By David Corrigan and Stephanie Salazar

[Video by David Corrigan]

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii: Arbor Day in Hawaii will be on November 5th, but folks in Waikoloa celebrated the spirit of the day this past Saturday, during the Waikoloa Village Outdoor Circle‘s popular, annual Plant Sale.

A full assortment of native plants and favored flowers were available for purchase here at the Waikoloa Elementary and Middle School.

One of the highlights of the day… these free wiliwili tree keiki… which will hopefully find a good home in Ka’u thanks to this local greenthumb.

The Waikoloa Village Outdoor Circle has done much to ensure the survival of the wiliwili tree, including work on an ambitious Dry Forest Recovery project that we civered a few months ago, during the extreme effort to fence the large land area… which was just recently concluded.

The Outdoor Cirlce has undertaken the stewardship of the 275 acres, that is currently home to 80 Wiliwili trees, and even more rare – 13 endangered Uhiuhi trees.

Also, for those that are interested… The Waikoloa Village Outdoor Circle is presenting the “Native Hawaiian Wind Drought Tolerant Plants’” a guide for those who would like to include native plants in their gardens in Waikoloa Village. The download, available through the Waikoloa.org website, represents species that have either evolved in or adapted to climatic and environmental conditions similar to Waikoloa, though their ability to withstand wind and drought has much to do with where and how they are placed in the landscape.