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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, April 1, 2010

Bishop Museum breaks ground for native garden

Advertiser Staff

Bishop Museum is adding a new outdoor exhibit to its 12-acre campus focused on Hawai'i's indigenous plants. Groundbreaking for the Native Hawaiian Garden will take place noon Friday on the Great Lawn.

"This is the museum's first step in remaking its entire campus into a 'living exhibit' of native and Polynesian-introduced plants which link the cultural artifacts on display in Hawaiian Hall," president and CEO Timothy Johns said in a press release.

The garden is expected to be complete this summer, when time Bishop Museum will offer daily educational programming and garden tours. The garden will highlight the following zones:

• Coastal — representing what voyagers may have seen upon reaching a Hawaiian shoreline, featuring plants such as 'ilima and hinahina.

• Canoe Plant Section — to feature plants brought to Hawai'i by the islands' first settlers, such as hala, 'ulu, coconut, and kalo.

• Native Dry Forest — replicating the theory of how Hawai'i's forests may have looked in early times.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye will be attending the event as the project is being developed as part of Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations (ECHO), a program which is administered by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement.

Tomorrow's program will including remarks by Johns and Sen. Inouye, a blessing ceremony, and refreshments. For more information, call 847-3511.