City’s largest botanical garden celebrates 40th anniversary with new exhibits

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The city’s largest botanical garden is celebrating a big milestone.

Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden turned 40 in March, but is holding a series of events all summer long to mark the anniversary.

Hoomaluhia, located in Kaneohe, is the city’s largest of five botanical gardens in the Honolulu Botanical Garden system. Not only is it a photogenic backdrop for nearly 600,000 visitors a year, but the garden also acts as flood protection for Kaneohe, according to the City and County of Honolulu.

To celebrate 40 years open to the public, the garden’s visitor center will be dedicated to Paul R. Weissich, a late director of HBG, in July. With almost 20 years of service to the city’s garden system, Weissich helped establish the five HBG locations across the island.

“He truly conceived and championed Hoomaluhia from its inception,” said current HBG Director Joshlyn Sand, in a press release.

The visitor center will be renamed the Paul R. Weissich Education Center at Hoomaluhia Botanical Garden and will host two new exhibits from July through August.

One exhibit will showcase photographs from Hoomaluhia, Foster, Koko Crater, Lili’uokalani and Wahiawa botanical gardens. The other will be a dedication to Olive L. Vanselow, a program specialist who served 36 years at Hoomaluhia.

The celebration comes with activities for all ages. Kids can sign up to participate in the Hoomaluhia Garden Critters Art Contest until July 20.

The “fun-spirited contest” encourages kids between the ages of 3 to 17 years old to create a three dimensional piece of artwork out of recycled materials.

To enter and see the contest rules, click here.

Submit any artwork entries to the Hoomaluhia Visitor Center. Entries will be displayed in the center until Aug. 30.

Visit Hoomaluhia:

• Location: 45-680 Luluku Rd. Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744
• Hours: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
• Admission: Free

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