Hawai'i Gardens
Outstanding plant show and sale set for March

Hey, plant lovers, it’s time to mark your calendars for some great upcoming events!

The cattleya, one of Hawaii’s imported orchid species, is a favorite with Island growers and one of a large selection on display at this year’s Kunia Orchid Show. Advertiser library photo

Plants come into our lives in many ways - as cuttings from friends’ gardens, as seeds we sprout ourselves and as "finds" we make at plant sales and garden shows.

Two of the best garden shows are coming up this month:

the Kunia Orchid Show, March 16-18, and the Lyon Arboretum Spring Sale, March 24.

They’re two very different events, and both worth a visit.

Kunia Orchid Show

The classic Kunia Orchid Show, sponsored by the Kunia Orchid Society (Hui Okika ‘O Kunia) will be held next weekend at the rustic Del Monte Kunia camp gymnasium, near Kunia pineapple village.

If it’s like other years, all the top orchid people will be there, as well as experts in other plant specialities. Drive up Kunia road toward Schofield and look for signs to get to the old gym. The theme this year is "Dedicated to Memory," honoring the recent passing of two veteran members, Waichi Takemoto and Tom Reis.

The highlight of the show is an American flag donated by Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawai‘i, which will be displayed and then presented to the owner of the orchid that wins Best in Show as selected by the Honolulu Orchid Society judging team.

The displays are inspiring, and there will also be classes on orchid culture and care, including information on the ever-popular, old-fashioned and fragrant honohono orchids.

The show is timed for the spring bloom of these lavender lovelies, and there’ll be experts to share how best to grow them.

There will be a large selection of other varieties including

phaleonopsis, miltonia and cattleya. There will also be anthuriums, tropicals and supplies for growers. To encourage visitors to make a day of being in the country, there will be booths selling traditional local foods and country-style barbecue chicken, staffed by the Kunia Community Association

Special events include demonstrations, hourly prize drawings and special recognition of the 2001st visitor, who will be presented with a basket full of orchid plants and gifts. Last year’s winner was a retired Wahiawa resident, Edward Kawahara.

Hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

Lectures include:

Intergenetics, 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Sogetsu ikebana, 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Honohono culture, 1:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Anthurium culture, 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Lyon Arboretum sale

Lyon Arboretum plays host to its spring plant sale March 24 at the NBC exhibition hall from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The arboretum, nestled in the back of Manoa Valley past Paradise Park and Manoa Falls Trail, is famous for ginger and heliconia. These lovely flowering plants do well there, and the enterprising staff continue to work on new hybrids.

One of their special plant offerings for this sale is a potted plant that also flowers. Its Latin name is Cyanastrum cordifolium and it is in the Cyanastraceae family.

The plant has deep-green, furrowed heart-shaped leaves and is very rich-looking, even without blossoms. An extra reward is the blue-violet flowers that open at the base of the plant.

Cynsastrum likes rich soil and does best in the shade. It makes an excellent potted plant or bedding plant for shady areas of your garden.

Other plants of interest, grown by different nurseries are phaleonopsis orchids - spring bloomers with long-lasting flowers in pink or white (they will bloom for up to two months if cared for properly); yellow-flowered clivia; blue and whites and paper vines (several readers have been looking for these); miniature iris; hybrid hibiscus and roses, Adenium "crystal ball," rare palms, water plants, ferns, herbs, and native Hawaiian plants.

For flower arrangers and lovers of tropicals, two special heliconias will be offered: Heliconia caribaea 'Purpurea,’ an excellent cut flower that also lasts for months on the growing plant and a lovely pink, green and cream flower, spring blooming H. Wagneriana.

See you amid the flowers!

Heidi Bornhorst is the director of the city’s five botanical gardens: Foster, Lili‘uokalani, Wahiawa, Koko Marina and Ho‘omaluhia. She also is the host for a gardening segment at 5:30 a.m. Tuesdays on KITV.

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