CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Steve Nagano kneels next to a sundial in the Children's Garden at Pearl City's Urban Garden Center.

A children’s garden in
Pearl City teases all
the senses

In a children's garden, imagination can grow. Steppingstones might be regarded as pepperonis on a pizza, they'll walk through a caterpillar tunnel in a butterfly garden and keep time on a giant sundial.

Children's Garden grand opening When: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 28 Where: Urban Garden Center, 955 Kamehameha Highway. The new entrance is located on the Diamond Head side of Home Depot and Public Storage parking lot Admission: Free Call: 453-6050

The young and the young at heart both have an opportunity to explore and discover the natural world at the Urban Garden Center in Pearl City, through various gardens and craft stations that allow visitors to make a sundial, a dolphin medallion, a butterfly ring and basket, and catch and bag a fish.

"It's interesting because most gardens are geared toward adults," said Christine Nagano, who wrote the grants for the projects. "We wanted to do something different."

Dale Sato was instrumental in the design of the children's garden based on several gardens he visited on the mainland.

The gardens have playful themes to which children can relate. For instance, the keiki can visit the Animal Garden and see a Mickey Mouse plant, cat whiskers, cat's tail and a dog-bone tree with branches that resemble bones. A large giraffe sculpture made with chicken wire and wrapped with creeping fig vines greets visitors at the entrance. It took about three years for the critter to grow.

In the Pizza Garden, many of the ingredients common to pizza-making are planted, including green peppers, basil, parsley, tomato, onion and spinach. Yellow Dahlberg daisies represent the cheese, explained Nagano.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Tiger Tokunaga, left, and Christian Onomura emerge from a caterpillar-shaped tunnel.

A House Garden comprises five rooms containing plants with names related to the specific room. A shower tree and shaving brush tree can be found in the bathroom. Two varieties of tomatoes -- the Royal Flush and Morning Fresh -- were also appropriate choices for the bathroom, according to extension agent Steve Nagano, who is Christine's father. Props accentuating the garden's theme include a toilet, old-fashioned bathtub and a sink with a "hair plant" growing on the basin.

"We had to be a little inventive," said Steve. "We needed a different mentality so we could see more things."

The garden's main purpose, he said, is to demonstrate how plants "are an essential part of our lives ... in the food we eat, art we create, culture we embrace and the environment we live in."

In the House Garden's kitchen, bottle brush, beefsteak and tapioca trees grow alongside the red cup and saucer bush. A large kettle is one of the main props.

The bedroom hosts a feather tree, angel trumpet, jade plants and passion vines on the bed's headboard.

"We're still looking for more plants to fill in the gaps," said Steve Nagano.

"My dad and the volunteers did most of the planting," Christine said of the project that began in 1999 and has cost more than $23,000 to create.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Mary Takeshita paints a toy house in the Children's Garden in Pearl City's Urban Garden Center.

The gardens span more than 54,375 square feet, and plans still call for a large water fountain and working water pump, Steve said. Braille references will also be included in the Sensory Garden where individuals can touch sandpaper vine, velvety plants and experience an array of colors and smells.

"The garden box has different plants that stimulate certain senses," said Christine. The garden is also set up so handicapped people can visit.

THE GARDEN IS "youth-driven," said Steve, to the point at which grants were issued under the provision that they were written by youths. "Adults were only there for guidance."

Christine wrote several of the grants while she was attending high school and a member of a 4-H group led by her mother. "My high school friends in 4-H used to come and help," Christine said.

Volunteers held the project together. "We have retired teachers, professional secretaries, engineers, retired shipyard workers ... some are a jack-of-all-trades," said Steve, who estimates that about 150 to 200 volunteers have worked in the children's garden since its inception.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Connie Yoshioka holds up a "varmint scarer."

A custom-made sundial, courtesy of one of the volunteers, allows children to view a different way of keeping time while they're in the garden.

A nonfunctional outhouse sets the stage for the Boardwalk garden built by Boy Scouts. "The kids can see what it was like in the old days.

"Kids like the feeling. ... It makes sounds when you are walking," Steve said.

Docent tours will be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Self-guided tours can also be taken. School groups will be presented with a journal to log their experiences.

"Hands-on activities create a better learning experience," said Christi Hardy, a graduate student at the University of Hawaii who created the docent manual.

"We want to give the teachers a reason to come out here," said Steve.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Nancy Inouye, left, and Margaret Terakawa make "varmint scarers" out of CDs.

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