‘Hobby’ blossoms into collection of nearly 2,000 orchids

Judy Hidano treats her orchid plants like children. She spends hours in her garden, talking to them and pruning, repotting and nurturing their delicate flowers.

“It’s relaxing for me,” she said. “I like being outdoors, so I’m in the garden all day.”

She doesn’t have a favorite. “They are all my babies,” she said. box

Judy and her husband, George, have collected and raised orchids for nearly 25 years. Although the Pearl City couple has never officially done an inventory, they estimate their greenhouses hold about 2,000 plants of all sizes and stages of growth. Giant 12-foot-tall orchids grace the entryway to a greenhouse that holds orchids, anthuriums, tillandsias (air plants), ginger, palms and succulents.

The Hidanos’ love of orchids has become a small business for the couple, who often sell their plants at orchid shows as a way to keep their greenhouses from being overrun.

“We really enjoy this hobby,” George Hidano said. “We have won our share of awards for our plants, and we try to name them after our grandchildren and our dogs.”

That naming practice is a national custom for orchid growers. If an individual’s plant is awarded a prize at any national orchid show, the owner is allowed to give that plant its own name. The Hidanos, who have three grown children and eight grandchildren, once won an award a few years ago for a golden chain orchid they named Max, after their cavalier King Charles spaniel.

George Hidano said that he’s partial to his latouria dendrobiums, which are orchid plants with long-lasting blooms. They are mostly white but some are red and pink. The plants blossom twice a year, and the individual flowers can last for two to three months. Typical dendrobiums bloom for a couple of weeks, he explained.

The couple joined the Aiea Orchid Club soon after they began growing orchids. The club has about 70 members who meet the fourth Monday of each month at Aiea Elementary School.

“We wanted to learn how to properly care for the plants,” Judy said. “There’s always a speaker, and we normally get a free plant at each meeting.”

They’ve learned tips that help their plants thrive. They watch out for slugs and whiteflies, since both of these pests like orchid plants, and they are careful not to overwater — a common mistake, George Hidano said.

George, who works as an accountant, mainly waters, fertilizes and handles the insecticide and fungicide. Judy, a retired bookkeeper, is in the garden at least six to eight hours each day.

“We like to mount the orchids or tillandsias on driftwood and hang them up in the greenhouse,” he said. “We feel that the air movement surrounding the plants is very beneficial, and they appear to thrive when being hung.

“Some of my specimen plants are hung, and they have been like that for over 10 to 15 years and they just seem to get bigger and bigger,” he added. “The big problem, though, is that specimen plants take up a large amount of space, and they are difficult to move around or to take to the show. So normally, they are just growing bigger and blooming in the greenhouse.”

But the Hidanos aren’t complaining because they never tire of the beautiful flowers.

“The first thing we do every morning is spend time enjoying the plants,” Judy Hidano said. “We take daily coffee breaks in the garden to enjoy the blooms.”