Spirit of Aloha Blossoms Forth in Orchids Imported From Thailand

For as long as tourists have been coming to Hawaii, leis have been conferred with smiles and kisses--first at dockside, now at airports--in aloha-filled welcomes to the islands.

Among locals, lei-giving is as common as sunshine in the Aloha State. Birthday celebrants rarely go without them, new graduates get decked out in dozens at a time and college coaches wear them at every game.

The demand has become so great--particularly with visitor arrivals approaching 7 million this year--that many local flower growers can’t meet it.

Islanders have watched helplessly as many touchstone symbols of Hawaii--pineapples, sugar cane and macadamia nuts--have moved overseas.

Increasingly, leis are joining them.

“The demand for fresh flower leis will always be there, and where do we get all these flowers to keep up this tradition of aloha?” said Ron Chinen, owner of Ron’s Leis near Honolulu International Airport. “If you cannot get it locally, you need to look outside.

“We’d much rather be able to provide that aloha spirit by keeping up the traditional lei greeting rather than discontinue it because there’s a lack of flowers,” he said.

The leading flower imports are dendrobium orchids, a purple-tinged blossom that is distinctively plumper--and cheaper--than local orchids.

An informal survey at the airport shows that dendrobium orchids from Thailand are becoming the favorite of many lei-greeting services.

There are several reasons for the trend, a key one being that the dendrobium growing seasons are reversed in Hawaii and Thailand.

Thai growers can supply ample amounts of the purple-and-white blooms when they are not flowering in Hawaii’s winter.

Not surprisingly, money also is behind the decision to use foreign flowers.

Labor and overhead costs in Thailand pale beside Hawaii’s, said Mordecai Hudson, owner of Hawaiian Orchid Nursery in Waianae.

“The guy over there makes $2.35 a day,” he said. “I don’t have anybody working for less than $8 an hour, plus all the benefits.”

Hudson accepts that orchids must be imported in the winter, but he said a flood of flowers during the rest of the year keeps prices down and has many growers struggling to stay in business.

Lei flower sales generated $3.5 million in 1998--a 12% drop from 1996, according to the latest figures from the state Department of Agriculture.

Dendrobium orchids accounted for $855,000, or 25%, of that. That’s up from 19% in 1996.

But fewer local farms are growing orchids.

In 1992 there were 41 Hawaii farms with dendrobium lei flower sales of $10,000 or more, according to state figures. In 1998 there were 28.

State agriculture officials do not keep statistics on the volume of dendrobium orchids coming to Hawaii from Thailand.

U.S. Customs Service data show more than 17 million dendrobium blooms came to Hawaii from Thailand in 1996, an amount four times greater than 1995.

Dozens of flower types are used in leis, but few hold their shape and color more than a day or two after being sewn together. The relative hardiness of orchids makes it possible to import whole leis as well as individual blooms.

Orchids also lack the strong scent of plumeria, tuberose and other locally grown flowers--a plus for allergic tourists but a disappointment to others who find sweet, exotic fragrances to be part of Hawaii’s allure.

Because Thai dendrobiums are bigger than their Hawaii-grown counterparts, fewer blooms are needed for each lei, another source of savings on both labor and materials.

International Orchids, based in Honolulu and Los Angeles, sells Thai dendrobium blooms to Honolulu lei makers for 3.7 cents each and Hawaii-grown blooms for 3.5 cents each, said Penny Suragairin, who runs the company’s Honolulu division.

But only 40 Thai orchids are needed for a typical lei, compared with 60 Hawaii-grown orchids, putting the flower cost at $1.48 for a lei made with Thai flowers and $2.10 for leis made with local flowers.

Amy Yamada, owner of A&K; Nursery, a tuberose farm in Waimanalo, said she began noticing Thai orchids in the local market in the mid-1980s. But orchid imports recently have boomed, she said.

Yamada had 210 workers on her farm 10 years ago, and now is down to 26.

“The local grower has no opportunity for the big accounts anymore,” Yamada said.

There have always been turf wars in the lei industry--vendors accusing others of crowding in on them and stealing customers, said Maile Lee, who makes leis at an airport stand.

But she said foreign competition puts more intense pressure on lei makers, making it easier to lose sight of what the gift of a lei is supposed to represent.

“The greeting services are missing--the people are missing--the real aloha spirit,” the 67-year-old Lee said. “We’re just losing that daily.”

When told the lei she was wearing was made from Thai-grown orchids, Natalie Yoder of Napa Valley, Calif., was not surprised. She and her husband, Todd, found that many Hawaii souvenirs were made in China.

Matt Beaty of San Francisco said it wouldn’t bother him if his orchid lei was from Thailand.

“I guess what’s most important is it’s associated with the tradition of Hawaii,” Beaty said.

For those tourists who insist on an authentic Hawaiian lei, the state plans to promote a grown-in-Hawaii label for leis and other products, including macadamia nuts and Kona coffee, said Calvin Lee, market development manager for the state Agriculture Department.

But there are no plans to try to curb orchid imports, in spite of some cultural concerns, he said.

“The reality is we’re in free trade now. We’re in a global economy and trying to tear down barriers,” Lee said. “So whoever can sell to the market at the best price and the best quality will win.”