I like growing flowers and I live in tropical Singapore. So growing orchids should have been on my list a long time back. But I was scared. I had no knowledge and orchids seemed exotic.

When you buy orchid plants they will be blooming. That’s how marketing is done. When you bring the plant home it looks beautiful for some time and then the flowers are gone. And that’s when the challenging part starts. Initially I tried all sorts of fancy growth promoters sold at the nursery. Nothing happened. There were no flowers but my frustration did bloom. Eventually my desire to do something killed the plant.

In frustration, I banished the remaining orchid plant to the furthest regions of my balcony garden. Out of sight, out of mind. I was not dealing with this. After 6 months of neglect and some incidental watering I saw flowers.

Doing nothing was the secret. But was this just me ? When a portfolio manager friend posted photos of beautiful orchid flowers I asked him how he got results. He said he did nothing but allowed time to do its thing.

Growing orchids requires patience. As does investing. Doing nothing also helps as it allows time to do its thing.