Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Hristo on January 10, 2010, 08:14:33 AM
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edit by maggi : This thread has been formed from a previous thread in the Bulb Section, moved here and renamed to open it to a wider discussion of just what can be grown on a windowsill
Relative to many other benchmarks for the cost of living electricity in Bulgaria is expensive. With ( normally ) long cold winter months the heating of a greenhouse would be ridiculously expensive and a profligate waste of resources. Undertaking the renovation of a house allowed a degree of flexability in design leading to windowsills somewhat deeper than UK standard and the creation of an East facing plant room ideal for keeping coloer growing summer plants in. In the attached pics pretty much every pot represents a species, most of the black pots are South African species from Silverhill Seeds in their second year, the brown pots are mainly flowering sized bulbs plus a few non-bulbous species.
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The last lot of windowsills! By Summer the windowsills will be largely clear of plants, though there is a slight change over in March between SA bulbs and Pleiones, the earlier Pleiones start into growth indoors until the threat of frosts has passed!
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thanks for these, chris..interesting to see...
i think growth in aug/sept would indeed be quite different than mid-winter--i have an eriospermum which in 08 grew a leaf in late aug, which persisted through mid summer;it sat there looking the same, nice and compact, all winter;
it started a new one again in late aug 09, then aborted for some reason, and only re-tried the leaf a few weeks ago; this midwinter leaf seems to have a rather etiolated leaf stem, as do a couple of massonia leaves from november or so...
i will be trying to put up some lights in a cool room for these plants, but havent done it yet..
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On the whole starting these bulbs into growth in later summer / early autumn has resulted in less etiolated leaves and more prolific flowering, Moraea polystachea, always pretty but a little shy flowering for me has flowered non-stop for 2 months!
This coming Autumn I may start them off in a covered bed in the nursery and only move them into the house in November, tried this out on Ismene and Veltheimia species and this reulted in the best leaves I've ever had off these two plants, I would love to see the effect this treatment might have on Lachenalia and Ferraria amongst others!
Would love to hear how the lighting works out for you, only lights here are a set of LED grow lights running off a solar pannel, just gives a little extra for some orchids, gesneriads and stapeliads in the plant room.
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It looks as if you have been doing a lot of hard landscaping around the outside of the house.
Susan
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i'll let you know how it goes; right now i have one set of lights(just a double set of T12-or 8s, forget now), but its been mainly for seeds and longer hours/warmer spot than i think the winter growers would like;
i do have some haemanthus coming along there, and they look really good (to me,that is, they dont look weak, but its my first time with them, likely to someone who grows them outdoors they'd seem weak!) as well as some cyclamen purp and a couple townsendia started in the fall
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Hi Susan,
You know how it is, there is always something to be done! The rock garden area has doubled since last year, and is slowly eating into my orchid meadow!! There are 9 extra bulb stock beds in the nursery plus 3 alpine habitat beds below the barn.
A newly dug pond and the Pergola thing is actually a fancy lid for a 5 cubic meter water storage tank!
Cohan, we have adult H.albifloss here and they seem very happy with quite low light levels on an East facing window, also have another unidentified Haemanthus species that seems equally happy. As you say the form may not be quite right but then if we were really all about that we'd be bringing in sucking insects and grazing animals to help develop a true leaf form!! :D :D ;)
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Chris,
Fascinating setup. I think your windowsill species live better than mine (at least they don't bake in 39oC temps ;D). Brilliant way to grow the things you otherwise couldn't. The wide windowsills are just perfect. Thanks for showing us.
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Very interesting Chris, can't see me getting away with it though!
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A pleasure Paul, but as with you guys in Australia this would not work so well in the summer months, the South and West facing windows are punishing in the summer months.
