Can we tour your greenhouse?

Oh Yes Dan, now it looks like a real, working GH

Looks great, Dan. Know your plants will be happy there.

Thank you. I have a bunch of plants I need to pot up the babies and bring them in. So that if the cold gets any of them, I will at least have replacements.

Looks so purdy! What is that beautiful plant to the back on the right? It has a big leaf with white markings. It looks like my kind of kid.

Hap

I think the plant you are looking at is called philodendron gloriosum.

Beautiful.

Jean,
Your greenhouse is awesome. I would love to have that. But settle for my less than $300 cottage greenhouse out of old windows. Temps have dropped here with the cold front moving from the Pacific so we had to insulate the roof and put bubble wrap up over the weekend to avoid a heater. I have geraniums, palms and succulents in there. Lost a couple Coleus, but one survived and I brought it in the house. If it doesn't work out as a greenhoue it makes a great playhouse or tea house for a warm day in the winter! All my friend kid me that it is just my playhouse. I can decorate any way I want out there. I have all my pics on the old window greenhouse thread which is getting quite long, but you can skip to new posts and back up to see them.

Curvesarein: Love your "playhouse." You are very creative with the way you have it decorated. I bought some coleus a couple of years ago and start cuttings every winter so they are ready to go outside when it gets warm. We have already had very low temps here in AR (one morning it was 19) so anything that was left outside in pots is toast now. I am anxious to see next spring if I have any hostas that survived the deer this past year -- they ate everything in sight.

Well it will be in the low 20's tonight. So you are not alone. But surprisingly I have marigolds coming up in the greenhouse. I thought they wouldn't come up until near Spring. Do you know at what temp it is too low for Coleus?

Curves: I don't know about Coleus, but anything that is tender like them usually doesn't survive if the temps get down to freezing. I don't know if they can survive if the temps dip down to freezing and then back up quickly. I know they won't survive what is called a "hard freeze" but I don't know the definition of hard freeze. I suspect it is temps below freezing for a certain amout of time.

We will get our first freeze to 32 this weekend. Almost everything is safely tucked away, just a few more to go. Hard to believe it will freeze when it was 81F yesterday and sauna-humid. Oh well, had to happen sometime this season LOL

It is just such a sad time for me!!!! I hate it!!! Heaven must be NO FREEZES!!!!!

jeri,
I just added a pint of hydrogen peroxide to the pond. Is that the right stuff and how much should I use?
fred
PS sorry this is off topic

Fred your' pond i is bigger than mine. I add a couple bottles, then a week later I add a couple more. My water has been crystal clear the whole summer with no filter.

Just dropped by to view all of your lovely GH. They all look wonderful.

Great greenhouses!

This is a home made green house made out of opaque fiberglass. The mid section has windows installed 360 degrees. Windows have screens and can open and close. Located in the back right of the garden, with the fence running on the right and aft of the structure. There are two green house doors that are glass screen doors, one in the front of the green house and one in the back. An old style free standing 1950's gas heater keeps it warm in the winter. To humidify the green house I put a large cattle drinking trough in the back of the green house which has a pond pump for circulation and minnows called mosquito fish (for that reason).
The green house is anchored with cement, rocks on the floor inside with adjustable wood shelving. The green house is very sturdy and weathers the Hurricanes better than other structures.
Since the green house is opaque fiber glass, I use it as a lighting feature, and have colored florescent light bulbs that illuminates it at night with a pleasant glow. The colors are changed through out the year.
From time to time, I put decorations on the front.
More photos here.
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/rjuddharrison/1826/

Rj

Love the GH and the yard. What a lovely tropical garden.One of those tree ferns is high on my hopeful list when the GH is finally a reality. Bad case of Zone Envy here.

RJ that's a VERY nice setup!

Is the tree fern potted?

Ric

No, the fern is in the ground. I bought a few years ago at home depot....it was a Charlie Brown tree fern- scragly and small.
These are pictures of it. If you scroll to the bottom, and then go up...I was looking through them today and can't believe how small it was when I planted it.
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/rjuddharrison/6461/

RJ: Loved the greenhouse also pix of tree fern, as well as all of the others. Wonderful show!

