Sometimes the simplest of landscapes are the hardest to care for.

Take, for instance, the seemingly simple public town square in Waimea on the dry west end of Kaua'i that Brian Yamase and his family and friends care for and maintain with much dedication. This simple, humble, yet gorgeous and green inspiration for the community was once a semi-abandoned, weedy, dry mess. The water had been cut off and then it all went downhill for a while.

Water is key to successful landscapes. People talk about "xeriscape" or less thirsty gardens as if they are "zero" scapes that need no water, but that's not the case. Even Arizona-style landscapes of cactus and rocks need water. Plants in pots need water, more than the same plants growing in the wild. The only plants that need no water are dead, or plastic.

Ka wai ola, water for life: Wai is fresh water and kai is salt water. There is a little bit of wai and a lot of kai all around our Islands. Protecting it is critical for life in Hawai'i and on our green and blue planet. Water is so precious that it is the basis for some of the foremost laws for community and civilization. E malama i ka wai — Cherish the water. In Hawai'i the first laws of the land were based on water usage. E ola wai.

Brian, the longtime manager of First Hawaiian Bank in Waimea, Kaua'i, and his wife, Colleen, who works for the state, have many dedicated friends who helped restore the water, replant the grass and clean the town square, which had no irrigation water after Hurricane 'Iniki and had fallen into disrepair.

Brian leads an ongoing community effort to maintain the square in conjunction with the County of Kaua'i. The effort brings together members of the Westside community, who each bring their own resources and expertise to kokua. With the help of lifelong friends, such as Eddy Lacro, Ely Pablo, Stan Kanna and many others, Waimea Town has benefited from its native sons' community consciousness.

Pablo overseas the field operations for Gay & Robinson. Kanna provides scholarship funds for Kaua'i high school seniors through the charitable Kanna Foundation. He is a product of multigenerational dentists in the West Kaua'i community, who are key members of this effort. In this close-knit community, a simple call gets the wheels in motion, the water turned on and the green grass neatly mowed.

These guys not only balance their busy careers, but engage the other things that make life in Hawai'i so enriching, spreading their kokua and helping the Kaua'i community. They know how to have fun too and are the key in staging the Kanna Foundation's annual golf outing at the famous and well-maintained Wailua Golf Course.

This year, Brian Yamase won the Volunteer of the Year award at the 6th Annual Scenic Hawaii Betty Crocker Landscape Awards. In his humble fashion, he wanted to share the honor with his wife, family and friends. The whole volunteer greenscaper gang came over to O'ahu to celebrate Brian's recognition at the awards gala. In the golden sunset glow of Waikiki, they gathered together with some pupu and refreshments and we all talked a bit about how simple such efforts seem, yet how much work and time it takes to maintain a scenic and green public park landscape.

Anyone can crank up a weed eater or chainsaw and "clean yard," and lots of people can glue some PVC pipe together, but it takes true long-term dedication and commitment to maintain and wisely operate irrigation, mow and trim grass and carefully trim coconuts and other trees, like the tall and full-fronded Fiji fan and Pritchardia pacifica palms and the less-thirsty native kou shade tree, that grow in the Waimea Town square.

Simple or not, these efforts are very important. If our communities are tree-shaded, clean, green and well-maintained, we all feel and act better. We have hope in the future and we have faith in our Hawaiian economy and communities.

Heidi Bornhorst is a sustainable-landscape consultant. Submit questions at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com or Island Life, The Advertiser, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Letters may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms.