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HOKULANI
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
PEACE
GARDEN AND HAWAIIAN GARDEN
PHASE 2
Honolulu, Hawaii
Seven years
after the initial successful Hokulani Elementary School landscape
project, a new revitalization has taken place. Funds were provided
through a Kaulunani Urban Forestry Grant Program. This brought
Hokulani students, parents, neighbors, staff and many volunteers and
supporters together to give the garden a much needed fresh
beginning.
Here is a
little history of this public school located at the base of Saint
Louis Heights: In the year 1999, from a patch of mowed grass and
weeds which was void of any character, or spirit, a Peace Garden was
created at Hokulani Elementary School. The students had expressed a
need for a garden that they could enjoy. They wanted a tranquil
place where they could read and gather and a welcoming entrance to
school. So after years of planning and brainstorming of fresh ideas
at student meetings, the Peace Garden developed. Many groups of
people were involved in the planning phase of this school project.
Planting days were formed in which students, parents, support
organizations, staff, teachers, volunteers and the community worked
together. Fund raising was done through grants and generous
donations. A Peace Garden grew. This Peace Garden centered around
the creativity of the student’s, one-of-a-kind artistic stepping
stones that radiated in a circular pattern. This circular pattern
represented; growth, challenge and the future.
After seven
years, some of the original Native plants that had been very rare
and were seen as valuable native plants had soon disappeared, while
other plants had become overgrown and difficult to maintain during
long summer school breaks. It took their toil on this garden that
once was their pride and joy. There was even an incidence of
workers, while pruning the trees, ran over most of the original
children’s stepping stones and damaged and cracked them. Jackie
Ralya from the DLNR Division of Forestry and Wildlife called me for
help. She soon realized that I had once worked with the students of
Hokulani School to design the Peace Garden. When she discovered
that a master plan existed for the entire campus, we began a year
long re-design of the Peace Garden and the Hawaiian Garden with an
added extension of the planting at the school parking lot.
With the
support and donations from the Kaulunani Urban Forestry Grant,
irrigation suppliers, Landscape Architects, Certified Arborists,
Landscape Contractors, Native Hawaiian plant growers, the University
of Hawaii, the City and County of Honolulu and many helpful hands of
students, parents, teachers and staff, the Peace Garden and the
Hawaiian Garden were brought to life again. 2 work days with over
100 volunteers showed up to plant Native trees, shrubs and
groundcovers. A new automatic irrigation system with new headers
that separated the grass from the native groundcovers was
completed. New soil and new plants helped to revitalize the
gardens. Certified Arborist and Landscape Architects provided
expertise in the proper planting, pruning and caring of the trees
and shrubs. Students and volunteers were taught the proper way to
grade and to plant the native plants and to identify, learn and care
for Native plants. The stepping stones were patched up and once
again placed in the circular pattern shape that represented the
Peace Garden.
Outdoor
classroom spaces were designed for teachers to gather with students
under the shade of a Native Kou or the ‘A’ali’i Trees. The flat
land was graded into berms to create spaces for the new Native plant
material and to add special areas for the outdoor classrooms. The
grassy play and sitting areas are surrounded by Native plants that
the students helped select, plant, care for and watch grow. Swales
and drain inlets were added to solve the drainage problems. Native
plants and plants used by the Hawaiian Culture were added to the
parking lot to extend the planting area for a variety of plants for
the students to learn from and it also served as a screen from the
existing residential neighbors. The Peace Garden continues to be a
work in progress, with planned future art sculptures, continuation
of the stepping stones for garden pathways, children’s height
concrete seat walls for an added outdoor classroom, and unlimited
imaginative ideas enthusiastically envisioned by all of the students
who pass through the campus.
Learning from
the past, an orange colored fence was placed around the new garden
areas for the first 3 months to protect the newly planted grass,
groundcovers, shrubs and trees. It was emphasized through the
interaction with plants, the students, parents, teachers and staff
could see the importance in taking care of their garden. Future
lessons with a Certified Arborist provided further expertise to
teach the school how to care for their garden. I have encouraged
the students to weed and to especially to “talk” to the plants so as
to perhaps instill a peacefulness in their hearts through the love
of plants.
