Orchids: Evil Houseplant or Beautiful Home Accent? You Decide!

A few years back when my husband and I were still "newly married" he announced that my few potted orchids were "freaking him out" and could they just leave.  The conversation went something like this:

Hubs: "That orchid is looking at me.  I'm pretty sure they stand for something evil or witchy. "

Me: "What?  You're crazy."

Hubs: "I'm not kidding, I really hate those orchids."

Me: "Ok, don't worry; it'll die soon."

Basically if my husband were in charge orchids would totally be on the axis of evil.  So. . .

Years later, after all my attempts at keeping an orchid alive for longer than one month have failed, I am happy to oblige my sweet husband, who never requests ANYTHING in our home to be done his way.  No more sweet, pretty orchids for us.  I mean, look at this evil thing.

I get it.  It looks like a spider. Or many, many other unmentionable things.

The symbolism of an orchid, as it turns out, is not evil at all.  They basically stand for lots of good and wonderful things but there's no changing a man's mind when he gets a bad "vibe" from a houseplant. And even though I have an empty dining table begging for a pretty potted orchid I decided this was a design challenge and set off to Home Depot to find alternatives.

See? Orchids should go here!  Or. . .

This is a Aeonium 'Blushing Beauty' and a Bromeliad.  I think they look pretty great!  Now, on to the potting. . .

I used orchid potting mix (ha ha! rebellion), some rocks I had leftover for drainage and sheet moss to cover the dirt.  The sheet moss was my favorite part and I love what it did for a "finished" look.

Sweet, no?  Now here's a before and after for ya.  And yes, these types of changes make me ridiculously happy.

  

Now you know I had to put a bird on it.