Hobby Greenhouse Tour - Wilmington, NC

For those in the Wilmington, NC area, The Hobby Greenhouse Club is holding their annual GREENHOUSE TOUR this Saturday, March 4 from 9-5. 
The tour includes the following:
1 Greenhouse at the county Arboretum
1 Greenhouse at UNCW
1 Greenhouse at an Herb Farm
4 Member's greenhouses

Close...I ALREADY want to build one so this is a research expedition.
I want one for veggies and my DW wants one for flowers.

(in a French accent)
But of course

So I went to the local "Hobby Greenhouse Club" greenhouse tour. As stated above, there were 7 total, 4 of which were homeowner greenhouses. The HGC website had a suggested route, so that is what I followed and therefore that is how I will list the pictures.

Greenhouse 1: This is the greenhouse at the New Hanover County Arboretum.
I did not take any photo inside because there really wasn't anything to see. They club was only allowed to use one portion of the greenhouse and they had it set up more like a meeting space with their raffle items, papers to hand out and a few plants. This was commercially built. 

Exterior

Fun!  Can't wait to see!

Greenhouse 2:
From the HBC website: "Jennifer Messer is the curator for the UNCW greenhouse which opened in 1975.  The greenhouse contains many tropical plants such as Bromeliads, Orchids, ferns, etc.  She has a huge Stag Horn fern which has to be seen to be believed.  The 70’ x 36’ aluminum structure and glass greenhouse is used as a classroom-laboratory."
 
This is the greenhouse at the University of North Carolina in Wilmington.

This was also a commercially built greenhouse. I did take several photos and videos because I thought what they had in there plant-wise were neat. I was disappointed that there was only 1 individual working in there and she was busy tending to some plants and was talking to a couple the entire time we were there so I could not ask any questions.

Exterior:

Interior construction:
It was about 10-15 degrees warmer inside
Not sure what this was but it was quite large

Plants:
This super long vine for what looks like a yellow roma tomato went all the up into the rafters.

Greenhouse 3:
From the HBC website: "Ron & Fay Fogle.  Ron has a beautiful  24’x 19’ Four Seasons greenhouse.   A perfect example of a top of the line hobby greenhouse.  Ron’s specialty is cactus and succulents in addition to many other plants.   You will be amazed at all his beautiful  “Southwest” plants."

This was another commercially manufactured greenhouse. Ron was an older gentleman who has a passion for cacti and succulents. I was told they had to get a gh because he had too many plants in their sunroom. This is built on a sloping hill and appears to have storage underneath it around the backside.

He had some unique plants in there and says that he regularly has to cut them back and will root them to create more plants. He also has a HUGE century plant in his yard.

The Exterior:


Plants:

Greenhouse 4:
From the HBC website: "Marion Kreh. Marion  has a beautiful 12’x 18’ custom built greenhouse nestled in the woods behind  her house. The wood construction greenhouse has a polycarbonate roof with glass side windows recycled from Habitat for Humanity. The floor is used brick recycled  by Marion. Heating of the greenhouse is gas. In addition to her many tropical plants, Marion has a wonderful collection of cactus from her brother who lives in Texas. Of special note is her “North Wind” fountain at the back of the greenhouse. Her yard features a variety of paths through the woods with rocks from all across the country. A water  pond, rock  benches, outdoor  fireplace, and fountain add to the beauty of Marion’s garden.

Marion's greenhouse, garden and yard were very well done. I believe she is from Germany and her gardens had a European feel. For a small yard, she had lots of paths and "a little surprise" at the end of each path. She had a pet cemetery, a fireplace, a garden gate, etc.

Also, in the interest of saving yard space, they built the greenhouse over and around the pump house. This had another benefit of easy access to water and power.

Exterior:
I was surprised to see the greenhouse tucked in the back corner under trees. I thought they had to be in the middle of the yard with full sunlight. On thing that she mentioned was that several of the 700+ screws and washers, in particular, they used on the roof had degraded which led to leaks.


She said they used the windows that slide to the side because it was easier than trying to push them up while reaching over the tables and plants.


The Roof:
They used Poly-Carbonate on the outside and then lined the inside with plastic to create an air pocket that "helps keep in the warmth"




The Floor & the "North Wind" Fountain:
They used recycled bricks from a building that was demolished. There were 1500# of bricks that they had to chip the mortar off.




