Botanical Gardens

By Kathy Perez | Biology Major

The event with Dr. Don Hemmes was filled with a few activities. The activities included a short seminar lecture on the importance of botanical gardens and we also got to see Dr. Don Hemmes’ favorite botanical gardens around the world! The second portion of the event was a Work Day at UH Hilo Botanical gardens! Our own very garden! We had the amazing opportunity to get down and dirty! We all had the chance to help clean up the garden, we did this by plucking weeds, picking up debris, and plucking the dead leaves from palm trees or from the smaller plants! jokes aside, we did have an amazing opportunity to work closely with all the extoic plants that our beautiful garden has.

I had an “Ahh, oooh, ahh” moment; it was the moment that I realized what an honor I had to have Dr. Don Hemmes talk about all the trees, succulents, and plants that were in our garden and dedication that he (Dr. Don Hemmes) had put it into our own garden here at UH Hilo. It was such a wonderful day, the sun was out with a few clouds that offered their shade to us! We spent a few hours in the morning cleaning up the garden and afterwards we had an amazing lunch that was provided by the Center for Global Education andExchange! I will forever cherish the workday at our beloved botanical garden!