist
Place as Poem
Dear Friends,“Poetry,” as W.S. Merwin said, “is a way of looking at the world for the first time.” These oft-quoted

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Photos: Larry Cameron and Tom Sewell

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