By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

The e-mail Lois Taylor sent out started with this proclamation:

"The little old ladies in tennies and sun visors prevailed."

Members of the Garden Club of Honolulu were excited to learn that their project was chosen for the Garden Club of America's Founders Fund. The award of $25,000 will go to support the club's work at the Women's Community Correctional Center in Olomana.

"This is quite a surprise," Taylor wrote. "Never has the Garden Club of Honolulu won anything on this level before, and it will change the lives, we think, of the women in prison."

The project has been full of surprises. In the beginning, some of the club members were reluctant, even afraid, to go into the women's prison to teach classes in gardening. That didn't last long. Members soon found that sharing their knowledge in growing vegetables and flowers, hydroponics, flower arranging and Hawaiian medicinal plants was a joyful thing.

It all started in 2000, when the prison acquired several small trees to improve its landscaping. Some of the Garden Club members helped the inmates with planting and advised on the maintenance of the trees.

The inmates were enthusiastic. The Garden Club members wanted to do more. Then, a weed- and vine-covered section of the correctional center grounds started to look ripe with possibilities.

The club invested $20,000 to help pay for a hydroponic nursery, greenhouse, tool shed and planting material.

The program is meant to teach the inmates employment skills so they can find work in landscaping, plant nursery or flower cultivation upon their release. The symbolism of growing healthy vegetables and beautiful flowers out of what was formerly forgotten land didn't escape anyone involved.

"A less definable asset of the program is to acquaint the women with the concept of nurturing something, teaching them about the caring treatment for a plant — or a child or a parent. Many of them have never had the opportunity to give this much thought," wrote Jane Morris of the Garden Club.

The money from the Garden Club of America Founders Fund will be used to create a lo'i where taro will be cultivated. Right now, the garden covers just under an acre. The goal is to fill 10 acres with cultivated plants.

"It was a real stretch for the Honolulu project to win because traditionally the candidates are for improving public parks, playground projects for kids, installing gardens in historic landmarks and the like. Women prisoners didn't seem to fit the picture, but we understand that the Honolulu project won overwhelmingly," Taylor said.

The program at WCCC is a partnership among the Garden Club, the Lani-Kailua Outdoor Circle and the State Department of Public Safety.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.