Orchids De Oro

Owner, complete asshole. Save yourself some time and energy and go elsewhere. Plus, everything looked mildly dead anyways. Good luck staying in business pal.

This was a one-​of-​a-​kind experience for me. I have been constantly taking my dog to ACCESS Animal Hospital on Jefferson due to a major surgery and diagnosis, and every time I pass by on Jefferson, I have thought to myself how badly I wanted to go inside Orchids De Oro and buy my boss a lovely, unique orchid plant.
Well, I dropped my dog off for chemo one day and decided ‘today is the day!’ I drove over to their location when I was stumped due to the lack of available parking (it seems there are only 2 parking spaces on Rodeo Rd, and none on Jefferson). There is also no street parking, so I pulled over on the side of the road to give them a call to see if I could just run in real quick to pick up this fancy orchid.
Whoever answered the phone was NOT an employee and essentially told me, ‘Sorry, no one is here right now — they’re at lunch and I don’t know what to tell you to do.’ So even if I find a parking space, I can’t come inside? ‘No, I don’t know what to tell you.’
??? I have never in my life experienced a situation like that.
So, I drove myself back down Jefferson to Rolling Greens where they were more than willing to help me, there was lots of parking AND (bonus) they had a huge selection of orchid plants.
I will never try to go back here again!

Lackluster service, owner didn’t even bother to get up and come outside to help or answer questions.

First off, don’t be fooled by the name. Orchids De Oro does not specialize in orchids (If you’re looking for orchids, go to Orchid Fever). This place does have a beautiful collection of botanicals, many in interesting vessels. Sadly, the owner (or manager or person-​in-​charge whatever) seems to be waaaay to good for my business. As a buyer/​decorator for film and TV, I purchase and rent a ton of plants/​greens. When I inquired about rentals, he just blew me off rudely, saying «plants? no one rents plants. well, maybe a ficus or something.» He said the word «ficus» in the same way that you would say «used tampon.» So fine, I will continue to do business with all the great nurseries, florists, and greensmen who DO rent. And when I need a pretentious looking cactus planted in a piece of driftwood, I’ll put it together myself for half the price.

A secret garden oasis in an industrial part of town. This is the perfect place to visit after eating at JR’s BBQ (see my review) for lunch.
The outside isn’t much to look at. In fact, even though I love orchids and passed by this place for a couple of months to get to work, I didn’t bother to stop by. I finally decided to give this place a try after my first visit to JR’s BBQ.
Its almost deceiving at first, but the winged lion statues you see at the back entrance are a hint of what’s in store inside. Step inside and you are surrounded with garden statues, orchids, succulents, bromeliads and other garden related artifacts. The plants are healthy, vigorous and unusually large compared to what you find in most other nurseries.
The major drawback is the price. This place is expensive. However, if you are looking for a specimen plant to show off, then this is a good place to go to.
They have their own small parking lot that is never filled.