A greenhouse will furnish the climate to order. In a warm house, the pattern of the tropics can be followed. Near the edges and in the “toe” of a lean-to, cacti and succulents will flourish in the heat and develop their beauty in form and color.
The larger epiphytic bromeliads, aloes, and euphorbias are happy on the upper shelves. Shade from a high-climbing bougainvillea or other vine is often just the right amount for orchids on an upper shelf.
Light filters through and gesneriads when the shelves are made of metal grille material. orchids, rex begonias, ferns.
Interesting foliage aroids, anthuriums, fittonia, and similar lush flora can be grown underneath.
In a ground bed on the sunny south side, bird-of-paradise, crinum, and ginger grow to perfection.
Any free space above the plants can be filled with hanging baskets, orchids, ferns on moss balls, bark, or tree-fern slab.
The fascinating and prolific staghorn fern grown on the tree-fern slab is particularly ornamental against the brick wall of a greenhouse.
Under the benches, the low light intensity is the limiting factor in plant growth.
However, maidenhair fern and Asparagus sprengeri grow here and are indispensable for corsages and flower arrangements.
Additional light is often provided by glass or brick for the foundation walls.
Fluorescent lights under the benches provide a good light intensity for growing plants such as African violets, gloxinia, and begonia.
Heating a Greenhouse
They call it a “hothouse” and envision sizzling temperatures.
Higher-than-living-room temperatures are used only for certain special commercial operations such as forcing lilacs.
The warm orchid house at 62° degrees Fahrenheit is still cooler than the living room.
In comparison, the camellia fan aims for 45° degrees Fahrenheit and sometimes is satisfied to hold a temperature just above freezing.
Electric heat may be within financial reach for cool house temperatures and certainly is most convenient.
A thermostat can actuate switches sending power to air heaters, soil heating cables, or reflector lamps, putting the heat where it will do the most good.
The primitive shovel-a-day hot-water heater with a loop of pipe for circulation is the simplest hot-water system.
More complicated but not much different is a thermostatically controlled circulator or booster pump sending hot water from a constant-temperature boiler through a loop system of large pipes, radiators, or finned pipes.
The boiler may be fired with coal (probably stock fed), oil, or gas.
Other heaters are fired by gas or oil, depending on fans to circulate the heat.
Before deciding on the best heating method for your particular needs, consult a greenhouse manufacturer or local heating concern.
Planting Locations
Check all plant locations for the best utilization of sunlight which will soon wane materially.
In a cool house, most plants need full sun. All the shading compound on the glass is usually washed off by this time.
However, if some remains, wash with a stiff brush or use one of the commercial solvents sold for this purpose.
Pansy and viola seeds may still be sown in flats started in the greenhouse. Transfer to a cold frame after they have germinated.
With luck, you will have bloomed next spring—a little later than with earlier-sown seed, which may even be an advantage.
Orchids that have spent the summer outdoors in slat houses or plant refuge should be brought indoors now.
Some of these, notably the bowringiana hybrids and some other bifoliate, may have fat sheaths that would bloom outdoors, but they are too precious to risk on a frosty night.
Spiranema fragrans (Tradescantia draconoides) are interesting because of their various habits of growth.
When well fed and sunned, it forms a large green rosette of leaves, often with chocolate markings. Sometimes trailing stems several feet long grow from this rosette.
Any joint of the stem may quickly be rooted. The plant is listed in a few catalogs, perhaps because of its ease of propagation, generally being passed from hand to hand.
The flowers are white, tradescantia-like, and not very striking.
44659 by Victor Greiff