Youngsters and their families can get reintroduced to Oahu’s botanical gardens, thanks to some free Zoom classes offered by Honolulu Botanical Gardens, a division of the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
The classes will be staged at one of three botanical gardens on Oahu — Foster Botanical Garden, Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden or Wahiawa Botanical Garden — to “entice visitors to try and come visit us,” said Iris Fukunaga, recreation specialist for Honolulu Botanical Gardens. Those gardens, along with the Lili‘uokalani Botanical Garden and the Koko Crater Botanical Garden, reopened in May, and the city hopes that visitors will come now that pandemic restrictions are lifting.
Two hourlong classes for keiki — Preschool Nature Hour — ages 3 to 6 are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. July 20 and Aug. 17. The classes will cover ducks and fish, and summer fun activities, respectively.
“We have tilapia and grass carp” at Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden, Fukunaga said. “When they’re feeding the fish, it’s like there’s this little pool of orange fish.”
Class participants can get tips on growing flowers for lei (ages 8 and up) or making a lauhala bracelet (ages 10 and up). In the class on lei flowers, scheduled for 11 a.m. July 27, people learn what flowers retain their beauty and how to propagate them.
“A lot of people think that, to have a lei garden, you need a lot of space and a lot of variety,” Fukunaga said. “We tell people you just need five to seven varieties to make a lei, and you only need a dozen to 15 different flowers.”
Other subjects include building a terrarium (June 24, ages 8 and up), and learning about canoe plants and making a toy canoe (Aug. 5, ages 5 and up).
The courses originated before the pandemic as in-person sessions, Fukunaga said. Using Zoom will allow for interactivity between students and instructors. “I’ll have my botanist here or other people on staff that are actually answering (questions) in the chat room,” Fukunaga said.
For information on the Honolulu Botanical Gardens system and to register for a class, visit the city Parks and Recreation Department’s online system at pros7.hnl.info, click on Gardens and select any of the five botanical gardens. Click on “View Garden Activities” on the right-hand side of the screen for a comprehensive list of classes and instructions on obtaining a Zoom link to a class. Class size is limited.
