Highland greenhouse

[Michael]

Specially for Craig.

Hello Michael,
It's very interesting to hear about your Pleurothallid culture. Did you rig up the dripping wall yourself ? I'd like to see a picture of that.

No, i didn´t done anything. Since my father remembers, this wall had constant moisture all year around. Some days, the water flow is abundant, other days, just a few water droplets fall from time to time. I have no idea where this water comes from though. I had grown fish for many years inside a tank constantly filled with this dripping water, and the fish never died, which makes me believe that the water is not contaminated. But we never know... I do not irrigate the most delicate plants with this water, just in case... Firstly it falls from the wall onto a rectangular plastic container (that you can see bellow) and when that container is full, it is channeled through an hosepipe to a lower reservoir.

Ophrys in pot culture don't really need a very alkaline soil. Neutral suits them just fine & you can use a standard potting compost or (even better a loam) diluted with plenty of perlite / seramis, grit etc. so it's not too rich in nutrients. Top dressing the pots with the grit they sell for birds to get calcium from (Chicken grit they call it here) can help to stop the substrate acidifying over the course of the growing season too.

I'll think about that... 

As far as pollinating your Dendrophylax.Ha Ha !...would I pollinate if it was mine ?...probably not....not unless I had a lab waiting to culture the seeds to give me 100s of them to play with To be fair, even then I'd probably try & get a bigger plant going first, but I'd be scared of losing it before I could do the deed. Where did you get yours from ?

Actually there is a lab here (MicroLab Madeira) which is specialized in and propagating many things in tissue culture. They germinate and meristem orchids as well. I have been there a couple of times during my biotechnology classes. Next time I'll check up the prices, and think of what can be done.
I got mine through a friend that ordered a few flasked ghosts from the USA.

[Michael]

I forgot to mention that i have a spraying system mounted on the top of the greenhouse with 3 water nozzles that is programmed to spray the plants during 1 minute each hour on hot spells with fog.

The fern is Elaphoglossum semicylindricum, endemic from both Madeira and the Azores. It is practically extinct as people overcollected it in the last 20 years due to aphrodisiac properties it seems to possess...

[Michael]

Carlo, this is Trichomanes speciosum, the fern i spoke a while ago with translucent leaves. The fronds are only 1 cell thick, except at veins and you can see through them. I grow it on top of a rock, in the most darkest and wettest spot i could find, after 2 failed attempts, as this fern dies within minutes if the leaves dry out.

[Michael]

Another one of my favourites is Ranunculus cortusifolius. All other previous attempts to grow it on the lowlands failed, but this time, it seems to be liking the conditions! I hope to get a decent flower spike from that a couple of weeks from now 

The plant on the second picture is Normania triphylla, from the Solanaceae family. The flowers are purplish-blue, zygomorphic and bear 3 different types of anthers. A true oddity.

Unfortunately it's a short lived perennial, and only has been seen in the wild 3 times:
One when it was discovered (more than 150 years ago).
The second time was in 1992 (one plant)
The third time was last year, when I rediscovered it with a friend of mine when we were doing a levada.

Normania is the only European genus that was thought to be extinct until recently! But the situation is still critical as from the 18 plants we found, only 3 reached maturity, the rest wilted and died.

I will post pictures when mine flowers!

[maggiepie]

Michael, I am amazed by your living wall, it is absolutely beautiful.
I have never seen anything like it .

 

[Michael]

I also grow a couple of carnivorous plants inside, as they are beautifull and help to control the pests

[Michael]

And to end, i would like to show my jewel orchid which is going to bloom any day now, and is one of the few orchids i know with asymmetrical flowers

The last pictures are from another orchid, Masdevallia caesia, the only orchid that I am aware of whom possesses iridoblasts (modified chloroplasts with an high rate of anthocianins that confer this coppery blue tone to the leaves). Their function is yet pretty unknown, but the effect is spectacular 

Unfortunately it is hard to capture the blue iridescence with a camera, it is much more impressive when seen live. The young leaves are still green, but soon change to blue as they mature. IT never flowered, but they say the flowers smell like... rotting cheese !! Still to figure that out!!

[Michael]

Michael, I am amazed by your living wall, it is absolutely beautiful.
I have never seen anything like it .

 

Thanks Maggie, i'm glad that you liked it! 

[Carlo]

Nice work Michael...I grew a couple of thousand orchids--mostly from the Pleurothallidinae, for many years under lights. Included were Masdevallia caesia and about 150 other species. It's not THAT bad smelling--and I think the flowers are beautiful.... The best example of it I've seen was grown upside down--hanging from the bottom of a net pot.

[ranunculus]

Superb thread, Michael ... enjoying this diversity of growing conditions.

[David Nicholson]

Well done Michael.

[Lesley Cox]

I saw the New Topic title and thought A greenhouse in the Highlands - of Scotland. What a difference! Such a wide variety of plants that are quite new to me. funnily enough, Ranunculus cortusafolius does really well in my lowland garden but it does need watering well to perform to its best. Looks superb with blue Meconopsis.

[cohan]

some really great plants! i especially love epiphytes and lithopytes..
i missed the lead up to this thread, i guess it was in another thread?
 so this greenhouse is in the highlands of madeira, with what sort of temperature range?

[Michael]

Nice work Michael...I grew a couple of thousand orchids--mostly from the Pleurothallidinae, for many years under lights. Included were Masdevallia caesia and about 150 other species. It's not THAT bad smelling--and I think the flowers are beautiful.... The best example of it I've seen was grown upside down--hanging from the bottom of a net pot.

Well, i do not mid the smell actually, no matter how bad it is ^^  People say it only smells that bad if you stick your nose onto the flower, which i wont do, of course
Mine arrived in a pretty bad state more than one and a half y ago. Only 2 leaves, and badly damaged. I got amazed by its prompt recovery. Now patiently waiting for the flowers...

Did your caesia ever bloomed for you Carlo?

Funnily enough, Ranunculus cortusafolius does really well in my lowland garden but it does need watering well to perform to its best. Looks superb with blue Meconopsis.

Lesley, i think that your lowland conditions must a bit different than mine. I wonder if you grow your R. cortusifolius in full sun or half shade.

some really great plants! i especially love epiphytes and lithopytes..
i missed the lead up to this thread, i guess it was in another thread?
 so this greenhouse is in the highlands of Madeira, with what sort of temperature range?

Cohan, the highland greenhouse (as i call it) is situated on the lowlands of Madeira (actually in my backyard  ) The place where i grow most of my hothouse plants is just 10 meters away from this cool house. I try to maintain the temperatures always bellow 20ºC in there, but in summer this is not always possible. I can manage for a great part of the year though. The only thing that makes this place sightly cooler than it's surroundings is the dripping water and the Adiantum colonies that grow on the wall that keep the humidity high and the temperature fresh.

You can see the "start" of the topic here:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2886.60

[cohan]

thanks for the info, michael, very nice set-up, and a great collection of orchids too!
i love living walls, probably you have seen the amazing walls of patrick blanc (hope i have the name right- le blanc, maybe?) in paris, with his amazing installations..
you are very lucky to have this wall with no further effort, and a mild climate besides