Not even 12 hours into the autumn rains and my rain gauge already reported a half inch.
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Thank goodness our local weather forecasters were on the job and predicting this a week out, that gave me the time I needed to haul the plants that need to be dry into the basement...
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And convince Andrew we needed to build the shade pavilion greenhouse with time for me to fill it up.
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The smaller plants were all moved undercover.
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But what about that big container with the huge Agave ovatifolia and multiple A.lophantha 'Splendida'? Nah, I promised Andrew when I planted it up that we wouldn't try to move it. However I do want to keep those plants on the dry side this winter, so a trip to the big box was in order...
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In the interest of full disclosure it was a discussion with Linda Ernst (I'd asked about how she managed to keep a beautiful astelia alive over our cold winter) that got me scheming about a PVC frame.
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It really couldn't have been easier, or cheaper! (I spent $5.88 total on PVC)
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The only challenging part was the idea of fitting a 10 ft plastic tube into my VW Beetle, thankfully I discovered they had handy cutters available right there in the store so I was able to cut my needed lengths before I even left! (this is when it paid to have measured in advance)
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Tada! Oh wait, that's not waterproof yet.
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More cheap solutions, a $2.99 shower curtain liner.
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I wanted to be able to easily take this contraption apart for storage, or to change out the cover if need be, so the curtain is held on with binder clips (cause I had them), however I've since found PVC "snap clamps" so I'll be looking into using those instead. Once I had the curtain secured in place I cut off the excess along the bottom...
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One complication that I hadn't adequately thought through, what about the bits of shower curtain I cut and threw to the ground? The wind could have caused mayhem tossing these pieces all around the garden. Thankfully my faithful assistant was there to keep the order...
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Attractive, no, but this is a part of the garden out of sight unless I'm on the patio, which (sadly) I won't be much for the next few months.
![]()
I went with a frosted curtain so on those days with both sun and rain the sun won't get too intense on the leaves. I also designed the whole framework to be easily lifted off on dry days for air circulation and light.
Once I looked at the extended weather forecast for the week and realized it was going to be on for days I did worry a little about air circulation, so I cut a ventilation slit, only one as I wanted to see how it handled the wind before cutting another.
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Arty shot inside the cover...
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Here's the view as you walk into the back garden, you can just barely see the cover at the lower edge of the Yucca rostrata (Sammy)...
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But the view from the bedroom window is a little worse. Ah well, it will be good to be able to glance out on a stormy day and make sure it's in place.
![]()
Here's the after rainfall photo, with dry bits underneath! I hope the agaves appreciate their little PVC igloo...
![]()
All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Thank goodness our local weather forecasters were on the job and predicting this a week out, that gave me the time I needed to haul the plants that need to be dry into the basement...
And convince Andrew we needed to build the shade pavilion greenhouse with time for me to fill it up.
The smaller plants were all moved undercover.
But what about that big container with the huge Agave ovatifolia and multiple A.lophantha 'Splendida'? Nah, I promised Andrew when I planted it up that we wouldn't try to move it. However I do want to keep those plants on the dry side this winter, so a trip to the big box was in order...
In the interest of full disclosure it was a discussion with Linda Ernst (I'd asked about how she managed to keep a beautiful astelia alive over our cold winter) that got me scheming about a PVC frame.
It really couldn't have been easier, or cheaper! (I spent $5.88 total on PVC)
The only challenging part was the idea of fitting a 10 ft plastic tube into my VW Beetle, thankfully I discovered they had handy cutters available right there in the store so I was able to cut my needed lengths before I even left! (this is when it paid to have measured in advance)
Tada! Oh wait, that's not waterproof yet.
More cheap solutions, a $2.99 shower curtain liner.
I wanted to be able to easily take this contraption apart for storage, or to change out the cover if need be, so the curtain is held on with binder clips (cause I had them), however I've since found PVC "snap clamps" so I'll be looking into using those instead. Once I had the curtain secured in place I cut off the excess along the bottom...
One complication that I hadn't adequately thought through, what about the bits of shower curtain I cut and threw to the ground? The wind could have caused mayhem tossing these pieces all around the garden. Thankfully my faithful assistant was there to keep the order...
Attractive, no, but this is a part of the garden out of sight unless I'm on the patio, which (sadly) I won't be much for the next few months.
I went with a frosted curtain so on those days with both sun and rain the sun won't get too intense on the leaves. I also designed the whole framework to be easily lifted off on dry days for air circulation and light.
Once I looked at the extended weather forecast for the week and realized it was going to be on for days I did worry a little about air circulation, so I cut a ventilation slit, only one as I wanted to see how it handled the wind before cutting another.
Arty shot inside the cover...
Here's the view as you walk into the back garden, you can just barely see the cover at the lower edge of the Yucca rostrata (Sammy)...
But the view from the bedroom window is a little worse. Ah well, it will be good to be able to glance out on a stormy day and make sure it's in place.
Here's the after rainfall photo, with dry bits underneath! I hope the agaves appreciate their little PVC igloo...
All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.