David, little by little, a pot one day, two the next week and so on! Maybe the boss won't notice! ;) :D
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Chris,
thanks for posting the fotos. I, too, bring quite a few plants in, now that I do not heat the garden house. With the very cold Winter last year and this year possibly the same, it may be the wave of the future. Luckily, I have quite a few south-facing windows, but they have heating units under them, so I must be careful not to cook the plants! I have found moving them inside earlier than Novembre allows them more time to adapt to the driier atmosphere of the house. I used to bring them in just at the first threat of frost and many plants simply defoliated, such as my Lychis, which I grow for their simple foliage. This Spring I made the mistake of moving some plants (such as my beloved Veltheimia) outside too soon and they got hit by a very late frost/freeze. The current global weather changes are making tender plants an incredible amount of guess work.
Ciao,
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Jamie, I agree, windowsill growing is a sensible economy. We even have different temperature zones as the house is heated by a wood burning stove in the kitchen ( no central heating ) The kitchen can be 30c in the evening dropping back to 15c by the following morning after the fire has gone out. The plant room upstairs varies between 8c and 10c, the living room between 25c and 15c. The kitchen is turning out to be a great location to initiate flowering cycles in Phalaenopsis whilst Romuleas and Sparaxis sp. seem to love the West facing bathroom wondowsill!
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The windowsill plantings look very happy and healthy with no obvious etoliation Chris. It's a revelation to see so many species growing happily in such a way.
So far as the summer months are concerned, do you maybe use the sills for the ripening of some such as onco irises and Cyclamen rholfsianum?
And what about the bottles? Are they your secret formula liquid formula fertilizer or something more akin to home brew? ;D
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Hi Lesley,
We are lucky to have large windows!
The windowsills are little used in summer, ripening is not a problem, the oncos cope quite well in bulb frames and in the open garden. Summer usually sees a solid 8 to 12 weeks with temperatures generally above 30c.
The bottles are home brew, plum wine, greenguage wine, mead and dandilion wine....hic...hic... :P
P.s.. you may recognise a 'friend' in the west facing window 2 picture!
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Oh yes, possibly, approx in the middle?
All that lovely alcohol. Cheers. :D
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Yes, and 'nastravay' :-*
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Great set up Chris ! All plants seem quite happy ! :D
Don't know why, but somehow this makes me think of the Van Morrison hit from way back :"Cleaning Windows" .... ::) ::)
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Cohan, we have adult H.albifloss here and they seem very happy with quite low light levels on an East facing window, also have another unidentified Haemanthus species that seems equally happy. As you say the form may not be quite right but then if we were really all about that we'd be bringing in sucking insects and grazing animals to help develop a true leaf form!! :D :D ;)
hah! luckily not too many sucking insects just now, and certainly no plans to allow grazers or browsers in the house! that authentic i dont need to be...lol
i do have some south windowsills which are bright except for midwinter when a row of trees shades just barely to the house part of the day; once the sun is a bit higher, things are better, so my best times for light indoors spring and fall; however, most of my best light spots are occupied (year round) by cacti and succulents, which pre-date the foray into bulbs.....luckily, i have a lot of haworthia and gasteria which are fine with second tier light, so they are on benches behind the windowsills..oh yes, i also installed a shelf across the middle of the large living room window..lol
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Chris,
Love this strand! I like to see how other people grow their plants. Thank you for showing us your set up.
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Luc, long tradition with windowsill growing, in Aberdeen we had one large South facing window which was ( like Cohans window ) obscured by a stack of shelves made from bricks and planks!
Cohan, come on then post some windowsill pics, I kind of hope that others will show they are every bit as sad, ummmm dedicated to the notion of burying themselves Pharaoe like, under plants! ;) ;)
A pleasure Robert, I find it's a good way to get ideas and failing that you can always play spot the species! ;D
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Chris, I showed your window sill pics to the boss today. Her response was "don't even think about it"!!
