What about the BOP?

Strelitzia. One of the most tropical plants, with an exotic bloom.

My Bird of Paradise, Fall, 2012

Oh, wow! The greenhouse was a lot neater back then.  Last winter I left out the Bird of Paradise thinking it would die. It came back from the roots. I really intended to buy a new one for the greenhouse. Local sources never had one.

I debated digging the survivor. It has two ratty leaves and two beautiful late ones. Considering the size pot required to bring it in, I elected to leave it out again.

Next spring I'll start a serious search for one. I would prefer Stretlitzia reginae, but will settle for S. nicholai with less spectacularly colored blooms.

Bird of Paradise, earlier Years

2009

Dug and potted in October 2011 after spending the winter of

2010 in the ground, returning from roots in Spring 2011.

By late November 2011 it unfurled a new leaf.

It's still alive and well, if cold doesn't kill it out in the garden this winter.

April Peek into the Greenhouse

Alison reminded us that it is time to look in the greenhouse again. Hers looks swell. She has seedlings of all kinds and even a blooming Brugmansia. Here's mine:

I washed the outside last week before the rains came.

What looks like a pile of rubble to the left is the new Urbanite and brick patio.

Evacuation started here when I thought cold weather was over. Some of the plants I moved out shivered for a night or two, but nobody froze. Epiphyllums are on a bench under the cedar tree behind gardenias and things, ready for warm nights so they can bloom.

Tomato plants got to stay inside a little longer because of the

cold rain. What looks like yellow leaves at the bottom are labels.

I haven't decided where Bromeliads are going to summer. Red Begonias and Alternanthera can go with them, or somewhere else. The rest of Begonias are already outside in shade.

My Easter tableau looked more like Christmas, but that's an

Easter Cactus. Rhapsalidopsis.

Here's where Rhapsalidopsis and Schlumbergera are summering.  

 Urbanite and Brick Patio. Surely you didn't think I was going to sit out there in the summer? Jungle cactuses summer in this same space last year on this same table. Now there's more room and I won't have to walk through weeds.

A closer look at brick seams between the broken concrete.

Another, bigger  Easter Cactus at back left. All tiny pots of 

Schlumbergera cuttings have been bumped up to the size that fits into cache pots. They are of cache pots for summer so they can easily drain after a rain. 

Waiting for summer homes in the ground are Pineapple Sage, Porterweed, Chartreuse Alternanthera and others.

 Propagation is an on-going process here.

Every little succulent leaf that falls gets to start life 

as a new plant. Every broken piece of something

goes into a pot to root, which is why I have too

many Epiphyllums and more.

If you haven't a greenhouse, then you must have a bright window or a grow light somewhere. Orchids are blooming in an east window here. What's blooming at your place?

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Almost Ready to Close the Greenhouse Door

Every day I bring in another pot, more cuttings, something. When I paused to make a pic record, He-Who-Mows laughed and said it looked better in a photograph than it really does. Maybe so.

Hardly styled for a slick magazine, it's work in progress, year 'round. There are always seeds to scatter or cuttings to strike or things to put in a larger pot.The Kalanchoes around the door went inside last everning in case of frost.

Today I busied myself taking down the last of the tomatoes, hauling off Tithonia plants and making the Cabbage Patch less attractive to digging pets. I gave every plant a dusting of cayenne pepper, then edged them with pine cones. In a few places I stuck some rosemary cuttings -- doubtful they will root but rosemary reputedly repel cats. Ike probably loves rosemary.  If I see more signs of digging, there's a pile of pine straw mulch waiting to be scattered before the first freeze. 

Part of the Cabbage row; Kale opposite.

Cabbage plant and pine cones.

Broccoli plant, pine cone and Rosemary twig.

Everybody Back Inside! 3 more Cold Nights Ahead

Just when I thought the worst was over -- and of course my worst weather is nothing compared to yours -- all the tropicals are back inside until the temperatures stop hovering around freezing in the early morning hours.


Persian Shield can tolerate some cold, but not a freeze. Purple Heart left in the ground has already put out new growth. These have never left the greenhouse.

Pentas in all colors have enjoyed some days in the sun, only to com back inside.

 

 

 

Grapevine balls with succulents, epis and graptopetalum must wait for near-tropical nights to go out under shade.



Just this afternoon I discovered a bud on one of the Angel Trumpet cuttings! I've covered new growth that had put out on those Brugmansias that spent the winter killed back to the roots.

Every spring we teeter between warmth and freezes. Two days ago we were deciding what to do about the new crop of mosquitos.

I brought the electric heaters back to the greenhouse and plugged them in.

Amaryllis Appleblossom

The mystery Hippeastrum that I brought to bloom again this year turned out to be Appleblossom. I should have guessed. It is so pretty.

The bud behind is Nymph, blooming for the third time.

 

When I called He-who-Mows to the door to see the blooms, he said,

"You need a bigger greenhouse," going on to say that heating would

be expensive but we could put in LP gas, at which point I said I

thought I just need to beter utilize the space that I have.

