I agree, Moore & Moore has a nice selection of plants. I was there last week and they were getting in their fall plants. All were healthy & beautiful. There is another smaller nursery not too far from Moore & Moore owned by a nice lady, and her mother sits in a rocker out front. I found and bought a small Black Magic Elephant Ear plant that I love. Very healthy. In addition, the owner was nice enough to give me a cutting of a beautiful plant she called a "Firecracker" plant. It was tiny red tube like flowers on the ends of little vine like leaves. It is now in California, and I am trying to root it in water, Sorry I can't think of the name of the business but it is on Hwy 100 going towards Fairview.

Years ago I used to complain about trees and plants shipped from the west coast all the way to where I am on the east coast - not blaming the nursery but the distance was just too great. I have changed my tune. I tend to order from One Green World the most and have never had a bad experience. For citrus I usually can find what I want locally or by trading with other greenhouse growers here in NC. It took a long time to build up my collection and citrus can be addictive once you get started. I have a Finger Lime but it is small and will need to grow a bit before I see fruit. I hear they are tiny at first. So far the tree has been easy to keep happy. I participate in many online gardening forums but I think GardenWeb is the biggest and best. The best thing would be to find a site based in the Rockies for greenhouse/citrus gardeners. I use two types of containers for my trees - large black plastic "tree" pots, I think they are 45 gallon. (my local garden center sells them for $9.99!!). It takes 4-5 years for the trees to grow big enough to need that size of pot. Citrus like new soil every other year so for full size trees I make what I call cage pots out of metal hardware cloth and landscape fabric. I simply bend the screen into a ring and line it with landscape fabric. There is no bottom so you have to set it up where you want it since you can't move it. I use zip ties to hold it together that way I can snip them off and open up the cage and replace some or all of the soil. Besides the not-being-able-to-move problem the biggest obstacle is that it take a large amount of media to fill the cage. It all depends on how big you make the ring but I guess some of mine are 55-60 gallons.

I am starting a hobby business (rose nursery) and am going to purchase a greenhouse. I'm working with Gothic Arch Greenhouses on a quote for my needs, but wanted to see if there were any other recommendations out there. I've drooled over their greenhouses for years. I'm looking for something sturdy, yet attractive. It will be on my property next to my house, and want it to look nice. Aesthetics are important to me. I'm thinking at least 14x20 in size. I want to purchase from a company that can deliver and coordinate the installation/building of the greenhouse. Basically a one stop shop, which I think Gothic Arch can provide, based on my conversations with them. I don't want to mess with trying to find someone to build it, unless I absolutely have to. I don't have good luck locating people/businesses to commit to jobs, that I can count on. I'm in Michigan, so it needs to be snow/wind sturdy, and willing to look at polycarbonate for more insulation, versus glass, or a combination. I will need an intermittent misting system inside also, and would like it to be part of the package, if possible. I do not want to spend more than $15K for everything. That is the budget I am working with. If anyone has any recommendations other than Gothic Arch, I am open to recommendations. Thank you

Alex, It all depends on what you are trying to do with the greenhouse, what you want out of it, where you are at, etc. I would consider the greenhouses you are looking at more like a season extender. For example, If you are in an extremely cold climate and you want to heat this particular greenhouse to grow tomatoes in the winter it will cost you a lot to heat. This is because of the type of covering it has. If you are trying to overwinter some plants and just need to keep the frost off them, or to heat it slightly, this would be a fine choice. So, I think the first thing you should determine is how you are going to use the greenhouse. What are you going to use it for? How long do you expect it to last? How high will you need to keep the temperature? Then, make a choice. There is a formula for calculating the size heater you need for a greenhouse. The parts of the formula include the size of the greenhouse, the temperature difference between outside and inside the greenhouse and the R value (insulation factor) of the material covering the greenhouse.