last year the end of may.. Thats when its safe to plant seeds out so I think thats a good time
Tropicals in Canada
Looking great smurf! I luv the combo of the cannas and the castors. I am a bit disappointed though; I was hoping you chose your name because you were blue.
Nice to see that there are other Canadians who refuse to accept that we live in the great white north. Keep up the good work all!
It's December 1st and the Mandevilla's are still in bloom in my unheated sun room. They have bloomed continuously from early august. After an unusually cold October, November has been exceptionally mild with no snow at all. There is no frost in the ground and some roses are still trying to flower outside.
I made a few changes to keep the sun room warmer, insulated the floor, added poly on the inside, and installed two small fans to blow some air from the house into the room at night (5" computer fans). We have wood heat and it is usually very warm in the house so can spare some for the plants.
We are still eating the last of the tomatoes from the greenhouse picked last week (also unheated) and expect to go golfing this week. Nova Scotia does have some advantages in the fall but spring sucks big time!
The dirty towel is used to wipe the dogs feet as mud is a big problem with our heavy clay soil.
wow those are really nice all bloomed like that.. how cold does your sunroom get.. I've always wanted one but it wouldn't be heated.. Just wondering
jen
Hi smurf428,
The sunroom did drop below freezing through much of last winter but also got very warm on sunny days. Since adding the insulation we have had outside temperatures down to -6 and the sunroom dropped to 1.5 deg. That was before I installed the fans so I am hoping for an improvement. You also have to watch out for over heating on sunny days. One day in November we were out with the doors and windows in the sunroom shut. The sun came out and the temperature reached 47 deg C. The Mandevilla suffered more from that than the 1.5 deg cold. Once the real cold comes I will cut back the plants and bring them in for the winter as I am sure I can't keep the sunroom warm enough durin g mid winter.
I am intending to complete the fan arrangement with an automatic control to blow air in to the house from the sunroom when the sunroom reaches 20+ deg. The same system will blow air out to the sunroom from the house should the temperature in the sunroom drop below 15 deg. Of course it will be turned off in the summer when we don't need heat.
Dave
sounds like a great system.
Last spring I bought a tiny little (2") Arabian Coffee (coffea arabica) from Home Depot. Kept it in the greenhouse in the summer. I may have to move it away from my drafty window now though. It has grown a lot. Apparently it will have fragrant flowers, red berries that contain the beans.
I finally had to cut back the Mandevilla and bring them indoors. The temperature is -12 C with a -20 C wind chill and the sun room was down to 6.5 C deg even with the fan blowing air into it from the kitchen. The Mandevilla were still in flower with lots of new buds so I cut off the flowers and put them in a vase. They sure do bloom for a long time. This year from end of July to December 17th. Looks very bare out in the sun room now.
I will try adding vinyl double glazing and see what I can do to keep the temperature high enough to winter over the plants although I don't expect much luck as we are exposed to the west wind.
Dave
I would not survive the winter without my solariums and tropicals
Nevrest, this is the room I want/ need!!!! Envy!
Greeeeeeeeen about that room too!
yes very nice.. I need something but hubby says no.. I would need it to be heated or at least warm enought to keep tropicals in and he wont heat it so all I have is windows in the house :(
I don't have a solarium but have a south window in my living room,With the help of a small humidifier I have been growing Orchids with some success.This picture was taken on Christmas Eve.JOY
Joy
Lovely to see in the middle of winter! You must have the right touch and spot.
Ann
Wonderous Joy! Thanks for sharing.
Joy, thanks for sharing! Inspiring in this dark time of winter!