Hello from Honolulu!
 

I've always loved orchids, but I have the brownest of brown thumbs and my one attempt at keeping one in Southern California ended swiftly and badly.

Last year, though, I moved back to Honolulu and bought what turned out to be a Phalaenopsis at the hardware store, Googled its requirements, stuck it on top of the microwave, and hoped. And it didn't die! In fact, one of the two flower spikes it came with is currently reblooming.

Taking this as a sign that the climate here could make up for my lack of skillz, I bought another thing that turned out to be a Cattleya, and then a Dendrobium suzukii x Dendrobium tobaense at the farmer's market because it looked cool, and ordered some orchid books on Amazon. A friend just asked if I need an intervention...I don't, but I could use species and book recs! :biggrin:

Welcome! We're the only intervention you really need.

:welcomeflowers:

Hello and welcome. If your friend thinks your bad now just you wait.

Hi and welcome. You're going to love it here!

:welcome: Great time to get hooked on orchids. 'Tis growing time.

Aloha! and welcome. You can count on us to keep your orchid purchases in control and in check!

With that in mind, there's quite a few really great growers near you... Just saying...

Eat some pastele stew for me because I miss it so damn much. :_(

I'm looking forward to my car arriving in a couple weeks so I can visit actual growers. (And not be carrying plants on the bus!) Any recommendations in particular?

We'll keep some stew warm for you when you come back! ;)

YESSS. You can find pasteles here but not pastele stew! I need to learn how to make it... I might be going over sooner than expected for family things, but yay!

The two main guys are Kawamoto in Palolo Valley and H&R in Waimanalo. There's a few other nurseries that grow other plants all in Waimanalo so it might be worth a trip. You'd also be surprised with "garden center" orchids too like Koolau Farmers (the store happens to be near Champion Malasadas so... two birds with one stone?).

Also the Big Island is a short puddle jump away and there's quite a few growers there as well as coffee if you're looking for a weekend trip.

Definitely check out the local farmer's market though since smaller growers tend to make an appearance there and maybe if you're really interested in it, garage sales since a lot of orchids are grown as landscaping plants and you can get some nice sized ones for a good price. I may have done this just to look on vacation.... don't judge me.

Aloha from the Big Island and welcome! I recommend finding your local orchid society - I'm sure there must be more than one on Oahu. They are a great source of information--and plants. We have three here on the Big Island-Kona, Hilo, and Daifukuji. As mentioned above, there are a lot of orchid nurseries here on "The Orchid Isle," so if you ever head this way let us know. A few months ago I went to Honolulu and visited Kawamoto. I was blown away. There is so much to see it was overload!

It sounds like you have been bitten by the orchid bug, and living here allows you to really indulge yourself. Perfect weather year 'round and great resources...what could be better.