Possible green light on a greenhouse

Equil, it sounds like it's a done deal. This is gonna be great! Husband's on board and everything. Surely you can find someone to come and excavate and pour some concrete before November.

Your propagation efforts put my little Abelias and Heucheras to shame. Do you trade? I decided my mist bench is going to get really busy this year.

I know you are mainly into natives, but I figured out which tropicalesque plant will both fit perfectly in your greenhouse AND give you a chance to use your cloning machine...

TL, it sounds to me like you know just exactly what you are doing. If your doors/shutters work for you, don't change anything on my advice!

SB

This message was edited Apr 15, 2006 6:19 AM

I just remembered something, maybe you know already...you can't easily go back and do this later and you'll want to mention this to the excavators: Insulate your foundation. Here's a link: http://www.greenhousegarden.com/energy.htm

Well Sb....I wasn't quite accurate...I have the door on the east side on one of the grhouses and on the west side for the other two so I could go back and forth easier. Even on windy days I don't notice a difference in the amt of wind that is pulled thru the grhouse. I was telling Equil that on the 100 ft house when the fan is on, the door will slam shut if you don't hold it the whole time that you are letting the door close. I really think that she can set up the door/shutters/fan the easiest way for her. If the wind pull is that strong on a 100ft, a 24 ft is going to be a breeze! no pun intended ( I think that was my first pun ever lol). It just seemed to flow out of me! woah!!! another one. I think I need to take a break from working at some time soon here lol.
Seriously though, cutting a new door on the side to accomodate the wind is, imo, not a good idea. Not to mention that she will have the two 12" fans in there as well...and a shade cloth to lower temps :(. What is with you people lol...I must be cold blooded or something-I love the sun and heat (thou it really doesn't get that hot in there).


I can't resist asking...what tropicalesque plant are you thinking of for her?? I have already tried-she won't budge.

On second thought, maybe I shouldn't say...she is a plantaholic, after all, and I don't want to be an enabler...

What size are you intake shutters, TL? And how big are your fans?

BTW, I read your post on Ylang Ylang. Have you ever smelled Dwarf Ylang Ylang (Desmos chinensis)? Is it similar? I have one on order; thought the real thing would be too big for the GH.

SB

This message was edited Apr 15, 2006 6:55 AM

Hey SB my intake fans are 36" 3/4 hp, and the shutters on the 100' is 24" and 20" on the 60x30. I think perhaps I should have gotten a larger fan on the 100'x30-what do you think? You do those calculations so well :)

I have never smelled the ylang ylang vine, just the tree. Is that the plant you are going to send to Equil to clone???? lol that would be a good choice. Thinking of buying one myself-where are you getting yours? I am always looking for good sources of tropicals that are reliable, have reasonable pricing, pack well and don't substitute w/out asking. I don't ask for much do I? So.....now what is this plant? She ain't the only plantaholic in here lol. Am going to do a major buy within the month-I have a list and several nurseries that I am thinking about getting them from, this plant may need to go on it!
I would guess that the scent would be similar, unless they have really taken liberties with using ylang ylang in the common name. I do believe you could buy the tree and not have to worry about the size for quite a while lol. I think it is fairly slow growing-even in Hawaii. Get both!! I want a sandlewood tree, while we are fantasizing!

Sorry all, here you were all having fun while I was packing plants since about 6am and then I had to get over to the PO to send them all out! I screwed up. The PO closes at 11am instead of 11:30 am and I got there just in the nick of time. The clerk was not a happy camper when he saw me come in with big black hefty garbage bags only to have to run out to the car to bring more boxes in to be shipped and all at around 10:55am before they lock the front door. I sent out over 30 boxes of plants to other plantaholic friends and two boxes of miscellaneous.

Say TL, what nurseries are you gearing up to place a major order from? Do any of them sell Tacca? I have a major problem with Tacca. I keep killing it. Tacca hates me but I feel the need to keep trying to grow it. Soon I will write a book titled, "Twenty Ways To Kill Tacca". And then there could be a sequel of some sort if it gets readership and then I would have enough money to hire somebody to grow Tacca for me that would live and bless me with flowers. I dream well don't I!

