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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Night in My Greenhouse

Come join me for a walk out to the greenhouse.  It's eleven p.m. (Yes, niece Alison in Alaska, it's dark here then!)   and as we walk from the porch, the fragrance of brugmansia is heavy in the air.



We stroll down the path to the door to the greenhouse backlit from inside.

The first time we saw the effect of the roof lights from outside, we thought the panels were warped but it's just an interesting effect.

The path that goes the compost bin.  Light from the greenhouse illuminates the pot ghetto.

Let's go inside. Looking right.

 The tomato jungle is growing rapidly in the heat.  The trunks going into the rafters are those of a large brugmansia.  Unfortunately mine have had a heck of a time with spider mites this year.  They're still blooming but the usual lush leaves are fewer.  I've sprayed so much soapy water that it's not funny so now we'll step it up to neem oil.
 Looking straight ahead.  The door and screens are hiding bicycles, empty pots, a wheelbarrow and a host of other necessities.

More plants.


Grevellia 'Ned Kelly' stayed inside this summer and doesn't seem unhappy in the least.

The big glass globes came from Bedrock Industries that was recycling them from somewhere.  At the time I bought them, my plan was to used them as spheres in the garden.  Fortunately I never got to that as they work nicely in the greenhouse.

My pal and co worker gave me the uber cute gome on the right. Fortunately, I had a cage just the right size.

Looking left from the door.

More tomatoes.

Deep in the green.

Looking back from the middle right. 

The potting bench was recently a pile of plastic pots of all sizes with potting soil everywhere.  It's nice to see the surface again.

This campy pot was on clearance at Home Goods (my new favorite store.)  Perhaps it'll encourage the lemon tree inside to produce more heavily.

Looking up.  Note to self, remove that dirty glass shelf!


The tentacled pot has some new friends.

The tillandsia tree is growing happily.  These seem much happier in the greenhouse than they do inside because outside they get misted almost every day.

Thanks for joining me, not just tonight but for the last three years!  Do come visit again!

Saturday will mark my third year of garden blogging at least five days a week.  It's been a wonderful adventure full of delightful surprises I'd never imagined when I started.  Chatting with readers and other bloggers online is a great deal of fun and meeting them  in person is a special joy.  Crazy gardening friends are precious and making more of them has been one of the best parts of blogging.  Asking questions and having a worldwide panel of expert advisers is way cool!   Thanks for reading, thanks for your comments, advice, jokes, and friendship for the last three years and 809 posts.  Here's to many more!  Happy weekend friends!

42 comments:

  1. Your greenhouse takes on a different magical feel and look to it in the evening Peter! Thanks for taking us along and happy blog anniversary!

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    1. The greenhouse is a fun place to be in the evening! Thanks.

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  2. I'm in love with your greenhouse. And the mannequins and the doll head in a cage just does it for me.

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    1. Glad you like it! It's been lots of fun dragging things out there.

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  3. I'm reminded of Mama's story about the little boy who watched the same movie 9 times. "This time I am going to REALLY enjoy it." She was relating to her numerous visits to tour the Governor's mansion.

    I keep coming back to look at these photos over and over, just as I did the previous views. I note that the Spanish moss is thriving.

    Do you shake your tomato plants to make them put on fruit, or do you have fans directed toward them?

    I enjoy every little detail, inside and out.

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    1. It's fun to look at other people's greenhouses and see how they've arranged things. The Spanish moss is growing and some of it has interesting little blooms.

      Yes, the tomato plants get shaken and there's a ceiling fan right on top of them. I leave the door to the greenhouse open during the day but haven't seen a lot of pollinators around the tomato flowers. I welcome flies of all sizes as there are quite a few carnivorous plants out there and I want to make sure that they get fed.

      I'm happy that you enjoy looking at my greenhouse as I've always enjoyed looking at yours!

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  4. Wow! There is so much to see - it looks like a carefully curated, very hip garden store!

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    1. Thanks C.G. The tomato jungle is taking over at the moment but it's fun out there.

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  5. What a great post - love your greenhouse and all its inhabitants. Chuckling over the "pot ghetto" comment, most of us have one and that's a great description. Yeah, Home Goods is my fav too for quirky and fun stuff.

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    1. Thanks! The greenhouse is a lot of fun. I've got to get more of those plants in the ground!

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  6. What a fabulous greenhouse it is. A million things to admire. You've made a wonderful gift even more wonderful-er.

    Good time to remember I picked up a small, decorative item for your greenhouse or garden on the side of the road a while back--can you email your mailing address to me, so I can mail it off?

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    1. Thanks, Hoov!

      Oh my, how kind of you to think of me and my garden! Thank you! Can't wait to see what you found!

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  7. Peter congratulations on three years .......three wonderful years for us who enjoy your blog so very much. I really enjoyed meeting you and I hope I get to chat with you a little more next time. I already told you my last gardening desire is to find (cram) a place for a tiny greenhouse,yours is show worthy and definetly lust worthy. Cheers to your next three years,we will all be watching as your adventures unfold. Glenda

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    1. Thank you so much, Glenda! It was fun meeting you, too. I'm sure we'll run into each other again! I hope you do find space for a greenhouse as having one is a great deal of fun! If you need help finding materials, labor, etc. let me know as I learned a lot in the building process!

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  8. I enjoyed this so much, your photos captured the night visit ambiance perfectly! It felt very secret and hush-hush (shhh, stop giggling, we might wake Tom up). You still have so many other plants inside the greenhouse! My Brugs had problems with spider mites and aphids over the winter inside, but it cleared up once they got hauled out and repotted. Maybe yours could benefit from being outside?

