HANAPEPE — Carol Kanna Kanna was working with Gwen Teragawa and JoAnn Nishihara in the kitchen when she found out her entry earned Best in Show honors. “Wow!” she said. “They just told me. Wow!” Neill Sams of Orchid Alley
HANAPEPE — Carol Kanna Kanna was working with Gwen Teragawa and JoAnn Nishihara in the kitchen when she found out her entry earned Best in Show honors.
“Wow!” she said. “They just told me. Wow!”
Neill Sams of Orchid Alley said the timing was right for his paphiopedilum, which earned Best Paphiopedilum honors.
“It was perfect with the buds opening in time for the show,” he said.
Sams also scooped up honors in the vanda category, including Best Vanda, Best Blue, Best Pink Asconcenda, and Best Red vanda during early judging ahead of the crowd.
Other growers were not as fortunate.
“It’s slow, this year,” said Gwen Teragawa. “My aggregatum is only now coming out. The honohono orchid only has one stalk. Normally, they’d be in bloom by now.”
The Garden Island Orchid Spring Fantasy Show and sale opened its doors Friday at the Hanapepe United Church of Christ social hall with an abundance of exotic orchids on exhibit following the judging by Dennis Olivas. Specimen by vendors such as Orchid Alley and Al Sugano, normally found during the Monday Sunshine Market in Koloa, offered shoppers a variety of blooms for them to take home.
“I don’t have any phalaenopsis,” Sugano said. “You have to try and keep up with the customers so I have some new colors in dendrobiums. There is also a specimen which has a fragrance.”
Elizabeth Borchelt, president of the Garden Island Orchid Society, said orchid plants are more inexpensive than cut flowers.
“My sister Karen Harlow and I joined GIOS to try and grow some orchids,” Borchelt said. “Every meeting we get some orchid keiki. There is a wealth of information in the club, and when we have questions, we can get answers.”
Dennis Olivas, one of the judges for the annual show, offered workshops on orchid growing basics.
Crafts and food created by GIOS members also enhance the experience of browsing through the exotic field of orchids.
The GIOS annual Spring Fantasy Orchid Show and sale opens at 9 a.m. and continues through 4 p.m. at the Hanapepe United Church of Christ social hall.
The 10th annual Kauai Orchid and Art Festival continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Hanapepe, too. It includes music, arts and crafts, workshops and a silent auction.