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David, is there no way you could sweeten the deal? Conservatory maybe? ;)
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Chris, I'm a Yorkshireman, that would cost me serious money! ;D
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Cohan, come on then post some windowsill pics, I kind of hope that others will show they are every bit as sad, ummmm dedicated to the notion of burying themselves Pharaoe like, under plants! ;) ;)
i'll round up some shots--i maybe should make a new thread though, since there will be few if any bulbs in sight..
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i'll round up some shots--i maybe should make a new thread though, since there will be few if any bulbs in sight..
But the windowsills could still be "bulbous" from bulging with your selection of plants, Cohan! ;D
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Chris, I'm a Yorkshireman, that would cost me serious money! ;D
Your mistake was a fundamental one David, and probably made many years ago. You allowed Maureen to think she was the boss. A gardener should NEVER do this. There are always so many things (new, different, unusual or even downright outrageous) that need to be done and one can't afford to be told "no."
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Cohan, stick the pics in this thread, maybe Maggi can rename it for us, 'Windowsill gardening indoors' maybe?
Only called it Bulbous as a kind of throw away title but looks like the idea may have a little more mileage yet!
David, can you build false windows for the Mrs and you could have the real ones? :D
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David, can you build false windows for the Mrs and you could have the real ones?
Now that is a cunning plan : install your plant pots and hanging strings of seed pots in the windowsill then cover up, from inside the room, with trompe l'oeil painting of delighful view(backed onto reflective surface to allow maximum light back to plants ) to satisfy spouse........ yes, verrrrrrry cunning.....it'd never work though..... you'd probably blow it by painting fake view of Tuscany which will never fool anyone in Britain. ::) :-X
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Thanks for the move Maggi.
My Christmas presies arrived yesterday,5 Masdevallias, 2 Ascofinetias and 1 Neofinetia and Siderea japonica. All are cool growing orchids and should hopefully cope with growing conditions. I moss mounted the Ascofinetias and neofinetias on Oak stobs in a grit sand tray moistened to give a good humid atmosphere. The Masdevallias are similarly sat in a moistened grit sand tray with the addition of a 5v dc fan running off a canabilised 4.5v transformer! :o
All to be hand sprayed with rain water morning and evening.
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maggi, as you will see, bulge they do!
chris--congrats on the new orchids! i have had some in the past (now have one Brassavola in total...lol) but i just have tended not to be a consistent enough waterer for many..i might be a bit better now, but then orchids or so much more expensive than other plants i am into, and i'm not techy enough to grow them from seed...lol
here are a few shots of my main growing areas (not from today)--these shots are all in the main 'living/dining' area, which has one large window with a smaller one to each side (no overview shots, too much junk! this house was full of stuff left by my mom -who now lives next door-as this was her house, and my sister who lived here for a while, and figuring out what to do with it all is something i am not coping well with :-\ :-[
this window set is all south exposure, i will use right/ leftdirection you are looking within the house, straight ahead would be looking out the windows...
pic 1 shows the main windowsill of the large window, looking right,continuing to one of the side windows,with mainly cacti; just behind you see the wooden benches with mainly haworthias (sansevieria down at the end)
pic 2 shows the haworthia benches looking the same way, right
pic 3 haworthia benches looking the other way, left
pic 4 farther the other way,left, in front of the other side window, the benches continue, mainly gasterias on this bench
pic 5 the cacti in front of the right hand side window, main level
pic 6 a very small shelf for very small cacti, halfway up the righthand side window
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continued from previous post, these shots are from a shelf that goes across the middle of the big central window, above the main cactus shelf; it is not very wide, so that it will not cast too much shade on the plants below! this shelf is mainly succulents, esp dwarf aloes, and some echeveria and relatives..
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Thanks for posting your windowsills, great to see how different they are from the genera on our windowsills but all so very healthy too! The dwarf aloe are very attractive! The double depth windowsill is a great idea, though there is little ( actually quite loud ) voice telling me no way in a million years, oh well..... ::)
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Hristo author: My Christmas presies arrived yesterday,5 Masdevallias, 2 Ascofinetias and 1 Neofinetia and Siderea japonica.
