(I don't think there are any dumb questions.) ;-) I grow everything in containers in my greenhouse (cacti and succulents) but I've seen many pics of greenhouses that have plants in the ground, or in large community planters or bins on the ground, or up on benches. However, if you're trying to escape your high heat problem, I think you'll find the summer temps inside the greenhouse are always higher than the outdoor temps (unless you can equip the greenhouse with something like an evaporative cooler.) Greenhouses are really good at holding heat...even when we don't want it (our summer temps can be murder here too.) I have a little 10x12 greenhouse, with a pretty good sized exhaust fan, summer screens on the south side, and big sliding screened doors that remain open all summer. Even with this, it's always hotter inside the greenhouse than out, so my succulents just have to tough out the summer period. I guess it's possible to configure a greenhouse so it's cooler inside than out, but I don't think it's easy or inexpensive. We'll see what other folks have to say; I have no experience growing veggies in a greenhouse, so there may be something I'm missing!

That webbing is very distinctive of mealies. I've just recently had a few go-rounds with soil-mealies, and the best advice was to just throw everything away and start over after disinfecting and treating to kill the beasties in the area where you grow your plant. That said, I can also empathize with wanting to keep a plant for sentimental reasons. With foliar mealy bugs, getting rid of them is very very difficult because they lay their eggs in hard-to-treat areas of the plant. If you really want to save the plant, you'll want to get a strong bug-killer (work with it outside) with pyrethren or malathion. Treat the entire plant by submerging it. You'll want to repeat this one or 2 more time at least a week apart. The other way you can go about saving the plant is to clone it from a leaf cutting and treating the leaf cutting with the bug-killing chemicals. I'm sure there are other ways to go about killing mealies or controlling their populations, but this method I know works reasonably well.

how about i give you the stupidest answer ... dig a freakin hole and find out ... jeez ... water your hosta.. and water a clear spot to the side ... when you think you are all done ... get the shovel.. and dig the clear spot ... AND FIND OUT HOW THE WATER MOVED IN YOUR SOIL ... if your 5 minutes.. gave water down to a depth sufficient for a happy hosta.. you win ... if you come to find out.. you barely got one inch deep.. you need to apply more water ... makes sense??? it took me 2 years with my drip iriigation.. to figure out.. that NO ONE could tell me.. on my soil.. in my yard.. how water moves thru MY soil ... in my irritation.. as i was sulking back to the house cursing.. i seem to recall hitting myself in the head with my shovel .. when it dawned on me.. and i will yell? ONLY I CAN DIG A HOLE IN MY GARDEN AND FIND OUT WHERE THE WATER IS GOING ... thereafter.. it was pretty simple to figure out how long to water ... to get it deep enough for the hosta to appreciate it ... there!!!.. thats your glittering jewel of wisdom for the weekend.. lol ken ps: the only dumb or stupid question.. is the UNasked question.. i for one.. appreciate a quest for learning ... shows you are thinking.. and thats what keep you going ... dont you think ... now go dig a hole ...

Here's my sermon - again! People are labeling and marketing tc culls that are solid colored as the parent plant. I personally believe it is wrong and irresponsible. Though there is some argument for "reversion" in traditional divisions - the explanation being that the crown, though having mostly the sports cells, still had some of the parent portion in it and it eventually formed an eye and expressed itself - but we don't know for sure that it wasn't another mutation. In tissue culture, it may be possible that this is what happens, but the only thing we know for sure is that the plant ISN'T Spartacus. What if the cull was all green? We wouldn't assume that was Sea Gulf Stream... or some green plant in SGS ancestry - we'd assume it was a chemically induced mutation. There are lots of sports that are the same color as their parent but end up differing from the parent in mature characteristics in size, leaf shape, mound size, flowering, etc. So even if it grows up to look like Sea Gulf Stream (and that is likely) there is no way short of genetic testing to prove that it is "true to type." I understand why the tc labs are doing this - instead of throwing away all the blue culls from Paul's Glory, they sell them as Wheaton Blue... they sell the blue sports of Earth Angel as Blue Angel... etc etc etc. It is economic if not, as I believe, strictly ethical. But I don't understand US. Why do we gardeners balk at labeling these plants the way we should - in this case "sport of H. 'Spartacus'" ??? I think it is much cooler to have a series of sports in my garden, properly labeled, than a list of plants that are "probably" the same as what we've labeled them. If I see that plant in your garden marked Sea Gulf Stream I'll give it a glance and move on - unless it doesn't look right. I've got three mature ones I look at every day. On the other hand, if I see that plant in your garden marked as a sport, I'll give it a longer look wnd more interest. end of sermon In our garden, and to anyone who comes after us, inheriting the plants, the divisions, as gifts or trades... I think it is our obligation to be accurate even if the marketing establishment isn't...