I have orchids and carnivorous plants in my small greenhouse..mainly paphiopedilums. I feel in love with paph flowers and everythings moving out to make more room for them. hehe!

These are the times I am glad I have a GH. It got to about 26F last night. When I looked out the back sliding door at the thermometer at 7am that's what it said. It was 10am before it even reached 32F! And tonight is supposed to get even colder...probably around 22F! It went all the way til January for the first cold weather, and then it really let us have it. But its okay, I know my GH is saving the best of my collection. The yard is sustainable die-back perennial type tropical...that stuff comes back year after year. The GH is really tropical. But the drawback is the GH is always packed to the gills with large overwintering container plants in all the aisles in winter. Makes it hard to work out there

I hear ya!
We have an arctic blast headed this way, and my green house is becoming crammed- not to mention some of the potted stuff has made it's way into the house.
My only concern is the tree fern - I'll wrap it up like a mummy, and have a propane deck heater if it gets too bad. I've not had 3 nights in a row of freezing temps here since I've been gardening..so we'll see what happens.
good luck to ya!
rj

This is definitely record breaking weather for us. According to the local weather dudes, there have not ever been 2 nights of consecutive temps in the 20's since 1999. This is definitely the coldest it has been in the 18 years I have lived here. And its cold in the daytime too, hasn't been much over 50. It was 22 this morning and supposed to be 22 again tonight, then a BIG drop to about 17/18 tomorrow.
The FL freeze warnings are extending way down the peninsula into South FL as well. They are worried about all sorts of crops in Central and Southern FL...ferns, citrus, and the zoos are taking measures to protect the tropical animals as well.
This is really serious!

We are heading to Houston on the 15th to run the Houston Marathon on the 17th. I sure hope its a little warmer when we get there!!!

This message was edited Jan 4, 2010 7:53 PM

The way it's going, it won't be too much warmer, although it's better for marathons.

LOL my perfect marathon weather is to start between 45-50 and finish between 60-70. I hate cold running.

Good luck! I admire you being able to do that, I cannot run a block! lol

that's why they have it in Jan here...usually the average temp this time of year is 64, perfect for running.

Not this year, rj!

LOL

Hap

No, not this year :(

Well I got all kinds of running duds so I will prolly be okay. But with all the recent freeze activity I doubt I will see lots of good tropical plants on the route...just like here, all frozen and dormant.

I don't have a greenhouse...yet...so everything is either in the house, or in the barn ( barn has insulation on all the walls and ceiling so it stays above freezing in there, or wrapped up in every extra horse blanket, sleeping bag , rug, blanket we can find. Other things are just mulched well and hoping for the best come spring. Down to 25 here....and frozen water pipes!

They filled my propane tank up this am while I was gone and left the bill sticking on the GH door. I am dreading going out to see how much it is.

Maybe it will blow away in the cold north wind......

Yes everything here is burnt, fried and defoliated. While things may have recovered from that snow followed by a freeze, this next freeze may finish a lot of tropical plants off.
I'm hoping my tree fern will survive. I've wrapped the trunk up with seat cushions. Haven't put anything on the fronds yet as wind will probably blow it off.

So sorry, rj.....

As a Gardener, I knew this day would come!

they said on our local weather tonight that we have not had this sort of a string of cold as far down the FL oeninsula and for as long a time (nights in a row) since 1985

and unfortunately we are in for more...
one way to keep covers on plants is when you wrap them hold them together with clothespins. I have an enormous Staghorn fern that we cover with lots of blankets and use the clothespins to keep it all snugged together.
rj...I'm with ya....big huge pipevine is crispy now...mulched deeply tho so should come back.

The worst part is that it's rained. our low is 23F. Our last one like this wasn't as long ago, 1996. I hope my fern survives...it's going to get a heat pad tonight.