Around the Greenhouses

There's not much happening around the greenhouses yet, but even without flowers...

Again I haven't been posting much. We're still fighting colds, etc., and Lynn-Marie's arthritis in her hands is making it hard for her to work with the plants. As a result we will be winding down our internet nursery in the next several months. We will try to fill the backlog of orders as soon as we can, but it's going to be a slow process. By this summer we'll be switching over to an occasional email list of plants which are available for a limited time period.

I'll try to keep up with the blog as we move into Spring, but I'm also working on Lynn-Marie's online presence as an artist. I've be promising to get this done for a long time, so it really has to get done. I'll let you know when it's ready to go.

For now, then, just enjoy your plants!

Part of one of our greenhouses...

Our greenhouses are not the kind of place where you see row upon row of the same thing. In some ways that would be nice. But no, it's a mishmash of all kinds of succulent plants, the result of 44 years of  interest in growing these amazing plants. It certainly keeps things interesting!

Echeverias

We really have to stuff to get all the plants in our greenhouses every winter and this is no exception. Here we have some echeverias and a couple of Aloe polyphylla plants Now the big job is getting to them so we can water them and otherwise care for them. Even getting down the aisle to get to them is a major task for me and my big feet.

For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, enjoy the Spring and coming summer. Keep those pictures of flowers coming...

Kara Nursery Greenhouse #2

Nothing special tonight. Just a shot across one part of the main greenhouse. All our time right now is spent potting up and preparing plants for the sale this weekend, but I'll try to get some more pictures tomorrow.

Anna's Hummingbird in the greenhouse

The most common hummingbird in our area is Anna's Humingbird and they stay year 'round but we find them visiting the nursery mostly in the spring and summer. Inevitably they end up finding their way into the greenhouses but can never find their way out. So...we end up catching them and then releasing them outside. This little female wasn't too happy about being caught but flew off good and healthy.

Greenhouse heater problems

I haven't had time to post for the last few days. The old oil heater we use in one of our greenhouses has a mind of its own, and it's decided to go on strike. As a result I've been wrestling copper fittings and flare fittings and cleaning out old equipment (soot everywhere). This is one of those miserable tasks which sometimes goes along with growing plants, especially if you can't afford to hire someone to do it. Besides, this stuff is so old, I doubt any repair people would have a clue about what to do.  I have to re-do some fittings in the a.m. and then pray that the float valve works. If it doesn't, we'll have to order a new one.

And then maybe I'll have some time to post some pictures before Christmas.

Feliz Natal!

Autumn in the Greenhouse

Color isn't just in the flowers. A greenhouse of succulent plants provides a wonderful array of colors, especially in the Autumn. This shows a couple of views in the #2 greenhouse.

Greenhouse Tour VI

Another view of a growing area with a mixture of echeverias, cacti and a few other succulent species.

Greenhouse Tour V

Just another area of the main greenhouse.  Don't get too bored. I won't be posting much over the Easter weekend.

Went to the endodontist today (specialist for dental root canal surgery) and determined that the tooth which has been giving my a headache won't be a good candidate for root canal so it'll probably end up being pulled. And that's probably more than you ever wanted to know :] (It's more than I wanted to know!)

Greenhouse Tour IV

Another bench with mostly haworthias. Not a very exciting view but if you get "down, dirty and personal" with the plants, it can be quite fascinating. Like I say, always keep a magnifying glass handy!

The weather forecasters are all in a tizzy about a windy, late winter storm which should hit us tomorrow. It's already bringing heavy snow to the mountains and tomorrow should bring 80 mph gusts to the coast and 50 mph gusts to us. We can and do get some pretty wicked storms through here every couple of decades (in my lifetime, there have been two, neither of hurricane strength). My guess, however, is that the bluster on the TV news programs will be the strongest gusts we'll get. If I'm wrong, I'll confess tomorrow.

Greenhouse Tour III

And yet another part of the Haworthia growing area, with - as always - a few other things mixed in as well.

Greenhouse Tour II

Part 2 of the greenhouse tour. This is obviously an area mostly dedicated to haworthias - with a few other things thrown in...

Greenhouse Tour I

During the next several days, I'll be posting a selection of photos of some of the growing areas in our greenhouses. Don't expect a HUGE operation. We're small. But I don't know anyone who crowds more into a greenhouse than we do. We really do need another greenhouse...but...it would just get filled up again, so...

Here you see some Echeverias, cactus offsets and miscellaneous other things in the main greenhouse.

Fall in the greenhouse

No flowers here, but with Echeverias, who needs flowers?

Fall Madness!

With the arrival of Fall, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and especially in more northerly climes, comes the annual "adventure" of finding places in the greenhouses (and the house) for all the plants which can't take the sometimes frosty nights. This year the challenge is going to be especially difficult. Some older plants which just weren't doing too well have had to be discarded and other plants, which we have to many of, are being put on sale or offered wholesale to some local plant shops. And even then it's going to be hard to get everything in. We may be testing the hardiness of some plants we aren't too sure of!

All of this means lots of lifting and moving flats and some larger potted plants. Since I wasn't feeling well this morning most of today's work fell on my partner of 41 years, Lynn-Marie. My thanks to her!

Anyone want to come over and lend a hand...free drinks and possibly a gift plant for the effort!

Greenhouse visitor

We had a pleasant little visitor in the main greenhouse yesterday. We've had a lot of hummingbirds in the area lately and this one found it's way into the greenhouse but then couldn't find a way out.

With a little coaxing, it finally got down low enough to find the door and exit.

Brrrr!

The cold weather has arrived with a vengeance. I've been out in the greenhouses improving the insulation throughout but tonight is going to be the cold one, so we'll see. And more snow on Wednesday.

Enough already!

It's Spring! (In spite of those overcast skies.)

It's cooled way down now, but the plants in the greenhouses don't seem to care.
Such fun!

And today the weather will be?

A few days ago, we broke records for this time of the year with 98F weather. Today it's raining and 60F. And, of course, overcast. A week ago, rush to get the shade cloth up on the greenhouses. Today, take it off so the plants, who thought it was summer, can get some light. The cacti were having a blast and will probably be a little dejected today!

This early heat spell was a bit unusual. Can you believe, Tillamook, on the Oregon coast (which is usually cooler than us) reached 100F (actually 105) two days before Phoenix, Arizona broke the 100 degree mark. Go figure!