Today Hawaii has more than 2,000 greenhouses as well as more than 3,000 acres of open fields used for this farming sector. More than 900 farms are in the floriculture and nursery business in Hawaii. The number is down slightly from the year before but well up from 2001 when there were fewer than 800.

Out-of-state flower and nursery sales, both wholesale and retail, came close to $50 million in 2005. This includes multiple transactions as some plants and flowers change hands from farmer to middleman before leaving the state. Almost a third of sales came just from out-of-state sales of potted foliage, but if potted and cut orchid sales are combined, the orchid sector is even bigger.