A Peek Inside the Greenhouse 3

It's time for another look inside the greenhouse to see what's progressing in there.

The greenhouse from the front door

A few weeks ago I gave everything a nice drink of fish emulsion, which in the enclosed space gave off a strong smell of bad sushi. But more recently I had noticed that smell had dissipated, and in its place was another scent, just as strong, but more lemony and much more pleasant. I wondered what it was, but had no clue until one morning while pulling out of the driveway to take Nigel to the train station, I noticed a bright orange glow behind the glass. I recognized what it was immediately, and was amazed that I had overlooked it.

What's that orange glow?

 One of my Brugmansias liked the fish emulsion and the conditions inside the greenhouse so much that it has already started flowering.

There's the shy bloom hiding behind a couple of Agaves

Right side view through the door

Left side view

My castor beans, which had just been sowed at the time of my last greenhouse post, have sprouted like crazy.

I'll have lots to share at the Spring Portland Garden Bloggers Plant Exchange next weekend.

I have an abundance of a variety of castor bean called New Zealand Purple. Chiltern's website, where I bought some of my seeds, has this to say about the variety: "Looking for a plant to impress the neighbours? Then try this one! All parts of this splendid and handsome specimen (including the seed pods) are deep purple; but not just any old purple but a sunlight-reflecting, metallic rich coppery-bronze which gives the enormous leaves the impression of having been hammered out of the finest alloy. A variety that will illuminate any garden. 6 ft."

A good start to my tropicalesque vision for my front garden.

Another plant that is very happy to be inside the greenhouse is my Musa sikkimensis 'Red Tiger.' It is pumping out leaves that are hitting the ceiling, and is going to have to exit the greenhouse lying down in a couple of weeks.

And it has produced three offsets.

The third offset is small and perhaps hard to see, sitting at about the 7 or 8 o'clock position around the banana's stem.

I thought last year when I put it in this large pot that it would be happy there for a few years, but...perhaps not.

The Bromeliads under the big wire-topped bench are very happy. They get a drink of water into their cups every so often, and get dripped on by the others above them as they drain.

Wide-leaved Cordyline 'Miss Andrea' is happy, also pumping out new leaves.

I have lots of flowers on my variegated, orange-flowered Abutilon.

And the beginnings of a flower on brand-new greenhouse resident Alstroemeria 'Rock and Roll.'

Tiny pincushion-like Euphorbia obesa is also a new acquistion.

Begonia boliviensis is finally showing indications that I didn't in fact kill it via neglect over the winter.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for the Bougainvillea that I bought from WeHOP last fall. She is apparently dead as a doornail. No pictures, may she rest in peace.

I added a folding chair and a stepladder. I seldom use the chair, but the stepladder has been useful.

In a few weeks, around Mother's Day (here in the U.S. Mother's Day is in mid-May), many of these greenhouse plants will be moving out into the sunshine for the summer, and the tomatoes and peppers will spend the summer in here getting big and fat and hopefully chock-full of fruit. For a while after that there will be more room in there, so I might re-arrange things and set up the chair and a little table, for those rare moments when I am out in the garden and actually think about resting, which isn't often.

I hope you enjoyed this view inside the greenhouse. I posted as a participant in Helen Johnstone's meme 'The Greenhouse Year.' You can read her post here, and check out the comments, where others may leave links to posts about their greenhouse goings-on as well.