Growing plant pros

The University of Hawaii Master Gardener program is offering a new educational series geared toward children at its Urban Garden Center in Pearl City.

In the first of the series, "Gardening with Kids: Getting Started!" on April 13, kids and parents learned the basics of how to start a garden in their own backyards.

Children were treated to popcorn and watched "Tinkerbell: The Secret of Wings," followed by a tour of the Children’s Garden and a hands-on planting of sunflowers, which have since grown out of the ground.

Each participating child was given sunflower seeds to plant at home.

Master Gardener coordinator Jayme Grzebik said the focus is on nurturing the next generation of gardeners with hands-on experiences.

"It’s so important to get them engaged in nature at a young age," said Grzebik. "It really makes a difference because they’ll keep that wonder, excitement and enthusiasm about nature into their adulthood. Having that is how we make great decisions for a better environment."

The Urban Garden Center is run by the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Cooperative Extension Service, which serves as a one-stop educational center for the public.

Besides school outreach programs, master gardeners answer plant questions and offer gardening demonstrations.

The UH Urban Garden Center, located on 30 acres makai of Home Depot in Pearl City, is also home to an expansive Children’s Garden.

Visitors enter through a rainbow gate and have numerous themed gardens to explore, including a pizza garden, featuring herbs and vegetables; an animal garden, with a collection of plants and trees with animal names; a Hawaiian alphabet tree garden; a sundial garden; and a butterfly garden, complete with a kid-sized worm tunnel covered in creeping fig. The newest addition, the Alika Rabbit garden, is inspired by Bea­trix Potter’s "The Tale of Peter Rabbit."

A topic will be introduced each month as part of Second Saturday at the Garden!

All classes are free (but donations welcome) and run from 9 a.m. to noon.

To preregister for workshops, call 453-6050. Visit www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/ougc for more details.

Here’s the monthly lineup through the summer:

» May 11: "Lei Day in the Garden!" Children and adults can make a kupee, or lei wristlet, and tour the Children’s Garden. Hosted by the Oahu Association for Family and Community Education.

» June 8: "Let’s Plant!" Learn how to sow seeds, build raised beds or containers, weed, mulch and harvest.

» July 13: "Organic and Sustainable Pest Management." Learn more about tropical insects and diseases that attack plants and how to cope with them to keep gardens thriving.

» August 10: "The Life of Plants." Includes interactive games that teach children how plants grow, as well as how to think like a plant.

The Urban Garden Center is at 955 Kame­ha­meha Highway (entry gate is on the Diamond Head end of the Public Storage/Home Depot parking lot).