Flower firm’s vibrant touch is evident throughout isles

Family, academia, government and community all have contributed to Hilo-based Green Point Nurseries Inc. flourishing into a third-generation family business.

The company specializes in anthuriums and all manner of orchids, tropical flowers and greenery.

Established by the late Harold Tanouye as Hawaii continued its recovery from World War II in the 1950s, the company has been at the forefront of Hawaii floriculture.

While Tanouye established the company, the family’s agricultural heritage goes back hundreds of years to its origins in Japan, said son Eric, who succeeded his father at the helm after the elder Tanouye’s death in September.

Eric Tanouye also is president of subsidiary Hawaiian Greenhouse Inc., which sells flowers directly to consumers, whereas Green Point is primarily a grower and wholesaler.

"Our largest wholesaler is Watanabe Floral Inc. … while its largest retail florist on Oahu is Ito," a reference to Stanley Ito Florist.

Having said that, the products of Green Point’s floral and leafy farming are available all over the islands, Tanouye said. "We try to be friends with everybody."

Tanouye’s son, Christopher, can be found selling Green Point finery at the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation farmers markets at Kapiolani Community College Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings.

And it is possible customers will meet Christopher’s new wife, Jeribie; the couple wed in February.

Wherever did they find flowers for their wedding, one wonders?

"I think they knew a few people," Eric Tanouye chuckled.

That brought up floral designers with whom the company works on all islands.

"We send product to designers, and designers will do the installations," Tanouye said.

Such was the case for Green Point’s annual donation of about $1,000 worth of flowers for two huge arrangements for the Merrie Monarch Festival, a tradition Harold Tanouye started and which Eric intends to continue. "My dad was all about community," he said.

Green Point, under Harold’s leadership, has been an innovator in irrigation, the volcanic cinder medium in which flowers are grown, shaded structures for flower-growing, even packaging for its flower shipments. The company also has long collaborated with the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources in cultivating new varieties of flowers — primarily anthuriums, its specialty.

The company has won numerous awards from the U.S. Senate, the state of Hawaii and conservation and agricultural organizations, and boasts a seal of quality granted by the state Department of Agriculture.

"When I first joined the company, my father told me … he does whatever he can do to support the UH CTAHR program," Eric Tanouye said. "I hope to continue to keep it a tradition, and I too am showing my sons the ropes."

"We have such a small state, such a small industry, that when you can collaborate with quality partners, everybody wins."

Additionally, Tanouye is passionate about buying local. "When you buy local, you’re supporting local industry, made up of local families all over the state. It’s the way we can easily support the local economy"and help keep people in their jobs,he said.

Buying local leaves a smaller "footprint" and greatly reduces the risk of introducing invasive species to the islands, Tanouye said.

Mother’s Day is Green Point’s busiest holiday, Tanouye said, "because everybody has a mother, and it’s normally a two-week holiday for us. It gives us time to ship abroad, all over North America."

Improving weather at this time of year makes shipping much easier than, say, the company’s second-busiest holiday, Christmas.

"Our flowers normally come in reds, greens and whites," obviously traditional Christmas colors, Tanouye said. "They are glossy, shiny, have long stems, don’t cloud up the water and last forever."

Anthuriums have exploded in terms of color variety due to tropical agriculture researchers’ work in the field with companies like Green Point.

Anthuriums now come in even more vibrant reds, a different red and green combination called Mickey Mouse, brown, and shades of purple such as the Lavender Lady, a variety that won the company yet another award.

WHERE TO FIND

>> Green Point Nurseries Inc.

P.O. Box 4400, Hilo, HI 96720 

Phone: 800-717-4456 (toll free), 959-3535 

Online: greenpointnursery.com

>> Hawaiian Greenhouse Inc.

888-965-8351

Online: www.hawaiiangreenhouse.com

>> Watanabe Floral, 1618 N. Nimitz Highway

>> Stanley Ito Florist, 40 S. School St. 

“Buy Local” runs on Aloha Fridays. Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.