Sheron Harwood has grown orchids for most of her life. What started out as a means of getting a weekly allowance has grown into a rewarding hobby.

While growing up in Kailua, Sheron's first job was to water her mother's front-yard plants — roses and other pretty flowers along a fence. Later in life, after joining the Windward Orchid Society, Sheron realized that those other pretty flowers were dendrobium, oncidium and hono-hono orchids.

As a child, Sheron was happy to earn 25 cents a week for her chores. In the 1960s, that kind of money could get you into Kailua Theater (Can anyone remember where that was?) and enjoy a movie with a soda and some shredded mango.

Sheron says her late mother was her biggest influence when it came to plants and orchids. As an adult, Sheron began cultivating orchids in her own yard, and her mom would visit often. Sheron recalls that her mom enjoyed walking around the yard and finding little pockets of various orchids here and there, all thriving in their own little micro-climates formed by the other plants in the yard — a solid strategy for growing orchids outdoors without a greenhouse.

Since her early years as a gardener, Sheron has graduated to a greenhouse with benches and many different kinds of orchids. She admits that she often first kills them before she finds out how to actually grow them. Once you gain the understanding of what they need in terms of light, water and air, anyone can become successful.

As a vice president and underwriting manager for an insurance firm, Sheron says, she is fortunate to have a career she enjoys. But that doesn't mean there isn't any stress. Many times when she gets home from work, the weight of the day rolls right off her just by walking through her plants, grooming and enjoying them.

Sheron has always had hobbies in her life, going through phases from ceramics to stained glass. But when she went to her first few meetings at a local orchid society and talked with people who genuinely enjoyed working with orchids, she knew this hobby would be lifelong for her. Sheron became a member of the Windward Orchid Society in 1992, and in 1994 made the commitment of becoming a lifelong member. Sheron recently was awarded the coveted Orchid of the Decade Award for her years of service to the Windward Orchid Society and the community. She frequently offers orchid lectures and workshops around O'ahu.

Sheron offers this advice to anyone interested in growing orchids: Join an orchid club; talk with some of the old-timers; and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. Orchids are truly easy to grow, once there is an understanding of how they thrive. Some of them grow like weeds. Sheron maintains when she is tending to her orchids, and enjoying it all, that it's not her doing the nurturing. Actually, the orchids are nurturing her - and that's good for the soul.

For more information on growing orchids, visit the Windward Orchid show. All weekend there is a full schedule of educational classes, beautiful orchid displays, food and, of course, orchid and plant sales.