Rodorchids*

Javier’s orchid collection is the foundation of our decor in the house at the moment. He started rescuing orchids two years ago from Home Depot and Lowe’s – basically buying them when they were on super-sale after the blooms had already dropped off and the roots were shriveling up and nursing them back to life. He joined the Middle Tennessee Orchid Society last year and began to branch out in his orchid purchases, finding more exotic types and mounting them all on different surfaces (dried bark, driftwood, hanging on small pieces of wood, or potted). At this moment we have 35 orchids around our house, which may seem like plenty but for most orchid collectors that’s just a baby spread.

We name the orchids whenever they bloom based on their flower – so we have orchids with names like Effie Trinket from Hunger Games or Pibe Valderrama, a famous Colombian soccer player.

Effie Trinket the Orchid

Pibe Valderrama the Orchid

above – Cosmos’ second blooming stalk this year!

Most of the orchids we have need plenty of sunlight, so they are right out in the middle of our living room in front of the biggest window in our house. The rest of the orchids are scattered in well-lit spots; Javier even repurposed a book shelf as an orchid shelf, with some of them hanging from the bottom of the shelves and others sitting on the tops of the shelves. It looks amazing in our dining room – I absolutely love having all of these plants everywhere. At this point I have no idea where we’ll put more orchids, but I see a greenhouse in our future because I know Javier isn’t going to stop collecting…

*If you check out #rodorchids on instagram you can keep track of Javier’s updates on each of the orchids in our house as they bloom – it’s the hashtag he created for the Rodriguez orchids.