SATURDAY SCOOPS
Beauty from your back yard

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Ele Potts created this arrangement using common garden materials: a pu'olo (bundle) of ti leaves with stephanotis and plumeria is both fragrant and beautiful. Photos by Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser Materials for leaf arrangements Fabric fastener such as Velcro Florist's foam such as Oasis Chopsticks Knife, scissors Glue dots Bamboo skewers Straight pins Fern pins Leaves Lemons, bananas, figs, seeds

During the classes she teaches at Lyon Arboretum for the Garden Club of Honolulu, Potts demonstrates how to make simple leaves into a sculptural arrangements. You, too, can create your own floral centerpieces with a bit of know-how:

• Cut a notch in the rib of the leaf and stick your thumb under the rib, pushing it until it separates entirely from the leaf. (The same method is used to prepare ti leaves for laulau.)
• Wet a block of florist's foam and stick the leaves into it with a fern pin or straight pins.
• Shape the leaves into scallops, waves, spirals, a pu'olo (bundle or packet) or any shape you choose.
• Bend thin leaves such as lily or lauhala to make loops and curved shapes. (Be sure to rid lauhala leaves of their thorny sides.)
• Hook-and-loop fabric fastener or glue dots can help stick the leaf to itself or to another surface, such as a gourd or vase.
• To add color, use a bamboo skewer (Potts refers to them as "the universal tool") to affix lemons, limes or bananas (the red ones are especially beautiful) to the leaves and florist's foam.

Potts said leaves can also be trimmed and cut to change their shape. Short, sturdy leaves can be effective in a pedestal arrangement with a few flowers, berries or seed pods.

Coconut boats make lovely centerpieces when filled with succulents, tiny tillandsia or sea grapes and sea shells.

Fresh fruit such as lemons or bananas can be stuck into florist's foam to add color to a leaf arrangement.		After stripping the ti leaf, Potts can shape it using a fabric fastener such as Velcro, a wooden pick, pins or skewers.

Ford Island electric-vehicle marathon is coming to a small screen near you

If you weren't able to make it to Ford Island a couple of Saturdays ago for the annual Electron Marathon, turn on the television this weekend for a look at the high school teams that raced their electric vehicles to glory or disaster.

This was the ninth year of the event, sponsored by the Hawaiian Electric Co. and the Navy. Who won? Find out at 6:30 tonight or at 1 p.m. tomorrow on KITV.

Go with your flow the feng-shui way

What's your best color, shape, season?

Learn all about your personal feng shui, and how to improve your positive energy, at a free program at 1 p.m. today in the lobby of the Hawai'i State Library. Feng-shui practitioner Alan Lum will conduct the session. 586-3529.

Show you care by donating cuddly stuffed animals

The goal is to collect 3,566 teddy bears — the same number of confirmed reports of child abuse in Hawai'i last year. The stuffed animals will be distributed to shelters, children's hospitals and support groups.

The round-up takes place 10 a.m.-2 p.m. near Payless ShoeSource. There's entertainment, too, with performers such as Halau Hula O Nalei O Kamakani, Marania Haoragi Tahitian Group, Greg Gabaylo, Tradewinds, Ike Pono and Vaihi. And

Winnie-the-Pooh will be there to collect the teddy bears.

Party at the plantation

You can do more than get lost at the Dole Plantation Maze 6th Birthday Bash, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. today: Hip-hop dance troupe Hypersquad will perform, along with the Helemano Elementary 'Ukulele Club and Waialua High School's Uprising Roots. The free event honors the Pineapple Garden Maze — dubbed the "World's Largest Maze" by the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records — and features family-friendly activities such as keiki crafts, Easter egg-dying, free balloons, a magician and grinds galore.

Party-goers can also visit the country store and farmers' market showcasing baked goods and produce from the Wahiawa and North Shore communities. For information, see www.dole-plantation.com.

'Sumo' and 'Mona Lisa Smile' at Queen's Surf beach event

Sunset on the Beach returns to Queen's Surf Beach in Waikiki today and tomorrow with food booths, entertainment and movies.

Today's event is being held in conjunction with the Spring Fling film festival, presented by the Hawaii International Film Festival. The featured movie, "Sumo East and West," is one of 20 to be screened at Spring Fling, which continues through Thursday at the Signature Dole Theatres. "Sumo" looks at the difficult life of the traditional Japanese sport and includes footage of Hawai'i's Akebono, Konishiki and Takamiyama.

Tomorrow night's featured film is the drama "Mona Lisa Smile," starring Julia Roberts as an idealistic new teacher at Wellesley in the 1950s.

Sunset on the Beach begins at 4 p.m. each day. The films hit the 30-foot screen after the sun goes down. Admission is free.

For fashion students, a little competitive dummy-dressing

Spring brings back popular plant sale

Of the many crowd-drawing things happening this weekend at the Blaisdell Center and environs (today's Spring Wiki Wiki One Day Vintage Collectibles and Hawaiiana Show, the Pacific Handcrafters Guild arts/crafts festival today and tomorrow at Thomas Square), best bet is today's Spring Plant Sale, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at the exhibition hall.

This is the sale Island gardeners look forward to. But even if you're the owner of a brown thumb, you can appreciate the beauty of the foliage offered and won't be disappointed by the yummy jams and jellies for sale. Other attractions: demonstrations, fresh lei, advice from plant doctors.

It's sponsored by the Lyon Arboretum. Admission is free.