Category: Flowers & Nursery

February 12, 2012 Flowers & Nursery, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Say it with flowers but don’t expect everything to be rosy

AUSTRALIAN flower crops, struggling to bloom through a dark and damp summer, are under threat this Valentine’s Day from foreign imports.

”It’s just about impact,” said Tim Baber, of PoHo Flowers in Potts Point, who will be stocking more Colombian roses this year.

”Most guys almost always opt for the Colombians because the bud is about 3-4 centimetres across and the local is about 2.5.
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”When you multiply across a dozen stems it makes a big difference”.

”They’re [local growers] going to lose out,” said Mr Baber.

An overcast La Nina summer has made flowers bloom more slowly and produce smaller buds. Wet and humid weather also exposes maturing flowers to mould and rot.

”Half our crop isn’t going to flower in time for Valentine’s Day,” said Gabriella Zaia, of T&G Growers in Horsley Park.

”We’ve had constant rain. We’re spraying for fungicide and pesticide. It’s been a really tough time.”

The poor weather has given Colombian exporters a greater foothold in the local flower market over the past year despite their higher price. At PoHo Colombian roses sell for $160 a dozen compared with $120 for local varieties

Colombian roses grow fat in the high altitude of the Andean mountains. The greater exposure to sunlight allows them to bloom over four months,

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January 15, 2012 Flowers & Nursery, Gardening, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

All about Palms with William Merwin and Leland Miyano

MALP Educational Meeting—Free to the public

Date: Tuesday January 24, 2012
Place: Maui Community Service Bldg next to CTHAR Extension Services (Map) on the UH Maui campus.
Time: Pupus will be served at 6:30 pm and the talk will begin at 7:00.

On January 24th MALP is proud to host guest speakers: William Merwin and Leland Miyano as they share with us their vast combined knowledge about palms. Their talk will include information on Hawaii’s palms, palm growth habits and conservation efforts.

William Merwin, who has twice won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry and is the recent US Poet Laureate, has lived and gardened on Maui for over 30 years. Most of his focus has been on cultivating palms from around the world. He has gathered approximately 800 different species of palms, creating a truly unique palm jungle within the rainforest of Maui’s north shore. His enduring gardening passion along with his legacy of being a successful poet will be preserved with the recently created “The Merwin Conservancy“.

Leland Miyano, a good friend of Merwin, is an artist, landscape designer and author from Oahu. Leland has years of experience working with native palms throughout Hawaii and has worked extensively with many highly respected people in the field of horticulture and design. Leland’s numerous books include: Hawaii’s Beautiful Tree’s and Hawaii, A Floral Paradise. Leland’s own 1-acre garden in Kahalu’u is renown for its design and features numerous palms.

CLICK HERE for full information on this truly notable event.

February 28, 2011 Flowers & Nursery, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Illinois expert on orchids to bring rarity to islands

The last specimen of a rare Hawaiian orchid on Kauai will be joined next week by a half-dozen of its descendants in its home.

An Illinois botany professor who successfully reproduced the Platanthera holochila is expected to bring about 90 plants to Hawaii next week.

The orchid is extinct on Oahu and nonexistent on the Big Island, but Maui has about 20 plants living in the wild and about 20 live on Molokai. The only known specimen on Kauai lives in the Alakai Swamp within a fence that protects it from goats and pigs.

One of three orchid species endemic to Hawaii, the plant is the rarest of all three and appears somewhat unglamorous for an orchid, said Wendy Kishida, Kauai coordinator of the Plant Extinction Prevention Program.

It can grow to be several feet tall with hundreds of greenish-yellow flowers that bloom from spikes around the stem, according to some descriptions.

Chipper Wichman, director and chief executive officer of the National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kauai, said botanists have seen the plant’s population decline over 20 years from about four plants to one. He said no one has been able to propagate the plant.

“This is really a success story,” he said. “This is a huge breakthrough for us.”

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February 7, 2011 Flowers & Nursery, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

New gardens director to infuse more native culture

KAHULUI The new executive director of Maui Nui Botanical Gardens wants to cultivate public interest in what she calls “a cultural gem in the middle of Kahului.”

Joylynn Jennifer-Nedine Mailemekalokelanionakupuna Nakoa Kaho’okele Paman took over as head of the 7-acre facility last week.

She succeeds Lisa Schattenburg-Raymond, who is teaching at the University of Hawaii Maui College, and Anders Lyons, who served as interim executive director.

Paman’s vision for Maui Nui Botanical Gardens may sprout partially from having studied Hawaiian language for 18 years.

“My vision here is to infuse the Hawaiian culture even more than it already is into this place. I come from a strong Hawaiian culture and language background, and so I just see the potential in sharing our Hawaiian culture with the community.

“The board wants to make sure that people know about this place. . . . It’s like a cultural gem in the middle of Kahului that we really need to share with everyone else.”

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November 21, 2010 Flowers & Nursery, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Florist brings attention and care to arrangements

If you look back at the photos, the flowers are exactly the same.

Friston Ho’okano had to make sure Abercrombie’s flowers were just as tall as Hannemann’s, that Hanabusa’s heliconias were just as showy as Djou’s.

“It’s not just throwing flowers together. Florists work so hard,” he said. “I was there with my tape measure.”

Ho’okano, 47, did the floral arrangements for all four televised debates on KGMB this year. You might not have noticed how perfect each arrangement was, but if one candidate had droopy gingers or dying fronds, your eye would be drawn to that instantly. Instead, he helped make the stage look dressed, but not overdressed; and more polished than some areca palms in plastic pots, with a definite Hawaii aesthetic.

“For a piece in front of a podium, I always plan a slender design so the attention points up to the candidate’s face,” he said.

Ho’okano has worked in several Oahu flower shops and counts most florists on the island as his friends. He had his own shop, Waimalu Florist, for four years before moving to Ribbons n Rainbows in Kapolei.

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November 14, 2010 Flowers & Nursery, General Ag News and Notes Post a Comment

Ag officials urge buying local for the holidays

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Hawaii has a lot of beautiful flowers that are available year-round. But we still think of evergreens and holly when it comes to Christmas decorations.

“I guess we’re kind of conditioned,” said Eric Tanouye, Vice President and General Manager of Green Point Nurseries of Hilo. “We’re all to blame for that. We’re looking for that certain look that maybe we grew up with.

But Hawaii’s agriculture community wants us to consider buying local plants and flowers. “Our locally produced flowers and plants make beautiful arrangements that could be used for holidays. Home settings, entertaining, at the office,” Tanouye said.

Tanouye was among those at the first annual “Buy Local for the Holidays” event Sunday at the Department of Agriculture’s plant quarantine branch facility near Sand Island. Floral designers from around the state were on hand, putting together flower arrangements. The public was also invited to create their own small floral arrangements to take home.

Organizers said there were two big reasons to buy local. First, export orders for Hawaii’s cut flower industry have fallen during the current economic downturn, and buying local would create a homegrown economic stimulus. Second, it would prevent invasive species from entering the state.

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