Send a Flowering Orchid Plant
Benefits of sending a live orchid plant
Not every orchid plant is created equal. We strive in getting the highest quality plants, that means more buds, bigger flowers, more flowers on a longer spike. Our customers say that our plants can last up to three or more months. All our plants come with care instructions and is composed for black thumb gardeners in mind. Our success is the raised water catchment inside the ceramic pots to prevent plants from sitting in water and rotting out.
Our plants are grown with timed release nutrients in the media so just ample watering will slowly release the nutrients the plants require. Our site also provides additional care instructions to rebloom your orcid after it has expired.
Pot selections vary depending on Holiday and requirement for the plant. But you may inquire about special colors or designs.
Orchids make an excellent long lasting gift that keeps on giving. We get calls and emails from satisfied customers who boast that their plants are still perfect months after they have received them.
Phalaenopsis hybrids
Basic Care Info
Bright indirect lighting or if entirely under artificial lighting, please be sure light is reading quality for at least eight hours a day, seven days a week. Watering is simply to wet the roots and media with about a tablespoon or two of water, warm water best at least once per week. You can determine if your plants are well watered by their weight. If a pot appears to be heavy, then there may be enough water present in it. Also feeling the media if it feels coarse and dry, will determine if a plant within a group may need additional water when the other plants are well moistened. This is the best way to determine if a plant has enough water to make their buds open and keep older flwoers refreshed and health. We do not recommend ice cubes as the cold temperatures can damage roots and leaves
Rainforest leis
Leis done the "old fashioned" way
Rainforest used to be a premier lei destination once upon a time. We had the most unique styles and ways to showcase them. But due to growers passing on, and a changing climate, many of our flowers are unavailable.
Today we make a limited selection of select leis, each one hand made and attention to detail with each lei made. We wrap all our leis in the old Hawaiian style in ti leaves. In old Hawai'i, leis wrapped in ti leaves were meant for royalty and offerings to the Gods. Today we wrap our leis in ti leaves as gestures of purity and divine spiritual connectivity.
Lei vs Price
A customer just calling on the phone to inquire about pricing should know that NOT ALL LEIS ARE CREATED EQUAL. We at Rainforest use the best flowers, often made fuller and must pass a higher quality assurance than most places.
Lei Shipping to the Mainland
back in the 1980's we were the first florist to successfully ship perishable leis to as far as New York successfully. Leis are packed carefully in boxes with ice in our Rainforest modified packing methods. Lei shipping are as follows;
cost of lei(s)
cost of packing (we try to recycle boxes for customer savings)
cost of fedex shipping (please note while the lei may be feather weight light, the actual shipping costs are derived from the weight of the ice block(s).
Leis for local graduations parties and special events
We never advertise our leis are mainly reserve them for our regular customers who know what we stand for and understand the quality we insist on and may be priced higher than many other "lei" shops.
Our leis are always wrapped in ti leaves and are our signature for quality and coming from Rainforest, with the best leis in town.
Inquire
Email is the best method of communication for leis and lei ordering. Please indicate in the subject heading the date you need the leis and if they need to be shipped. Otherwise a brief requirement or what you are seeking would help us in providing information to you.
Sending an email like; Do yu ship leis to the mainland? does not help us in providing information to you.
But if an email says; I have a daughter graduating on the mainland that I need the lei there by Friday when should it go there and what can I send? We can assist in options and selections for you.
Flower Etiquette
Flowers for a hospital recipient
For the most part, flowers should be bright, cheerful and be full of surprises. This may be the only thing the recipient has to see aside from the television, medical equipment and of course the nurse/doctor. Oddly many customers always request fragrant flowers for hospital recipients. I don't know a single person who wants to be immersed in a sweet smelling flower 24 hours a day. Imagine being in a bed and all you get to do is smell a perfumed room that can be nauseating while eating or taking medications. We usually avoid fragrant flowers for this reason and should you receive an overly fragrant arrangement, please be sure to thank the sender that insists that you just love fragrant flowers while in bed.
Also avoid white flowers as some cultures (Asian) view white flowers as death.
Also for Japanese culture it is not proper to send a potted plant showing roots (i.e. orchids) to someone recovering from an illness.
Pu'olo NOT for ashes/memorial
The idea of having one's ashes inside a pu'olo may appear attractive and Hawaiian, but the pu'olo was not intended for housing of ashes prior to scattering.
The function of the pu'olo is to remove any spiritual connection to what was placed inside it. hat this suggests that a pu'olo will remove all spiritual association to the ashes with in. In other words the ashes are just charred remans without a spiritual connection.
