Orchid lovers across Oahu are heading to Washington Middle School this weekend for the Honolulu Orchid Society's 87th Annual Orchid Show and Plant Sale, a free event running Friday and Saturday that mixes rare blooms with a seasonal Halloween twist. The show, themed Orchids Spooktacular this year, brings together plant vendors, orchid displays from multiple local clubs, and information tables for anyone curious about growing the finicky tropical flowers themselves.
The show runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, with free parking available both days, according to KHON2. Honolulu Orchid Society president Adam Almeida told the station that the best time to see the displays and snag plants before they sell out is right at opening on Friday morning. The society says it now counts more than 200 active members who share orchid-growing knowledge with the broader community.
From a Backyard Tree to an 87-Year Tradition
The event's roots stretch back to December 3, 1939, when a handful of local growers gathered beneath a large monkeypod tree at the Honolulu residence of Goichi Miwa to trade cultivation tips, according to the Honolulu Orchid Society. That informal gathering grew into an organization that held its first public exhibition in May 1940 at Honolulu's Young Buddhist Association auditorium, featuring yellow cattleyas, before wartime conditions forced a suspension of activities from 1942 through 1945.
By 1951, the society had built its own localized orchid judging system to evaluate plant quality and hybridizing excellence across the islands, and it launched a print journal originally titled Na Pua Okika O Hawaii Nei. That judging infrastructure, combined with decades of shows, has made the Honolulu Orchid Society one of the longer-running horticultural institutions in the islands.
Experts and Presentations Fill the Weekend
This year's show features experts from the University of Hawaiʻi and the Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture on hand to answer questions, per the seed show details. The University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa notes that its Extension and College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience are sending Extension Agent Dr. James Keach along with Master Gardener volunteers to field public plant care questions on-site, according to the University of Hawaiʻi event calendar.
Attendees can also sit in on presentations covering orchid culture, pest and disease management, and tips for growing cattleya, dendrobium, and honohono varieties, though some sessions are limited to the first 30 people. The society welcomes new members year-round, and its regular monthly meetings include guest speakers, hands-on demonstrations, plant displays, and social gatherings, with membership details posted on its website.
Big Business, Fragile Natives
Hawaii's orchid world carries real economic weight behind the hobbyist charm. Commercial cultivation of cut and potted orchids generates more than $14.2 million in annual wholesale sales statewide, according to USDA floriculture data, with the islands' climate making them a major supplier of dendrobium and cattleya varieties. That commercial trade is tightly regulated, too: the Hawaii Department of Agriculture requires import permits and certificates of origin for live orchid shipments entering the state, as explained by Hawaii Magazine.
That regulatory backdrop stands in sharp contrast to Hawaii's native orchid population, which consists of just three terrestrial rainforest species — Anoectochilus sandvicensis, Liparis hawaiensis, and Peristylus holochila — all protected under state law, with Peristylus holochila listed as federally endangered, per research published on ResearchGate. Unlike the showy hybrids filling vendor tables this weekend, these native plants live in high-elevation forests and face ongoing pressure from invasive species and habitat disruption.
Part of a Wider Island Orchid Network
The Honolulu Orchid Society isn't the only club keeping this tradition alive. It belongs to a broader network of long-running Oahu horticultural groups, including the Ewa Orchid Society, founded in 1950, the Aiea Orchid Club, founded in 1953, and the Windward Orchid Society, founded in 1952, all of which similarly hold public shows in local public school cafeterias, according to OrchidWire.
Beyond the annual show, the Honolulu Orchid Society also raises funds. With its Orchids Spooktacular theme layered over nearly nine decades of history, this weekend's show offers Oahu residents a chance to browse rare blooms while tapping into a community that has been quietly shaping the islands' orchid culture since a handful of growers first met under that monkeypod tree in 1939.
