Sorry to disappoint you, but this is about: Greenhouses,
The Cat Houses and Other Autumn Projects. Oh, bummer.
It is that time of year. Some chores just have to be done NOW before it gets seriously cold. That seems funny to say when Friday afternoon the temps reached 75. However, they say we will soon be down in the mid30s at night before too long. So, top priority goes to cleaning, rebuilding, and hopefully improving Spook and Punkin's winter sleeping houses.
Well, actually, only one is the cat house – the other is more of a nest, but both of them are warm and cozy in the winter. Both are lined with carpet samples, both have insulation on the outside, covered and hidden for the most part since Spook seems to like to chew on Styrofoam. Go figure?!? Both are open to a vent – the cat house vent opens straight to the furnace room and the nest has a vent open to the heat under the house. It is quite warm under the house in the winter as I have hot water baseboard heat, so the hot water pipes run under the house keeping it surprisingly warm.
Outside and then inside, showing the vent in the furnace room wall. The plumber thought I was nuts when I asked him to put it in here. Oh well....... I guess he is right. On top is an unheated kitty "apartment."
The Nest - next to the kitchen door with a vent opening under the house. 
That heat pipes also keeps the greenhouse, small as it is, warm enough to keep the plants from freezing. The coolest I have ever seen it is 40ยบ in there. It keeps the geraniums green and blooming and the aloe has never frozen. There is an extra sheet of heavy plastic that covers the greenhouse in the really cold winter – part of it is visible on the part next to the steps. Last year, I kept 4 pots of impatiens blooming all winter in there.
The Christmas cactus will stay in the greenhouse until the buds are big enough to tell the color of the future blooms, then I will bring them in the house and put the rest of the geraniums in their place.
When the serious cold weather gets here, the top gets covered with old rugs and cedar panels – pieces saved from cutting out the windows in my barns. Not much gets wasted around here!
The leaves are changing color, here and there. The dogwood is especially pretty this year. Soon it will be time to put in the winter pansies. My favorite plant! I know, I know, I say that about almost every plant, and I mean it… well, what I mean is I love so many plants (that is why my yard looks like a jungle) but certain plants just hold a very special place in my heart. How about you? Don’t you have favorites?
The pink double camellia is starting to bloom
and Yule Tide should start soon. Yule Tide is the last of the fall camellias to bloom and will last way into the spring no matter how cold it gets. Yule Tide is now about 8 feet tall, not that that is surprising around here. Most of my older camellias are 8 feet tall, maybe more! But Yule Tide had to go thru the trauma of being moved – she got way too big and was blocking the secondary driveway and blocking access to the electric meter and phone connection box on the house. It is risky to move such a large plant, but it doesn’t seem to have done much damage. 
Did I mention the Euonymous americus lately? It is so pretty right now, for a spindly thing out in the woods. I put some pics on wunderground.com, I just had to.
Let me try to get these pics on here and get back to my daily chores and maybe I can take more pictures. Oh, wow! I just saw a red bloom open out front, it is Yule Tide! More later……….
1 comment:
Your greenhouse is great--a really good idea and what a pretty camellia. I liked the last one too but forgot the name of it. I don't think I've seen it before.
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