A M0RNING IN THE GREENHOUSE

 "I'll just spend a little time in the greenhouse this morning while it is still cold outside" 

That little time turned into a whole day. If only I hadn't let it get so out of hand. I had good intentions when I started to take things inside last fall promising myself that I would keep plenty of space between each pot and nothing on the ground. Suddenly every bit of shelf space was filled, above and below and then the floor started to get crowded out. That pot of dwarf papyrus, the two branches of plumeria, a box of agaves which I had planned to take to Phoenix at Christmas, a bird of paradise I dug out from the edge of the path. Empty pots, pots of soil. No room to move in there. The first job was to move everything outside so I could work on the shelves.

Next was to organize the shelves moving a few things around. There is shade cloth and a cross vine growing over the greenhouse so the only really good sun is at the end. That is where I need to have my winter blooming cactus. Some have already started blooming and some are now making buds. I think they are going to be earlier this year than any before. 

I have several pots of lady finger cactus, Echinocereus pentalophus. All are beginning to make buds. If you aren't familiar with this plant the flowers are the most wonderful Thai-silk pink. But it will be a few weeks yet.

And more and more mammilarias.

I moved this plant up from the lower level and into a more sunny spot when I saw this bloom stalk.

And a euphorbia blooming. You know how tiny their flowers are and if it weren't for the fact that they are yellow you might even miss them.

Finding more scale on some cactus I broke off tidying and got the paint brush and alcohol out. I was not expecting to do that but it seemed like a priority.

I was sad to see I had almost missed these sprays for flowers on the copper Sedum nussbaumerianum. I felt rather badly that they had been under appreciated being on the lower shelf. The plant is rather straggly and needs a complete pruning. Not a job for today.

When I got down to moving the last pot which was on the floor by the door I discovered that the ants had come up through the bricks and into the pot. What next! It was the newly potted bird of paradise which I quickly removed and took outside far away from the garden. Then I put the kettle on to boil. I'll make their life unpleasant. 

I only have 3 orchids left and they are in much need of attention. I heard on a gardening program that an orchid needs at least 4 good strong leaves in order to bloom so there is a good chance that this one will soon send out a bloom stalk. One has a small stalk and the other only 3 leaves. Some nurturing is needed. I knew that orchids like to grow in clear pots. Don't they all come that way from the nursery. Their roots like light as they photosynthesize through them. I don't know why I was anxious to put the other two in clay pots even though they were so-called orchid pots. From now on its clear pots for my orchids. 

I have a couple of hanging baskets. The first is the Huernia schneideriana, which spent the summer hanging in the live oak tree, totally under appreciated. It will probably go back there again next year but will need some trimming as eventually the longer stems start to fail. In Arizona I saw this plant creeping along the ground and it will set down roots easily along the length of the stems.  

Finally a quick wash down hoping to make the ants more miserable and the greenhouse is ready to receive many plants that will have to come in during the upcoming inclement weather. 

Now a week later we begin to feel the start of the weather. It is 43° out there and for us bone chilling and damp. Tonight will probably be the first night of 7 nights of freezing temperature with some possibly in the single digits. Freezing rain is also in the forecast followed by snow next week. The heaters are on in the greenhouse and I have brought even the foxgloves inside. I have been nurturing these since they were 4" pots. You can't take the English out of the girl. She has to have her foxgloves. 

It will not be good as the garden is so far ahead. I have already picked daffodils and many of my vegetables that will not take even those low temperatures. Shiver , Shiver! I don't want to think about the possibility of a power failure due to this unusual weather.