Please SB, do not tell me what tropicalesque plant you were thinking of sending me because I would probably want it really really bad because I am a plantaholic. I keep telling myself I can stop anytime I want but the problem is I don't want to. Tee he, so much for 12 step programs! You are welcome to anything I have without a trade. I don't really do trades, if I have it I send it out. Please know, most of what I grow is not for me and almost all of it is inidgenous to the continent of North America and native to east of the Rockies and specifically to Illinois and Wisconsin of the Midwest. I grow mostly to donate to schools and youth groups and I grow to donate back to the Forest Preserve District and for friends. I flasked the orchids for others using their seed so those aren't mine. I also grow for the State. 90% of what I grow I do not keep and of the remaining 10%, I gladly share.

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH backing up a bit, I could use my new clone machine to play with this mystery tropicalesque plant???? Hmmm, lemme take back what I said about not wanting to know. Cyber whisper the binomial to me ;) My my my, between you and this member who goes by the user name of KWoods who keeps posting links to terrestrial Orchid nurseries... I should be totally out of my mind (and money) in no time flat!

Here's a run down of what I'm propagating-
1500 cells and in one month I will be down to about 100 cells after I send people their seedlings-
*mostly native spring ephemerals
*native wildlife perennial species such as Asclepias
*native shade perennials
*tall bearded iris that I am growing for somebody else who was experimenting with hybridization and wanted me to get them going for him
*hosta that are for garden4birds here at DG because she has problems getting any seed to germinate. I suspect she lets them dry out.
*native grasses, sedges, and rushes for me and a girlfriend who has problems getting any grass seed to germinate. Why I don't know as she is more skilled than me but I guess everyone has trouble spots and Tacca comes to mind for me.

15 trays of trees and shrubs in 2 liter diet pepsi bottles of 15 per tray-
All Native species but mostly Oak, River Birch, American Yellowwood, Viburnum, and Ilex.

10 shelves of seeds germinating under fluorescents-
*Sarracenia (three species have begun to germinate this week! Happy Dance!)
*Drosera
*Pinguicula

two kiddie pools in the basement centered under metal halides-
*Federally endangered and threatened Sarracenia juveniles (do not belong to me)

100 leaf pulls-
* all Pinguciula spp. and as of this morning, I am down to 10 plants

orchids in flasks-
*Cypripedium for April
*Paphiopedilum for Fred (or maybe I got that reversed and April gave me the Paph seed and Fred gave me the Cyp seed)

tissue cultures in jars-
*Pinguicula villosa and vulgaris for me but they aren't doing much of anything in that they certainly aren't germinating. They're just hanging out on top of the agar doing absolutely nothing! I talk to them every morning and tell them to paleeeeease germinate for mommy but so far no luck.

cold frame-
native oaks
native hickories

So SB, other than the Federally endangered and threatened plants, April and Fred's flasked orchids, Lisa's hosta, and Mitt's Tall Bearded Iris... that leaves quite a bit. Let me know what you are interested in and I will go out and see if I started any. You truly are welcome to any of my native perennials, grasses, sedges, rushes, trees, and shrubs that I am starting. I'll know more of what is going to germinate by June but I couldn't help myself and peeked at some Oaks and I see they are beginning to send out tap roots. I know I am not supposed to do that but I get so excited that I truly don't exercise restraint. Pawpaws aren't doing anything... I peeked at those too. I am a bad girl.

You are weird lol

I have to go run! I need to be pulling weeds by 3pm. What does Sidney call people who pull weeds? Weed Warriors! That's what I am! I'm a weird weed warrior! Now say that three times fast! I dare ya!

will paw paws grow here? I keep think they are like papayas, but I know they can't be. I heard a cooking show once where they went out in search of good pawpaws-what exactly is this fruit??? Oh weird one where art thou???

I ate some pawpaws last fall...I shared them with my Boy Scout troop...the boys weren't as excited as I was...I made them save the seeds, and I planted the seeds last fall. A friend told me he didn't see any sign of germination in the seeds he planted until something like July last year.

