The power of flowers

Kelsey Walling/Tribune-Herald A single orchid has bloomed and grown in the Puna Flower Power greenhouse in Keaau on Tuesday.

Gordon Inouye, right, and Joe Kekedi talk about working in the Puna Flower Power orchid greenhouse on Tuesday. (Kelsey Walling/Hawaii Tribune-Herald)

Above: Gordon Inouye admires an orchid bloom in the Puna Flower Power greenhouse in Keaau on Tuesday. Below: An orchid has bloomed and grown in the Puna Flower Power. (photos by Kelsey Walling/Hawaii Tribune-Herald)

Gordon Inouye inspects growing orchid plants in the Puna Flower Power greenhouse in Keaau on Tuesday. (Kelsey Walling/Hawaii Tribune-Herald)

An orchid has bloomed and grown in the Puna Flower Power greenhouse in Keaau on Tuesday. (Kelsey Walling/Hawaii Tribune-Herald)

Kelsey Walling/Tribune-Herald A single orchid plant blooms among thousands of other orchids in the Puna Flower Power greenhouse in Keaau on Tuesday.

Kelsey Walling/Tribune-Herald Gordon Inouye talks about orchid farming outside the Puna Flower Power greenhouse in Keaau on Tuesday.

Kelsey Walling/Tribune-Herald A single orchid plant blooms among thousands of other orchids in the Puna Flower Power greenhouse in Keaau on Tuesday.

KEAAU — The chief executive of a small but budding orchid-growing cooperative compared the company’s formation to “a phoenix rising out of the ashes.”