Rooted in Indigenous knowledge, three UH Hilo colleges collaborate on Medicinal Garden

Posted on June 2, 2026June 4, 2026 by Staff

The mission of the new Medicinal Garden is to support experiential learning for students and to collaborate and share traditional knowledge of medicinal plants with both university and local communities.

Woman waters garden plot. — The Medicinal Garden on the campus of UH Hilo is one of the newest community projects of the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management. It’s a collaborative project with the agriculture, pharmacy, and Hawaiian studies colleges along with several local community groups. (Photo: CAFNRM/UH Hilo)

Story by Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories.

Students from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo agriculture college have started a medicinal garden on campus as an integral part of several sustainable gardens used as hands-on labs. The goal is to explore the medicinal plants of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region with the support and involvement of not just the aggies, but also the university community and several community groups.

Norman Arancon portrait in outdoor setting. — Norman Arancon

The Medicinal Garden is one of the newest community projects of the College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resource Management headed by Norman Arancon, professor of horticulture and director of the college. Arancon teaches a course on sustainable agriculture and for years his students have managed their own garden plots on campus, learning hands-on what it takes to care for a garden or a bigger farm later on. Students learn how to sustainably grow plants from seed, compost their waste, and maintain gardens.

UH Hilo sustainable agriculture lab benefits students, campus landscape (April 29, 2026, UH Hilo Stories)

The new Medicinal Garden is also a tool for experiential learning, but envisioned as a source of wellness information for the university community beyond agriculture students and faculty. The mission is to make the garden a center for that information, horticultural scientific methods, and cultural practices related to growing and using medicinal plants, and for that knowledge to be shared with both university and local communities.

“Our students (are) learning how to propagate and identify if some of our plants have some medical constituent compositions,” says Professor Arancon. “It’s exciting. The students are not just learning from us (ag faculty). We also get some planting materials from the community and insights on what we can grow that they think will be helpful to them.”

The project was initiated by two agriculture classes during spring semester.

Arancon’s sustainable agriculture class (AG 230) developed three plots in the garden with medicinal plants such as thyme, ginger, tobacco, turmeric, and lavender. They also grew several plants with medicinal and nutritional properties such as peppers. Students in a weed science class (HORT 481) were tasked with finding plants traditionally considered weeds (not a real botanical classification) with medicinal value.

Six visitors and tour guide stand near garden plot. One person holds a baby. — Agriculture student Tsai-fen Sarahan (at right in bright green) gives a tour of the Medicinal Garden with community members. (Photo: CAFNRM/UH Hilo)

Small plant labeled Koʻoko ʻolau. — Koʻoko ʻolau currently growing at the UH Hilo Medicinal Garden.

Red flowering plant labeled Nasturtium. — Nasturtium bloom at the UH Hilo Medicinal Garden in May this year. (Photos: Samantha Dane/UH Hilo Stories)

Students spent the semester researching and propagating the plants within the community plots, learning how to best cultivate them and teach others how to as well. As a culminating project, they used the weeds to create their own medicine, like a tea made of invasive honohono grass to help with upper respiratory problems.

Community and collaboration

Collaborating with the ag college on the medicinal garden are two other UH Hilo colleges: the Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, and Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language.

“I’m still trying to explore what kinds of courses that our College of Pharmacy and also College of Hawaiian Language can involve themselves in,” says Arancon. He says there could be a number of courses that could utilize the garden.

People building garden plot. — During the spring semester, faculty and others pitch in to build garden plots at the new Medicinal Garden.

People filling garden plot with soil. — Volunteers fill a new garden plot with soil at the UH Hilo Medicinal Garden. (Photos: CAFNRM/UH Hilo)

Students at the pharmacy college are already looking at the chemical composition of the plants, seeing what makes them medicinal and how they alleviate illness. The students plan to host workshops for training others on how to use and administer the plants properly. Arancon hopes to continue the partnership by looking further into scientific analysis of plants composition to ensure all of the plants are non-toxic or consumed at an appropriate level.

The Hawaiian language college is collaborating by inviting local healers from the community to come and share their knowledge of local and native plants. “We hope healers from the community can also provide seminars on how to use the plants properly and prepare them for use at home,” Arancon adds.

“I’d love for more classes to be involved with the project in the future, such as introductory courses on horticulture or animal science, to learn about health benefits for farm animals or pets,” says Arancon.

People lay out ground cover in garden plots. — Members of the Hawaiʻi Association of Filipino Educators help build the garden during the spring semester.

People build a garden plot. — Members of the Fil-Am Community of East Hawaiʻi pitch in. (Photos: CAFNRM/UH Hilo)

Also supporting the new garden are the community groups Hawaiʻi Association of Filipino Educators (HAFE) and the Fil-Am Community of East Hawaiʻi. Both groups have planted on weekends, often using their own knowledge when it comes to using plants as home remedies.

Several members of HAFE have held meetings with ag students and faculty to share food they prepared from the garden, explaining the preparation and health benefits from using the plants for daily cooking. Arancon says the college faculty do similar things for meetings, preparing food from the garden and sharing the process and benefits with others.

The campus and local community is invited to share and grow

This concept of sharing the medicinal project means the garden facilitates an exchange of information and plants where all benefit throughout the university and local community.

“We want our community to be aware that we have these plants on campus,” Arancon says. “It’s something they can source out for any materials they could use for home remedy. A lot of our community is very knowledgeable.” He says everyone comes equipped with their own knowledge and experience and contributes to the garden based on that.

Prof. Arancon has created a website that contains lots of information about the project. The goal is to eventually have QR codes placed next to the medicinal plants that will lead to information on the website.

He says he’d like to eventually expand the project. “We’d like to plant in bigger areas, especially those plants that are known to grow well here, so we can provide larger quantities to people in the community who really need them at home.”

He also hopes to create an orchard full of medicinal trees. He says many trees already on campus have medicinal properties that people may not know about.

“The bigger part of all of this is to involve the whole campus,” he says.