Orchid king

When Calvin Kumano decided to get a new house 31 years ago, he told his wife, Lynne, he had one major requirement: enough garden space to grow orchids, lots of orchids.

"I said, ‘I’ll look for the yard first. You can look at the house — if the yard passes,’"he said with a laugh.

Kumano is president of the Aiea Orchid Club, which will present its annual show this weekend. He’s also president of the Orchid Society of Manoa and belongs to other orchid clubs on the island. He grows several different varieties of orchids, including cattleya, the honohono "hanging orchid" and dendrobium, and lately has specialized in the Phalaenopsis, or butterfly orchid.

He’s bred orchids that have bloomed so long they’ve won awards at shows months apart. In May his orchids won for best Phalaenopsis and best white orchid at the Orchid Society of Manoa’s show. It might be hype to call the genial Kumano the "orchid whisperer," but it wouldn’t be that inaccurate.

"You gotta talk to them and sing to them so they’ll bloom," he said. "I tell them, ‘You better bloom, or else.’"

For music he turns on the radio.

Kumano’s home in the suburban Momilani area of Aiea proved a good fit for his orchid-growing needs. His first home improvement project was to rip out the trees and lawn behind the house to build a shaded structure to raise orchids, which now grow by the hundreds in carefully organized rows. On the lanai sits a tool rack that resembles a hardware store display, with snippers and trowels hanging two and three deep. Both of his small side yards are filled with orchid-growing equipment, such as small growing pots and trays to keep everything organized.

And yet Kumano points to a less populated section of his shade house and says wistfully, "This is empty."

"I must have taken about 100 or so to Manoa for Mother’s Day to sell,"he said. "I got to repot everything and redo everything."

Like any good hobby, orchid growing can be a source of pride and inspire a sense of accomplishment. Kumano, a 64-year-old semiretired buyer for the Izuo Bros. sporting goods company, has made some good money at it as well. A prized orchid, like a Triple Crown-winning thoroughbred, can sell for big bucks and spawn a long legacy, but for beauty rather than speed.

"I sold one for 10 grand," he said, "and they sent it back to Japan and cloned it. They made like a hundred thousand plants from it." 

KUMANO got interested in orchids after someone gave him some plants as a wedding gift and he "decided Ibetter learn how to grow ’em," he said. He sought advice from a relative, who got him into the Orchid Society of Manoa, and soon after he was hooked.

He attributes some of his passion to a childhood interest — not in plants, but in tropical fish. In intermediate school he started raising tropical fish, crossbreeding them to admire the different color combinations that would result. Nowadays he meets a lot of orchid growers with the same background.

Like any activity with a devoted following, there can be a bit of pride involved in orchid growing. An orchid that wins a major award is photographed and rigorously documented, with the information sent around the world to inform other orchid growers.

An orchid grower wanting formal recognition for a new hybrid can register it with the International Orchid Register, run by the Royal Horticultural Society in the United Kingdom. To date there are 12,116 hybrids from Hawaii in the register, a representative for the society said in an email.

"Right now I’m up to 112," Kumano said. "Once you can make it, you can name it after yourself or your relatives, as long as no one has made the same cross. … You try to use a name that nobody else would use, so Iuse ‘Momilani’ a lot because I live in Momilani — Momilani girl, Momilani this, Momilani that. Most people wouldn’t use the ‘Momilani.’"

Kumano’s work with the Aiea Orchid Society, which he has headed for the past 15 years, led to a tight bond with Aiea Elementary School, which hosts the show. In return, the society raises money for school programs through chili and bake sales, making sure the money stays at the school. The club has raised enough money to purchase computers and ceiling fans for the school and funded the school bus for one of its summer programs.

Growers from five different clubs display at the show, which will feature contests adjudicated by Honolulu Orchid Society members.

"It’s really neat especially because people see what the cafeteria normally looks like, and we turn it into like a Garden of Eden," he said. "They’re really amazed at the transformation."

Aside from the fun and accomplishment, Kumano’s ability to create unusual orchids has given him a few laughs, too. One particular hybrid he created looks like the flowers have been airbrushed, and so when someone wants one, he’ll say he has to paint some new ones.

"I tell them, ‘I gotta go airbrush some.’ I bring them back and they go, ‘Oooh’ and I say, ‘Don’t touch, it’s wet!’ And then I say, ‘No, I jus’ joking, that’s how it comes.’"

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