Yes Susan the GH is in progress. Slowly but moving along. We were waiting for the concrete floor to cure (30 days) then we stained it. Ric fell a few weeks ago and dislocated his shoulder and broke several ribs. That put us a bit behind and we will start traveling in few weeks. But I expect it to be finished this fall. We won't be heating it this winter but we should be able to get an early spring start.
My Journal efforts so far have been working on cataloging my plants trying to keep track of what I have, where and when I got it and where it is planted. I would like to work more on my This to That pictures showing the progression of the gardens. That will be this winters project I have plenty of pictures just need to get it all together. I would like to do more in the way of keeping a monthly journal. With notes on seed starting, planting and blooming. I can see me starting one of those next year.
Here is a pic of what we have gotten done on the GH so far. You can see the pots I made up for in front of the GH there are two of them to sit on either side of the doors. Yes more tropicals to overwinter. The pots hold Warneckii Dracaena, Asparagus Ferns and Verbena.

Holly, a grand entry for sure! Sorry to hear about Ric's accident. I'm sure it's been difficult for the entire household a well. Bet you are both looking forward to you travels, wish I could help carry your luggage

Your greenhouse entry walk look great Holly. I hope Ric feels better soon.
Susan, Your website looks fantastic. A lot to peruse. Can't believe I never noticed this.

Evan, I'd love some Z.albomaculata! I found out the hard way that they're not as winter hardy as other Callas, and have missed them ever since. Most of the daisies are recovering nicely. I lost a couple in the extreme heat, but I'm seeing new growth on the others

Holly, I love the GH garden!

Thanks Neal, That area is the Veggie Garden, It is all pretty much Ric's work. The Veggie Garden is his area. He mixes in flowers between his Veggies. He built that Arbor earlier this summer. All built from reclaimed wood he salvaged from an old carriage house.

I love a beautiful veggie garden designed with aesthetics in mind, which is something I so enjoy about the cottage garden style. Speaking of which, your pics would be most welcome in the Cottage Gardening forum.

Thanks Neal, I know you have a beautiful Veggie Garden as well.
I love castor beans they are just so pretty and they are easy just save the seeds and grow new ones next year.



I have a pile of large rocks along the one edge of the back yard. Hope to some day use them for a pond but until then I plant Castor Beans, cannas, perillia around and between the rocks.

Your "Rock and Juniper Hill" garden are stunning Holly. I like everything about it. Are those Iris in the pond/fountain? What are the the dark purple perennials? Nice color echos. This garden is so nice, maybe you need to get some new rocks for your pond.

I've gotten my first ever EEar blooms. These are on the smaller of the two Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant Strain' I received from mamajack in June. It looks like there will be at least 4 inflorescence.

We had 2 nights in a row where it got doen to 50 and I think that's what shredded this leaf. It was evident before it even started to unfurl. Does this sound likely?

Thanks Evan, the dark purple plant is Perilla_frutescens. Not so much a perennial as a self seeder and can really be a serious spreader but easy enough to weed out of any area. I really love the dark color of it. Yes, there is a yellow water iris in the pond towards the back. It blooms pretty early, for some reason I don't have a picture of it in bloom. Will have to look again as there should be at least one. That is the end of a very long very big 30 yr old juniper hedge.
Oh such a shame about your leaf. I have had a few get damaged before opening. One got run over by the wheel of the riding mower when it was just emerging. It was heart breaking as it was the first year I grew them and was just so excited.
The Mandevilla is doing very well and so are the tropical water lilies.

Both beautiful Holly and that water lily is unreal. Are you familiar with the Iris Pseudata hybrids?

No I'm not but I did look them up and they sure are pretty.

a friend was growing aristolochia.. inside her Manhattan apartment... with a light assisting
I sugested a trellis outside the window.. to get the vine out in the sun...one for her... so she could see it right out the wndow some 6 floors up.. so I built her one.. and hung it outside the window for her



and now... from in the light ... flowers

WOW that is really something. We gardeners will do anything to grow our plants. Great idea.

Those are fantastic images Gordon. Nice to have creative friends.

Gordon your friend has an interesting style of gardening. Now that's what I call taking it to new heights (hee, hee). Brings a whole new meaning to growing up and growing vertically, thanks for sharing.

I've noticed most of my EEars are still going strong, Colocasia and Xanthosoma. Musa Basjoo is still putting up 1 leaf per week and the Canna are also still doing well. The Callas a just beginning to fade right on schedule.
We've had two runs of night time temps at or near 50F. The larger of the C. gigantea 'Thai Giant' has pretty much stopped dead in it's tracks and hasn't put up a new leaf in a couple of weeks. This surprises me as the Xanths are supposed to be fairly tender as well and they're still growing well. I'll start applying the high phosphorus fertilizer, 14-26-6, next week.

Evan, to your foliage plants? Will you be digging them up soon to overwinter?

I'll start potting up the few tropicals that are too young to have "bulbs" in 3-4 weeks. Our first frost is usually in the 1st week or two of October. This is only my second year with that type of tropical, Thai Giant, Z. aethiopica "White Giant" (or "Spotted Leaf" depending on source), and C. Mojito. These are all 1st year plants from fairly small starts that I purchased this Spring. Oh and a few Dwarf Cavendish banana that I bought last year, pups and mother.

The rest should have tubers large enough to over-winter and I wait for the frost to knock them down before digging. These include the Callas, Cannas, Colocasia and Xanthosoma. The Xanthosoma are new to me this year but as they're all Supermarket tubers, ie. inexpensive, I'm comfortable waiting until they get knocked down. The Musa Basjoo will get mulched in.

I'm always on the look out for good advice as I only have "experience" with a few of the Callas and the species C. esculenta.

I'll take year end pics and post them in a few weeks.

Evan, You are a bit farther north than us. We will be a few weeks yet before we dig up plants and drag pots inside. We travel around the first week of Oct and it is always a question can they wait till we get home or will there be an early frost before we get home. Our plants all seem to be looking really good right now putting out that last bit of energy into the blooms.
I started cleaning up my plant room last week and will be putting some of the extra plants right up stairs just don't have the space for them in the living area. The new GH won't have heat this winter so it will be crush time for the Tropicals again.

Holly, maybe you could get a thermometer which records the temperature data for the GH. I don't know if something like that exists, but you would have data to better understand how the unheated GH performs. A baseline for solar gain.