First, I bring in all the nicest plants into the house. It's heavy work, but it must be done.
This one (White Bird of Paradise) stays outdoors and will need covering with blankets since it is growing in the ground.
Large plants are grouped together on the back porch and covered. Ugh! More heavy lifting.
I filled the small greenhouse back in early December, but tonight it needed an extra piece of plastic sheeting stapled to the ceiling. My son helped. Lights and a heat source are turned on for the night.
This is my heat source: a 200 watt shop light aimed at a metal tub. The tub captures the light and radiates the heat throughout the greenhouse. I've tried a 500 watt shop light, but it was too bright and it got very hot. On rare nights lower than 25 degrees, I use two 200 watt lights. It easily keeps the greenhouse above freezing.
Now for the chickens. They will especially enjoy the extra hay tonight.
I also covered many more plants with towels, blankets, and sheets. The front yard looks a bit crazy with everything covered, but people do this all over our area and no one thinks it strange.
That's what it takes to have a tropical garden in a frost zone.
Is it worth it? For most people it seems crazy. But not to gardeners. You probably do just as much work in your garden only in different ways.
Good night, and stay warm.
David/ :0)
Oh I sure do. Although we haven't had the crazy freezes yet. But they are coming:) I have to put everything into the shed or cover the plants up. It's about an hours work:) No fun. Your greenhouse shot looks great. I wish I had a romm like this! Stay warm.
ReplyDeleteHi David..popped in to check out your Number 1 in Blotanical, blog. You have chickens!? Lucky you. I'm going to go read your blog for a while!
ReplyDeleteErin
How large is your greenhouse? I have a very small one, only six feet wide and about 2 1/2 feet deep (up against the house). I only have a 60-watt bulb as a heat source, and I'm thinking that might not be enough when I read that you use a 200-watt light. This is the first year I've attempted to heat the greenhouse. First few years, I did not need to. But last two years it got down into the teens a couple nights, and I lost just about everything. I hope your efforts pay off and your topical garden thrives :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting! It's all just a little too weird for this tropical gardener! I remember the first time I ever saw a photo of a plant wrapped in a fleece blanket. It was on another gardening website when I first joined the world wide web gardening fraternity. I thought it was a practical joke! Lol!
ReplyDeleteI suppose the equivalent here would be stashing plants in the fridge, putting umbrellas up over them as a sunscreen or placing fans nearby to cool them off. We haven't gone quite that troppo yet!!
At the moment we're have super-hot days (up to 40 + Celcius) but in Winter we always get a few days of frost.
ReplyDeleteHope everything survives for you and you dom't get too many freezing days.
I like the idea with the metal tub! We tent our Mango tree (with a party tent) and hang 2 heat lamps (pointing down) on the lower branches. The metal tub would radiate the heat upwards I'm thinking ....
ReplyDeleteGood job of protecting your planties!!
Wow, that's a lot of work, but definitely worth it if the plants survive. I hope they all come through unscathed. Using all those blankets sounds like a new take on 'putting the garden to bed for the winter'.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I’m in Northwest Houston gardening zone 8B. I always tell myself to just say, “No!” to the tropicals, but I can’t help myself. I think it is their foliage I fall in love with every time. In the high heat of our summers the tropicals always look grand. They are worth the extra effort to cover a few containers, when we have a freeze warning. I’ve got blankets covering a few plants, as I write this to you. Hopefully, this winter will be mild and not a repeat of last winter. Love your blog! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI used moving blankets this fall. Looked pretty odd as I live on a corner lot with lots of traffic. Oh well, I am kind of odd. lol. I used to do that in San Antonio every winter. We've hit 14 to 18 these past two months. But overall very warm.
ReplyDeleteI did wonder! I did almost the same making sure my dog was comfy and warm! :)
ReplyDeleteThat does sound like a lot of work, but as long as you enjoy it, I'm sure it's so worth it. Looking forward to seeing your tropical blooms... not do-able in my zone 5 gardens.
ReplyDeleteHi David, i saw your blog because it replaced a perennially top 1 blog in Blotanical. You are now famous, LOL. I can't relate to the very difficult gardening of tropicals in your area, we have a lot of them here and they are just left on the ground on their own, rain or shine. It's really amazing for the lots of work a gardener puts to just care for their plants. Here we get difficulties when we don't have water during the dry season, and we try caring for semi-temperate plants.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing what we gardeners will do for our plants! I'm sure many a neighbor has thought me weird!
ReplyDeleteWe gardeners must work hard to maintain our beautiful plants. Your tropicals are lovely. I am usually checking the forecast in fall, winter, and spring, so I can cover the vegetable garden if it goes below freezing.
ReplyDeleteIt's all fun, but I'm too old for all that lugging and covering. If a little pine straw won't save it, it's toast. I've determined what will survive and what is marginal. After a determined Bird of Paradise came back from the roots last spring, I dug and potted it this fall and brought it in.
ReplyDeleteMy greenhouse has a two little heaters with thermostats. The low here this morning was 27. Nothing froze inside. We have heat lamps of different wattages and tubs, but I had not thought of them in tandem. Might be a better plan for when the storm comes and we have to crank up a generator.
You sound like a bit of a glutton for punishment, David. Everything tender gets moved or covered in our garden at the end of autumn. But it is all worth it, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteDavid, did it really get down to freezing for you either of the last 2 nights? There was no ice in any of the birdbaths or containers, just some frost on the windshield of my daughter's car.
ReplyDeleteWow, I am very impressed at your dedication. I have gone the other way (short-term) and I'm trying lots of annual seeds and perennials more suited to a cooler climate until my mainstream tropicals get established and provide a bit more shade.
ReplyDeleteI feel for you doing all that moving, but know it must be done. I lost my Duranta this year because I left it out too long, but it lived in my office every other year. I did save the jasmine and rose standards though. One thing though, your garden has to be tho most interesting in your neighborhood with all those tropical plants. I love the large scale of the plants. Just don't have that much up here except in the house.
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