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    1. Glad you came along. It was late, I needed to come up with a quick blog post and had just added more lighting out there so decided to do this. Next time you come over for a pajama party, we'll have to visit the greenhouse! Taking these pictures while in my bathrobe must have done the trick. All the other brugs moved out but this one was so big I decided to let it live permanently in the greenhouse. I did pot it up into a much larger pot and just noticed today that there's quite a bit of healthy new green foliage on it. Hooray.!

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  9. Oh, I forgot to say Happy Blogaversary! Having a fellow blogger so close has been a godsend to me.

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    1. Thanks Alison! One of my greatest joys of blogging has been finding you, my friend!

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  10. Excellent! Can you even remember a time without that greenhouse? (less than a year ago!) So glad you're still a blogging maniac...

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    1. It's a dim memory now. It's so nice to have a potting bench other than the patio table, kitchen shelf, et cetera. Maybe because it's new, maybe because the tomatoes require daily watering, but I'm finding myself playing in the greenhouse a lot, much to the detriment of my other garden rooms.

      I'm also happy that I'm part of the wonderful community of garden blogging! Thank you oh blogging mentor!

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  11. I love your greenhouse. It's quirky and random (I wonder where it got that?) and full of cool plants. Happy blogaversary, Peter! It's been a pleasure reading your blog and knowing you and I look forward to continuing.

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    1. Thanks, Evan. It's been a pleasure knowing you and reading your blog as well. We must plan a garden related trip together one of these days!

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  12. There is so much visual interest in your greenhouse and so many happy plants! I have some tilandsia inside. They don't seem to grow much. I live at high altitude in CAo, so it might be too cool outside?

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    1. Tillandsias would be fine outdoors during the summer but do like to be misted often in warm and dry conditions. Most, but not all like light shade.

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  13. Your greenhouse is so wonderful I bet you could charge admission for tours (with a premium for the night-time ambiance). I think it's a good thing you keep the gnomes caged - I have an eerie feeling things come alive when the humans leave the building.

    Happy third anniversary! You're an example to aspire to as a blogger for your dedication, love of plants, and wit.

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    1. Glad you like my greenhouse. You're more than welcome to come see it, free of charge, any evening. I'll put on some hot chocolate and we can have a pajama party! Alison could come, and Loree (We'll make her sleep next to the agaves.) Maybe we need popcorn as well. You can never trust gnomes to be well behaved when humans aren't present!

      Thank you for the kind words!

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  14. Wow! What a visual treat and good photography combined! Your attention and love for the place really show. Thanks for your diligence....

    bambusue

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    1. Thanks Bambusue! It's my pleasure to share adventures.

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  15. Happy Blogaversary! I would love to go shopping in your greenhouse.

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  16. Happy Blogaversary, Peter! Now this is a greenhouse--gorgeous! There are so many interesting touches here, it's like touring a garden. But I can't stop chuckling over those gnomes in cages:)

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    1. Thank you, Rose. Gnomes must be kept in cages or they'll wreak havoc on the garden. Raccoons usually get the blame for making messes but truth be told, it's the gnomes. I hear that spraying with DDT gets rid of gnomes but I prefer the organic approach.

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  17. I love those globe lights! They really add to the atmosphere.
    You are two days ahead of me, three years on Monday for rusty duck. Albeit with rather fewer posts! Congratulations Peter, very glad to have found your blog. Where would be as gardeners without a philosophical attitude and sense of humour..

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    1. The best part of the globe lights was the low price because they were recycled or seconds from a company or something like that. Congratulations R.D. on your own blogaversary! I thoroughly enjoy your blog as well! Your picturesque cottage and beautiful garden in the wood are very special and I enjoy visiting via Rusty Duck!

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  18. About 2 years ago I "found" you on the Tidewater Gardener blog. You must have commented about the PNW and I found it so appealing, to share the same weather patterns, garden plants and nurseries. I've been addicted ever since, and if you stopped blogging I may have to stop drinking coffee in the morning! I can't imaging one without the other. Happy Anniversary.

    Also, I finally get to see the stained glass back lit. It's so beautiful.

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    1. I'm glad you found me! I've been thinking of you lately as the orange alstroemeria seeds you gave me have germinated! Hooray! Well, I wouldn't want to harm the coffee industry so I'll keep blogging! Thank you for reading, and for the happy anniversary wish. I'm glad that the stained glass panel is being used instead of being shoved in a corner as it was for so many years.

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  19. Happy anniversary. I'm glad to have found your blog! I love your greenhouse, it's very mysterious and enchanting! There are so many quirky plants and pots - it's wonderful!!!!

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad to have found your blog as well!

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  20. Well first of all happy blog anniversary, that is a lot of posts, congratulations.
    I love looking round your greenhouse, at night it takes on a magical, rather spooky dimension. All those body parts: legs, torsos, heads!. And gnomes in cages. It does look a bit like the lair of a mad professor; Frankenstein or his modern equivalent .But it is fascinating and full of horticultural treasures.

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    1. Thank you Chloris! We sometimes call the greenhouse the laboratory because there's always some sort of experiment going on. (With plants, not body parts:)

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  21. After Hours at the Outlaw's clubhouse...has a kind of illicit ring to it, doesn't it? Can't think of a better way to celebrate three years of punny camaraderie.

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.