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issol

What are your faves??

issol
17 years ago

I posted this in the container garden forum and then figured I probably should have put it here....

I am about to close on my new house...Yay!!...and I have a huge sun room that will double as my studio retreat. It's not very economical to try to cool off a room with a large kiln so I wanted to have a tropical theme to all of my plants. Everything will be in containers and I only want one plant per pot. I like clean and simple, so invasive plants may or may not work, depending on how controlable they are. Also, I have lots of pets and a kid so anything poisonus will only be okay if it is a hanging plant. I want a mixture of all kinds (fruits, floral, green, VINES!) so that when one walks in, they feel like they just entered the rain forest. Anybody have any recomendations or advice for this kind of theme??? Please, all responses are greatly appreciated........Oh, and I'm not sure how the humidity level is. I do know the room leaks in heavy rain fall.

Comments (4)

  • bahia
    17 years ago

    You have alot of possibly conflicting uses for this room, will you be operating a kiln in this room, and will have the residual heat from this in addition to a southern exposure all glass room? Humidity levels if so should be expected to vary dramatically, and most plants won't like this. If you can post some pictures, and elaborate on the conditions you expect, it would be easier to make suggestions.

    Many tropicals will not like high heat with full sun and low humidity, so you may need to stick with plants that can take temperature extremes and still grow well. Many cactus like Euphorbias, Plumeria, Pachypodiums, Aloes, could do well here, but some of these have milky sap that is irritating to skin, or thorns.

    Try visiting local botanic gardens that have greenhouses, or seeing other locals with sunporches to see what does well in your area. Also, be careful that anything you bring in as a new plant is absolutely clean of insects, as they will multiply and spread like crazy indoors, and it is much easier to keep them out, than battle them once they are inside.

  • issol
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Wow, all that I didnt know. It isn't an all glass room. There are 2 walls with 3 big windows (north and south facing), the third wall has no window and faces east, the forth wall has no windows. It's actually brick from where it was added to the house. I'll post pictures probably by Monday; we dont close till tommorrow, so I havent been able to get any. It's really bright but there isnt any direct sun light. I do have the option of turning on the air and the fans to keep it cooled off if I need to. I can control the temp and humidity level, but I just wasnt wanting to...Going for easy n cheap electric :). I DO want tropicals. My goal is an exotic retreat for my art. The kiln can be used outside if it will make it too hot. Temperature ranges from 70-80 in the winter and from 80-90 in the summer. Do you think it's still posible? If not, please let me know what I should do. Thanks for the post!

  • bahia
    17 years ago

    It sounds like you probably can grow tropicals in there, especially if you don't insist on operating the kiln indoors. Those kinds of high temps in both winter and summer probably will require some fans or venting with outside air to have your plants do the best, as 90 to 100F indoors is too hot for most indoor plants, or they will need lots of water. I's suggest starting off with some of the easier to grow big indoor tropicals such as Strelitzia nicholai, Schefflera pueckleri, Phoenix roebellenii,
    Chlorophytum comosum and C. amaniense, Cordyline fruticosa, etc. These will all take a variety of light conditions as well as temperature fluctuations without stressing out. As you get more experienced you can branch out and try others that may require more care. You might try researching some indoor plant mail order stores such as Logees to get ideas of the huge variety of indoor plants that are possible.

  • ifraser25
    17 years ago

    Why don't you try a few orchids ? A lot of people think that they need constant high humidity but in fact this isn't the case. You don't need to shade necessarily either. If they get a couple of hours sun either first thing in the morning or late afternoon with shade the rest of the day, many will be happy with this. Here is a list of relatively dry condition orchids you might like to try: Cattleya, Laelia, Epidendrum, Dendrobium, Oncidium. For very high light try Vanda, Ascocentrum, Renanthera or Arachnis. I am assuming there will not be very low temperatures at night. If that is a problem try Cymbidium. There are many good hybrids available also. It might be worth your while seeking out a good orchid nurseryman in your area and getting their advice.
    One further thing I would advise to anyone growing plants indoors: the better the conditions are for the plants, the better they also are for the pests and diseases. Whatever you decide to grow, spray regularly with Neem Oil - it is wonderful stuff and will keep most nasties at bay.