Most years it seems like I've just finished getting the plants out of the greenhouse when they all have to start being moved back in. It's not true, I usually start sometime in late April or May, but this year I didn't start until July, and finished around August 1. So this year it's actually true that they weren't outside for long. I just got them all back inside after having started a couple of weeks ago.
This year I adjusted the wire shelves into an L shape to make room for some of the larger pots on the floor. And I found room for a small table and chair, so on rainy days I can sit out there with a cup of coffee and relax.
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| View into the greenhouse through the open door |
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| To the right of the door as you step inside -- that very heavy 'Blue Glow' Agave is in a deliberately inaccessible corner, since it won't need much watering over the winter |
The tall Echium 'Star of Madeira' had a rocky start to the summer. After spending so long in the greenhouse, it had rooted rather solidly through the pot into the gravel, and when I moved it outside, it wilted terribly, losing so many of its leaves that I pruned a lot of them off deliberately. It's on a drainage tray now, and in the spring I think I'll repot it and refresh the soil with some fertilizer to encourage flowering, if it hasn't flowered over the winter.
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| I wonder if 'Star of Madeira' will flower in the greenhouse over the winter |
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| Propagation area to the left of the door |
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| Pelargonium sidoides flower against dark elephant ear |
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| Various succulents rooting on heating mats |
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| Trays and heating mats waiting for seed starting to begin |
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| I arranged the shelving in an L-shape to make more room for those larger plants on the floor to the right of the door |
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| My head planter from Watson's has three Hindu Rope Hoyas planted in it and sports a Minnie Mouse headband and glasses |
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| Can't find a face pot? Turn a plain pot into one with a Halloween mask! |
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| Baby 'Blue Glow' gets child-size sunglasses |
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| Do I like Agaves? Aye, I do! |
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| Puya alpestris -- Careful! It bites back! |
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| I call this "The old lady and the two gingers" |
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| I found room for a table and chair, for morning coffee |
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| Dad, Mom, and spiky baby -- Hmmm...Mom needs some Mardi gras beads |
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| Doesn't everyone keep a captive fairy in a cage? |
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| More tall plants are on the wire table, and I left some room on the right hand side for working on seed starting and cuttings |
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| Bromeliads and a few Begonias underneath |
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| This guy has steampunk goggles, a Rhipsalis hairdo and a friend to say "Aloe" to |
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| Did someone say morning coffee? |
You may be wondering if anything gets left out on the porch. Yes, a few hardy things that can take the cold temps, but need the protection of the porch overhang to keep the constant winter rain off.
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| Three Yucca 'Bright Star', which have benefited from being potted and a handful of hardy Agaves are going to spend the winter on the porch |
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| The corker in the white pot is Agave scabra x ferox |
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| Two recent acquisitions (thanks Jane!) Agave bracteosa, and two smaller Agaves -- A. utahensis and A. havardiana |
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| In the big brown pot is Agave 'Baccarat' |
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| Fabulous teeth impressions on 'Baccarat' |
My plan is to get all the hardy Agaves into the ground in the gravel garden sometime soon, either late this winter or early spring. That might require breaking that big brown pot.
A big handful of little pots line the western-facing windowsill in our guest bedroom.
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| Ronin likes sleeping on the guest bed, but so far has left the plants alone |
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| I put this ocean-themed terrarium together this summer |
I'm sure I'll acquire a few more tender plants before winter sets in, that I can probably shoehorn in somewhere out in the greenhouse. But now that I have space out there for something other than overwintering plants, I don't intend to give it up without a fight.
Of course, I'll only be fighting with myself.
