Looks great. We had new windows installed a few years ago and we saved the windows for a greenhouse. I had a hoop greenhouse for quite awhile until a snow storm took it down. That was very unusual for TN weather in my area. Anyway, I still have the framed in pea gravel floor ready for the new REAL greenhouse in the future. I really miss my greenhouse. One more project I may attempt this winter??

Don't cut the 'bald' ones off, whatever you do :) Please do let us know your growing conditions - little can be said to help without that info. I'm glad to see people growing these awesome dendrobiums though for sure If the leaves are sticky, something is likely wrong - wipe down/spray with the anti-pest treatment of your choice just to be sure. These dends like other dends are somewhat susceptible to a thrip-like disease, which I have yet to identify for sure. Small black pellets, white streaking and tiny black/brown crawling insects are tell tale signs. I grow two cruentum primary hybrids and a few hybrids with 25-50% cruentum parentage, and I have an inkling that the hybrids are more robust than the species, although I'm not 100% sure. All the cruentums I've seen in real life look pretty ratty and nasty, but the primaries (green lantern, dawn maree, peng seng) and other hybrids (Lori's star, frosty dawn etc..) are much taller, fuller, with nice leaves and strong canes. But hey, who knows...I suspect some sort of pest infection combined with lack of light and musty potty material. In terms of my conditions (which may or may not apply to you!), I grow my dawn maree (cruentum x formosum) in window that gets direct morning sun, it's potted in coconut husk and is essentially root bound. It gets watered within 1-2 days of being dry during the growing season (now) but gets less water in the winter. Nearly killed my Lori's Star (Dawn Maree x Lori Tokunaga (cruentum x infundibulum) by A) watering too much when it didn't want water, and B) not watering it at all when it DID want water. As a result, it lost ALL it's leaves. Nearly chucked the thing, but saw three new growths this season, so it is now right next to Dawn Maree and is recovering (kind of). Just a note on repotting: If your plant has a new cane developing, it is risky to repot because you are disturbing all the new roots that are growing into your medium, even if the medium sucks. In my limited experience, I've found that the best time is to wait for the first emergence of a new growth, BEFORE roots come popping out. You will see a black furry nub at the base of the old canes. I waited too long for the aforementioned plant (ie roots were coming out already), and hence the 'kind of' recovery - the darn thing has been sulking. I predict the canes will be small and stunted this season, and I'll probably have to wait till next year for any sort of hope of blooms. If your new cane is smaller than the previous canes, your plant is likely not a happy camper. And if it has no new growth at all, then water VERY sparingly...(a mistake I made - I foolishly thought "Maybe more water will wake it up!"...learn from my failures!) It will wake up when it wants to and then you can do your thing. Oh yeah, and sphag is BAD for these guys fyi!! Others - Peng Seng (cruentum x tobaense) is under T5s, but gets similar watering and is happy. Frosty Dawn (Dawn Maree x Lime Frost (cruentum x scrabilingue) lives right next to it. Both potted in course coconut with charcoal and expanded clay pellets (quite airy) Dend tobaense (close relative) is not too happy - leaves are looking like they want to drop. It is potted in a finer mix of bark with sphag on top (vendor's choice and I neglected to repot)...I spied a new growth coming along yesterday and will likely repot this weekend before the growth starts making new roots. Hope that helps - these are awesome plants and I can't wait to get a green lantern. H&R orchids grow these fabulously and are responsible for most of the hybrids out there...they are visiting my OS this summer and I'll have to exercise some severe self control. -calvin

Hi Susan, thanks, I like nigella better than my real name, lol, I may sneak around and change it some day. I'm a bit of a hermit so not too many people will have to relearn what to call me! Yes, I have a real "thing" for begonias for some reason, I just love the variety of shapes, textures, colors and sizes of the foliage. I do have 'Looking Glass' so that may be what you're seeing. There isn't a chapter of the ABS here or I would be a member; it's not as much fun if you don't have any fellow addicts handy. Most of my begonias came as gifts or as trades, very few were actually purchased but the ones that were were bought locally. So many begonias won't tolerate the high heat combined with the high humidity here. Of all my begonias my favorite, hands down, is B.x rex-cultorum 'Cora Miller'. I love the way she looks like a "plain green" begonia until you look closer and see the play of reds, greens, golds, purples and cobalt blues in her large thin leaves. I'm truly enchanted by that one, then the second favorite(most of the time) is another rex called 'Harbor Lights', an almost black-leaved beauty with sprinkles of palest "ashes of roses" speckling. You can see some of them on my website if you'd like. I have a very close friend who just moved back here a few months ago from Oklahoma, she would very much agree with you. As for me, I admire anyone who can grow anything anywhere besides in sticky, steamy Mobile, Al. lol, I feel like I have an unfair advantage in a lot of areas because Mobile is kind of like a great big terrarium most of the year. Thanks for the kind words about the pictures! I'm so used to the moths we get that I don't pay them much attention. One we don't see much of is the Luna moth, there isn't much poison ivy in this area for the cats to feed on. The curtain isn't really a curtain, though, it's just the outside wall of the GH. I'll have to add a second page with pictures of the outside of each house soon. I'll post here when I get it done.

Okay, worked out how to get them into Photobucket. Here's the direct URLs. Sorry, don't know how to get to the first album page with just one URL. You'll have to cut and paste the addresses: http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f128/crankygardener/Bamboos/Dendrocalamusasperstuffup.jpg http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f128/crankygardener/Bamboos/Dendrocalamusasperfineleafged1stpur.jpg http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f128/crankygardener/Bamboos/Dendrocalamusasperbroadleafed2ndpur.jpg TIA, Dale