The Hawaiʻi County Office of Sustainability, Climate, Equity & Resilience (OSCER) is launching the Lāʻau Love initiative, to increase awareness, accessibility, and cultivation of native and canoe plants across the island.  

Through this program, OSCER aims to distribute more than 1,500 free plants through five plant adoption events, with the first scheduled for Hala Fest on Sept. 20 at the Makuʻu Farmers Market.

Additional events will be held throughout the fall and winter at locations including the West Hawaiʻi Civic Center, school-based Arbor Day activities, farmers markets, and the Magic of the Seasons event.

Native plants are species arrived in Hawaiʻi without human help, either by wind, waves, or wings. Canoe plants are species introduced by early Polynesian voyagers who traveled across the Pacific in canoes, bringing with them plants needed for food, medicine, and cultural practices. These plants, such as kalo, ʻulu, and niu, became the foundation of traditional life in Hawaiʻi and remain significant for sustenance, cultural continuity, and ecological health.

At the adoption events, plants will be available both by reservation and on a first-come, first-served basis. .

The program is funded by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Climate Pollution Reduction Grant.

For more information, visit hawaiicounty.gov/oscer, or email OSCER@hawaiicounty.gov.