Sue, We recently got our shadehouse back up. It had been flattened during Cyclone Larry and went on the huge to do list. We've reused the same shadecloth and expanded so it's not real pretty but does the job. For mesh we used the sides of old sugar cane train bins. Bought for $7 each. A hellish amount of work sorting thru them at the mill's scrap heap but it saved us thousands.
We have a small cutflower farm and nursery so that's why it's on the biggish side.
This is a photo from about 2 months ago but since then we've put the bins up and filled it.
Well done Ann. It is alot of money to set up isn't it? I have a fern house that is eventually becoming the recovery house for old brom Mums, trying to squeeze out a couple of pups before they pass away.
My shade areas in the garden are growing, so I'm planting out all the treasures that used to live in the fernery previously.
Last year, hubby helped me put up a new shade house, as I wanted it in full sun to encourage better colour in the Neos. I filled it pretty quickly though, but there is plenty of room to expand, just a money issue now. Yes, the mesh is the expensive part! Lucky you getting it on the cheap. It costs me $30 for a 2 x 1.2 m sheet (I think thats the size)! Link to my shade house
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/908947/#new
Pic is of the Vriesea bench.
Sue
Sue, I'm responding to your question about heliconias here as I don't want to wreck Goth's thread. First, very happy to share info on what heliconias and gingers do well in the subtropics. Second, very happy to trade cords/heli/ginger/costus for puppies. We're not a big nursery,and don't want to be a big nursery! Happy to be small enough to grow and sell what we like rather than grow Golden Canes for the masses. And spend most importantly create a good life for our children and for the hubby, to fish.
Third very nice shadehouse! Yours looks attractive as well as practical. I know how much agonizing goes into design, flooring, drainage, etc. I actually showed my hubby your cinder blocks as that was something we thought of using. On half we've used bits of the frame of the cane bins that were excess and cemented them in . But now we realize that with cementing costs working out about the same as cinder blocks, having a bit of flexibility in the second half would be desirable. BTW, our shadehouse is in pretty full sun and we've used 50%. So far everybody is coping well and the neos are coloring up well. But we're in a rainforest valley with high humidity and very little wind.
Also just about your heliconias that haven't flowered. Do you know what varieties you have? Some take a little longer than others to flower and some have a definite flowering season. Three good growing years should be enough to make them flower soon but a little potash wouldn't hurt. Up here we use nitrophoska which is especially formulated for nannies in high rainfall areas. If you get a chance check out what your local nannie growers are using at the rural supply store (ie Westfarmers, GrowForce).
Ann
Hi Ann, my heliconia is an H. bihai 'Yellow Dancer'. The largest stems are about 1.2-1.5 mts high and it has clumped up to about 70cm. It looks very healthy, just no blooms.
By nannies, do you mean bananas? I guess they would be related wouldn't they? I never though of that. Nitrophoska is a name i have heard before, so will ask down the rural store for advice. Thanks.
Yes, i know what you mean re-keeping it small. I had grand visions of running a nursery from home, but struggled to bring in the customers, ward off the bugs and work a real job at the same time. LOL. It all ended with me giving away most of the plants except those I felt were valuable or that I can use here in my garden. Also, once I discovered my passion for Broms, all else went by the wayside.
We are also on the southside of a slope, and are in shade for most of the winter. I am planting a few indigenous native rainforest trees, as I only have large eucalypts for shade, and they drop so much bark and branches everywhere. I'm hoping to grow an understorey canopy to break the fall of some of the larger ones, as my poor plants get hammered!
My broms are only in the early stage of production, and I am wary of getting too big to handle. I have been to a couple of brom nurseries where they are out of control, and weeds and pests abound. I do, however, get the odd pup that I might be willing to part with! Swapping would definitely make that parting alot easier!
I note that there is a landscaping service on the website. Is that your hubby's business? Is that how the bromeliad fancying started? With landscape beauties like Aechmea blanchettiana and Porteas e.t.c? My hubby, Bill, is beginning to show some interest, and has even picked out the odd lovely when we've been plant shopping.
With the Shade house, I got the idea with the besser blocks from a nursery I did a short stint at. It seemed the easiest and most portable idea. That way, I can change the set up around if it's required. I used about 8 blocks for each shelf, and each shelf was half a sheet of mesh, or 2/3 a sheet with the other 1/3 as the next level, which then required another 4 blocks as support. The pots are fairly light, due to the porous potting mix, and I keep them fairly well spread for air circulation, as the humidity here can be a bit too high at times. Sounds silly when I know how hot and humid it can get up your way!
Currnetly, I am trying my hand at seed growing, and have germination and growth with Alcantarea glazouiana, Neoregelia kautskyi, Edmondoa lidenii variegata, and Vriesea gigantea x fosteriana. I have also tried some V. heiroglyphica seed, but these have not germinated and keep growing a bit of mould. I have treated them with a weak maldison solution, which seems to have stopped the mould, but I may have to start again, as I didn't use all the seed at once. I did sterilize everything before i started, so the contamination must be on the seed itself. I don't know if placing them in a weak bleach solution would be of any benefit?
Anyway, thats enough of a story for today. You'll be here a week reading it!
I'll get some pics over the next few days, but its raining here at the moment (lovely)
See ya Anne
Sue
Sue, Yellow Dancer is a very good heliconia for your climate but not particularly quick to flower. It's an excellent cut flower and cold tolerant but does like good drainage.
Lol. We've looked at so many shadehouse setups. Nothing seems to be "perfect" Always seem to be some little issue, usually revolving around $$$ or maintenance.
