Well, it's finally done just in time for spring. I couldn't help but want to share some photos of our greenhouse. The palms spent the winter outside, the bananas in a heated coldframe. This new greenhouse is heated with a woodstove that's in an attached shed at the back. At the moment it's getting about 8 hours of direct sun a day, so heat is more of an issue than cold. We've got exhaust fans on a thermostat for cooling, seems pretty effective. My guy designed and built this all from scratch. Now that our plants are happy, maybe we can work on getting ourselves a place to live. The house will "hopefully" go in the space to the right of the greenhouse, behind the big T. Fortunei. In the meantime the view from the 5th wheel is great :) This is the link to my photos (hope it works). http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l308/jenf64/Greenhouse/ Jen
Jen, that's great! Looks like all your plants are quite happy in your greenhouse. A very solid and practical design that should give you many years of use. Is much of what you're growing, going to be used in the landscape once a house is on site? Cheers, LPN (Barrie)
Hey Barrie Thanks, yes we have planted some stuff. But don't want to get too carried away until the we get a house in there. Some stuff we will plant, some we may try selling. I'm hoping to do basil and tomatos in the greenhouse for the summer. Maybe do the farmers market thing. It's been a rough winter, but the big T. fortunei we moved last summer has come through with flying colours. Amazing how well it handled a rather rough move, tough plants. The photos you've posted of your place look awesome. I love the Butia, did you have any casualities this winter? Jen
Jen, A grouping of Eucalyptus blew down. They where not too tall only about 14'. One other weak E. dalrympleana that I cut down after it took on the frosted look. E. microtheca from New Mexico didn't like our wet winter. E. pulerulenta broke deep into the heart wood under a wet snow load (has to be cut down). Agave americana variegata looks rather suspect at this point, although a much smaller off-set is nearly flawless. It wasn't afforded the luxury of a rain canopy this year. Lazy I guess. Cheers, LPN (Barrie).
We had built a large cover for our potted Trachy's but the wind toasted it one night. Most of the big ones seem ok, oddly the 2 10gal ones we put in the ground seemed to suffer the worst, lost the center spear in both, and one in paticular is really bad. Cordylines, phormiums, one potted yucca looking a little rough. All of my 3 year old trachys from Joe's seed lost their spear, but look ok otherwise. My eucalyptus I grew from seed did well, I lost most of them 2 winters ago. I guess these are the tough ones. I'm impressed with my Brahaea armata seedlings, 2 rough winters with minimal protection and they look flawless, better than the trachys. Anyway..........time wil tell, hi to Duke. Jen
Hey Jen, I too am impressed with Brahea armata! Cordyline australis seems to be a waste of time here, doing well long enough to make you think it's going to succeed ... then boom, the crown flops. Odd about the center spears on your Windmills, as I've never had one do that. I'm likely being moved to 'D' watch (with much disappointment from 'F' watch) after my current holiday stretch ends. Everyone at Duke knows you're doing well from my reports. Cheers, LPN. (Barrie)
I reckon it is homesick :) I have one in front that has been there for many years. When we first came here 24 yrs ago the main trunk just fell over one day. Was about 10 inch diamater. I thought oh well that's it. Several month later it started shooting 3 new ones and this is now a 3 trunk Cordyline. I don't know what caused it to die as it was in a good location. There is one up the road that has been there ever since the house was built about 60 yrs ago. It has a pretty sustantial single trunk but I think from memory a double or even triple head of leaves. That one is in all the wind and rain in winter as the property is right along a ridge. Liz
Liz ... you're right. Theses Cordyline australis will resprout but it is disappointing to have them keel over from time to time. I'm quite certain Victoria, Australia is milder year round than Victoria, Canada which is why we never see stately sized specimen around here. "I reckon it is homesick :)" ... I reckon your right again. Cheers, LPN.
