Hobby Greenhouse Assoc. Meetings

No you don't have to have an 18th Century Greenhouse or any Greenhouse at all to be a member. I belong to a Hobby Greenhouse Assoc., we have 6 meetings a year on Saturday mornings. I joined last year after an invite from Buttoneer. We do not have a greenhouse yet but one is in the planning and many members do not yet have greenhouses of their own. The meetings are very interesting last years lectures included, growing Roses, growing Gloxinias, raised bed gardening, wreath making, and birding. Topics any gardener would have an interest in. There are also plant raffles, group plant and product buys, and lots of friendly gardeners. If you have any interest in building a greenhouse now or in the future,this years schedule will be of great interest.
Jan 3rd Building Your Greenhouse
Mar 7th Heating & Cooling your Greenhouse
May 2nd Lighting & Fertilizing your Greenhouse
June.....Annual Membership Picnic (making living wreaths)
Sept 12th Bugs in the Greenhouse and Remedies
Nov 7th What are you growing The Fall/Winter Greenhouse.
I know that many of you live within an hour or two and maybe interested in attending our meetings. If you think you would be interested in checking out a meeting as a guest please let me know. The meetings are held at the Lower Allen Township Bldg
2233 Gettysburg, Rd.
Camp Hill, Pa. 17011
Easily accessible from PA turnpike,I81, I83, and Route 15. I put in the address so you could mapquest it from your house to see what kind of travel time you will need.

Hi, Hollyanne---yes, somebody must have heard me thinking!! I have been wanting a greenhouse for a while, now and my DH said I could have one built on the side of the house. I don't know when that will occur, since a renovation to enlarge the kitchen is also going to be done, and he wants a new shed built out back. But I would like to do my homework ahead of time.

So the meetings are in PA? That sounds like a trek for an hour's meeting, but I am sure it would be fun as any garden club.

Foxnfirefly, We would love having you come to one of the meetings as our guest. We have some very knowledgeable people in the club. I expect this series on greenhouse building to be very good.
The meetings are longer than an hour. Set up and social are between 9:00 and 9:30. They start setting up, people are arriving, bringing in plants for the raffle table, they have a morning snack, coffee, juice and goodies of some kind. You have time check out the raffle table and talk to other members. About 9:30 they start us off with the business meeting where they talk about upcoming club projects and trips. The club takes a trip each year. The past meeting talked about volunteers to help man the club stand at a local flower show, suggestions on places to take our club trip and our picnic project. Last year the picnic project was building twig trellises, this year we are making living wreaths. Then we have a break more coffee, treats and gardening talk with other members. Then whatever lecture or program scheduled. Finish up with the plant raffle. I haven't really paid attention to what time the meeting ends it would be between 11 and 12. Not later than that.

I googled Falls Church to Camp Hill looks like close to 2 1/2 hours and 115 miles. (There is a National Hobby Greenhouse Assoc. I wonder if they have a list of local clubs that would be closer to you?)

LOL that (....) was my first thought then I realized that when I was working as a volunteer diver at the aquarium in N.J. I did that 2 1/2hr 100+ mile drive every other week.

This message was edited Dec 8, 2008 8:13 AM

Thanks, Holly. Coffee and garden talk are perfect lures for the trip!! It does sound fun but that is a long way out, though. Five hours round trip? I will look to see if there is a closer club of this type around here first. . There are a bunch of nurseries and florists in the county, so I'm sure there is something like that a bit closer to home. Thanks, again.

You are very welcome, The first two meetings would be in Jan and March, good chance of bad weather in this area. Although you never know some people think nothing of hopping in a car and heading down the road. Many of my friends and family thought I was nuts volunteering at the aquarium 2 1/2-3 hour one way drive, rush hour traffic thru the heart of Philadelphia, expense of gas and tolls, all that to clean windows and vac out the bottom of a shark tank with 26 sharks swimming around me while I was doing it. Man some people just don't understand fun. LOL

Aah, you are right about gas and tolls. But really, I did not notice your location was in PA!! I thought you were D.C. area since you came to Critter's swap last February. I guess you will drive anywhere for a garden gathering. (Chuckle).

Oh I think Critters was only about 1 1/2. I can be in Baltimore or D.C. within a couple of hours. It takes me 1 1/2 to get to BWI (airport) and I make that run several times and year. Driving really doesn't bother me and I don't mind driving in snow. Although when I was making the trip to the Aquarium I wouldn't go if it was snowing, just too far and would take way to much time to get there.

Holly Anne, That greenhouse in your photo is just beautiful. Where is it?

That is Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, It is definitely worth the trip even from your house. Ric and I went there last year for the Chilhuly exhibit. The exhibit isn't there any more but some of the pieces were donated to the Conservatory and have stayed. This link will take you to one of the old threads about the Conservatory and the exhibit. I think there were several other threads with more pictures and I will look for them.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/747472/

Thanks, Holly. I am very familiar with Dale Chihuly's work. I have followed him for years, and have seen many of his works and exhibits. For anyone going to Vegas, the glass ceiling sculpture of suspended poppies in the lobby of the Bellagio is not to be missed. It's sister casino, the Borgata in Atlantic City has Chilhuly works throughout including a mini Chilhuly enhanced indoor water garden.

I'm going to add the Phipps to my list of must sees!

Think Ric and I will head down to AC for an overnight and check out the Borgata. My first experience with Dale Chihuly's work was a program on HGTV about homes with a water theme. His home was featured as he had a beautiful pool with his sculptures in the bottom. Looked like a coral reef, I fell in love. Holly

Just wanted to give this a bump. The meeting will be next Saturday morning starting at 9:00 topic Building Your Greenhouse. Anyone interested in coming as our guest please D-mail me.

