You need a generous greenhouse to freely accommodate Yacon as this can easily grow two, three or more metres high. Fortunately it can also be cut back down so you can squeeze one into a smaller space. But be warned this has expansionist tendencies and in small houses is best confined in a large tub […]
Once rare glasshouse specimens Peperomias are now common house-plants everywhere you go. Coming mainly from Mexico, the West Indies and South America these have not long been in cultivation most of them being discovered only from the mid nineteenth century. The great Paxton in his Botanical Dictionary of 1868 listed four dozen species and subspecies; […]
A frost free greenhouse that stays cool all summer is perfect for this exotically perfumed climber. Indeed this is excellent run along high wires in a shady greenhouse or conservatory as this will seldom get too hot and there will be enough light next to the glass. Mandevilla suaveolens is a tender deciduous climber from […]
Happy in a cool greenhouse Maidenhair ferns, Adiantums, have the reputation of being easy to kill as a houseplant. They just do not like hot dry conditions. Indeed they’re most satisfied in a Wardian case, or even a bottle. Still a cool greenhouse is good and set in dappled shade amongst other plants they usefully […]
Easy in a frost free greenhouse, conservatory or as a houseplant the Fittonias are unsung heroes. If you’ve ever been on a tropical or sub-tropical holiday you probably saw them often yet did not notice them. Or did but never quite worked out what they were. Rumoured to have originated in Peru these decorative yet […]
Okay, many greenhouse flowers are described as ‘exotic’, ‘stunning’, ‘impressive’, etcetera but the Glory Lily truly deserves every superlative. Except that is for ‘robust’ and ‘enduring’ as I must admit I have lost several. Still these are so exotic, stunning and impressive it is always well worth getting another. Glory lilies are often sold in […]
This stunning cool greenhouse flower gives off colours no pictures can capture. In the flesh Sparaxis blooms have an unmatched day-glow intensity of brilliance. You really have to see these with the naked eye to appreciate their luminosity. They’re pretty anyway and make excellent cut flowers as they last well. Sparaxis tricolour is now the […]
A greenhouse flower that almost everyone knows by name but no-one now grows are Freesias. These are members of the Iris family and never reached Britain until well into Queen Victoria’s reign when they rapidly proved popular. Perhaps because coming from South Africa these were one of the few Cape flowers we discovered there that […]
Houseplants much at home in a warm greenhouse are the Christmas and Easter cactus, and for Americans, Thanksgiving cactus as well. Tough and long enduring these have been rightly popular since Victorian times. The Latin names have changed so often it’s now more sensible to revert to the common names most people are familiar with. […]
Perfect for the warm greenhouse or conservatory or even as a houseplant in a warm light window The Croton is actually a Codiaeum. The genus Croton are different plants although both are in the Euphorbiaceae. There are only a few species of Codiaeum and in cultivation you almost always find a plant to be Codiaeum […]
Of the many poisonous greenhouse, conservatory and house plants one you come across almost everywhere is Dieffenbachia, the Dumb Cane. This is a delightful architectural foliage plant with large attractive variegated leaves, and seldom has it caused accidents. Still you should be aware the sap is very irritant and poisonous and so this genus should […]
Amongst very showy greenhouse specimens difficult to name out of flower yet most obvious in bloom are Flaming Sword, Lobster Claws and Painted Feather. These names accurately describe the fantastical red and yellow waxy flower spikes of massed bracts. Blooms once seen never forgotten, almost surreal, and so resembling plastic that people feel it necessary […]
