Some 40 years ago, when the material was difficult to obtain, I wanted a greenhouse. By scrounging around, my husband and I finally built one. It is 18′ by 30′ feet and 14′ feet high. To the west, I have added a 12′ by 15′ potting room which has windows all around.
The south half of the potting room roof is heavy sky-light glass (war surplus), giving enough light to make the room a good place to store many of the large pots and cans of the tropical flora which I delight in growing. In one corner, screened off, lives my ancient parrot, “Old Paul.”
His corner contains a large bin of potting soil and a small gas greenhouse stove. Two other stoves are in the greenhouse proper, set under the concrete benches. Benches run the length of the greenhouse, north, and south. The east end has glass on the ground. Here grow some of my favorite vines.
Bignonia Speciosa
Bignonia speciosa (the cross-vine) climbs to the roof and in the spring when the vents are removed and stored, it cascades out and down with myriads of lavender, veined in purple, blooms. Large pots of allamanda bloom most of the winter with golden trumpets waiting to deck the garden and continue blooming.
Tropical bleeding heart (Clerodendron Thomsonae) gives clusters of bright red pendant flowers from white calyx, and Solanum Sealorthianum hangs clusters of delicate blue blooms, followed by brilliant red berries through the winter.
On the south wall against the glass hang a small collection of bromeliads, with foliage so brightly colored, I am always so surprised when they bloom beautifully with rose-colored sheaths from which dangle green, blue and white, strange-looking flowers. Directly above is “Old Paul’s” favorite perch.
He preens and as I talk to the flowers he talks to me. Many years ago Mama had a friend whose favorite expression was an inane “Well I declare.” When I ask some plant, “Why don’t you grow?” Old Paul answers “Well I declare” in the same inane way, or he may sing in a high quavering voice, “In the Sweet Bye and Bye,” or startle me with a wolf whistle.
Nor is he the only fauna. Toads I bring in and many chameleons live here all year. They are tame and catch bugs. In the spring the females lay their small parchment-covered eggs in the osmunda of orchid pots.
A mess of canaries winter in a large cage in the potting house, only to be returned along with many pots of orchids to their screened house under the giant mulberry tree, there to sing and multiply. When vents are open, wild songbirds come to visit.
The entire center of the greenhouse is given to the storage of dozens of five-gallon cans of hibiscus, bordered with several varieties of maranta and alocasia. These grow in a raised brick bed near the garden shelter for the rest of the year.
Two hibiscuses are permanent residents, one the large double ‘San Diego’ pink and the fascinating schizopetalus, and blue plumbago. Plumbago capensis is root hardy here, but I am greedy and want clusters of sky blue flowers in the winter also.
The most desirable hibiscus for large pots is the floriferous small varieties. ‘Jigora’ blooms a formal type double bloom, reflexed petals, orange with a blending of red and deep flame amber. ‘Peachblow’ is a large double with soft, pearly pink coloring and a darker center. ‘Hills of Gold’ has very large blooms of double, clear yellow.
Subviolacea has large double, reflexed petals of light red. ‘Luna’ is a gorgeous large single whose crinkled petals of golden amber are overlaid with cream and coral with a lighter throat and red stigma. These grow to a bushy four feet in height. In winter the blooms stay open for several days.
Angel Wing Begonias
Angel wing begonias grow ten feet high and have clusters of blooms which I use for winter corsages. A Hoya carnosa vine climbs among the rafters and gives unbelievably beautiful clusters of waxen pink blooms.
Hunter’s robe (pothos) climbs two large iron pipe supports and covers them with green and white variegated leaves over a foot long. A concrete walk surrounds the whole center, and a tiny concrete pool, 3 by 3 feet and 18” inches deep holds a yellow `Pygmy’ water lily and several small goldfish.
On the west wall, an old Monstera deliciosa vine clings, blooms, and bears fruit. A kumquat gives me winter nibbling, and a spring scent when it blooms. Other sweet scents come from ‘Grand Duke’ jasmine and brunfelsia which bloom all winter and spring. Orchids in pots and the strangely beautiful stag-horn ferns (Platycerium) in baskets hang from roof supports.
Planting Preparation
On the north bench over the stove, I have my propagating box, filled with sharp, coarse sand and peat, half and half. In this, I root the cuttings that take several weeks such as azaleas, hibiscus, roses, and camellias. I dip the ends of the cuttings in Rootone as I put them in.
I cover this box with cloth or plastic and water gently when needed. Running the length of the greenhouse, outside on the south, I have a four-foot-wide, bricked-up hotbed with a glass sash on top. A small opening at the bottom of the greenhouse heats it.
In the fall I lift clumps of red salvia, lovely apricot-pink semperflorens begonias, Impatiens Sultani, geraniums, aluminum plant (Pilea cadierei), pentas, coleus, and petunias, and fill the hotbed. They thrive here and in January they give all the tip cuttings I need.
These I root in boxes of vermiculite and set high where the heat will get to the bottom of the boxes. Among my ferns and anthuriums (some I grew from seed) go all the shade-loving plants in small pots on the north bench.
Over the south bench, I have shelves where I “hatch out” various seeds to beautify the garden. To avoid damp-off, I use a medium of Michigan peat and a third clean sharp sand. I had a tinsmith make me a pan of heavy galvanized tin into which all my flats fit.
I prepare a dilute water-soluble fertilizer solution and set the flats in it until they are well watered. They grow nicely in fact, marigolds and zinnias for early bloom I never pot. On a cloudy day, I plant them from the flat into the garden.
Every three weeks I spray with foliar plant food according to the directions, everything in the greenhouse except begonias. I use regular fertilizer for the begonias and put them into the pots. The south bench I use for seedling bananas, and all the sun-loving plants. I never use a pot smaller than a three-inch.
During Every Season
In the fall when I move into the greenhouse I see that it is clean, and all the plants are clean. I close up the greenhouse tight and set off two insecticide bombs, then air out and move the livestock in. This takes care of most bugs except slugs which I poison, until spring when aphids and mealybugs sometimes appear.
A small spray bomb will take care of most bugs. Aside from a hammer, the next best for a mealybug is a cotton swab dipped into alcohol and applied to him.
Many ferns, small palms, and bananas winter in the cellar.
My potting soil consists of one-third peat, one-third sifted compost, and one-third loam garden soil. By planting seeds of calceolarias and gloxinias in flats in November and potting, then shifting to larger pots, I can have early blooms and use them for bedding plants in shaded beds.
I like a greenhouse temperature of about 60 degrees at night and 70 in the daytime. In the summer the greenhouse is shaded on the north side by deciduous trees. Papayas and perennial pink datura shade the south.
Almost all the glass in the cast end is removed and stored during the summer. The vents are stored and then the two hibiscuses and plumbago crown the top with beauty, only to be lopped off in the fall.
In the winter and spring, I move out to the greenhouse where my garden is blooming. I command the temperature, the water, and the light, electrically. WORK! I should say NOT. It’s pure pleasure, for time is not when one is sputtering in a greenhouse.
Only those who have one know the sweet fresh smell of a greenhouse. And this is how I can grow so many things and have a near-tropical garden where it is not supposed to be.
44659 by Kitty Simpson