I have been in my home for just a little over 3 years now. After looking at what seemed a zillion houses for almost a year, they all had 1 thing in common. No back yards. After awhile, to save time, I always looked at the back yard first. I remember getting out of the real estate agents car, going around to the side of the house, gasped and immediately said SOLD! I looked at the house later.

The backyard faces NNE. The whole yard is fenced in. With the house behind me, to the left is a full hedge rose which blooms once in the spring that goes almost the whole length of the fence. At the end of the yard is a tiny copse of pine and hardwood trees along a mature drainage ditch that is overgrown with aquatic plants like arrowheads and elephant ears. The right side is just bare fence with a not so enchanting view of my neighbors portable garage for the boat, another boat, jetski’s and 2! count em 2! little storage houses

I moved in, October of 2002, and it was too late to put my poor Brugmansia who had been languishing in 1 and 2 gallon pots for over a year, in the ground. I spent most of the winter pulling up dandelions and other weeds that masqueraded as grass in the back yard and moving my Brugmansia in and out of the utility room when weather permitted. Come Spring, the first thing I did was plant the Brugmansia in the ground. The rest of the year was spent pulling weeds and making plans.

The following year in late winter, I bought my greenhouse kit. My brother drove down from Columbia, SC and in 2 weekends we had it up.

The following Spring and Summer went into planning and growing and rebuilding a falling down shed into something more visually palatable.

By the Spring of 05, the greenhouse was bursting with plants I had grown from seeds and cuttings. This …

Was turned into this ..

I still have a long way to go, but it’s a start!

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