I have to deal with Douglas Firs all across the back of our yard that the people behind planted instead of arborvitae back in the early 1950's. Idoits. These trees are over 60 feet tall. We've limbed them way up but they still drop needles, cones and branches into our yard. Not to mention the roots sucking up all the moisture. The greenhouse isn't really affected by them though. The boxelder was the big problem for it. I'm so happy.

Hi IMO the rain is far more beneficial than harmful depending on what type of orchids you're growing of course. INE anything that blocks the rain will also block the circulation of air and you definitely don't want that in florida lol. Lighten up on your media ,I grow mostly epiphytes either in pots with lava rock or mounted to wood slabs or limbs. I've tried many types of covering over the years and as you can guess excessive heat is the main problem even in winter. I use two basic culture methods. A shadehouse with lattice and vines on the roof and growing attached to yard trees. One good way for a small collection is hanging baskets with a light media hanging in trees .This allows you to move them during cold spells. I usually get the best growth during the sunner rainy season but allow for extra drainage. gary

Beachplant and Barbara, thanks for the info. Knowledge overcomes effort. I guess some might not make it. That is ok, I just want to give them a fighting chance. I am not sure what type they are but their name is Hemerocallis fulva, believe from doing a little reading they are evergreen. The Hybrids are Hemerocallis. roadsde daylillies Hybrids At least I know who can take the sun. It is a killer if you get it wrong. I would not want to be out in it all day. Forsythia and Butterfly bush are so pretty, maybe they will make it. I live back from the water now about 2 1/2 miles. I just went on a buying spree with cheap prices. I have purchase from this wholesaler before and everthing is growing very well. The wind is doing a number on my plants. I hope they adapt. We had a freeze line come within 200 yards of my house. How weird is that. My house was ok but driving to work as I went downhill on my street about 200 yards. There was frost over entire acres of yards. It did not even nip a single plant. Thank you lord. I am getting ready to plant 50 lbs of Bahia Grass for the sheep. I ran irrigation last Sunday and will put sprinkler heads on this weekend. Poor fellers, they are upset I swiped a 100 x 100 area from them. They are pretty smart. They would graze certain areas at certain time of the day and select what they wanted. Kind of like a buffet. They were managing their food source. Another nice acre of Bahia will make them happy. Thanks for the info. I do need all the help I can get. Remember I just startd back into gardening last November. I have gone from no plants to who knows how many. The eater and all of my other exotic/invasive roses received a special place, tree and fence line to grow on. I am growing Fortuniana rose for rootstock. Jim

I recently did a lot of research on this and realize this is a very complicated issue. Here is what I can add. 1. The heat you feel from the windows is the infrared radiation from the sun. Clear insulated glass blocks about 50% which in reality, isn't a lot. Low-E adds another 30% which translates to about 65% but I found you still have tremendous heat gain. Low-E,however, is also good in the winter since it will reflect the heat back into the room much better than regular glass. 2. As for films, you get what you pay for. The dilemna here is balancing price with tint. Almost all films will block 98% UV (which fades all fabrics). There are plenty of what I will call "relatively" inexpensive films that are usually applied to commercial buildings. They are dark green or tan, make viewing much less pleasing and in certain conditions (lower light) can reflect like mirror which will drive some people crazy. These run about $4-5 per sq. foot installed but can block up to 75%. The really nice option is very very pricey. There are two films on the market (one is a company v-kool and the other is a Deutch manufacturer I'd have to find) make films that block 50-70% of the infrared radiation with much less tinting. These run about $15/foot installed. Do the math and you can easily several thousand dollars doing 12-15 windows. I will warn you that a 50% block sounds good, but when you hold up a film to your face this is still a lot of heat coming through. Take clear insulated glass. Starts off blocking 50%. Add a 50% film and you now reduce the heat by 75%. I found that the higher blocking films made much more of a difference, but the cost didn't pay. One option is to buy shades that allow light through but block the UV and IR radiation. You have to put these down in the afternoon (can put a timer on electric ones). Another point: Films are very effective for blocking summer heat gain but do not help with the winter problem of a cold window. Only shades (by far most effective) and low-e glass work here. The last option to consider is an awning. Depending on the angle of your house and height of windows, you may not need that large an awning over each window. These will solve the heat problem. I don't know where you live, but I am in Boston where the heat gain is a major issue for 4-6 weeks. With that, there are probably 15 bad days. It's hard to justify the expense in reality, but the a/c will work a lot better. It will be almost impossible to keep any room cool with a standard a/c system if it is drenched in sun. They are not designed to work on the hottest and sunniest days. If so, the system would be way oversized. FYI- Regular screens (Anderson or Marvin) actually block another 50% of the infrared heat. There is a neat device you can purchase which measures BTUs/sq. foot which correlates with the amount of infrared getting through. It is sold by Dodge Industries, Houston, Texas for about $80. I found it very helpful to use and compare different films, shades, screens, etc. Good luck. Paul