I went to my favorite nursery today and came home with Cercis canadensis 'Appalachian Red.' Will plant where Halesia tetraptera ‘Rosea’ died. That's two Halesia I've killed...no more.

I'm sorry, Equil, if I mislead you into thinking I had any of these particular plants to send you. If all goes well, tho, I will next year. I just thought of a plant which would appreciate that cooler dormant period in your GH in the winter with the Sarracenia. And you could experiment with cuttings from the beginning. I'm talking about Ficus carica - FIGS - from UC Davis. The program is the National Clonal Germplasm Repository. You have some 200 figs to choose from. They send you unrooted cuttings in June for free...no shipping even. You could root them in the Cloning machine and grow them in the GH and feed them to the family...or the cats. Anyway, I have cuttings from a dozen different varieties of figs coming this summer. Hopefully they'll root.

I appreciate the offer. I'm going through a minor sedge phase, so that sounds interesting. But really the schools, youth groups, and the Forest Preserve District can use those plants a lot more than I can. It is satisfying to give away plants, isn't it? I give away the majority of my cuttings to friends. Keep up your good work.

TL, you'd be proud of me, today I found my first BOP bloom. SB

Really??? that is exciting ...white or blue? I remember when my stephanotis bloomed last summer. I couldn't stand it I was so excited! I had grown a bunch from seed and lugged them into the greenhouse every year for 3 yrs, the only plant that I ever brought back into the greenhouse ( my house plants stay in the house in the winter-and I never overwinter plants for friends) and one am it was there.
What do the pawpaws taste like?
Figs are a most excellent plant to have. I have a huge one that produces very well in the summer/fall. Equil-that is one plant you should take him up on-give him some sedge lol...lets make a deal...and I will play Bob Barker.

What other trop plants do you have SB? Where are you getting the ylang ylang? What nurseries online do you like for tropicals?

SB- Oddly enough, I have had some Pawpaw germinate the second year although I don't believe they are a double dormancy seed. I guess what I am saying is that if you are germinating Pawpaw and they don't come up the first year, don't give up. I've learned a little trick with them for my area- I move their trays onto the asphalt driveway the beginning of spring. I think the extra radiant heat helps a little getting the medium temps up a little faster. I then move them back onto concrete a little later on. Most of mine germinate late too and if I am not mistaken, they poked their heads above the ground the end of July if not the beginning of August. Strange seed.

Boy Scouts, eh? My my my! You get more interesting the more I learn about you. I was a Cub Scout Den Leader for quite a few years. That's a lot of work particularly when one has large dens. Now I help organize fundraisers for the Boy Scouts such as popcorn site sales, wreath and poinsettia sales and such. Other than that I do quite a few Merit Badges. This will probably not come as a shock to you but I registered for Forestry, Gardening, Plants Sciences, Soil & Water Conservation, Insect Study, Reptile & Amphibian Study, AND Cooking (sigh, yes I really know how to cook when I want to) and then they went and got me to do one more too. They tried to get me for birds but I'm not at all up on birds and would probably benefit from taking a Merit Badge session with another counselor. The boys get so much out of these Merit Badges it is incredible. One good thing is that I don't do camping anymore. I'm not the camping type anyway. Camping has now become my husband's deal. He is really getting into it and the kids love that he enjoys going every month with them. Back to you, let me know if you have any boys in your Troop who would like to work toward the Plant Science or the Gardening Merit Badge this coming year. Tell me how many and I will send one CP plant for each boy, for free... no shipping either. I am the person who wrote up the care sheets so I can send those along also.

Good old Halesia! I've got a dead one that I thought I had planted in a protected location that needs to come out of the ground right now. I do have one that is hanging in there so this is good. That's a tough plant to get going. So beautiful though when it takes off. Cercis canadensis is a great plant. I've got 'Alba' saplings here and they're doing fine.

