Lath House 2.0

On July 6th when our temperature soared to 110F (43C), the heat, intense sun exposure, and high winds combined to sear many of my plants, including tender specimens in the lath (shade) house my husband built me last December.  I'd mistakenly assumed that the lath structure and the large plants surrounding it on the south and west sides would be sufficient to protect the plants inside.  I was wrong.  The begonias, fuchsias, and orchids suffered most and it was clear that, if I want to grow these plants, I needed to increase the amount of shade they receive during our long summer season.  Renee (Gardening Turned Up to Eleven), who is used to dealing with incendiary temperatures, suggested using temporary screens to provide extra protection as needed and I immediately began researching my options.  Then I consulted my "builder" about an upgrade.  He quickly got to work on outfitting my lath house with custom shades.  These were completed and installed late last week, just in time for our current heatwave.

From the outside the structure doesn't look much different, does it?

This is the sun screen fabric we selected, conveniently available at one of our local big box stores

To provide interim protection, we tacked an old sheet to the inside of the lath house roof (left).  Elegant, huh?  My husband's custom roof shades (right), constructed in 2 pieces, look much better.

The lath house has an irregular shape so each screen section had to be constructed according to exacting measurements.  My husband stained the lath used to make the shade cloth frames to match the original structure.  They fit seamlessly in place.

He even stamped each piece to indicate where it belongs.  This one fits into the west side on the left.  The shades were placed inside the top and middle shelves on the south and west sides of the structure.  We left the bottom area and the east and north sides of the structure uncovered.

Once the shades were in place, I cleaned the space and moved the plants I'd shifted to the floor during the July heatwave into place on the upper shelves.  It's amazing how much cooler it is inside now with the shades in place.

This is a view of the inside of the structure from the upper level of the garden

A closer look from the ground level

The large, sad-looking plant in the corner of the upper shelf is Hoya multiflora (aka shooting stars plant).  It'd been in the window of my home office for years but, despite blooming nearly continuously, it'd developed yellow leaves I haven't succeeded in treating.  I gave it a larger pot and new soil in the hope it'll return to its former glory but, hedging my bets, I also took a cutting from a healthy stem.  

I potted up the seedlings I germinated from seeds collected from my Ferraria crispa.  I still have to repot a few of my orchids.

The flowering begonias are blooming again - they rebounded better than the begonias grown chiefly for their foliage.  The gardenia, always positioned in this corner on the southeast side took the early July heatwave in stride.

I tossed out a couple of plants that were badly damaged by that first major heatwave, but moved a few others, like the Hoya multiflora, into the space.  I also moved the pretty Caladiums that finally leafed out into more prominent positions and added a very pretty but expensive Tillandsia I picked up at a bromeliad sale last week.

I planted Caladiums 'Candyland' (left) and 'Miss Mufflet' (right, shown with Fuchsia 'Galfrey Lye') from tubers.  They took so long to leaf out I'd almost given up on them but, while still relatively small, they've finally earned a prominent space in the newly arranged lath house.

This is Tillandsia 'Isaac Jogues', which I picked up and put back at least 3 times before finally carrying it to the cashier, despite the 20% off sale

My fingers are crossed that all my lath house treatures will be happy through the remainder of what's stacking up to be a tough summer.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party