Spoilt brat! ;D ;)
Cohan, your are really making maximum use there... This thread is a great answer to those folk who complain they have no garden!! :D
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;D ;D ;D Maggi I was told I could not spend my Christmas money on plants, so these are of course 'Window Ornaments'!
Other point of view is that they are stock for bulking up and later sale and as such don't even count!! ???
A bit like white chocolate having no calories!!
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White chocolate has no calories :o, Every day I learn something new on this forum, isn't this great. ::)
Angie :)
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chris--not use your christmas money on plants? then what's it for?? i'm finalising a couple of seed orders with mine, and hoping there will be enough left for the much needed flora of alberta!
the aloes are faves of mine too, i've seen a few of them flower (several of these were just received summer 08 as small seedlings or offsets), some are very nice in flower..
i do hear a suggestion here occasionally that windows are for looking out of-well! the plants only block a small portion of the glass, i see no difficulty looking around/over them!
maggi,i have two other growing areas besides this, though not as large, will try to find or take some photos of those..
for many years, living downtown in large cities with no outdoor space worth mentioning (apartments or parts of houses, rented, no yard or shared yard, no balconies) indoors was my only gardening space, and living here, where the ground is frozen half the year (not exaggerating) i could not stick to only outdoor gardening!
i have been toying with the idea of an indoor crevice garden with succulents.. the key is to not end up taking up a lot of space that could be plants with rocks, but i think i can do it! i like to have some sense that the indoor plants are in fact a garden and not just a collection of plants/pots..
should i use this same thread to post some shots of individual plants/flowers? i was supposed to post some flowering cactus shots since last year, and still havent..alternatively i could start a cactus/succulent thread..
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alternatively i could start a cactus/succulent thread..
That would be fun.... :D
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alternatively i could start a cactus/succulent thread..
That would be fun.... :D
okay, will do, i have lots to go, and know we have lots of folks here growing them..
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A bit like white chocolate having no calories!!
Utter rubbish. ::)
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Lesley, well known fact. White meats are very good for you, low in fat etc, hence white chocolate must be good!
Other well known fact is that only chocolate you buy has calories, if it is someones elses chocolate you are eating
then the calory 'issue' is their problem and not yours!! ;) ;)
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Other well known fact is that only chocolate you buy has calories, if it is someones elses chocolate you are eating
then the calory 'issue' is their problem and not yours!! ;) ;)
Must be Bulgarian logics.... :o ::) ;D :D
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Luc, it's the international logic of Dieters!!
Same one that sees people go to McDonalds, Burger King, KFC for a big old feed up and order DIET COKE!!!!!
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8) 8)
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A Windowsill gardening thread is a great idea and each I'm sure as individual as the gardener . For years I grew african violets on a North/East facing windowsill in the UK and they loved it - plenty of light and a cool passageway - every time I came in the backdoor they greeted me :)
Here in Switzerland, no such luck as the chalet windows have no window ledges, but orchids do like it in the sittingroom on a small table, out of direct sun but with a bit of airflow, they put on a splendid show that brings the tropical to the alpine!
Hristo & Cohan your windowsills are a great inspiration with such a variety of interesting plants, thanks for showing.
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RR, now come on, you can't say 'orchids on the table' and not tell us about them or even better...picture! I think a table near the window counts as a hemi-semi windowsill?? ;)
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Lesley, well known fact. White meats are very good for you, low in fat etc, hence white chocolate must be good!
Other well known fact is that only chocolate you buy has calories, if it is someones elses chocolate you are eating
then the calory 'issue' is their problem and not yours!! ;) ;)
Oh well, I'll have to go with that Chris. I guess it's the same logic that makes me eat chocolate truffles in order to wean me off Choc-coated ginger to which I am totally addicted. I understand that Maggi too, may have a problem with it.