How many of you have visited one or more of the five Honolulu botanical gardens locations recently?

How many of you know that these public gardens — Foster, Lili'uokalani, Ho'omaluhia, Koko Crater and Wahiawa — are run by the city and are free, with the exception of a small fee at the Foster garden?

If you have made a stop at one of the gardens lately, we'd like to know what you think — about what we do well and what could be improved. You are an important voice in the future of the Honolulu botanical gardens.

People who visit the gardens come for a variety of reasons. Education is one of them. Local and out-of-state visitors, elementary through university students, plant scientists and amateur gardeners come to see and learn about tropical plants grown outside their native habitat. Each garden has its highlights.

At the Foster garden, visitors learn about the 150-year-old kapok trees from tropical America and Africa, orchid hybrids and species, and plants called cycads that are of prehistoric origin. Many of you enjoy a quiet lunch under the shade of the arboreal giants, have taken a painting or craft class, or enjoyed a docent-led tour.

At nearby Lili'uokalani Botanical Garden, you can see what few people in modern Hawai'i see — the endangered gardenia known as nanu and the Hawaiian cotton, ma'o.

For those who want to combine plant appreciation with hiking or walking, there are the trails of Kane'ohe's Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden. Some people even camp over the weekend in this 400-acre garden and go fishing in the lake.

Some of you have traveled to Wahiawa Botanical Garden, which can make you feel like you're in a tropical rainforest. At an elevation of 1,000 feet, the garden stays cool. Shutterbugs can photograph colorful heliconia and strangler fig trees that have twining aerial roots.

At Koko Crater Botanical Garden, the summer lure is the collection of plumeria trees, blooming in fragrant masses of color. Others are awed by the palm, cactus and rare dryland plants native to Hawai'i and exotic places like Madagascar and Socotra.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward O. Wilson believes that on a subconscious level, humans seek a connection with other life forms — a phenomenon he calls "biophilia," from the Greek words bios (life) and philia (fondness or affinity).

So no matter what has brought you to the Honolulu botanical gardens, we want to ensure that you find them attractive and relevant to you for years to come.

The Honolulu botanical gardens will be developing a strategic plan to identify our direction and focus over the next several years. This is your chance to express your views about one or more of our gardens.

E-mail your comments to hbg@honolulu.gov or call 522-7060 and leave a message. You can also fill in a short survey at www.honolulu.gov/parks/hbg. We would appreciate hearing from you.

Winnie Singeo is director of the Honolulu botanical gardens. The Foster Botanical Garden, at 50 N. Vineyard Blvd., is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except on Christmas and New Year's.