Importance of Locally Grown Flowers and Plants for Mother’s Day

Importance of Locally Grown Flowers and Plants for Mother’s Day

Locally grown flowers and plants are an important alternative to imports.

 They don’t carry the risk of invasive species that comes with imported flowers and plants.

 Local farms and nurseries provide employment and make Hawai’i’s economy more sustainable.

For these reasons, the State of Hawai’i Department of Agriculture created the “Buy Local, It Matters”campaign. The Department gives grants for projects that contribute to the production and sale of locally grown flowers and plants as an alternative to imports. A recent grant was made to the Hawai’i Floriculture and Nursery Association (HFNA) for workshops and public outreach.

HFNA’s floral design workshop last July featured renowned floral designer Hitomi Gilliam, A.I.F.D. She demonstrated floral arrangements for special occasions made with locally grown flowers and plants. Two of these were for Mother’s Day which is coming up on May 14th.

A two part video was produced and is now airing on public access TV channels state-wide. The video is entitled, “Floral Designs for Mother’s Day” and features highlights of the floral design workshop. This is followed by a segment that explains the importance of locally grown flowers, foliage and plants and features Sam Gon, Senior Scientist and Cultural Advisor for The Nature Conservancy in Hawai’i.

The video program will be shown on Ho’ike Kaua’i Community Television, the community access television provider on Kaua’i. It will be telecast on Oceanic Time Warner Cable Television as follows:

Channel 54

Thur.,   5/4     8:28 pm

Fri.,      5/5      8:00 pm

Sat.,      5/6      9:28 am, 11:33 am, 8:34 pm

Mon.,      5/8      8:00 am, 1:00 pm, 7:00 pm

Tues.,     5/9      9:00 am, 2:00 pm, 9:30 pm

Wed.,     5/10      9:30 am, 2:00 pm, 7:00 pm

Thurs.,    5/11      9:30 am, 1:00 pm, 4:30 pm, 10:00 pm

Fri.,     5/12      9:00 am, 1:00 pm, 7:00 pm

Sat.,     5/13      4:00 pm, 9:30 pm

Contact: Eric Tanouye, President

PO Box 5640 * Hilo, Hawaii 96720

gpn@greenpointnursery.com * 808-960- 1433 * www.hawaiineotropica.com

Alternate Contact: Judy Schilling, Recording Secretary

PO Box 5640 * Hilo, Hawaii 96720

hfnajudy@gmail.com * 808-966- 9926 * www.hawaiineotropica.com

Photo – Hitomi Gilliam at the workshop described

Photo – Arrangement made by Hitomi Gilliam for Mother’s Day