Can we tour your greenhouse?

They are saying we may get rain tomorrow. This was our one big warm day of this cold event...the high was 59 and the low tonight...a balmy 35 or so. Tomorrow its back to the low 20's possibly teens for 3-4 more nights. They said we may possibly get snow flurries...or sleet. I am not certain how much longer I can stand this. When you aren't used to 'real' winter, this is very hard to deal with. I know someone from, say, Minnesota would just laugh right ion my face, but I can;t help it, I have never lived anywhere really cold, and I hate this.

goth,
reminds me, I'm amazed at how well the Creeping Gloxinia is doing..still Green! So pretty hardy although I know your colder than I am. I've got one in the ground that's running up a tree and it's hanging in there! Another 2 in pots that are in the barn just in case but this seems to be a pretty tough vine.
NO we are not used to this, and I hate it too....

Goth, I feel your pain, had my tank filled the other day, $265., but not as bad as when gas was almost $5. a gallon. I am sure you probably have a larger tank than I do. I think mine is 100 gallons. It usually last me all winter, but I have a feeling that will not be the case this year. I probably need to check on it and see how much it has already used.

I am really tired of this cold weather also. I had a YTT (yest,today,tomor.) that was blooming and now it is toast. I hope it will make it, it did last year, but we have had colder for longer this year. I am trying to protect it. My next house I hope to have a larger GH and plant some permanently like you did and then I won't have to worry about the cold.

I spent 35 years in Northern Illinois, and believe me, when it gets cold in Florida, it's COLD!!!!! I never did get used to the winters up north and I am sure hating the winter in Florida so far. I have a lot of yard work to do before going back to AR but guess I can count myself lucky, they are having it worse there -- down to the single digits at night and only warming up to the 30s during the day. I had to leave all of my orchids back in the sunroom when we came down -- van was too full of other "stuff". My neighbor told me the other day that one of my favorites now has 10 blooms on it -- and I left several others in spike that should be blooming soon. Guess as soon as the weather warms up, I will have to take a trip to Lowe's and see what they have. LOL!!

Back to the original post....here is one of my GH

and here is what is blooming today

orchid...anyone know what kind or name

hibiscus

coral medinilla

phalenopsis

another.... know name?.....miltonia, perhaps?

maya blooming

another orchid

and this gorgeous 'fluff'....looks like cotton candy

GAgirl: Can't help you out on the names. I am amateur, but the pictures are absolutely gorgeous!

I agree. Purdy!

GAgirl,
I believe the first Orchid is a Lady Slipper of some variety...

getting below zero again tonight, we've wrapped the greenhouse in another layer of plastic, on the outside this time. If the wind would just stop it would help. It is going to be fun trying to get back in to water. My cucumbers were blooming, I hope they make it.

argh...we were 21F this morning... The next time I wake up to that I hope it's because I took a trip to Alaska.

Good Morning.

We never got that cold last night, just down to 46. It is still that now and dreary with rain. YUCK!!

Hap

Sleet here in DeLand, but 36 degrees so it's melting, but a really miserable day.

Stay safe Jean!!! I think our low was 21. I hope the nurseries all OK!!! Looks like there is gonna be a big need for new plants!!!!!

Hope those Plant City strawberries are saved. Saw on the news the other day they were in danger of getting frozen. Even some of our WEEDS have been hurt by the cold! Just hope we don't have a power failure back in AR. Had to leave all of my orchids as well as other plants there. The worst is freezing rain that damages the power lines.

Here in Deland/Deleon Springs it just stopped w/ the sleet/snow stuff. Holy Cow am I over it. I so hope I can get a greenhouse by next winter !

I waited to go running this morning until it was 31F. That was at 10am. It's 2:35PM now, and its only 34F.

This is just ***almost*** the nastiest weather I can ever recall in my adult life. There have only ever been 2 other times like this that I can remember.

I heard its supposed to get to 34 tonight in Miami. They are running the Disney Marathon in Orlando tomorrow morning and it will be below freezing at the start. Bet there are a lot of disappointed out of area runners at that race!

The worse thing is I heard on the news last night that there may be a statewide Propane shortage unless Gov. Crist signs some special thing to allow the people who actually truck propane in to the places like FerrelGas and Heritage Propane, to allow those truckers to drive longer shifts. The demand statewide is so high that they can;t keep up with deliveries with their present daily driving hour cap.

That really is bad. Something must be able to be done. Substitute drivers?

Hap

I'd send my SIL down, he's a driver with no work up here while the weather is so bad.

Well, we decided to just "do it" ! We were looking on line at different greenhouse kits. A neighbor stopped by to see if we were crying over the plants and I told her we were looking at greenhouses and she mentioned a place right here in town that had some ( I didn't know that !!???) Anyway we went and looked and it's coming Thursday !!! Better yet, It's assembled, prep-wired, floored, 10x12 x 7'2, Polycarbonate panels and roof that have the UV protection. So I've got to hustle the next few days to prep the site ! D's SO . Course, It probably won't get cold for the rest of winter here in Central Florida now....