If you want to place ashes into a container, may I suggest a koa calabash or one made from any of the many hardwoods in Hawai'i.
A pu'olo is used for enclosing a lei, food preparations or s gift to present to the Gods or high chiefs/queens.
Chinese Funerals
The basic color for a Chinese funeral is all white. Sometimes soft chartreuse, cream and medium green shades are acceptable. Often arrangements are tagged by a generation (i.e. children, grandchildren, etc.) Flowers are best when they are coordinated by color scheme and style.
Memorial Services for a Japanese Buddhist
In the Buddhist sect for any Japanese memorial services, it is deemed poor taste to have any flowers that has or once have had thorns. Flowers, especially roses is considered bad taste. Other thorny flowers include branches that have thorns in them and foliages with thorny appendages on them. Usual colors are white, green and soft colors.
Flower colors for recovery from cancer
The universal acceptance color for breast cancer is pink, but it is understood and acknowledged that pink is the universally accepted color for cancer survivors. We alsosuggest that you suspend the idea of sending something fragrant if the recipient has just gone through chemo or from heavy medications. For something long lasting, may we suggest a pink flowerring orchid plant.
Flowers for a pregnant mother-to-be
Flowers are meant to natures accent to any occasion, but unfortunately there are human intervention that may not always be well intended, but there are "old wive's taled" of a lei worn around the neck of a pregnant mother may cause strangulation of her child. Unlike a chain thst she wears has no issues for strangulation even though metal is stronger than flowers. Yet customarily it is deemed of poor taste to allow a pregnant mother to wear a neck lei. Often if a lei is desired, we suggest an "open" untied lei or a head lei (tied together)
Phalaenopsis Orchids by Rainforest
Phalaenopsis
The Butterfly/Moth orchids are probably the easiest longest lasting indoor flowering orchid plant available.
The genus is comprised of 60 + species and varieties mainly from the Asian. Indian to Pacific region. The many varied species this genus contains allows the most genetic variability to create such dramatic colors, splashes and flower forms. The genus is most suitable to Hawaii's climate and grow here like their second home.
Flowering Plants
Most likely you will receive this plant in a ceramic pot from Rainforest. We incorporate cultural techniques with poor grower ability to make a planter design where the plants get watered and foregivness from overwaterng an option within our potting techniques. The best place to keep these plants indoors is in a bright lit room with good reading w
qaulity light for at least eight hours a day. More light is better but avoid direct sunlight as this will burn the tender leaves and roots.
Indoor Care
As mentioned earlier, our plants are potted for watering forgiveness. We advise that plants are watered at least once per week. Finger through the mossy top layer to find the bark that these orchids grow in. If you feel a dry bark, then the plants are dry. We recommend using a mist bottle to wet the bark and roots thoroughly. Try misting a little wait a while andmist again. The idea is that you want to wet the bark without too much water excess running through. We do recommend that you water at least once per week, more if in a drafty or high traffic area.
Why are my buds drying?
The newly developed buds may tend to turn yellow-brown and never develop. The reason this occurs is many. There may not be adequate humidity in the air, or root zone. These plants are so keen on their environment that their sensitivity to light, water, humidy, if changes drastically can affect the youngest development of your plant. Excessive bud drying may be a result of a greater problem. Too much or too little water. Your plants may be very wet, yet if all the roots are rotten the wilted lack of water effect will resemble the same. See indoor care above. We strongly advise that watering becomes a very important aspect of one's task at the least once per week.
What do I do after the flowers are finished?
If your plant starts to have dried withered flowers at their stem base (opposite of tips), this natural progression of flower dying is a part of the plants ability to discard flowers which have not been pollinated or make seeds.
If you want a stem of flowers quickest, we recommend that you cut the stalk to the nearest node. (a node is the first joint that the stem end meets. If you cut just above this node ad continue to care for the plant as prescribed above, eventually the plant will produce a side shoot. This side shoot will make more buds and blooms faster than if from the base of a new shoot.
ReBloom
After your plant has exhausted itself from making buds and blooms, it is advised that you unpot the plants from the planter and place these clear plastic pots into a sturdier plastic pt and care for them as regular houseplants. Give them indirect or filtered light where possible. The leaves willburn if you place them in direct sun, so avoid this. If you have a dilute soluble fertilizer you use for ouseplants, you can use it with phalaenopsis too. Water through to be sure the entire root mass gets wet. Remove excess water from collecting and allow plants to get thoroughly wet and then dry before watering again. Phalaenopsis orchids tend to be winter bloomers. That is the short days and cooler nights will initiate flowering shoots to develop.