Friend has asked what conservatory plant she should buy. South facing, and
gets rather hot in summer but no specific heating in winter, only heat from
the house. Not gardeners but will follow instructions.
I suggested a Tahiti lime or Brugmansia, provided it spent the summer
outside. There are children though so the last one might be off limits.
Suggestions welcome please.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...
Friend has asked what conservatory plant she should buy. South facing, and
gets rather hot in summer but no specific heating in winter, only heat
from the house. Not gardeners but will follow instructions.
I suggested a Tahiti lime or Brugmansia, provided it spent the summer
outside. There are children though so the last one might be off limits.
Suggestions welcome please.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden



My late father put grape vines in his they need keeping in check but supply
welcome shade and of course quite a few tasty grapes and vine leaves for
cooking. They survived quite happily without extra heat in winter.
Derek

Tahiti lime or one of the lemon varieties would do well. Even kept in the conservatory all year they would thrive, as long as the root temp didnt go above 96 fahrenheit or below 60 degrees F

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:

Friend has asked what conservatory plant she should buy. South facing, and
gets rather hot in summer but no specific heating in winter, only heat from
the house. Not gardeners but will follow instructions.

How much space, and will they move the plants out in summer?

If they won't, then I recommend Strelitzia regina, as one of the best
plants for a conservatory that might bake in summer. But even that
benefits from being moved outside.

I suggested a Tahiti lime or Brugmansia, provided it spent the summer
outside. There are children though so the last one might be off limits.
Suggestions welcome please.

Damn the children! It's a complete delusion that they rush up to
plants and gnaw on the leaves - it's enough trouble to get them
to eat green vegetables!

Other worthwhile plants include chillis (yes, annual, but attractive
and edible, and useful to teach children not to chew every pretty
berry/fruit - not that most do), other citrus, Tibouchina semidecandra
(which MUST go out in summer) and others I don't grow.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
danny22 wrote:

Tahiti lime or one of the lemon varieties would do well. Even kept in
the conservatory all year they would thrive, as long as the root temp
didnt go above 96 fahrenheit or below 60 degrees F

Er, even in the UK, a south facing conservatory is likely to get
to 50 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) on a hot, sunny, still day - we had
one just a year or so back :-)

Also, no citrus is worried too much by temperatures that approach
freezing (but don't reach it), provided that they are fairly dry at
the root and semi-dormant. Or at least, none that I have heard of
(including "key lime", which is one of the most tender). A minimum
of 40 Fahrenheit is fine for them, and most can take less, often
quite a lot less.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 23/10/08 11:07, in article ,
" wrote:

In article ,
danny22 wrote:

Tahiti lime or one of the lemon varieties would do well. Even kept in
the conservatory all year they would thrive, as long as the root temp
didnt go above 96 fahrenheit or below 60 degrees F

Er, even in the UK, a south facing conservatory is likely to get
to 50 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) on a hot, sunny, still day - we had
one just a year or so back :-)

Also, no citrus is worried too much by temperatures that approach
freezing (but don't reach it), provided that they are fairly dry at
the root and semi-dormant. Or at least, none that I have heard of
(including "key lime", which is one of the most tender). A minimum
of 40 Fahrenheit is fine for them, and most can take less, often
quite a lot less.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

It depends on what's wanted - is it ornamental, fruit, scent, colour? I
would suggest Thunbergia greggii for a climber or one of the Passifloras.
For scent, there's Daturas or Araujia sericifera or Impatiens tinctoria or
Hedychium Samsheri. She could grow a Meyer's lemon or some lovely Muscat
grapes.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

It depends on what's wanted - is it ornamental, fruit, scent, colour? I
would suggest Thunbergia greggii for a climber or one of the Passifloras.
For scent, there's Daturas or Araujia sericifera or Impatiens tinctoria or
Hedychium Samsheri. She could grow a Meyer's lemon or some lovely Muscat
grapes.

Few of those will like 50 Celsius, though, if they are to live inside
in the summer in pots. Quite a few plants are happy with air
temperatures of 50, but not many are with soil ones of that.

Our conservatory does better, but we put a LOT of effort into its
ventilation (blowing the minds of the conservatory people and
builders). I looked at both Cambridge botanic garden and Kew to
see what the Victorians did about the problem :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , says...
Friend has asked what conservatory plant she should buy. South facing, and
gets rather hot in summer but no specific heating in winter, only heat from
the house. Not gardeners but will follow instructions.
I suggested a Tahiti lime or Brugmansia, provided it spent the summer
outside. There are children though so the last one might be off limits.
Suggestions welcome please.


Bob unless its going to be shaded from the outside it will always be to
hot for plants, putting something deciduous and late into leaf on a frame
in front of it will make the space much more usable, Wisteria is ideal as
are grapes. Once you can reduce the summer peak temperatures then
Bougainvillea and Mandevilla are both faily fool proof, and I am rather
fond of Pandorea jasminoides Rosea superba, all climbers I am afraid!
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

On 23/10/08 13:23, in article ,
" wrote:

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

It depends on what's wanted - is it ornamental, fruit, scent, colour? I
would suggest Thunbergia greggii for a climber or one of the Passifloras.
For scent, there's Daturas or Araujia sericifera or Impatiens tinctoria or
Hedychium Samsheri. She could grow a Meyer's lemon or some lovely Muscat
grapes.

Few of those will like 50 Celsius, though, if they are to live inside
in the summer in pots. Quite a few plants are happy with air
temperatures of 50, but not many are with soil ones of that.

Ours seem to do okay, though of course, they're in very large greenhouses
and well-ventilated. The Thunbergia (which is planted) is out through the
roof and the Araujia, which is in a large pot flowers its socks off.