We didn't start out as a nursery but as a cut flower farm. We sold the plants at markets until the flowers rolled in. Somewhere along the way we expanded the plant end and started selling plants that we thought landscape well with heliconias and gingers. The landscaping business grew out of that. We don't do alot of jobs as we feel it's our creative outlet. Painting with plants. No point in doing the cheap and cheerful jobs as there are others that can do it cheaper and they're boring!
Are there any big markets near you? May be a better option for you than trying to "retail" in the normal sense. And there's always FeeBay! :) Ann
Hi Ann, did the market thing. Alot of work to pack up, set up the stall, pack up and unpack at home! Even selling plants cheap ($4 for a 140mm, $10-$12 for a 200mm) I still didn't sell many because their are so many plant sellers here. I was having a monthly sale at home that was working ok, but people weren't respecting my privacy or property and letting their kids run riot around the garden. We have a small but deep dam in one corner, and I was worried someone would get drowned!
A flower farm sounds great. There is one up the road growing Proteas and Kangaroo paws, but our shadey block isn't really suitable. What kinds of flowers do you grow? (Do you still grow flowers?)
I am now in garden maintenance, and work in some nice gardens, and some really awful ones! LOL. I did 3 years at Tafe to get a Horticulture cert, but now I don't know what direction I want to go in. I'm really after the lifestyle, more so than the money, allthough, I wouldn't knock back a high paying job! (unless it involved weekend work. lol)
I spent a bit of time tidying up bark this morning, but am feeling a bit under the weather so am inside hoping it will pass!
You mentioned children? How many/ages e.t.c?
Sue
Sue, I hope you are feeling better. We've been getting plenty of rain which cools things down. If you're not getting it I bet it would be pretty hot!
I so know where you're at!!! Hang in there, something will put you where you need to be.
We still grow heliconias and gingers as cut flowers but need to put more in. We pretty much ripped everything up after Larry and some areas are waiting to be reworked. Flower prices are pretty dismal at Christmas so I haven't been picking and packing for a few weeks. Do you know Craig and Felicity and Moonee Beach Foliage? They grow foliage in your area.
We have two kids. Janine just turned 12 and Sean is 7. I miss my babies!!! They are down visiting their grandparents right now. We're working on tiling their rooms while they are away. All this fabulous lifestyle living came at a price. We are still working on the house which we built ourselves from scratch.
How about you guys? Kids, dogs, chooks? Ann
ps Here's a photo of our high tech packing LOL.
Were you guys on a Tv show in the last 12 months? I remember watching a heliconia flower growing business on a gardening or documentary show. They are the most gorgeous flowers! I took heaps of photos when we were in Cairns, but it was july and alot had finished doing their thing. Still plenty to look at though.
No, I don't know Craig and felicity. Maybe I should! LOL. I love flower arranging, and drop into the cut flowers forum regularly.
I have one daughter, She is 21 and has moved down to Sydney. She's a city girl. She is doing well for herself, has a nice partner, so what more can I ask for? Hubby has 2 girls to a previous marriage, one is 17, the other 19. We don't see them as much as we used to, because they work and have social lives, but they're also down toward Sydney.
So we have dogs as Children! lOL. A mother and Son pair of Staffies. They keep us amused! We did the chook thing for a few years, but spent more on food than we got back in eggs, and then there were foxes.......and, well, you can imagine the rest.
We moved up here from Sydney about 7 years ago, and were lucky to get in before the property boom. The house is way too big for us though, and alot of maintenance now that the shine has rubbed off! I keep thinking there must be a way to make the property work for us, but haven't found that ideal idea yet.
How large is your property? We are on 2 & 1/2 acres, which is ample when working almost full time. (lots of lawn mowing at weekends).
Heres the Kids (Lily and Leo) in the sun this morning. Just between, and to the back of them, is a small Mango tree with the Heliconia bihai poking up behind it. Its probly more like 2 metres high? The shade house there is the fernery, with a few orchids, ferns and tender things in it. The house up the back is the neighbours.
Nice dogs and nice bed. We're going to do a more purpose built bed next dry season.
We've got 15 acres but 2/3 is rainforest. Yep, I know about maintenance. One of the reasons I stay away from formal tropical and prefer a more jungle look.
Here's a photo of one of the beds at Flecker Botanical Gardens. Sort of reminds me of yours :) Ann
ps It wasn't us on TV. I wish I'd seen it always love looking at other tropical gardens.
This message was edited Jan 12, 2009 3:09 AM
Don't the Tillandsias look great
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/874624/
this is the link to a garden I visited in Cairns. drool drool! How're you coping with the weather?
Wow! That's one big bromfest. You must've had fun there.
Weather is lookin' good this morning but our creek crossings has been washed out.
Ann
There are some seriously nice chunks of Quincan there in the brom pic, Ann.
What us 'Quincan'?
Quincan is a local form of scoria . Volcanic porous rock crushed and graded . We use it up here to grow orchids and broms in. Some people even use it to grow aroids.
Ahh, the bloke in Cairns used alot of local rock from, (I think) the Black mountains? You guys have to have it really well drained to cope with the wet season eh? I'd love a huge chunk of black lava/scoria to grow some fireballs on. I saw it done next to the motel I stayed at in Cairns. It looked gorgeous. All we get around here is blue stone, or sandstone, both of which look too sharply cut! A chunk of weathered sandstone might look ok though.
How'd you come through all that rain? I can't believe its only rained once this year here! Its been so long since I had to water, but it's nice getting out in the cool of the morning and evening to splash a bit about. We're on tank water, but as there are only two in the household, we have plenty for my precious plants! Ha, ha.
