Oncidium Golden Wish - An introduction to this blog...

The Personal-take: An introduction to this blog...

Since I was little, my parents have been farming orchids. I naturally feel an affinity with orchids having practically grew up with them - befitting that I begin the blog with a post on this plant.

Being so close to nature since young, I never thought much about plants. As a kid, I dreaded the hours spent waiting for my father to finish his meetings at the botanical gardens. There were mosquitos and soggy grassfields... I'd rather spend the afternoons in the air-conditioned shopping-centres of Orchard Road. My home usually have a vase or two of flowers - those that were left-over from the sales - and they were no big deal to me.

Since I've entered the workforce a couple of years ago, farming white hair under the flourescent office light, learning the value of money and hard work, etc, etc, I understand now that I had been taking all that nature for granted.

To "pace" the monotony of office life, I bought a jade plant recently, and it lends me great joy to watch the little buds shoot... Really pretty high ROI (return of investments). I sometimes wish for some flowers in the office to look at when I'm tired of staring at the computer screens or lifeless exchange of administrative emails.

Plants and flowers do lend cheer... not just on valentine's or mother's day, but if we could just be aware of them, and appreciate how they just grow - they take in the water, the sunlight, and the nutrients in the soil - and just try their best to grow.

With these admirations in mind, I'm starting this blog. Hopefully, it will remind me to be more appreciative of the little things in life, and to try my best to grow. Also, I hope that it will remind you too.


The Plant

The Oncidium Golden Wish is a pretty typical oncidium orchid - golden yellow flowers with their delicate upper petals and a dominant lower lip - which catches the slightest breeze, causing the flowers to sway... the image of the dancing flower gives the oncidium its other name - the "dancing lady orchid" - imagine ladies with a large skirt sashaying her hips. Ladies of that size? (Each flower is about the size of a finger joint.) They must be fairies.


The Picture

The picture were taken at my parents' orchid nursery. (The picture above shows a young plant.) The golden wish is commercially grown for sale as a fresh-cut flower. It is also similar to the one-time commercially successful, Oncidium Golden Shower, but the Wish tends to be larger. The flower sprays also tends to be more three dimensional (branches in different directions), compared to the more neatly arranged golden shower that is more flat (like...a palm leave).