Page 12 - MidWeek - June 7, 2023

12 MIDWEEK JUNE 7, 2023
COVER STORY
(From Left) Sharon Williams, Kitty Wo, Phyllis Wong Lee, Janice Lau Fergus, Bertie Lee, Nancy Shaw and Emmy Seymour prepare for The Garden Club of Honolulu’s major flower show, which will be held later this month.
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Enthusiasm is building for The Garden Club of Honolulu’s major flower and horticulture show, set for June 23-25.
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of Honolulu for the past 33 years. Yet as she excitedly prepares for the group’s up- coming flower show — its first since 2018 — she can’t help but also feel a bit ner- vous.
“impacted the museum in a big way.”
hyllis Wong Lee has been a member of The Garden Club
“We really hope that peo- ple haven’t forgotten us and that they’ll come because it’s been so long,” says Lee, the event’s chair. “The last time we had this show was in 2018 because we had to wait until now to do this. It’s getting close, and we’re working very excitedly and hoping everything will go well.”
the mainland organization’s different clubs will travel to O‘ahu to select this year’s show winners.
mine,” says Lee. “When I was asked to chair the show, part of my responsibility was to come up with a theme, and because of the importance of our oceans — and not only just ‘our’ oceans but oceans beyond the reef — is how I came up with that theme.”
to create beautiful works of art.
Celeste Connors, Samu- el Gon II, Matthew Keir, Nainoa Thompson, Chipper Wichman, Aulani Wilhelm and Ulalia Woodside.
Scheduled for June 23-25 at Honolulu Museum of Art, the annual show normal- ly takes place every three years. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 event was canceled.
Lee selected this year’s show theme, “Oceans: Be- yond the Reef,” as a state- ment that these massive bodies of water are precious resources that need protec- tion now and in the future.
This year’s show will feature a variety of focuses including exhibits in floral design, horticulture (the practice of cultivating gar- den plants), photography, education, conservation and botanical arts — the latter of which utilizes plant material
Among the show’s high- lights will be a Hawaiian ca- noe featuring “canoe plants” brought to the islands by ear- ly Polynesians to sustain life. The display will feature a four-person canoe carved by woodcrafter Douglas “McD” Philpotts.
The show will also honor Alice Guild in recognition of her continuing contribu- tions of leadership, talent and knowledge to the Garden Club of Honolulu and the community. A club member since 1987, Guild served as its president from 1992 to 1994 and chaired the 1998 major flower show.
The shutdown, she notes,
The Garden Club of Ho- nolulu is a part of the Garden Club of America, and nearly 100 judges from throughout
“When we think about our theme, we don’t think just horticulture. We’ve had themes that we hope were relatable to the communi- ty and oceans came about. It was a personal choice of
In addition, a video will play at specified times in Do- ris Duke Theatre featuring notable experts who work in the area of biocultural con- servation in Hawai‘i. The ex- perts include Kevin Chang,
Putting together such a
SEE PAGE 13