 

This Amaryllis is fragrant. Anything this pretty should smell good, and this one does.

Sweet perfume for the greenhouse.

 

 

Before long most everything can go outside except those

few that will spend the summer in a hot, humid environment

under mist with an exhaust fan.

 

 

Some plants like these Persian Shield look as if they'll be glad to get out of

 small pots and into the ground where they can stretch.

 

 

The Termperature Takes a Downturn, not Spring after All

Just when everything was budded out and starting to burst into bloom and we're talking 'early spring' the wind shifts to the north and cold blows in. We expect 25ºF tonight and 27º tomorrow night with a high tomorrow of 52º which may seem balmy to some but is uncomfortable in the South.

I even wrapped little volunteer tomatoes with improvised row cover. Tommies Toes will be such a treat for salad if I can keep them going and since they are there....

When the sun peeked out today the greenhouse warmed to the seventies and I transplanted some rootbound Pentas.

I went ahead and tucked a Neoreglia bromeliad into this pot of Wax Begonias.

Now to find a use for a tray of Kalanchoe cuttings and many Spider plants.

 

The bromeliad I used is a little sister to this one.

 



 

I made a big mistake today. I had a packet of Nigella seeds so I sowed them in an 18 cell tray of planting mix. Wait! Nigella dislike transplanting and beside that, should have been direct sowed last November. I knew that. I'm wavering between trying to transplant before the taproot gets very big and scooping the tops off the cells and sprinkling them in the bed with all those volunteer petunias. Nigella would probably be most happy there.

 

I dragged the pepper plants I cut back and the two eggplant plants with blooms back into the greenhouse. They'd been enjoying the air outside until it got so cold.

 

I have a little list of seeds to order off for. Black Pearl Peppers, White Madagascar periwinkles and some Geraniums. Last year I intended to buy a geranium plant and never did. I saw somebody's blog -- maybe it was Tootsie's -- where geranium seeds have sprouted and I decided.... No one vendor I've looked at have all three kinds of seeds. Does anybody know one who does?

 

 

 

 

Bloom Day in the Greenhouse February, 2013

Remember that this is a hobby greenhouse, inexpensive but affordable as compared to the better quality structures usually seen on blogs. Ten by 12 feet; a greenhouse is never big enough.

Gipsy Queen Hyacinths are nearing the end of bloom.

Hyacinths outside are blooming now. Forced in pots of soil,

these can go into the ground when they fade, to bloom again next year.

Heated by two small electric heaters set to come on low fan speed when the temperature dips below 37 degrees in a climate where prolonged freezes are rare, plants are grown for pleasure.

Pentas cuttings, not as happy as they would be in a warmer season, will

go outside for the delight of butterflies when the weather warms.

In the blue pot on the shelf above them, Neoregelia bromeliad.

 

Pots of Pineapple Sage with a branch of Russelia

equisetiformis hanging over them with similar blooms.

 

Persian Shield cuttings are blooming, blossoms usually only seen in winter.

Strobilanthes dyerianus is used in the summer garden for purple foliage.

 

Kalanchoe in bloom at left, cuttings in near view beginning to bloom.

Behind is a pot of pink Begonias.

I'm thinking of taking out some Begonias and putting a Neoregelia  bromeliad in

the pot with Begonias, an idea suggested by Steve Asbell of Rainforest Gardens

 

When warm weather comes I may combine Kalanchoes with Graptopetalum.

 

Thank you for visiting my greenhouse.

 

We're celebrating February Bloom Day with Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

 

My outdoor blooms are on Secrets of a Seedscatterer. February Gold is the theme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rearranged the Greenhouse Furniture

There isn't that much room to begin with. Plants tend to hang out over the walkways. Esthetics begin to plague me. We must be able to walk all the way around and I have to reach everything to hand water.

The shelf unit was against the shelf on the north wall. Changed it out with

the little table in the center. It has hardly a larger footprint than the table and

a metal stool on which a tall plant sat. The metal cart that partly blocked

the door is now in the back. I've covered part of the patchwork floor.

 

My thinking was that the shelves are taller but their openness keeps them from looking  as bulky as I'd feared. Trays of seedlings and cuttings can get sun here while tall plants sit on the top.

 

 

The ability to walk all the way around whatever is in the center

is primary. The camera caught the ventilating fan in a way that

it doesn't appear to be turnng but it was.

 

Tomato plants lean against the water barrels behind a burlap skirt.

 

I was reading formulas for figuring how muich thermal mass per square foot.

We need three times as many barrels for most effective temperature

mediation. If I had 8 more barrels, we'd have no room to walk around.

We'll just make do with supplemental heat. Two small heaters on low

have worked well to keep plants from freezing in our coldest winters.

 

 

We ate a tomato tonight that

I had tossed into the basket where compostables go when it fell

off the vine. I thought it too small to ripen. I knocked the basket over

today and the ripe tomato rolled out. Tiny, but tasty.

 

 

Here's Ike in his wicker perch surrounded by Epipyllums. They are the

bulkiest plants in the greenhouse and awkward to place. Ike's pot of

Lemon grass is the red one in the center. It helps keep him from

shredding leaves of whatever is near him. He loves to shred Bromeliads.

