More than 2,000 plants are scheduled to be given away at the Arbor Day Plant Give-away, Saturday from 9 a.m. behind the K-mart store at the Kukui Grove Center. Hosted by the Kaua‘i Landscape Council, each person attending the event
More than 2,000 plants are scheduled to be given away at the Arbor Day Plant Give-away, Saturday from 9 a.m. behind the K-mart store at the Kukui Grove Center.
Hosted by the Kaua‘i Landscape Council, each person attending the event will receive one free plant on entering and has the potential to “earn” more plants by stopping at the educational booths.
A Keiki Table where kids can get their hands dirty by planting vegetable starts to learn how plants grow, states a release from the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Plants which are scheduled to be distributed include many common native plants as well as popular ornamentals.
On Friday, the state’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife will open the doors of its Pua Loke Nursery from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for its annual plant sale in celebration of Hawai‘i’s Arbor Day.
The Friday sale marks 43 years since the first DOFAW plant sale was held in 1968.
Plants being offered at the DOFAW sale include some on the federally listed threatened and endangered lists and used by the state for its conservation programs.
This year’s sale includes the rare Hau kuahiwi, or Hibiscadelphus distans, identifiable by its small green tubular flower, the yellow hibiscus and state flower, Ma‘o hau hele, or Hibiscus brackenridgei, the endemic lobelia Kaua‘i Delissea, or Delissea rhytidosprerma, and ‘Ohai, or Sesbania tomentosa, known for its salmon and scarlet pea-shaped flowers.
Other native plants include the popular white hibiscus, Kokio ke‘o ke‘o, or Hibiscus waimeae subspecies waimeae, endemic to Waimea Valley on Kaua‘i and prized for its large fragrant white flowers, the small native fan palm Loulu, or Pritchardia minor, ideal for any yard, and Alahe‘e, or Psydrax odorata, a shrub to small tree indigenous to Hawai‘i and other parts of the Pacific. The canoe plant Noni, or Morinda citrifolia, valued for its medicinal qualities, will also be available for purchase.
Two non-invasive ornamentals, cherished for its fragrant blossoms used in lei making, the Pua kenikeni, or Fagraea berteroana, and the Tahitian gardenia Tiare, or Gardenia taitensis, are local favorites.
Plant prices start from $3.
Call 274-3433 for information on the DOFAW sale, and 821-1490 for information on the Saturday free plant giveaway.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
