Orchid society show opens today

By Heidi Bornhorst

Orchids are the main interest of the Windward Orchid Society show. Advertiser library photo

Many people love to grow orchids, and the flower's appeal is almost universal. Both young and old are working together to put on the annual show.

Aaron Araki is the youngest spring show chairman. He is currently in graduate school at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, specializing in Ü guess what? Ü orchids! He is a student judge for the American Orchid Society, which brings great prestige to the club and to orchid growers in Hawai'i. Araki is an avid Phaleonopsis grower, collector and hybridizer.

Martha Motooka is the oldest active member of the Windward Orchid Society. She will be 90 in May. She thinks she started with the club in 1969. That's when she bought a Datsun, and she remembers becoming active and helping the orchid club. She has been chairing the corsage table at the spring show for the past 20 years. Pick up a corsage made of orchids and other Hawai'i flowers, and pause a moment to talk story with this active and interesting plant lover.

I got a chance to meet Mrs. Motooka in person and was totally inspired. We should all take a page from her book in having a purpose, enjoying life and keeping active. This leads to a good night's sleep and helps us ignore our aches and pains for a larger plant purpose.

Mrs. Motooka's garden is neat and tidy, with lots of orchids and other flowers that she or her florist friends like. Loke lau and lokelani, old-fashioned roses, grace her front entry. Epidendrums, affectionately known as epis or the baby orchid, fill a large bed with bright, cheerful colors. Carefully grown, well spaced orchids are grown on benches amid a neatly mowed lawn. (Orchids need good air circulation, because they are epiphytes, or air plants, in their wild condition.)

She raised six kids and worked hard at a "ten cents and five cents store" that she ran for 28 years. She made sure that all her kids got a good education. One son is Phillip Motooka, noted horticulturist and plant scientist on the Big Island.

Mrs. Motooka loves flowers. She sees the roots of an orchid plant emerge and thinks to herself, "I'm happy, and I no can die 'til the roots come out good, then I want to see them grow, then I wait for the flower. When it blooms, I'm so happy."

Her kids invite her to go to Las Vegas with them all the time. She thinks, "Wow, I could buy a lot of orchids for the money they'd spend on me." She worries about who would water her precious plants. They might blast the water like a fire hose.

She always has something to do. Every plant and orchid needs attention and repotting. She takes flowers to the florist and sells them reasonably. She is constantly busy, and when she feels like sitting for a rest, she does.

Come and meet some great people in your community, and enjoy the orchids at the Windward Orchid Society show!