PUHI — A garden is one of the first things people ask about when they visit the Regency at Puakea, said Kathy Peters. The general manager for the Puhi retirement community welcomed students from the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School Leadership
PUHI — A garden is one of the first things people ask about when they visit the Regency at Puakea, said Kathy Peters.
The general manager for the Puhi retirement community welcomed students from the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School Leadership Class recently when they arrived to work with residents in creating and planting a small garden during an event the students labeled a Garden Festival.
Armed with an assortment of bedding plants and seeds — and a lot of enthusiasm and energy — the students set up an indoor station where residents could decorate a terra cotta pot with paint and have a plant transplanted in it for a decorative touch in their rooms.
Outdoors, Tifney Bertram, the Leadership Class adviser, worked with Carolyn Price, a sixth-grade student, and more student volunteers in helping residents select plants for a special planter box created by her father.
“We do a Leadership project each month,” Price said. “And since I like flowers, gardening, herbs and vegetables, this worked right in.”
Price said her dad built the planter boxes after working with the landscaping people at Regency at Puakea, but she decided to add another tier to give the arrangement some variety.
“This project was thinking outside the box,” Price said. “There are lots of other groups who do beach cleanups and things like that. This is a little more than that.”
Price said originally, they were only going to plant seeds in October, but that didn’t work out.
But through the h elp of Bertram and The Home Depot store manager Brian Pearson, the group ended up with starters and seeds to set out in the box, the effort drawing the interest of several residents who were thrilled to discover vegetables being planted and relishing the idea of having their “own” vegetables added to the menu.
Bertram said the exercise was good because CKMS does not have a garden or an agricultural program.
During the growing period, the students will be able to check on the progress of the plants they set in and help with the watering and maintenance, she said.
Bertram is hopeful that one day, CKMS will be able to utilize the unused green houses on its campus and have some agriculture programs re-established for those students who have an interest.
