If you are a new greenhouse owner and are a little frightened at the prospect of what to grow, perish such fears.
You bought a greenhouse to have fresh flowers throughout the winter; you dreamed of the fun and relaxation of gardening in the health-giving sunshine, which is precisely what your new greenhouse will bring.
Almost overnight, it becomes so filled with old and new favorites that finding a spot for “just one more plant” is a daily occurrence.
At the same time, you’ll admonish yourself for not having put up a much larger greenhouse. Fortunately, you can add to your greenhouse if it’s one of the prefabricated sectional types.
Selecting Plants That Do Best At Specific Temperatures
Over the years, professional greenhouse gardeners have determined which plants do best at what temperatures and have divided them into groups such as “cool,” “moderate,” and “warm” plants.
Naturally, you can’t grow all in a single home greenhouse heated to one temperature.
Your first decision will, therefore, be to choose the group that contains most of your favorites and make selections among them.
Of course, there are numerous borderline cases and much you can do to gain latitude. But you naturally find yourself staying within bounds with plants you want to grow well.
The cool greenhouse, about 45° to 50° degrees Fahrenheit night temperature, has much to recommend.
It is easier and more economical to heat. Fuel costs practically double for every 5° degrees you increase temperature.
Insects and pests are less troublesome in the fantastic house, too. The higher the temperature, the more rapidly they multiply. And the excellent greenhouse plants offer you the widest choice for a brilliant show throughout the year.
Cut Flowers For Abundance Of Blooms
If you want cut flowers, there are any number to give you blooms in abundance.
Set the plants directly in soil-filled benches and grow such famous beauties like:
- Carnations
- Snapdragons
- Stock
- Salpiglossis
- Winter-flower hug marigolds
- Asters
- Chrysanthemums
You will also enjoy the daisy-like flowers of calendula, marguerites, and annual chrysanthemums.
Nemesia and schizanthus go well in mixed bouquets, but you can grow these into fine potted specimens if you wish.
Using Baskets And Potted Plants To Soften The Edging
For softening the edging along the bench, use forget-me-nots, alyssum, candy-tuft, pansies, oxalis, miniature ivies, and browallia. Also, try some baskets suspended from the roof that add a pleasing touch.
Of course, you might prefer to grow most of your plants in pots on cinders or pebbles on the plant benches—the fine thing about.
Potted plants are the ease with which you can move them to give your show variety. The finest get a spot in the limelight, but after flowering, they are stored in the background or discarded.
Potted plants especially popular for the home greenhouse are the following:
- Tuberous and wax begonias
- Geraniums
- Bouvardia
- Calceolaria
- Cineraria
- Cyclamen
- Kalanchoe
- Freesias
- Ranunculus
- Anemones
Camellias that are a joy from fall to spring are worthy of special mention. They are very easy to flower, and it is splendid to have blooms to cut for corsages or float in bowls. Five or six plants are all that are necessary.
A moderate to warm greenhouse strikes a happy medium, with many choice potted plants to choose from.
A large number of lesser-known plants are not usually found in flower shops. The best part is that none are challenging to grow.
Most do well with far less attention year after year than anything else you could select. It is just a question of following a schedule of when to feed, rest, re-pot, or top-dress once a year.
Planting At Night Temperature Greenhouse
The kind of plants you grow will change continuously as you find enjoyment in seeking out new things and discarding or giving away old ones.
The beginner will get much pleasure from such plants as anthurium, caladium, poinsettias, jasmine, plumbago, and rondeletia.
Confederate jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides), clivia, fuschias, bougainvillea, Hoya carnosa, bromeliads in variety, Campanula mesophyll, crinum, Scarborough lily (vallota) and hibiscus to mention a few, but you could go on and on.
In a 55° to 60° degrees Fahrenheit (night temperature) greenhouse, I have successfully flowered all these plants, as mentioned earlier.
Much can be done to bring compatibility to plants of different temperatures in the home greenhouse.
Few heating systems are so efficient that the temperature is even throughout the house by placing thermometers in various locations.
One end is usually warmer than the other, and the temperature at the eaves is five to ten degrees higher than down near the floor. So it is then just a question of placing your plants where they are at home.
You will also find many that do best at a night temperature of 55° degrees Fahrenheit will not suffer too much if the temperature drops down to 50° degrees Fahrenheit or even a little lower on snowy days in winter.
Similarly, a plant that does best at 45° degrees Fahrenheit can often be grown at 50° to 55° degrees Fahrenheit. But, of course, at cooler temperatures, they will not make much growth and tend to become hard until the warm sunny days of spring arrive.
The development will become soft and susceptible to disease at too-warm temperatures. Blooms may blast, and the plant may be a disappointment.
Experiment In Planting
On the other hand, it is fun to experiment. Inches are set in special rubber channels that cushion against vibration, expansion, and contraction.
These are protected from deterioration with aluminum bar caps over the outside, making a weather-tight seal.
No painting is required on any portion of the greenhouse. Two roof ventilators are on each side of the ridge, extending from one end of the greenhouse to the other.
In the fall, you can and should pot and grow many spring flowering bulbs, such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and lilies.
You will find them easy to grow well in a cool or moderate-temperature greenhouse. At the same time, the flowers come faster in a warm greenhouse. They stand up better when grown at cool temperatures.
Potted roses are equally enjoyable and can be raised in a warm or cool greenhouse.
44659 by Ernest Chabot