I have a sunroom in the Westend. It has windows on 2 sides and the entire ceiling. It's about 8ft wide by 12 ft long by 9 ft tall. I would like to put leafy trees in the sunroom to screen a building across the street. I could just use curtains, but it seems like a waste to not use a sunroom for plants. The room has a SE exposure, so it gets a lot of light. Bamboo has come to mind, but I am a bit concerned about the roots and the need to transplant at some point. The custom built planters could be as deep as 36" x 30 wide x 10ft long, so they'd get plenty of room for roots. I am not fond of yuccas for this purpose because I need them to act a bit more like a screen, although, if desert plants are my only option, I would be interested in suggestions. I have thought of growing kiwis or other vines. I could have translucent blinds on the ceiling glass in the summer to shield from the harsh summer heat and light. I would really appreciate some help with this question. All I have found on the internet on this subject suggests that what I want to do is unlikely.
You could consider passionfruit and kiwi vines in a portion of it, or even hops if you like the smell of them - all are fast growing and would thrive in that sort of environment. However, I get the impression that you're looking for something that's both beautiful and functional, which vines can be but only with quite a bit of maintenance. Another option, and one that has a certain wow factor, are bananas. The Dwarf named cultivars (ie Dwarf Red, Dwarf Orinoco, etc, which also bear edible fruit) will fit within your stated size, as will the ornamentals Musa dasycarpa, Musa acuminata ssp zebrina, and Musa 'Bordelon' - these are gorgeously leafy plants. They'll do excellently in that much heat and sunlight.
Thank you lorax! I really love banana tree idea. At the Bloedel Conservatory, they are fantastic! You are right, I want it to look attractive as we have a very modern/minimal interior, so a plant that is a statement is ideal. Can you reccommend how closely they be planted to each other? How well do you think the leaves will do if they touch the glass at certain points? Or is this a total "No-No" in caring for all plants. I could also see vines mixed in. Are you suggesting Passion flower? Or Passion Fruit?
Generally ornamental bananas are planted on about 50 cm spacing; edibles are generally given a bit more space. They'll fill in the spaces with pups as they grow and reproduce. The leaves will fare well in the summertime touching the glass (they're very heat resistant) but will show cold damage in the wintertime, which is yellowing and crunching. However, whole leaves need not be removed if they're touching - you can just trim them back. I'd suggest passionfruits, since I love useful plants, but passionflowers would work as well. Granadilla (P. ligularis) has nice heart-shaped leaves, while Maracuya (P. edulis) and Taxo (P. mixta) are palmate.
I would contact Tiny Tom's Tangerine Farm in Delta and pick up a couple of nice citrus trees. The fragrance from the blossoms will make you want to spend all your time in the sunroom and you can even get fresh fruit. The easiest is probably Calamansi (miniature oranges - similar to kumquats), but Meyers lemons also do pretty well in the Lower Mainland. He's got at least 50-60 varieties of citrus and fruiting trees to choose from. Now that I've found Tom, I'm rethinking my backyard plans and going citrus and probably a much larger greenhouse with maybe a sunken koi pond inside and room for some citrus in-ground. As a bonus, we just repotted about 250 citrus trees on Saturday so they're in larger containers that will be good for at least a year's growth.