I'll try 2 or 3 fig cuttings next year after I get into the swing of things. I have no idea where I'd put any Figs that rooted if I don't get this kit up and running this year. You really are an enabler! Look at what you typed to me- "The program is the National Clonal Germplasm Repository. You have some 200 figs to choose from. They send you unrooted cuttings in June for free...no shipping even." Bad SB, very bad! That's about the equivalent of waving a tray of narcotics in front of a recovering addict or something.

I know for a fact I started at least 2 different sedges if not 3. Tomorrow when it is light out, I'll go take a look and see what I've got. If you are interested, I'll share any of the sedges with you. The grasses, rushes, and sedges are mostly all mine save a few grasses that a girlfriend asked me to germinate for her. For the schools, I grow exclusively carnivorous plants for an after school program as well as some bogs they have. Kids love CPs! I use CPs whenever possible because they really grab the kids. Kids find them fascinating. I have one friend who grew Venus Fly Traps to give out at Halloween instead of candy. If I get really motivated, I may do that one year. He said the kids were thrilled.

TL- you'd have to taste a Pawpaw. They are hard to describe but very tasty. They sort of have the consistency of a banana, but not really. Hard to describe. I personally find them not bad at all and actually like them. I don't have any Pawpaw that are fruit bearing yet or I'd send you a few to try. I bet you'd end up looking for them at your grocery store and your kids would probably like them.

Stephanotis has flowers that are like a Hoya right? That's a vine type deal isn't it? Maybe I have my plants mixed up. What does that plant require to grow up big and strong for momma? That's one I might like to try a cutting of if you think it would have a chance being grown with orchids and nepenthes in a bathroom.

What is a Ylang-ylang? You guys are talking about plants I've never even heard of before. This is great.

Sneaking in here because I know the answer. LOL Ylang ylang is Cananga oderata. You can grow it from seed. I got some a few years ago from Guam. I love growing stuff that won't grow here then mailing it somewhere warm come winter. LOL Cananga is used for essential oils and also to make perfumes. I am thinking Anais Anais is made from ylang ylang which is what made me want to grow it. Here is the plant file from DG. http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54369/

Equil, Ylang ylang, Cananga odorata, is a tree which produces a fragrant bloom famous for being the source of the scent in Chanel No. 5. Dwarf ylang ylang is a different species, not a variety of the C odorata, but still supposed to have the same or similar scent.

I've placed orders from Pine Island, Logees, Briteleaf, and Flora Exotica. Pine Island is great, I've gotten good, stout mango and lychee trees from them. Logees, well you probably know about Logees. A couple of the things I have gotten from Logees have been slow to take off like the dwarf pomegranate and coffee trees. Other stuff like heliconia, costus, blue ginger, jasmine, is all small but growing. Briteleaf is a citrus nursery and their stuff is great (BIG flush of growth on my Briteleaf Nagami kumquat right now!). I'm still waiting for the order from Flora Exotica, should arrive any day (should have been here a few days ago, actually) They had the plants that I wanted in smaller sizes...I figured if I killed a dragonfruit, I'm better off killing a $10 plant than a $30 plant. I've ordered dragon fruit, carambola, jaboticaba, sweetsop, Australian brush cherry, banana shrub, and dwarf ylang ylang.

My BOP is the plain kind with orange and blue blooms. I have a white BOP in the ground in the GH just for the foliage effect. I don't think it will ever bloom for me, as I've never seen one in bloom under 15-20 feet tall, have you?

Equil, I was Den Leader 3 yrs, Cubmaster 2 yrs, and Scoutmaster 3 yrs! I turned over the SM duties last summer, I was getting burned out and work was taking too much time. It is fun, though; one kid is Life, the other 1C. I'm still an ASM; going to summer camp again this July!

I'll dmail you a list of things I can get from division or cuttings this year, and you can tell me if anything interests you. My list won't be anywhere near as long as yours, though. SB

Sometimes I check that "while you were typing" thing and sometimes I don't! Badseed beat me to it!

