'Hawai'i Calls' to flower lovers
By Heidi Bornhorst
The Garden Club of Honolulu really knows how to do a "wow" flower show. Those who attended won't forget the rain forest-themed show the club did three years ago. People learned a lot about the value and beauty of precious rainforests from that extraordinary exhibit.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Well, the Garden Club is about to do it again and you don't want to miss it! This exhibit happens only once every three years. This year, the major flower show is themed "Hawai'i Calls" and takes place April 27-29 at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
This miniature water garden by Judy Peterson was an entry in the 1998 Honolulu Garden Club show.
Specially sanctioned by the Garden Club of America, this competitive event and exhibit will include both horticulture and flower arranging entries that evoke the theme "Hawai'i Calls," from the famous radio show which ran for more than 40 years beneath the historic Indian banyan tree at theMoana Hotel.
Among the classes in flower arranging are "Tiny Bubbles"
(a miniature display not to exceed five inches in any direction); "Hawai'i Calls" (an arrangement to complement the sheet music title cover of a Hawaiian song. The cover will be enlarged to 28 inches-by-20 inches to accompany the flower arrangement), and "Sea Dreams" (a suspended arrangement).
Nine classes in horticulture will carry titles such as "Sweet Leilani" (scented plants), "My Little Grass Shack" (a miniature landscape), and "A Song of Old Hawai'i" (a flat square containing succulents to be displayed on a four-poster koa bed frame in a Hawaiian quilt pattern.)
Thirty-five Garden Club of America-approved judges from across the United States will judge the horticulture and flower arranging entries.
In addition, The Garden Club of Honolulu will showcase two educational exhibits.
"Aloha 'oe ... until we meet again" is an exhibit on endangered native plants of Hawai'i. The goal of this exhibit is to create an awareness of our Hawaiian endangered native plants and the understanding of the Hawai'i state law, Act 381, regarding endangered plants. The objective is to encourage the propagation and protection of these endangered plants.
"Don't Fence Me In ... I'll be bugging you" is an exhibit on alien bugs in Hawai'i. The educational display focuses on alien insects in Hawai'i and how some bugs live in harmony with each other and plant life, while others harm, and even kill plants in our tropical gardens. This is important for us to know as we try to garden in harmony with nature.
A special display in the Central Court, inside the main Academy entrance, will feature a "Hawai'i Calls" exhibit reminiscent of the period in which "Hawai'i Calls" was broadcast. In addition, the Garden Club of Honolulu has invited the Cactus and Succulent Society of Hawai'i to be a guest exhibitor. The society is an
independent affiliate group associated with the Cactus and Succulent Society of America. Like the national organization, the society is dedicated to education, environmental protection, and preservation of cacti and succulents, many of which are threatened and endangered.
Founded in 1930, the Garden Club of Honolulu strives to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening and horticulture among its membership and general public, and to promote and participate in the restoration, improvement and protection of the environment through programs and actions in conservation, civic improvement and education. The Garden Club of Honolulu held its last major show in 1998.
Heidi Bornhorst is director of Honolulu's botanical gardens — Foster, Lili'uokalani, Wahiawa, Koko Crater, Ho'omaluhia. Write to her care of The Advertiser Homestyle section, P.O. Box 3110, Honolulu, HI 96802. Or e-mail her at islandlife@honoluluadvertiser.com