I'm just finally getting caught up on some of the threads here. One of these days I'd love to have a greenhouse, Holly, and the meeting sounds very interesting but I don't see me getting there by 9 am on Saturday morning. I'm needing this weekend to recover from the holidays plus all the year end closings with our clients . . .

Anyway, I saw the mention of Chihuly and thought I'd share a few pictures from the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. His work is on display there and Ron and I had a chance to visit earlier in December when I was in Scottsdale on business.

Interesting how the same kinds of shapes we saw last year in Pittsburgh seem to work just as well in the desert setting.

A boat, even in the desert. . .

And one more -- giving credit where it is due -- Ron is the photographer, not me.

You are welcome at the meetings anytime you are able to come up. There are several people that are especially interested in Orchids I know you would enjoy talking to them. I have picked up several from the raffle table.
Thanks for the pics, they are just wonderful. I do so love his work and will remember to check them out when Ric and I finally get around to visiting that area.

Nutmegnana, Your photos are lovely. Thank you for posting them. Several years ago I saw a beautiful exhibit of Chilhuly's garden work at the Chicago Botanical Garden. It was a temporary exhibit. He is such a genius.

For skiing enthusiasts, the village of Beaver Creek in Colorado has many works of Chilhuly in the buildings. Some of these are for sale. His work seems to fit well in most envirornments.

Glad you enjoyed the pics. The exhibit is in Phoenix thru next May. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has the chance to go. The desert botanical garden is very interesting even without Chihuly.

Oh my, this is very early for me. My youngest son and his buddy left to drive to Vermont for a week of skiing. Not sure why I made myself get up -- just doing the Mom thing. He already had coffee made and finished his breakfast by the time his friend rolled in around 5:45. Sounds like the drive will be pretty clear and there is plenty of powder up that way.

Yawn . . . .

I'm up too, I heard Ric up banging around with the wood stove. Seems our fire went out. It's not too cold in here yet and he is trying to get it going seems to be some kind of drafting issue, Guess he will be on the roof as soon as it get light enough.
One of my Orchids has re bloomed for me. Ric picked this one up last Feb and it bloomed for the longest time. I was debating cutting off the old flower stalks but never did. I now have a couple of blooms on one of the old stalks. So excited this is the first orchid that bloomed at my home. BTW I picked up another one from the Raffle table at yesterdays meeting.
Change that to Ric is on the roof now, why wait for daylight. I didn't even bother to tell him to get down. I've learned to just let him go.... LOL

That's great, Holly. What kind is the new one? For the first time in 4 or 5 years, I didn't have any phals rebloom this year. I've been fighting spider mites on them ever since I put them out over the summer two years ago. Last year they bloomed but this year I think they were just too weak. Rescuer that I am, I don't let them go until they are really gone. Fortunately a few other varieties bloomed this year. I'm going to have to either let go of the infected plants or make sure any new ones are completely separated which is kind of hard when the humidity, etc is all in the mudroom this time of year.

Hope Ric got the stove draft fixed!

Yes, All taken care of and the house is nice and toasty again. It's another Oncidium no idea other than that.

Holly, I'm always tempted to try an Orchid. I had one many years ago that didn't make it. I think that humidity is the issue. Indoors, especially if using the fireplace, is so dry in the winter.

I've wanted them for years and last Valentines Day Ric gave me the one in the picture. I was surprised at how long it bloomed for me and even more surprised when it re-bloomed. Every so often he will get me another and I have gotten a few from the Raffle table at the meetings. I give mine showers from time to time and you can sit them on trays with stones and water under them. Becareful you want them on the tray not in the the tray you don't want the roots too wet but the trays will add humidity to the area around the plants. My house is pretty dry also as we heat with a wood/coal stove. I have visited the Orchid Forum but it is still all Greek to me. I just really need to sit down and read a few good books.
Nutmegnanna has a lot of Orchids and really knows her stuff. We really enjoyed ourselves last year at Rawlings in the Orchid room. I can never remember the name of the one I liked so much and smelled so good. Ric and I were just talking about going down next week the Orchids should be looking very good right now. Here is a picture of the Orchid room at Rawlings

Thanks, Holly. I will consider trying another. Do you take them outside in the summer?

I didn't try. That's a thought for next summer wonder if they would like my little gazebo?

I put mine out on my shaded front porch one summer. They seemed relatively happy -- at least nobody died. But they brought some pests back in with them and I've been dealing with it ever since. One oncidium went out to "summer camp" this summer but that was the only one. And it decided not to bloom this year either. I'm not that expert on them but it seems like once you find a spot where they are happy and rebloom, don't mess with it ;-)

I just emailed the president of the Hobby Greenhouse Association to see if there is a chapter in Md or Va. I am a member of the HGA Central PA chapter and here is a pix of my own homebrew greenhouse that my DH lovingly built for me. It originally was 10 X 12 and then my DH wanted to grow veggies so he added another 10 feet making it 10 X 22. He grew veggies one season until he got tired of fighting the whiteflies, so he told me it is ALL YOURS! (hooray for the whiteflies) and It is filled. I spent two hours today, cutting off dead leaves, dividing, fertilizing, repotting, etc and now that I am retired, I can spend more quality time there.

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 4:40 PM

Buttoneer, that's great how nicely it worked out for you!! So glad to hear that you will now have the time to enjoy it.

Thank God, I do. It makes me feel so relaxed & good, tending to my beloved plants. They are looking better. I had so many dead leaves, sick or dead plants, etc, and now I have the time to take care of them. Stormy, will you be going to the MidAtlantic seed/plant swap February 21?