Mark your calendar for Jan. 29 for the the Master Gardener Plant Sale at the Komohana Research and Extension Complex in Hilo.
The event, which will run 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will be the first in-person plant sale since the start of the pandemic, according to Master Gardener Mark Neider, the UHCTAHR East Hawaii Master Gardeners. Plants that will be for sale (cash only) include natives, perennial edibles, vegetable starts, and a variety of ornamental landscape plants for your home garden.
UH Seed Lab developed seeds will also be available. There will also be tables with information from Master Gardeners and guest vendors including Ant Lab, 4-H, UH, and Hilo Orchid Society. Through the program’s website cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu, the public can also order seeds, as well as during the Friday Helpline Hours. For details, contact the helpline from 9 a.m. to noon at (808) 969-8203. Also to get involved in the Master Gardener program you may contact Russell Galanti, Master Gardener Coordinator at the Komohana Ag Complex in Hilo. The number is (808) 746-0910 or email rgalanti@hawaii.edu.
When it comes to community outreach, the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources’ Extension Service is comparable to the way Peace Corps reaches out to folks in other countries. The Master Gardener program is an important component of the UHCTAHR Extension Service. That program is set up to assist local folks with home gardening issues.
Hawaii is unique in its horticultural blend of plants and landscapes. Although we live in the tropics, gardening is heavily influenced by the ways of Europe and the Americas. This plus Asian, Polynesian and African agricultural influences have made landscaping and gardening fun but a bit complicated.
Fortunately, the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources has been active in the development of the Master Gardener Program in Hawaii County. If you decide to get involved with the program you will have 45 hours of classroom and hands on horticultural training plus on going continuing education.
Course topics include basic botany, native plants, nutrition, insect and disease management, propagation, pruning and much more. Once you finish the course you will become a local expert to assist others to be better gardeners. Master Gardeners also have several outings each year and get involved with community landscape projects.
Registration for future class series will be announced if enough folks sign up, so keep in touch with UH Extension agents in Hilo and Kona. Some past class series field trips included the Kona Cloud Forest Sanctuary in Kaloko Mauka. There, Master Gardeners have planted native hibiscus and collected seed of the famous Blue Marble, (Eleaocarpus grandis) trees used in the making of prayer beads. This tree is closely related to our Hawaiian specie, Eleaocarpus bifidus or Kalia. Hawaiians made cordage of the inner bark and used the branches in constructing pili grass houses according to Marie C. Neal’s book, “In Gardens Of Hawaii.”
The sanctuary is open to the public, by appointment only. You may check out the website at www.konacloudforest.com or call (808) 491-2369 to arrange guided tours. The 70-acre tropical cloud forest sanctuary is dedicated to teaching living forest friendly and to remind folks that our forests are the lungs of the planet. Most of the land is native forest, but 15 acres that were originally pasture are now totally reforested with a variety of plants and trees. These were donated by plant societies and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Wildlife. Trees were then planted by Master Gardeners, 4-H, Scouts and local plant societies. Once the aggressive Kikuyu grass was suppressed by shade, many native plants began to reestablish themselves. Hawaii Island Land Trust and Moku Keawe Land Conservancy are cooperating in preserving the sanctuary forest, as well.
To learn more about the Master Gardener program in West Hawaii, contact Ty McDonald, UH Extension agent at (808) 322-4893 or by email at tym@hawaii.edu.
