| Architecturally Designed Greenhouse |
| Joe Lamp'l visits a greenhouse that was designed to look as if it's always been on the property. |
From "Fresh from the Garden"
episode DFFG-304 |
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Joe Lamp'l tours a third greenhouse, this one architecturally designed and built to blend in seamlessly with the owner's house.
Homeowner and home gardener Brencie Werner wanted a permanent structure, something that looked like part of her house. She and her landscape designer tracked down the architect who had built her home 23 years before to get his input on how to incorporate a greenhouse.Although the greenhouse is a natural extension of the house (figure A), it breaks the cardinal rule of greenhouses: it faces due north for aesthetic reasons instead of due south for maximum sun. But the plants inside are thriving nonetheless, especially a fig vine that blankets the interior (figure B), despite starting out as a three-inch cutting years ago.
The homeowner grows more flowers than vegetables in her greenhouse: hollyhock, catnip, ferns, moonflower, morning glory and basil. She grows wheat grass (figure C), sunflower (figure D) and buckwheat (figure E) year round, all of which she uses to make her own health shakes. She's even growing dozens of foxgloves inside the greenhouse, keeping them ready for her daughter's wedding, which will take place in the yard just outside.
- A rack just outside the greenhouse serves as a transition area for plants being moved to an outdoor bed (figure F).
- Inside, an intercom system (figure G) keeps Werner in touch with her husband and with visitors, even when she's in the middle of planting.
- Plants are watered by a misting system that senses the amount of moisture on them (figure H) and waters them automatically when they begin to dry out (figure I).
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