Pat,
Wow. ItÂs a whole other world in there! What a beautiful environment youÂve created. I looked at all your pictures; I think I can see every happy hour youÂve spent in there.

The rock floor is beautiful. What a great pergola over the doorway, too. Honestly IÂm not sure IÂd ever go back into my house if I had that set up. IÂd just put a sleeping bag out there, and that would be the last theyÂd see of me, ever.

If you donÂt mind, all your great pics spurred some questions. I canÂt quite tell from your photo if the framework supporting all your hanging plants is freestanding, or have you been able to hang those plants from braces attached to the roof itself? (I must say too, your plants look exceedingly happy in there.)

Another question I had is your nice sinkÂis it truly plumbed like a real sink inside a house? We have a small spare sink IÂm hoping to use in my HF 10x12, but IÂm imagining all the soil getting washed down the drain...so IÂm considering ways to plumb the sink without really tying it in to our plumbing, like just running the water into our sandy ground. How did you handle it?

Thanks so much for sharing.
Sheri

Hi Sheri!
Thanks for all the kind words. And yes,I have thought of moving into the greenhouse, but there's the bathroom issue. I wonder if .....no.....OK.....
The sink - there is no S-trap and the drain pipe runs thur the polycarb (at the bottom) and onto the ground. I have a big patch of canna'a planted where is drains and they seem to take up a lot of the water. They love the water and bloom all the time.

The "orchid rack" - if you look at picture P920009, at the right you see a bright white round thing. That's my butterfly net BTW (yes I "save" all the hapless butterflies that get mixed up and fly into the GH - daily). Just in front of that there is a 3/4 inch conduit (horizontal) that is the corner brace (there's one of these braces at each corner) and then an upright pipe (vertical) attached to that. The frame of the rack is attached to this upright (at all 4 corners of GH). So it is not attached to the roof. I can try to get some better pictures if you are really interested and I can get my crap-o camera to work. Thanks again Sheri!!

Your explanation of the orchid rack is great. I spied the corner braces, and I see the vertical uprights now, so it all makes sense. Thank you!

Your sink treatment sounds perfect. The "sink side" of my GH happens to be in a narrow area by our house where I can't introduce much water...but I could probably solve that by adding more PVC and routing it further. I really like the idea of using the sink water to benefit plants outside the GH.

Looks like you only needed the shadecloth for the sun from directly overhead, since you have good shade from the trees around the sides of greenhouse. Attaching it like you did seems like a good solution to the needs of your location.

Lots to look at in these photos...I just found the fish aquarium (I'd better go back again!)

For some reason your link wasn't clickable. In case it helps others to view your photos more easily, here's a clickable link to get there:
pcan-z9's Greenhouse Photos

Thanks for fixing the link! Oh, and the shade cloth thing - LOL. I tried it inside, outside, over here over there .....good grief! I get a lot of morning sun and that's a good thing, but at noon there was nothing between my orchids and the sun but poly and the clear blue. Not a good thing, not in Florida. This shade cloth thingy lets all of the morning sun in and starts to shade the GH around 11:45 or so. I'm now getting sun though the south gabel to. With the shade cloth *on* the GH I was shaded by 10ish. So while it looks a bit (or maybe a lot) weird - it works!! Pat in Florida

My shade cloth is in a box on the office floor. Now I get to begin my flopping it inside, outside, here, there. I wish I were where you are (knowing how to make it work.)

I just found the fountain in the central bed. How wonderful.

A little more raving, and IÂll stop monopolizing your thread. Two things about the "feel" of your greenhouse...first, your really creative use of organic, textured materials to form the backdrop on the north wall. To me, that really transforms the greenhouse from a plastic-walled growing space to a natural mini-environment. I love that. (My newly insulated north wall looks like a NASA laboratory.)

Second, IÂm so impressed youÂve been able to achieve this in a 10x12 greenhouse. IÂve seen photos of some stunning greenhouses with ponds, waterfalls, and recreations of lush tropical jungles. But they were in large structures (with budgets beyond my reach.) It never occurred to me that some of that magic could be achieved in a 10x12 space.

It makes me wish I grew orchids instead of cacti. (Good heavens, did I say that?) I canÂt recreate this look with my arid plants, but you sure have me thinking in new directions. Could I anchor a weathered tree branch to display jungle cacti? Previously I was thinking galvanized pipe. See what youÂve done?

Just wait til I tell my husband I need to move in a tree trunk. I think IÂll wait until heÂs installed the exhaust fan; no sense in triggering a revolt before the critical stuff is completed. ;-)
Sheri

I live very close to the St. Johns River. My husband and I hauled all of the wood (cypress) up out of the river and into the greenhouse. He thought for sure I had lost my mind until he saw what I wanted to do with it. My intention is to cover the entire north wall with drift wood, and pecky cypress boards - a work in progress.

The shade cloth works great here. It lets all of the morning sun in even thru the roof, but it took a while, I went around and around with that stuff. Good luck with yours!

My husband was something just short of horrified at what I told you about the rack. It is supported from the roof with hooks that hang from the slots. He say this makes it stable (so it won't twist or perhaps fall on my head), but it's main support is indeed the uprights.

Thanks for all of you thoughts, you have been very kind. I love talking greenhouse!!

Pat

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your pics. How do you water those hanging orchids without getting water into your electrical outlets? Do you take them down one at a time and dunk them?

Hi Greenhouse! I'm glad you enjoyed the tour. No I don't take the orchids down. I water the hanging orchids, the center bed, and the north wall with overhead sprinklers and misters (GASP!!)........... They are mounted on the "orchid rack". They come on early in the morning for 1 hour and then the fans dry the crowns of the plants by l0am or so. I have a vast collection (trial and error)of sprinkler/spray tips from HD and Lowe's and finally found one that put the water where I want it and not where I don't. The plants on the benches are watered with a hand wand (like on a pump up sprayer) with an adjustable tip. The tropicals planted in the ground under the benches have their own sprinkler system as well. All of the water is filtered and the water going to the misters is filtered twice. All electrical outlets are no-fault in the GH and protected from water getting into them.
Gosh, LOL, more than you wanted to know!!!
Pat In Florida

Thanks for all that information. I didn't see any sprinklers so was wondering how you watered them all. What a great idea!

Awesome.

Love it. Can't wait to show DH. Going back to look some more.

:::sigh::: Now I'm jealous! Wish I had room for a 10x12!

I'm starting to drag plants into my measly 6x8 - and I can see that it's gonna fill up in a hurry!!!

Oh, well!

(In other words: AWESOME JOB, Pat!!!)