A new furnace, arrives, and just in time.

When one keeps a temperate glass house full of tender plants in New England, the greatest worry is heat. Within a month, the temperatures here in central Massachusetts will fall well below zero F. Even though we have had generally unseasonably warm weather this November, (with temperatures reaching 70 degree's .F yesterday, our October brought snow flurries most every weekend. Regardless of what lies ahead weather-wise, we know that the furnace will be one full time starting around the last week in November. This variable weather worldwide may be unpredictable, our stock market temperatures can fall at any time soon, so we must be prepared.

Our old furnace was nothing but trouble, so I hope this new one works better. After last years gas explosions and gas combustion problems in the glass greenhouse, we are trying a new gas furnace since I still believe that our problem is the unique temperature situation in out greenhouse. We keep it cold, near 40 degrees F. and the glass house is pretty packed with plants, making it a damp, and humid space. Gas ignites irregularly in such atmosphere, and even though the gsas company and manufacturer disagree, I belive that the problem is one of poor quality air for proper combustion. Our old furnace would start , and then wait some time before the gas finally ignited. When it finally did, it would go BOOOOM, often blowing out the bottom plate on the furnace. This would happen on cold snowy nights, where I could hear it explode every 12 minutes, ensuring little sleep, and it would really go boom in the evening, after a clear, sunny winter day, when the greenhouse would heat up considerably, but would form condensation in the evening. The first furnace ignite of the evening would always explode. I hate gas, but I have little alternative.

Now, the new external combustion furnace sits after being delivered just in time, via truck from Modine, the manufacturer. Now, we are waiting for the installers from the LP gas company to come and install it.

Our new furnace waiting on the cart, to be installed. It is Sooooo big!

Autumn Narcissus begin to bloom

The tiny flower of Narcissus serotinus, no wider than a half an inch, has a scent that rivals it's relative, the Paperwhite Narcissus. Still, the single flower surprised me in the greenhouse, since I forgot that I had it, and I could smell it, then found it.

The green flowered Narcissus, N. viridiflora is starting to send up flower buds. Each year, I've been repotting the one bulb that I have of this rare Narcissus, and now, I have eight bulbs in the same pot. The buds are so slender, that they are difficult to distinguish from the foliage. Look carefully, and you will see two flower stems.


This rare South African Oxalis, Oxalis kaajagdensis, has a very Oxalis-like flower, but very unconventional foliage for this typically 'clover-leafed' plant.

The Cyclamen continue to flower in the greenhouse, here, Cyclamen cyprium ( from Cyprus) shows it's tiny flowers.

Cyclamen rholfsianum has distinctive leaves that set it apart from the other autumn blooming species. For whatever reason, the flowers are shorter than the foliage this year. Last year, the flowers emerged in August, before the foliage.