The Second Major Group

Second Major group of plants for growing in a greenhouse is a small but important one these are the types which bloom or fruit in the greenhouse but must spend part of their lives outdoors.Included here are the hardy spring flowering bulbs which are grown in bowls that begin life in a plunge bed outdoors. There are the pots of strawberries which are brought into the cool greenhouse from the garden in January and there produce fruit which is ready for flowering Chrysanthemum which spends its summer in a pot outdoors and is then brought into the greenhouse in late September.

The final group of plants is large and complex these are garden plants which are either raised or overwintered under glass. They are not greenhouse plants in any sense of the word your lean-to is merely a place where they can stay to keep out of the wet and cold of winter of half hardy vegetables and bedding plants cuttings of Chrysanthemums and pots of bedding Geraniums and Fuchsias waiting for the return of frost-free nights in the spring.

The ideal is to have two structures a purely practical greenhouse for producing seedlings resting sick plants and growing vegetables etc, and a decorative conservatory to show off your ornamentals at their best. But that is a counsel of perfection in your single quite small greenhouse you can have a variety of plants to delight you all year round.

Plants

It is difficult to define just what we mean by a greenhouse plants.There are some plants which live their whole lives within the confines of a greenhouse of conservatory. Then there are others which produce their ornamental display or their crop under glass, but have to start their life outside the greenhouse or must spend part of their adult life in the open. The Final group of plants have a life pattern which is just the opposite they produce their ornamental display of their crop in the garden. For them the greenhouse is a place which provides a protected environment.

This is either at the start of their life as seedlings or cuttings, or when they are established plants in pots and in need of frost-free conditions.

The first group described above are true greenhouse plants in every sense of the word.they spend their whole life under glass, although there are a few which benefits from being stood outdoors in the fresh air during the summer months -

Examples include Citrus, Jasmine and passion flower.
In this true greenhouse plants group are the vegetables which needs protection in order to crop satisfactory in this country or to ensure an earlier crop then would be produced outdoors.Here you will fine the greenhouse varieties of Tomatoes and Cucumbers the short rooted types of carrots the winter and spring varieties of Lattuce and tender vegetables such as Aubergines and Capsicums.In addition to these vegetables there are the greenhouse fruits Grapes, of course but also figs peaches, Melons etc.

These foods crops dominate the average small greenhouse in summer but in the conservatory it is the ornamental plants which is king. Depending on the size of the structure and personal preferences these ornamental can be as small as a tiny rock plant or as large as a stately palm. However, even when money and space are no problem you cannot chose just any ornamental plant for your greenhouse or conservatory its minimum temperature requirement will have to be met in winter.

For a cool house minimum temperature 45F and most peoples aim for a mixed collection of widely different sorts. But Then there are the hobbyists who devote all or a sectioned-off part of the greenhouse to a specialist collection. there is much to be said for this approach if you are a keen collector of alpines, cacti, ferns or orchids you can enjoy adapt and run your greenhouse to satisfy the specific needs of your specialist collection.