Events & Education
Ka mālama ‘ana i ka mo’omeheu. I mea e ola ai mai kēia mua aku. Preserving culture. So that there is life to come.
Featured Event
Grow Hawaiian Festival
Grow Hawaiian Festival
The Grow Hawaiian Festival is an annual celebration hosted by Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in Captain Cook, Hawaii. This free, family-friendly event brings the community together to honor Hawaiian culture and ethnobotany through vibrant activities, including demonstra- tions, hands-on workshops, and guided garden tours.
When:
February 22, 2025
Where:
82-6160 Māmalahoa HWY Captain Cook, Hawai‘i Island
Recurring Events
Pure Kona Green Market
Great farmers market featuring delicious food, crafts, and produce from our local artisans and farmers.
Every Sunday: 9 am - 2 pm
Free for all ages
Garden Volunteer Days
Come and join our dedicated volunteers for garden work and having fun. Meet at our Visitor Center, located at 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy, Captain Cook, HI 96704, USA to sign in for the day and meet the crew!
Every Saturday: 9 am - 12:30 pm
Free for all ages
Grow Aloha Plant Adoption
When we grow Hawaiian native plants and heritage crops, we grow aloha for ʻāina. Adopt one of these cherished plants every third Saturday!
Every Third Saturday: 9 am - 12:30 pm
Free for all ages
Learn MorePast Events and Talks
Native Pollinators for Native Plants
A Talk By Guest Speaker
Joe O’Brien
When:
Thursday, January 9, 2025 at 5:30 pm (Talk starts at 6:00 pm)
For the past 10 years, I have worked with Big Island Bees to educate the public about the importance of bees and pollination. This includes hands-on education about beekeeping and the critical role bees play in ecosystems. I am especially passionate about raising awareness of Hawaii’s native pollinators, including the endangered Hawaiian yellow-faced bee (Hylaeus spp.), and promoting the planting of native Hawaiian flowers to create habitats and preserve biodiversity. These efforts are relevant beyond Hawaii to the whole US. We need to find simple, cost-effective ways to protect pollinators nationwide, such as planting pollinator-friendly plants, reducing pesticide use, and supporting conservation programs. By empowering communities with knowledge and practical steps, we can collectively help preserve pollinator populations and ecosystem health.
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Followed By:
Ethnobotanical Pupu Potluck
If Can:
Please bring an ethnobotanically-relevant pupu and be prepared to explain the origin and significance of the plant(s) to be devoured. May contain meat: a card will be provided to list main ingredients.
RSVP:
To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by Wednesday, January 8
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden are equal opportunity providers and employers.
Grow Aloha: Nurturing Biocultural Connections one Plant at a Time
A Talk By Guest Speaker
David Bryant
When:
Thursday, December 12, 2024 at 5:30 pm (Talk starts at 6:00 pm)
David Bryant is passionate about bringing people and plants together. He currently serves as the Director of Communications at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG), where he guides public engagement to deepen relationships with plants and amplify the importance of biocultural conservation. Before NTBG, he served as the Director of Education & Engagement for the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) where he led public programs and campaigns for pivotal environmental issues in California, including wildfire, plant poaching, native plant horticulture, and Indigenous stewardship. In this talk, he will tell us about Grow Aloha, a statewide plant adoption program launched with the aim of restoring Hawaiian plants and their biocultural connections. Hear from David Bryant, Director of Communications at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, about this growing initiative that will include Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden next year!
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Followed By:
Ethnobotanical Pupu Potluck
If Can:
Please bring an ethnobotanically-relevant pupu and be prepared to explain the origin and significance of the plant(s) to be devoured. May contain meat: a card will be provided to list main ingredients.
RSVP:
To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by Wednesday, December 11
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden are equal opportunity providers and employers.
Finding a balance between cash crops , subsistence farming and restoring endemics
A Talk By Guest Speaker
Una Greenaway
When:
Thursday, November 14, 2024 at 5:30 pm (Talk starts at 6:00 pm)
Una Greenaway is a longtime organic farmer from the ahupua'a of Kealakekua. She grows coffee, macadamia nuts and cacao as the major cash crops, and is committed to growing in the agroforestry style. She also grows many endemics and Polynesian introductions. Her farm, Kuaiwi Farm, has been managed organically for 47 years. She honors the people who cherished the land before her, and takes to heart the state motto, Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Followed By:
Ethnobotanical Pupu Potluck
If Can:
Please bring an ethnobotanically-relevant pupu and be prepared to explain the origin and significance of the plant(s) to be devoured. May contain meat: a card will be provided to list main ingredients.
