Hepatica

[mark smyth]

tell us more about how you have planted your collection - pot mixture, pot type, pot size

[Maggi Young]

What a stylish design of glass house.  Such beautiful plants deserve a fine house to live in!
Is this all custom-made to your design?

[ian mcenery]

Very classy and fits in well in the garden. Bet you are pleased. I too am very interested in how it was designed and constructed. Can you give us some details please?

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I don't want to speak in Chris's name - I'm sure he will respond when he can, but I know he did it all by himself : my admiration is huge 

[ranunculus]

My admiration is even 'huger'....!!

[mark smyth]

no mine is huger!!

[Maggi Young]

 and I'm the fat lady, singing.

[mark smyth]

we need a European/world trip some year to visit all the people who post in here

[David Nicholson]

A lovely set up Chris, I am most impressed please tell us more.

[chris]

thank you all for the nice words, i try to tell something more about it first i take my dictionary duth-english.
I had in mind a 8 side alpine house but I never set anything on paper.
I start in januari to pour concrete and than when the weather was good I start to build with boulders  8 sides of 1.5metre, 1 row in one day because otherwise the mortar slips away. Inside I use pebbles to make my tables wich I filled with coarse sand to plunge in my pots I use mostly brik pots espeacialy for my Hepaticas and Cypripediums.
I had the luck to now someone who was breaking of a big greenhouse +/- 50m² and with that material I made the construction, a lot of work but nice to do, I used about 240 nutted bolds (is this correct English?) the glas was also recycled and the first 5 pieces I broke afther that I bought a good glascutter and than it was easy??
Rita,my wife said that I have a lot of patient, maby that is truth but if you think good before you start than mostly everything go well,
tommorow I try to make some time to tell more about pot mixtures etc.

[Maggi Young]

Chris, I understood that perfectly, you made yourself quite clear, Thank you.
The construction of the sides and roof panels from old materials must have been very tricky... Rita is correct, you must have a lot of patience! You are obviously a very neat worker... the finish is very good.
It seems the design is both pleasing to the eye and also effective from the plants' point of view... so often these two things do not go together but you have achieved it.

[chris]

thanks Maggi,
in Japan the mix they use for Hepaticas is 1 part Akadama (loam pellets), 1 part kanuma and 1 part kyriu, I find these things in a bonsai centre, these things are expensive so I take one part of each and also a part coarse sand and 1 part well rotted leaf, I repot every 2 years in brick pots 15cm wide and 17cm high, at the bottom 2cm drainage. Divisions are made when I can, I pul the plant in 2 or more pieces, I never use a knive.
Mostly I repot in october,than the new roots start to grow, sometimes in spring when the flowers fade away.
After repotting I give a little water with 10-52-10 fertiliser and I start to give more fertiliser (6.5-6-19) when most of the flowers are open.
I hope this will satisfy, maby there are other persons with other methods?

[ian mcenery]

Chris thanks for letting us know how you built your glasshouse. Now I know I'm even more impressed as I can't imagine how tricky this would be having to create this from recycled parts - all those awkward angles. Well done!!!!!!!!!!!

[Joakim B]

Very nice work!!!!!!!
I just saw my plants today and then I see Yours in that lovely invironment it is truly impressive.
I hope to see a lot of pictures since hepatica is the bearer of Spring in Sweden and now it would be nice to have a bit of Spring feeling.

Thanks and kind regards from Sweden
Joakim

[Bjarne]

Does anybody have some information about Hepatica falconeri? And where can I get some seed?