Before leaving NTBG earlier this year, Lilleeng-Rosenberger had grown thousands of plants. Even more important, she kept meticulous records, filling 14 personal notebooks with her observations on everything from germination rates to growing mediums to the impact of chemical fertilizers and insecticides. She has compiled her research on propagating all the indigenous and endemic Hawaiian plants into a comprehensive, common-sense manuscript that is awaiting publication. Some of the natives aren't fast-growers, or may take up to a year to propagate. These plants do need a little more TLC and it seems to be the kind of world we've become where we want everything fast and if it isn't fast, it's no good.
Natives are like Hawaiian style, slow by slow.
I don't want to have to convince people of their beauty. My work makes me feel useful, like I'm helping the underdog. That's important to a woman who recalls that as a child in Detroit, she used to beat up the boys who bullied those smaller than themselves. I just want to help them flourish. I felt depressed, but that's why I decided to do something about it, in my own small way.