It's still a smart move to have a place you can stash stuff long term and know its safe. We didn't have a single place here in town that offered greenhouses or kits for many years. I ordered my first one, a Juliana, off the net years ago and assembled it myself at my old house. (THat was a real experience, LOL)

Now we have a Harbor Freight store and a place called Gardener's Edge that is a hydroponic store that's been here a long time that recently started offering greenhouses.

Mine is so crammed full of stuff right now right around the door, I have only been in there twice since the real cold started. I am going in today to check on everything and see if everything is okay

I remember a couple of years ago when Calif. had that terrible freeze. Many beautiful gardens were lost. We have some losses here and there from snow or ice damage. A friend just lost the top out of a Magnolia Tree that she has babied along for 5 years from the weight of the snow. But not anything like loosing your whole garden. I wonder what next spring will bring back to life and what won't.
mjs, I think you might have bought the same GH as a friend. It's nice they brought it in on a rollback all pre assembled and just dropped it in the yard. All she needed was a level site.

mjs: Right here in DeLand? That's interesting. Didn't know about that either. Where is it?

Jean you have D-mail
Holly,
That's right. Light sockets ( 150 watt) , light switch, outlet, ( with those waterproof covers) A row of shelves across the back and down both sides ( were going to add to these) Plenty of room to make a row of benches down the center, we will add our own exhaust fan, but the spot for it is there. They bring it in, roll it off, put it on the footers, level it, and anchor it. Boom done. We just felt that by the time we ordered one, put it together, bought the stuff that this came with, and this was much bigger we were getting a pretty decent deal. Oh, and 150 mph wind rating, something to think about here in Fla w/ hurricanes.

Nothing has brought DH and me closer to the brink of divorce than that "putting it together" stuff!!!!! How well I remember the two of us working on an addition to our house and the "words" we had each day. I'm sure the neighbors probably heard a few of them. It was probably good entertainment.

LOL!
Been THERE!

Ric

Jean, you're so right! My husband and I decided if we didn't divorce over the GH, we'd be together forever! Actually the big fight was over the cost, we didn't fight much when we put it up, that I remember.... although building a greenhouse is like childbirth, you're so happy at the end of the process you forget what you went through!

LOL Jean and Henry it wouldn;t have been so bad but the Juliana's are made in Sweden. They did have directions included in a variety of languages for the assembly, but, the English directions were very short on words and mostly pictorial for some reason. And they would give the steps in such a fashion that if you didn't read the entire section, you were in for heartache, like "assemble piece X and piece Z by doing so and so, AFTER you have done THIS step..."

There were a whole lot of pieces so it was a comedy of errors of sorts

I've had more than a few directions are like that.
We bought some really nice furniture w/ REALLY bad directions at IKEA ....
I found directions on line for them at a Forum.
Since then I get my Manuals online .... then if we have problems Search for other people who have been in the same boat.

We totally redid the backyard this Summer.
Boardwalks, Decks, 2 Ponds and a GH ..... ALL DIY ALL pretty much on the fly w/ no master plan.
Trust me we know (as do the neighbors...) about 'Discussions'..... LOL!

Ric

My DH loves the cereal commercial that goes somewhat like this: He: picking up the cereal box. "I see this is low calorie. Are you trying to lose weight?" She: "Do you think I'm fat?" And so on until finally she asks "What else does the box say?" He: "Shut up, Steve." My DH always looks at me and says, "See?????" Guys and gals do seem to have different "think" patterns. They eventually get to the same place, but by different routes.

Henryr10, I'd love to see what all you did to your yard, could you post me a few links to look at? Ric and I did a lot of work 2 summers ago serious rock work. I was expecting to start in the back last summer but he had a serious hand injury that put him out of action for most of the summer. So I contented myself with a new flower bed. Something I could handle on my own. Hopefully we will get back on track and get the GH in this summer. Poor dear that first summer he no sooner finished one project than I had another waiting to start. LOL Holly

I'll send you over some links Holly.

In keeping w/ this Thread here's our rooftop GH we built this Fall.
It's 10' x 10' and currently double wall plastic covered.
We'll glaze it this coming Summer.
It replaces a Hoop House we had up there for years.
I can really get an interior shot as it's absolutely crammed w/ plants.....lol!

The room below it we started rebuilding 2 years ago (had to beef it up to take the GH weight) and are just finishing up.
Just finished dry walling last week.
Winter got us before we could finish the siding on the street side.

Ric

About 4 years ago we enclosed the front porch.
We thought that would be enough GH at 9' x 12' ..... LOL!

It's double glazed w/ heat tempered glass we recycled.... door was a recycle also.

Ric