Our conservatory does better, but we put a LOT of effort into its
ventilation (blowing the minds of the conservatory people and
builders). I looked at both Cambridge botanic garden and Kew to
see what the Victorians did about the problem :-)

And what did you come up with? Here, in very hot weather, Matthew sometimes
removes whole panes from the glasshouses but that's more for the benefit of
the staff than the plants!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

Nick wrote
after danny22 wrote:

Tahiti lime or one of the lemon varieties would do well. Even kept in
the conservatory all year they would thrive, as long as the root temp
didnt go above 96 fahrenheit or below 60 degrees F

Er, even in the UK, a south facing conservatory is likely to get
to 50 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) on a hot, sunny, still day - we had
one just a year or so back :-)

Also, no citrus is worried too much by temperatures that approach
freezing (but don't reach it), provided that they are fairly dry at
the root and semi-dormant. Or at least, none that I have heard of
(including "key lime", which is one of the most tender). A minimum
of 40 Fahrenheit is fine for them, and most can take less, often
quite a lot less.

That's one of the problems, very high summer temperatures in the
conservatory which is why I've already said unless they have cacti they will
need to move the plants out for the summer.

My Mum had a small S. facing one near the south coast and it got to over
100°F at 8.00 am on a sunny summers day.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden

On 23/10/08 14:50, in article , "Bob
Hobden" wrote:


Nick wrote
after danny22 wrote:

Tahiti lime or one of the lemon varieties would do well. Even kept in
the conservatory all year they would thrive, as long as the root temp
didnt go above 96 fahrenheit or below 60 degrees F

Er, even in the UK, a south facing conservatory is likely to get
to 50 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) on a hot, sunny, still day - we had
one just a year or so back :-)

Also, no citrus is worried too much by temperatures that approach
freezing (but don't reach it), provided that they are fairly dry at
the root and semi-dormant. Or at least, none that I have heard of
(including "key lime", which is one of the most tender). A minimum
of 40 Fahrenheit is fine for them, and most can take less, often
quite a lot less.

That's one of the problems, very high summer temperatures in the
conservatory which is why I've already said unless they have cacti they will
need to move the plants out for the summer.

My Mum had a small S. facing one near the south coast and it got to over
100°F at 8.00 am on a sunny summers day.

I suppose they could always spray it with whitewash, though it's hardly very
pretty.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
(new website online)

In article ,
Sacha wrote:

Ours seem to do okay, though of course, they're in very large greenhouses
and well-ventilated. The Thunbergia (which is planted) is out through the
roof and the Araujia, which is in a large pot flowers its socks off.

Yes. The point here is that the airflow in large greenhouses is
vastly better than that in small, pro rata.

Our conservatory does better, but we put a LOT of effort into its
ventilation (blowing the minds of the conservatory people and
builders). I looked at both Cambridge botanic garden and Kew to
see what the Victorians did about the problem :-)

And what did you come up with? Here, in very hot weather, Matthew sometimes
removes whole panes from the glasshouses but that's more for the benefit of
the staff than the plants!

Ah. 5 automatically opening top lights (c. 11% of the floor area)
and 5 large vents in the dwarf wall. It was the latter that raised
eyebrows - everyone said "but you can open the windows" - but the
air flow is proportional to the height difference. That was the
reason for the lantern at the top of many old ones.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from "Bob Hobden" contains these words:

Friend has asked what conservatory plant she should buy. South facing, and
gets rather hot in summer but no specific heating in winter, only heat from
the house. Not gardeners but will follow instructions.
I suggested a Tahiti lime or Brugmansia, provided it spent the summer
outside. There are children though so the last one might be off limits.
Suggestions welcome please.

Passion fruit?

Grape? (Plant out and let it in through the catflap.)

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

The message
from Sacha contains these words:

It depends on what's wanted - is it ornamental, fruit, scent, colour? I
would suggest Thunbergia greggii for a climber or one of the Passifloras.
For scent, there's Daturas or Araujia sericifera or Impatiens tinctoria or
Hedychium Samsheri. She could grow a Meyer's lemon or some lovely Muscat
grapes.

Children?

Datura?

Does not compute!

--
Rusty
Direct reply to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co period uk
Separator in search of a sig

"Sacha" wrote after "Bob
Hobden" wrote:
Nick wrote
after danny wrote:

Tahiti lime or one of the lemon varieties would do well. Even kept in
the conservatory all year they would thrive, as long as the root temp
didnt go above 96 fahrenheit or below 60 degrees F

Er, even in the UK, a south facing conservatory is likely to get
to 50 Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) on a hot, sunny, still day - we had
one just a year or so back :-)

Also, no citrus is worried too much by temperatures that approach
freezing (but don't reach it), provided that they are fairly dry at
the root and semi-dormant. Or at least, none that I have heard of
(including "key lime", which is one of the most tender). A minimum
of 40 Fahrenheit is fine for them, and most can take less, often
quite a lot less.

That's one of the problems, very high summer temperatures in the
conservatory which is why I've already said unless they have cacti they
will
need to move the plants out for the summer.

My Mum had a small S. facing one near the south coast and it got to over
100°F at 8.00 am on a sunny summers day.

I suppose they could always spray it with whitewash, though it's hardly
very
pretty.

Err, no, knowing this lady as I do I can't see her allowing her new
conservatory to be
sprayed with sunshade paint. :-)
But, she does understand that anything she plants will need to be moved
outside in the summer and is prepared for that. I hope her husband is too.
:-)

--
Regards
Bob Hobden