In The Garden
Saturday, May 19, 2001
KEN SAKAMOTO / STAR-BULLETIN
Walter Tsuda tends to the orchids in his Kapahulu garden.
The first things you see when you go to Walter Tsuda's Kapahulu garden are pots of sweet chili peppers and "sugar loaf" pineapples, and a planter box of green onions basking under the hot sun in the driveway. Orchid grower inhales
the pure air of successHis beloved orchids are shielded from the sun under black mesh covers in a homemade greenhouse behind the pineapples. He knows how many vegetable plants he has, but he has absolutely no idea how many orchids are in his roughly 600-square-foot greenhouse.
"Thousands, probably. All I know is, I have too many right now. I have to go in there and clean it out," Tsuda said.
But as all orchid hobbyists know, there is no such thing as having too many orchids. The more the better, just in case one turns out to be the star that steals the show, like the "Little Stars" that won a big trophy for Tsuda seven months ago.
"Yes, that's something that happens once in a lifetime," Tsuda said of the top prize he won at last year's Honolulu Orchid Society competition, the most prestigious event for local orchid growers.
Kaimuki Orchid Society's Annual Orchid Show and Plant Sale BURST OF COLOR
Place: Kilauea Recreation Center, 4109 Kilauea Ave.
Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 26, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 27; orchid workshops 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. May 26, 10 a.m. May 27
Cost: $2 donation
The monkeypod bowl with a shiny gold-toned plaque proclaiming it "The Governor's Trophy for Best-in-show" sits on top of the air purifier in his living room. That's quite a place of honor, as the machine pretty much goes where Tsuda goes.
Tsuda can't do without the air purifier. He's allergic to the family cat, but getting rid of the cat is out of the question because "I love the cat," he said.
Tsuda isn't as attached to his orchids. He'll be sorting out his plants to take to next weekend's sale by the Kaimuki Orchid Society. But he won't be selling any offspring of his top-prize-winning brassavola orchid -- not because he can't part with them, but because the seedlings are too small.
"I guess people will have to wait until Christmas. I think I'll have some to sell by that time," Tsuda said.
Winter's cooler months are best for the "Little Stars" anyway. The plant peaks in November and December, sending out clusters of fragrant, creamy blossoms. Of course, remember, he'll be selling mostly seedlings, which won't have any flowers. You'll have to be patient and grow them to blooming size yourself.
Tsuda's prize-winning plant was only big enough for an 8-inch pot, which he placed in a flower basket from his daughter's wedding. He's certain the plant's massive quantity of blossoms -- covering it from top to bottom -- impressed the judges, but he also thinks the heart-shape basket, to which he added a gold band, also gave him the edge.
"I guess every little thing can count at the judging," Tsuda said. The flowers' sweet smell, which drifts into the house and perfumes the night air, no doubt won some converts at the show, too.
Although he won't have for sale the orchid for which he is famous, Tsuda will have other fragrant and showy orchids on his table next week. One of them is also an awarding-winning brassavola, dubbed B. Mahina Yahiro 'ulii.
The plant is a hybrid created by the famed orchid breeder John Yee of Wailupe, and grown by Roy Yahiro, who named it after his granddaughter Mahina. The orchid produces fragrant and plump lavender blossoms. It won awards of merit from the American Orchid Society and Honolulu Orchid Society.
Tsuda's orchid career began on his honeymoon to the Big Island in 1962. His wife's uncle took the couple to an orchid nursery, and Tsuda was impressed by the large, extravagant cattleya blossoms.
"When I started, I went for the beauty of the flowers; that's why I started with the cattleya. People asked why I did that. They said that's the hardest orchid to grow," Tsuda said.
Dendrobiums would have been easier. But he brought back a large stock of plants from the Big Island and launched into serious back-yard growing.
"When I came home from work, it was not 'Hello, wife.' It was 'Hello, orchids.' I went to take care of the orchids first," Tsuda said.
Over the years, he's tried to name his orchids after his patient wife, Helen. But he's only been able to register orchids under her first name because there are already orchids registered by someone with a similar last name. He tried to register orchids under her maiden name, but a stranger who shares the same name already has orchids named after her.
Tsuda breeds orchids the old-fashioned way, by poking a toothpick into the flowers to cross-pollinate them. He waits between three to nine months for the seed pods to mature and sends them off to a germinating lab, which later returns the sprouts to him.
"When they come back, in the big bottle, you get millions of plants, and you have to take them out and plant each one," Tsuda said. The process takes time and patience, but it's one he loves.
Gardening Calendar
Suzanne Tswei's gardening column runs Saturdays in Today.
You can write her at the Star-Bulletin,
500 Ala Moana, Suite 7-210, Honolulu, HI, 96813
or email stswei@starbulletin.com