With the
planting of many Native plants the students not only are seeing how
the plants grow but they are learning about the uses of the Native
plants, such as the Kou Tree. Students are learning that the wood
as once used and continues to be used to make calabash bowls. The
seeds of the ‘Uki uki plant was used to make a blue dye. The ‘Akia
aril fruit was used to stun fish in the ocean. Some of the Native
plants are indigenous or endemic to Hawai’i, while other plants were
Polynesian introduced. These introduced plants were widely used in
the Hawaiian culture, such as the Kukui Tree for the oil from the
Kukui Nuts and the Hala Tree for leaves that were and are still used
to make lauhala mats. The use of the Native plants will help to
preserve some rare and endangered plant species and help establish
more natural habitats that will attract the indigenous insect life.
Now that the native plants are well established they are more self
sufficient, thereby creating less of a demand for water,
fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The use of the native plants
in the landscape is helping to encourage, promote and educate our
young students on how important the Native plants are to the health
of our environment while at the same time providing them an
invaluable learning opportunity.
Many of the
Native plants and plants used by the Hawaiian culture are also
Drought Tolerant. The use of drought tolerant plants combined with
the native plants is helping to create a landscape that uses much
less water.
The planting
of Native ground covers and grass rather than the use of hard
surfaces such as concrete and asphalt, helped to lower the
temperature in the environment by providing a cooling effect. This
helped to keep the moisture in the soil from evaporating, thereby
saving on irrigation. The Native ‘Ilima, Akulikuli and Naio Papa,
ground covers helped to prevent erosion by slowing water run off and
they helped to encourage water to penetrate into the soil decreasing
run off into storm drains.
The planting
of the Kukui Nut shade trees in the parking lot will help to create
a cooling effect for the students as they walk to school on the
paved walkway and it also cools the parking area. Native shade Kou
and ‘A’ali’i Trees provide this cooling effect for the students as
they sit under the trees to read.
Hokulani
Elementary School is proud to help to create a sustainable landscape
that will preserve our limited natural resources and help to plan
for future generations. And most of all, the Peace Garden is
helping to continue to teach a whole new generation of children to
protect and nurture our beautiful Hawai’i.
The students
of Hokulani once again take pride in their new Peace Garden and
Hawaiian Garden as they watch their garden grow. They share in the
pride that the garden is a product of their own creation and
imagination. They are now excited to see their garden grow are
continuously learning more about Native plants.
Hawaiian
Plants existing and newly planted at the
Peace
Garden and Hawaiian Garden:
‘A’ali’i
‘Akia
Alahe’e
‘Akulikuli
Ma’o
Milo Tree
Hala
Tree Nanu
Native Kou Tree
Kukui Nut Tree
Nehe
Loulu Palms
‘Ohi’a lehua
‘Ie’ie
Papala kepau Ilie’e
Pa’u-o-hi’iaka
‘Ilima papa
Pili
Grass Moa
Pohinahina Palapalai
Pukiawe Koaia
Koki’o ke’o ke’o Kulu’i
Koki’o
‘ula’ula
‘Uki’uki
Kupukupu
‘Ulei
Ko’oko’olau
Native White Hibiscus
Naio papa Naio
Landscape
Architect (planting): Dana Anne Yee, ASLA,
ISA CA, LEED AP
Dana Anne Yee,
Landscape Architect, LLC.
Landscape
Architect (irrigation): Joel Kurokawa, Hawaii Design
Associates, Inc.
Kaulunani
Urban Forestry Program: Jacqueline Ralya, Technical Support
Volunteer Coordinator
Principal
(project): Donna Lum, Hokulani
Elementary School
Principal
(current): Alfredo Carganilla, Hokulani
Elementary School
Landscape
Contractor: Van Goto, Green Thumb, Inc.
Photography:
Dana Anne Yee, ASLA,
ISA CA, LEED
AP
Donations: Van Goto, Green
Thumb, Inc.
Dennis
Kim, Native Plants
Brandon
Au, City and County of Honolulu, Arborist
Carol
Kwan, Arborist
Roxanne
Adams, University of Hawaii Manoa
Martin Miyashiro,
Diamond Head Sprinkler
Ron
Westmoreland, Hawaiian Earth Products;Danny Green
Michael Tanaka
and Jeff Leong, Alliance Trucking
Koga Engineering
and Construction
Hawaiian
Dredging, Home Street Bank, Vibeke Steenburg,
First Hawaiian
Bank, Karen Ah Mai
Reynaldo
Bergonio, Larry Ohta Custodian, Maintenance
Client
Information:
Name: Hokulani
Elementary School
Firm and
Company: State of Hawaii, Department of
Education
Address: 2940 Kamakini
Street
City: Honolulu
State: Hawaii
Zip
Code: 96816
Telephone: (808) 733-4789
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