Lessons for life blossom
I ATTENDED a gorgeous community event last weekend— the Geelong Regional Orchid Workshop.
I love orchids. They are an amazing plant. They are stunning but not prissy. Their flowers are exquisite; the combination of colour, pattern and shape varies not only from sub-species to sub-species, but from plant to plant. This means each plant has its unique identity.
What makes them even more amazing is that they do not like to grow in rich dark soil that has been mulched and fertilised to within an inch of its life. Instead, orchids prefer rough and tumble bark.
In fact, in my experience, they thrive on stress. They are also incredibly versatile. They look fantastic in a decorative planter in the middle of any table, and are a glorious feature in a front or back garden.
I attended this community workshop with a specific purpose: to buy two new orchid plants. They were replacements for two beautiful orchids that had perished at the paws of our beloved Airedale puppy, Alfie.
Alfie loves orchids as much as I do, but for an entirely different purpose.
He prefers to steal one at any opportune moment — whenever one of us accidentally leaves the side gate open.
He drags the plant by its long green leaves down the side passage and rolls the pot until the bark releases the plant from its confines. Then he devours the bark, the roots and the leaves before, finally, all that remains is the teeth-marked plastic pot and a bounce in his step as he relishes having gotten away with being so naughty.
After his last attack, I have kept my remaining orchids in a fenced-off area of the front yard, now known fondly in our family as the “orchid witness protection program”.
While shopping for my orchids, I struck up a conversation with an older gentlemen. He helped me choose between the beautiful orchids and we chatted about what we both loved about these plants.
He has been growing them for more than 20 years. He had not expected to love orchids. His wife had brought one home and he found himself hooked. He had never really been into gardening, as community sport had been his thing. However, as his children stopped playing sport when they reached adulthood and he headed towards retirement, his connection with local sporting clubs weakened as did his willingness to brave the cold and the wet mornings synonymous with winter sport.
Orchids had become, for him, a hobby that had, over time, expanded and served as the bridge between work and retirement. The bridge between running around after your children, and their 20s and beyond, when they run around after themselves.
He encouraged me to invest time now in what would become a hobby that would ultimately serve as that bridge for me.
My response was to loudly exhale and explain that my dance card was full. He nodded and smiled.
He cautioned me that time moves faster than you think and when you are at your busiest is exactly when you need to start to think about what will fill your time and keep you physically and mentally engaged in 20 or 30 years’ time.
Hobbies did not develop overnight, he said. They were built hour by hour over weeks, months and years.
What was intended as a quick stop to buy orchids became a life lesson.
As I paid for my orchids, one of the organisers invited me to come along to their next meeting.
He joked I would be the youngest person in the room by about 30 years.
My new friend who had dispensed the life lesson looked up and said, “Well, that should give you just enough time to get good at orchids. Better start now.” Rachel Schutze is a principal of Maurice Blackburn Geelong, wife and mother of three. [Ed’s note: Ms Schutze is married to Corio Mp Richard Marles.]