The Greenhouse in November

November in the greenhouse gives the flower lover much to be thankful for on the month’s Big Day.

With the last of the shading removed in October and shade from deciduous trees no longer present, the shortened days are not felt too much. The proper temperature is easily held at this season; the cool house requires just a little heat to ward off a freeze now and then. Heating systems should be checked now. Varying weather with sharp temperature changes tests both furnaces and thermostats.

All the garden flowers that bloom “till frost” are at their best now in the quiet moist greenhouse atmosphere. Some were potted and others benched in early September from garden plants, volunteer seedlings in the garden or seedlings grown for this purpose.

Choice calendulas, salpiglossis, pansies, stocks, blue lace-flowers and carnations all appreciate the cooler temperature. For a sensation put a seedling or two of Cobaea scandens in the ground in the greenhouse and let it clamber. Add its glamorous cathedral bells to your Thanksgiving list of showy plants. To these garden annuals brought indoors add a large group of real indoor plants: fuchsias; Christmas cactus (Zygocactus truncatus and hybrids) should be kept cool and rather dry. Watch carefully for signs of flower buds and then commence to water more heavily and to fertilize.

Many cattleya orchids tend to flower now in response to the shortening days. Recent experiments show that artificial light can be used to retard flowering by lengthening the day.

The flower of bird-of-paradise (Strelitzia Reginae) is glamorous and incredibly imitative. It has become fairly common among fine exotic floral displays and can often be seen in city flower shops. The flowers dry without discoloration providing interesting ornaments that last a long time. As a curiosity, it is still more durable. I have heard of a nature teacher circulating a flower spike many weeks after I cut it for a special guest.

It may come as a surprise to many to know that this aristocrat is easily grown. The very moderate night temperature of 50° is enough, with 90° tolerated. Full sun is essential with heavy feedings and ample water.

Grown in a ground bed for many years, mine now yields a dozen spikes over a two-year period. Leaves, stretching for light, reach 7 feet, and flower spikes grow 5 feet high. However, a friend has grown a fine fan over 4 feet high in a 12-inch pot in the sunny end of his orchid house. Market florists sometimes grow them in tubs, but I suspect the finest large colorful beaks come from ground beds like mine. Success depends upon patience and systematic fertilizing. In this case fine feathers (leaves) make fine birds (flowers).

Botanically, Strelitzia Reginae and its near relative Strelitzia Nicolai, a giant plant with coarse blue and cream flowers, are of the banana family. Also in this family are the curious exotic heliconia and the travelers-tree, ravenala. The “beak” is one cluster of flowers in a spathe or bract. “Fed to bursting,” a dormant terminal bud inside the neck of the “bird” grows on and ends in another beak in the reverse direction, showing relation to heliconia.

by V GreiffF

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