The plants:

Greenhouse 5:
From the HBC website: "Shelton Herb Farm. A commercial grower of herbs, amongst many other things, Meg Shelton has a group of Quonset-hut poly covered greenhouses used for propagating and growing a wide variety of herbs and other plants.  Meg recently built a new greenhouse across the street from her farm where she is planting directly in the ground.  All of her greenhouses will delight your senses and encourage you to expand your collection of herbs.  Meg also has a wide variety of citrus trees available as well as many other plants.  Walk around the Shelton Herb farm and enjoy the country setting of Brunswick County and the second generation farm as well as the many animals Meg has on her herb farm."

Even though this is a commercial farm, the greenhouses were not all commercially built. They have one commercial one that was HUGE!!! The commercial greenhouses were made with steel frames.
Most of the others were PVC hoop house style. Those had a short knee wall made out of 2x4's with what I think was 1.25" pvc attached to the 2x4's. Then what I believe was 1" PVC was inserted into the 1.25 pipes. Actually, I think the 1" was inside the 1.25" when it was screwed into the wood. At the top, the vertical PVC pipes and the center pipe were inserted into 4-way couplings. I could not determine if the plastic was 1 or 2 layers.

This farm had quite a variety of plants growing in their houses. They had everything from tomato plants that were just starting to sprout in seed trays to citrus trees with fruit.

Again, even though this was a tour, there was nobody there to tell us about the greenhouses.


The farm:







Steel Framed Greenhouse:








PVC Hoop Houses:
Amazingly to me, it was about 20 degrees warmer in these PVC/Plastic hoop houses. Alot more humid too.









Plants:




Citrus - I was surprised to see little citrus trees in there, but totally shocked that they were producing full sized fruit!

Greenhouse 6:
From the HBC website: "Dick Stinson. Dick’s greenhouse  is 16’x 24’, made with a polycarbonate roof  and sides of hardy board and old windows. You’ll find plants he overwinters and plants he has divided  from perennials. Dick has many hard to find plant materials in his lush tropical garden on a half acre."

This greenhouse was built using some reclaimed wood and windows along with new wood. This is another one that surprised me being set amongst the trees. He only had a couple of plants in there...a couple of orchids and some others. He put up a wall in the middle and covered it with plastic to reduce the size of the area he needed to heat.
His yard had lots of metal art.


Exterior:




Roof:



Yard Art:

sanderson wrote:Thank you for sharing.  The last one is really cute!

I agree. It was well done and I could see my wife sitting in there in the middle of winter reading a book and sipping hot cocoa.

I have one left to post, and it was my favorite. I was planning on building a hoop style out of an old trampoline, but this one has me rethinking that. Greenhouse 7, would go perfectly with my tabletops, the pavers I used at my front steps, and the general theme of what I want to do. So now I have to rethink some things. 

You will see what I mean tomorrow night...

Greenhouse 7: 
From the HBC website: "Linda Newber. Linda has two custom built greenhouses joined by a small brick patio and  arbor. Features several pretty accent windows. Greenhouses are used to over winter large plants and hanging baskets and to start seedlings for spring planting. A “secret” shade garden, including a fountain, is being developed behind the greenhouses."

This was my favorite greenhouse on the tour for so many reasons. Mainly because it was all white, had the pergola and used the brick pavers like I want to use for my back patio. On top of that, it is constructed with that PVC board so it should never rot. (However, I am not sure what that board is attached to so what lies beneath may rot) Another thing I really liked were her lead glass windows that she picked up from Habitat.

I am posting a picture of my beds so you can see just how well this would go with what I have done so far:


This was also my DW's favorite and she wants me to build something like it in our yard...one more thing on my to do list.

Now the reason she has 2 buildings is so she did not have to get permits, inspections, etc since each building was less than 12'x12'. Now she does have some electrical in there so she may have needed to get that inspected, but I am not sure.


Exterior:







The Windows:






The Roof (Lexan panels):





The Plants:

All of those greenhouses put my idea to shame...I was thinking about making a greenhouse out of the kids' old trampoline. My DW was never thrilled about it and wanted me to fence in the backyard first so the neighbors wouldn't see it. Now she said she would not mind one like that last white one.

I love that last white one. I'd use one side for 'houseplants' and one side for garden plants. It won't happen here while I'm renting, but maybe someday.

Thanks for taking the time to share all this!

sanderson wrote:RT,  What are the plastic hoop greenhouses?

That last photo is one I grabbed off the google. It is supposed to be someone's trampoline made into a greenhouse.

BeetlesPerSqFt wrote:I love that last white one. I'd use one side for 'houseplants' and one side for garden plants. It won't happen here while I'm renting, but maybe someday.

Thanks for taking the time to share all this!

BPSF, I think most people love that one. Fortunately it was the last one we visited on the tour, otherwise, I may have looked at all the others in comparison to those.