LOL Your post was much more informative. :) I'm just a big play baby when it comes to starting seeds. I've grown so many different things then given them away in the fall. I think I know a little bit about everything which is usually just enough to get me in trouble! LOL

Hey Michele-where are we at in propagating that ylang ylang??? Don't you just love the "we" lol

Badseed, that's the way I feel too, sometimes...

Happy Easter, everyone.

This message was edited Apr 16, 2006 8:44 AM

This message was edited Apr 16, 2006 8:45 AM

thats the way I feel with these alocasias-it was fun getting to learn about them, and I should feel like I did a good job, because overall they do look nice, but I failed-they are not tall/big enough for what she wanted, and I haven't figured out the yellowing of the plant. I just looked at them-they are fatboys, I must say!!
SB, no I have not seen a wbop in bloom before 10' high, however it seems like there was a thread in the tropicals where they had one blooming on a shorter plant. Mine is about 6', and I abuse it awfully. I just brought it outside the other night and TWO of the new fronds that had just opened fell over-never happened before. Not sure why, but I used electric tie cables to support them to other stems-as well, my caryota palm that is 10-11' did the same thing with a new leaf. I don;t think it was windy- oh well. I use those tie straps like others use duct tape.
I was looking at Kartuz to get a bunch of plants-they have a great selection of the more unusual trop plants at really good prices, but they have some real neg comments about them, and a 4-6 wk waiting period for shipment-I just can't wait that long! lol I could be dead by then. They also have a habit , I read of making substitutions at will-I can't handle that...I want what I want!! So I was looking at Avant, glasswks, and Gardino Nursery. I had looked at Flora Exotica several times, but their plants seem pricey, even though I think they ship bigger plants. I don't need the bigger plants-. I may go back to Logee's. They were great. Ordered Mon am, got them Wed am and everything I ordered.

I was an asst. Den leader for a few years!!! They met at this old house I have in the back-well, its more than an old house. It was built pre-Civil war, it was the estate house for miles around back in the 1840's or so. There is still 2 floors and 3 rooms. The kids loved it. I had boyscout stuff on the walls forever in there.

LOL I didn't grow any ylang ylang this year!

Did she see the ears?? They will be plenty big enough in another month!!

As I have six daughters, I'd say I am completely spared anything to do with Boy Scouts. When they are at the grocery selling stuff, they ask me then look at all the girls and say never mind. LOL Once they did ask and I told them I can't support the other team and the dads were rolling but the boys gave me a weird look. LOL

Put em up... put em up! I'm on the other team! I buy your cookies every year. Thin Mints are my weakness. I can sit down and eat an entire box in one sitting. This being said, you people on the "other team" should be buying some of our overpriced popcorn. It's only fair.

I did the DL thing for about 6 years. Then they wanted me to do the CM thing- no way. Then they wanted me to do the Assistant TM thing- no way. I don't do petty politics well, I'm far to blunt and don't find I have the patience to be otherwise. So they roped me for CC. Oh lucky me. One thing I can say is that some parents tend to live vicariously through their children and dealing with them can be challenging. I also find some parents to be overly competitive whilst all the kids want to do is have fun and they could care less how may belt loops or merit badges they acquire along the way. I much prefer working with the kids. My husband has now taken over. I can honestly say that camping wasn't my bag. I'm glad he is the one out there bonding with them in rain, sleet, snow, and intense heat and not me. I bonded with them and much prefer to sleep in my own bed at night and now I'm burned out like SB.

You know, I just went to Logee's site. I wanted some more Hoya. What is it with them! Those teases! I keep going to their site and the plants I want are sold out. Those plants have been sold out for over a year now. Gardino's is a nice nursery too. Guess I'll go place an order for Hoya from Secret Garden Rare Plants. I need a fix. I'm getting plant DTs with all of you people talking about lush tropicals that I can't grow.

I don't do Girl Scouts either! LOL It's just funny to tease the all boys clubs when you are walking around with six girls. LOL

Have you tried Alohahoya? She has a website and sells hoya.....

Man I do those Samoas like nobody's business its the happiest day of the year when I see those little girls sitting outsid ethe grocery store. The first words out of my mouth is"do you take checks?" lol