December Lights

It's amazing that the neighbors are cool with the glowing 8 ft obelisk behind my house. Maybe it's just Christmas cheer. Or, maybe they assume it's cannibis and the cops are going to show up. For the record, they're all Passiflora!

Greenhouse Growth

Well, the greenhouse that I built with my father this Summer is doing the job so far. In fact, Passiflora cirrhiflora is thriving better now than it did outside. It clearly likes the heat provided by the sun and a trash can full of water with a submersible aquarium heater inside and the humidity from a misting stand that emits daily. Of course there are other species and hybrids in the greenhouse from cuttings and seed alike, but the growth on P. cirrhiflora is extravagant. I should be seeing lots of fully form flowers by the end of 2013!

South Coast Botanic Garden: Part 2 - Green House and Beyond

Besides some dubious name plates on the decaloba subgenus of Passiflora specimens, the green house was fun. The vines were climbing all over the trusses, and the carnivorous plants were hanging everywhere. The Passiflora were so vigorous about getting to the light that they had actually penetrated the air conditioner and were thriving on the other side.

Beyond the greenhouse is where I found P. caerulea growing in and through its neighbors. Consequently, when the hedges and boughs were recently trimmed, P. caerulea was cut back pretty severely. Despite that, there were some low hanging literal fruit and all signs said that come next Spring there would be plenty of flowers to see. 

Greenhouse

Recently my father and I built a greenhouse in my back yard to replace the flower house that I had originally put up there. The flower house was great last winter. I set it up with the trashcan filled with water and an aquarium heater; some grow lights, and it performed marvelously. Granted, the Winter in Redondo Beach isn't all that severe, but it was warm enough inside to sprout seeds and keep my equatorial species (e.g. P. cirrhiflora and P. serrato-digitata) happy. However, the sun and my constant egress through the zippered door was too much, and it slowly became dilapidated. This Spring I hatched the plan to buy a green house, but there aren't any made for a 5'x5' space that are also free standing. I entertained having one custom built, but the cost of that endeavor was too high. So, this Summer I started thinking about building one. I eventually landed on a supplier for 10 mm thick, twin wall polycarbonate panels for the glazing. To assemble it I purchased a router with a bit large enough to cut a channel in the frame in which the polycarbonate would nest snugly. I purchased some hinges for the door and the roof, which opens using an automatic opener when the temperature is high enough to extend wax filled piston. At my mother's direction I caulked the upward facing edges for the frame to prevent water from rotting out the pressure treated wood. A little weather stripping around the lid and door frame sealed it up except for a pass through for a hose that feeds a mister and an extension cord that powers the fan and lights. I used some plastic scaffolding that was intended for a modular cat tree to build shelves along with some left over polycarbonate. To keep the door shut I attached some magnetic latches to the door and frame. It looks and works great so far. There are already a bunch of seedlings inside. I'll keep monitoring the temperature to make sure the opener is doing its job.

Thanks mom and dad for all the help!