RSVP:
To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by Wednesday, November 13
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden are equal opportunity providers and employers
Arbor Day Celebration
When:
November 2, 2024
Annual Friends of Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden Meeting and Celebration, in partnership with Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Cooperative
Free Entry!
9:00am - 2:00pm
- Tree Giveaway and Plant Sale
- Cultural Demos and Keiki Activities
- Music and Food Trucks
- Parnter Exhibits: Conservation Dogs of Hawai'i, CTAHR, Hawai'i Island Seed Bank, NRCS, Pālamanui Dry Forest, Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, Waikoloa Dry Forest Initiative and more!
12:30pm - 1:30pm
- Membership Meeting & Elections
Where:
82-6160 Māmaloahoa Highway, Captain Cook
Mahalo to our partners and funders:
- Atherton Family Foundation
- Ceres Trust
- Cooke Foundation Ltd
- The Healy Foundation
- Lawrence H. Dorcy
- Hawaiian Foundation
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden and partners are equal opportunity providers and employers.
Putting Back The Trees – From Overlogging to Restoration of Native Forest Species
A Talk By Guest Speaker
Lou Putzel
When:
Thursday, October 10, 2024 at 5:30 pm (Talk starts at 6:00 pm)
The Garden’s Lou Putzel steps in this month for a speaker who had to cancel. He will tell the story of shihuahuaco (Dipteryx spp.), an ecologically important timber tree species in Peruvian Amazonia overexploited for the international market. What hope is there for tree species that are too valuable and attract the attention of global buyers? Even in conservation areas, such species are subject to poaching, and people will go a long way through dense forest to get them. But also, local people go to great lengths to collect seed and seedlings from the natural forest and move them to a safe place on their farms. This story may resonate here in Hawaii, for example with the story of ‘iliahi (Santalum spp.), exploited long ago to satisfy demand for its oil and still vulnerable to various types of extraction including conversion logging. Here too, local residents are busy putting back the trees.
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Followed By:
Ethnobotanical Pupu Potluck
If Can:
Please bring an ethnobotanically-relevant pupu and be prepared to explain the origin and significance of the plant(s) to be devoured. May contain meat: a card will be provided to list main ingredients.
RSVP:
To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by Wednesday, October 9th
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden are equal opportunity providers and employers.
Eating Aliens to Save Natives
A Talk By Guest Speaker
Dr. Nat Bletter
When:
Thursday, September 12, 2024 at 5:30 pm (Talk starts at 6 pm)
Nat Bletter has 25 years of experience in botany, documenting exotic fruits and vegetables, gathering food in the wild, herbal and traditional medicine, and exploring Asia, South America, Central America, and Africa. He has a Ph.D. in Ethnobotany from the City University of New York and New York Botanical Garden, where he researched medicinal plants of Peru, Mali, and the Guatemalan Mayans, ethnobotany, taste-modifying plants, and stimulant plants such as cacao, which spurred him to start the traditional-ingredient, high-antioxidant, artisanal chocolate company Madre Chocolate. He did a post-doc at UH Mānoa researching plants and migration in Thailand and Laos, and now runs the edible landscaping company Natty by Nature where he makes fruit cocktail trees for people by grafting many varieties onto one tree to squeeze higher diversity into small Honolulu gardens.
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Followed By:
Ethnobotanical Pupu Potluck
If Can:
Please bring an ethnobotanically-relevant pupu and be prepared to explain the origin and significance of the plant(s) to be devoured. May contain meat: a card will be provided to list main ingredients.
RSVP:
To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by Wednesday, September 11th
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden are equal opportunity providers and employers.