 

 

A sudden rainshower caught me inside, so I made pictures.

This is a homemade fogger with three nozzles. It helps with

climate control, both humidity and summer temperatures.

 

I want to move the potting bench farther toward the back so

that it doesn't get so wet when the fogger is in use. I measured

and it looks as if the shelf unit will fit into that space.

Sounds to me like a summer project since I don't want

tender plants on the north wall now.

 

The entire water system:

a single faucet with a Y which controls

water to the fogger on the left and a short

hose on the right that I use to fill watering cans.

 

We put the greenhouse together late in 2007.

We've made it work.

 

 

Green tips have emerged on all the hyacinths.

I used to set pots of forcing bulbs in the utility

room sink. This is better.

 

This is the only seat right now other than the step

stool that I use mostly to reach plants that are too

high for me to water from the floor. I sat there

until the rain shower was over.

This is a little bench that my late father in law built.

 

Today was unusually warm for January. I'm always concerned that we'll get a storm with high winds when there are warm breezes from the south. Fortunately the rain was straight down, no wind.

 

 

 

 

 

Thinking Outside the Pot

Not all house plants must grow in a traditional pot. Steve Asbell introduced me to the idea of plants growing in a grapevine ball.

My homemade grapevine balls are loose and clumsy. I expect the plants to eventually take over so the vehicle is simply a tool. Grapevines are abundant here, so maybe my wrapping technique will improve. Enough space has to remain so that long-cut moss and the root balls of plants can be inserted. Rooting cuttings in a tray with a long thing root bed seems ideal.

I used what is at hand here: Christmas Cactus cuttings, Graptopetalum rosettes and Resurrection fern, topped off with a Bromeliad pup.

 

Hanging is not convenient, so I set the sphere in an old clay pot with lots of patina. The pot sits in a bonsai saucer or on a tray of pebbles, depending on my whim as I search for an ideal spot.

 

 

Later I set the ball into the top of a decorative cache pot.

See at the bottom, there's a frond of Resurrection Fern?

 

Resurrection Fern turned out not ideal for a Moss Ball.

 

This fern likes a constantly moist surface and plenty of humidity. Once it dries out, I have a hard time 'resurrecting' it. Next I will try some kind of dainty fern that came up in the Greenhouse floor.

 

Graptopetalum makes a good contrast to finer foliage. Its only drawback is that it tends to get leggy. I just break off and restick when it begins to hang on a long stem.

Only the fern at the bottom retains enough water

 to stay green and not all of it looks hydrated.

 

I can hardly wait for the Schlumbergera to

open, six weeks before Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plants Coming in out of the Cold

Tender plants are migrating to the greenhouse, a few at a time. They need to acclimate before there's a sharp drop in temperatures. Our nighttime temps are still in the 50s but that can change at any time.

Today I brought in the Bromeliads, 5 Neoregelia pups from a single plant now dying and the same old Vriesea that the cat shredded some of the leaves. They've been in shade. Maybe brighter light will make the Neoregelias a brighter color.

I tucked my Heliconia that has taken on new life into the corner on an old metal stool with airplane plants in front ot it. The newly cleaned fountain came to life surrounded by gingers, ferns, calla lily plants and Persian Shield cuttings. Water adds a pleasant sound.

Room for tomatoes, eggplants and peppers is going to be at a premium. The broken pot with sedum acre and graptopetalum went out by Ike's porch with a flat of graptopetalum on the opposite side. All these plants are cold hardy here except the althernanthera.

Epiphyllums came in and are sharing space with Ike the Cat. One I shoved into one of the new shelf units, to see if it can spend the winter there. I'm learning that the worst old yellow leaves will take a new life in a pot of fresh soil. This one may turn into a mother plant, come spring.

Syngoniums are in, one tucked under a table. Angel-wing begonia joined them after it was repotted. The syngoniums may need more light but they seemed happy under the cedar tree with a little late evening sun.


I'm trying to plan for a spot for every hyacinth and three amaryllis to sit for best display. Might just set their pots around, label and wait. The only plant left to come inside for sure is my Christmas cactus. I'm trying to wait for it to put on buds before I bring it in.

The cuttings from my Christmas cactus are in a grapevine ball with one of the bromeliads on top. The cuttings from Miss Winnie are all in 3" pots for now and look good. There are 6 of them and four extra rooted pieces.

The Firecracker fern looks good. The main plant is still blooming. The broken pieces are rooted but dropped all the blooms -- looks as if there may be seeds on there.

I picked little green worms off the rooted Pentas cuttings. Yes, I know, caterpillars. Moths, actually. I am battling moth larvae and white fly. Soap solution for white fly works for me.

Mercifully so far white fly has skipped the 8 rooted gardenias. Anoles and toads are doing their best to keep up with pest control. Anoles have to keep an eye out for Ike, who is watching them.


I'll be Flaunting these Flowers on Fertilizer Friday up at Tootsie Time.