About Us
The Kona Orchid Society (KOS) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to educating our members and the public about the collection, culture, and appreciation of orchids. Since 1985, we have promoted fellowship among orchid enthusiasts. Our members include both individual hobbyists and commercial growers, all brought together by our common interest.
We have wonderful meetings where we learn from many orchid experts about how to successfully grow our orchids. After listening to our guest speakers we have a time for Show and Tell. People bring their blooming orchids and share info about what elevation they live at and the type of orchid. It is really amazing to see the beautiful orchids people are growing! We end with an orchid opportunity drawing (so don’t forget to buy some opportunity tickets!) It is really fun!
Each year on Mother’s Day weekend (Saturday), we hold our Annual Orchid Show and Sale in the pavilion at the Old Kona Airport in Kailua-Kona. If you are in the Kailua-Kona area, you won’t want to miss it. Admission is $2 & children under 12 are free. For further information, contact us.
Our History
After a series of informal meetings, the Kona Orchid Club held its first organizational meeting on September 4, 1985. Presiding as temporary chairman was Maxine Evens. As may of the members lived in the Palisades area and the meeting was held at the Palisades Recreational Center, the name adopted was Keahole-Kona Orchid Club. The constitution and by-laws were adopted at this meeting as well.
There were 11 charter members: Beverly & John
Aikele, Lloyd Blomquist, Maxine Evans, Jan Curtis, Molly Esteralada, Gay & Bill Glover, Madge Martin. Maxine
McArthur, and Dan Wallace. Tom Kadooka was advisor to
the club the first year of operation. He and his wife, Evelyn Kadooka, were made honorary members in 1986.
The first slate of officers was: Maxine Evans (President), Dan Wallace (Vice President), Beverly Aikele (Secretary), and Lloyd Blomquist (Treasurer). The club has held meetings continuously since September 1985 until the onset of COVID-19 in January of 2020.
In 1986, the Club held its first “mini” Orchid Show, displaying some 75 plants for the Kona Coffee Festival at Hale Halewai. With Christmas of 1986, the Club began its community service by participating in the
Kona Outdoor Circle “Festival of Trees”, decorating an orchid Christmas Tree that was purchased and displayed at the Mauna Lani Hotel. During this same year, the meeting place was moved to the Kona Outdoor Circle’s Education Center.
In 1988, the Club had 47 members and decided to change the name to Kona Orchid Club due to the membership being distributed from North to South Kona.
Membership reached 60 by the end of 1989 and peaked at 140 in
2016. The club held a flower show in conjunction with the Kona Outdoor Circle’s “Pua Plantasia” plant sale, displaying 90 flowering orchids at the Old Airport Park.
In 1990, the Kona Orchid Club became and educational, 501(A) corporation. It held its first independent orchid show at the Lanihau Center in March with a display of 190 flowering orchids. This event was the clubs first money raising project that netted about $500 from plant sales along with the sales of Lloyed Sanchez’s “dye-transfer” orchids prints. By the end of the year, membership had reached 80.
In 1992 the membership unanimously voted to create a perpetual trophy for “Grower of the Year” in the name of Lloyd Blomquist, who passed away in 1991.
In 1994 the club first participated in the Hilo Orchid Show with a table display and continued to participate each year henceforth. During that time members have received AOS awards for their plants and the club has received awards for its
displays.
In 1996 the club held it’s show and sale on Mother’s Day weekend
and the event turned out to be very popular and the highest profits thus far. The club also started committee meetings where the club constitution and bylaws were rewritten and the name was changed to Kona Orchid Society.
In 1997 KOS (Kona Orchid Society) was the first Hawaiian orchid society to produce a newsletter with color photos and had mastered the art of day trip to visit local nurseries. A budget committee was formed and by 1998 the society would have a good financial footing with an official budget, savings plan and internal controls for resource allocation.
2000 brought the creation of the Kupuna award given out the annual Christmas Banquet, to honor member(S) who have contributed to the society over an extended period of time. The first honorees chosen by the board were Bob and Maggie McLean. Also, in 2000 the Steve Skiein’s had 2 orchids awarded at the Mother’s Day Sale and Show by the American Orchid Society.
2019 The society saw its most successful Mother’s Day Sale and Show to date with both attendance and amount of money grossed.
Contributors: Lloyd Blomquist, 1991; Bob Zeller, 1997; Pauline Amarino, 2001; Sandra Scarr, 2002; Whitney Steele and Jan Rae, 2022.
Conservation
In 1999, the Kona Orchid Society (KOS) Board established a committee for orchid conservation with Denver Leamanas the first Director of Conservation. A Conservation Committee was established to apply for grants, to hike into remote areas to locate Hawaiian native orchid populations, and to do research on the habitat and propagation of native Hawaiian orchids, Anoectochilus sandvicensis, and Liparis hawaiensis. It is believed both orchids are found on the Big Island but are very rare. The Liparis species has not been seen in the wild for several years. A third species, Platantherea holochila, is native to Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, and Maui..
In 2000, KOS received a grant for $500 from the Hawaii Community Foundation—West Hawaii. The conservation research team located a population of Anoectochilus sandvicensis (Hawiian Jewel Orchid). A few cuttings were collected and distributed to members for ion cultivation. Some Anoectichilus flowers were hand pollinated, but the seeds did not germinate, due to mold contamination. Further attempts were made to produce viable seeds.
KOS received its second $500 grant in 2001 from the Ironman Foundation. Additional conservation funds were applied to the mericloning experiment, several plants grew with a couple even producing flowers, but none survived long term. Several leads from hunters and herb collectors to find additional populations of these rare orchids have not been successful.