Exploring the origins of Hawaiian agricultural plants
A Talk By Guest Speaker
Peter Van Dyke
When:
Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 5:30 pm (Talk starts at 6:00 pm)
Peter worked at Amy Greenwell Garden from 1990 to 2023, starting in the nursery and then as manager. He has for a long time been interested in the early agriculture of New Guinea and Island South East Asia and the amazing spread of Austronesian languages and people. Since retiring he has become a regular Saturday morning volunteer at the Garden, tends his own farm in Honaunau, and gets into the ocean at every opportunity.
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Followed By:
Ethnobotanical Pupu Potluck
If Can:
Please bring an ethnobotanically-relevant pupu and be prepared to explain the origin and significance of the plant(s) to be devoured. May contain meat: a card will be provided to list main ingredients.
RSVP:
To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by Wednesday, August 14
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden are equal opportunity providers and employers.
Mai Ho'omāuna i ka 'Ai (Do nothing that mistreats our food): A deeper analysis into practices making up the macrocosm that is a mahi'ai
A Talk By Guest Speaker
Ka‘iana Runnels
When:
Thursday, July 11, 2024 at 5:30 pm (Talk starts at 6:00 pm)
Ka'iana Runnels is a mahiʻai from the mokupuni of Moku o Keawe, in the moku of Hilo Akau, and the ahupuaʻa of Laupāhoehoe. He and his wahine have four kamali'i that help them grow and mālama 'āina. His passion is to collect, identify, document, cultivate, preserve, and spread the mea kanu of my kūpuna. His specific focus is on kalo, ʻawa, maiʻa, and kō. The ʻike he holds stems from a variety of kūpuna and hoa. He first and foremost recognizes all those kūpuna who gave freely of their time and priceless naʻauao. Along with his kuleana to these mea kanu Hawaiʻi, he works full time as the Mahiʻāina Supervisor for The Kohala Center where he manages a waihona of kūpuna crops. His passion is to educate ʻohana about food cultivation and the importance of ʻai pono in our everyday lives.
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Followed By:
Ethnobotanical Pupu Potluck
If Can:
Please bring an ethnobotanically-relevant pupu and be prepared to explain the origin and significance of the plant(s) to be devoured. May contain meat: a card will be provided to list main ingredients.
RSVP:
To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by Wednesday, July 10
The ethnobotany of Hawaiian plants and ex-situ conservation tools to care for them
A Talk By Guest Speaker
Jill Wagner
When:
June 13, 2024 at 5:30 pm (Talk starts at 6:00 pm)
Jill Wagner is a forester, ethnobotanist and seed banking specialist. She started her career in Hawaii at the Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden in 1994 and has since conducted forest restoration and seed banking with private landowners, the State of Hawaii and community groups. She also regularly offers courses in these subjects to people in Hawaii and around the world.
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Followed By:
Ethnobotanical Pupu Potluck
If Can:
Please bring an ethnobotanically-relevant pupu and be prepared to explain the origin and significance of the plant(s) to be devoured. May contain meat: a card will be provided to list main ingredients.
RSVP:
To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by To ensure there is room for all, please RSVP to info@amygreenwell.garden by Wednesday, June 12
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden are equal opportunity providers and employers.
History, the New Palamanui Forest Preserve and Botanical Garden, and Us
A Talk By Guest Speaker
Dr. Richard Stevens
When:
May 9, 2024
Dr. Richard Stevens is an author, teacher, tree-planter, and hunter and restorer of ancient trails. He has published on organic gardening in Hawaii, the role of nature in the Vietnam War, Hawaii's forest birds and ancient trails. A former Marine, Foreign Service OIicer, Refugee Advisor for the US Agency for International Development, and ancient trail hunter for the Hawaii State Division of Forestry and Wildlife, he served 3 years in both civilian and military roles in the Vietnam War, was wounded twice, missing once, and received several Vietnamese medals and the Purple Heart. He has taught history for over 30 years at Hawaii Community College/UH Center at West Hawaii in Kona. He has received many awards for teaching, native species reforestation, and ancient trail restoration. He lives on his in-laws' agroforestry farm in Kona, where he describes himself as the "volunteer hired man."
Where:
Hale Pulelehua, Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden, 82-6160 Mamalahoa Hwy (please park at the Garden Visitor Center and walk in)
Funding for this project provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the USDA Forest Service, Urban and Community Forestry Program. USDA and Amy Greenwell Ethnobotanical Garden are equal opportunity providers and employers.