Hi Guys

As some of you may know I have taken over the collection of plants that belonged to Phil Wilson, including the greenhouse that he housed them in.

What I’d like to do with this thread is to keep forum members updated with the progress of how moving a large collection of plants and the re-erecting of his old greenhouse is a task not taken lightly! I’ll update it with photographs and descriptions of what is going on and describe any problems that I’m having, and this is where you come in, I’d really like for you guys to chip in with ideas and solutions for when things go wrong as well as encouragement to keep me going, please comment on photographs and give me idea’s. I hope to have it all done by the spring, but time is now against me to have all the plants listed, sorted and divided/repotted, but here goes.

So for the first post, after about four of five weekends spent in Phil’s garden (with almost constant rain) which is about 45 minutes drive from mine, I had the 10x12 greenhouse apart and ready to be moved, I had hoped that I could find a guy with a big enough trailer to shift it in one go, but that proved more difficult than I thought until an antiques dealer I know offered the use of his, if I helped him shift a load of pine bedroom furniture around for a day.
So we got the greenhouse moved home and I began the rebuild on the lawn, I had not taken it down in too many sections as this would of course make it so much easier to put back together, but I still had to work with a birdcage of lengths of aluminium. The photo below shows the front, back and mid sections reassembled with the four sides also ready to go, I apologise about the quality of the photo, but it was were taken with freezing hands late on Christmas Eve after a day of screws shearing off and trying to get bent length’s strait, by thenI just wanted to get inside for a mince pie and sit down by the fire!



So please feel free to post, and I hope to update very soon.

Alex.

Hi Alex,

Good to read Phil's collection is getting maintained! The construction of the greenhouse will be basically like any else second-hand greenhouse to re-erect. I have a document (in pdf-format) on my website how to make a (simple but effective) foundation and how to re-erect the greenhouse. If interested go to www.carnivorousplants.nl and click on "information" and click on the 3d link "constructing a greenhouse"

Did you also took over Phil's growtable's? (1 large in the middle and small tables along the sides?)

Goodluck and I will follow your thread, I have visited Phil's place a few times and will add my 2 cents when I think it is worth for you.

has Phil given up on CPs?

Hi Guys

Thanks for posting, Rogier, kindest regards for the info regarding the foundations, I’ll be sure to check it out very soon. One thing that I forgot to mention is that, I believe, and you may tell me I’m wrong, some of the joints were designed to be under tension, so unless I’ve made a terrible mistake, I had to squeeze and push to get the bolts through before I could add the nut. I know that transporting it might have bent some of the weaker lengths but as it has been moved several times during it’s lifetime, I’m not expecting too much.

I’ve taken everything, all the grow tables, as well as both greenhouses, so, really it’s an amazing gift that Phil has passed onto me, I hope to have open days in the next couple of years or so, as I’m sure that many people know it’s a fine collection.

Phil, as far as I know, is still interested in the plants, he’s still an agent for Borneo Exotics, but on a daily basis he’s happy for me to take on the Sarracenia and VFT collection. Besides which, we both need to run through the plants and make proper lists and get it catalogued. He is a great guy and I’m not going to let him slip away from the CP community when he has so much to give.

Regards
Alex.

Hi Alex,i heard a whisper you had Phils plants.
Taking the greenhouse apart and re-erecting wont harm anything,just make sure everything is square and level before you put the glass back in.
I have done many,and have yet to find one in "tension"as you say.
The bolts/nuts are soft and break easily/regularly when moving any greenhouse but are easily bought and cheap to replace.
I did both of mine a bit since when i lifted them up 6" onto 6"x2" tanalised timber joists for more head room.4 or 6 posts concreted in the ground at each corner and the middle of the long section allow the joists to be bolted to these level and the greenhouse can then be screwed easily to a level base.The 2"wide joists also allow for quite a bit of "correction"if the greenhouse isn't square when first re-erected.
This method i found easier than using a concrete base or flag stones.
Then a few bags of bark mulch in the bottom and no weeds come through.
ada

I'm looking forward to more pictures on this project. I take my hat off to you-what a task this time of year, it's been so cold.

Alex, i forgot to say, Keep Phil interested at all costs.He has a wealth of Knowledge on all cps that we all need to draw on from time to time.
ada

Will do. He ain't going anywhere;)

Alex.

Thanks everyone for following this thread so far, it’s great to know that so many of you are interested. As can been seen from the photo’s below, I have, with the help of my dad, got the back half of the greenhouse half rebuilt, the outer frame is complete, with just the roof bars to go in. However, there is still one or two problems that need to be sorted before I can finish off and begin the front half, both are same, but I cannot think of a way to get through them. On the roof joist, it has two holes that should correspond with two holes on the diagonals of the centre sections, I can get one nut and bolt through but the second will not align up. The same is happening with the base and vertical of the middle section. Any ideas? I have thought that I would use a sheet of glass as a size guide and may end up drilling out the holes to make them slightly larger, or using a spike to force them together.
As usual I’ll let you know how I get on, but with going back to work tomorrow, it will be the weekend before I get out there in daylight again.
Alex.

Firstly, I would like to apologise for letting this forum topic fall off the radar, it should have been updated more often, but as the winter has been the coldest and longest that I can remember or known, I’m going to use it that as an excuse. Secondly, I’m going to say…AT LAST! It’s finished and will have the first few plants settling over the weekend, all I have to do is buy some polythene to line the trays and then it’s done.

Just to give a quick run through of all that happened, Phil and I took my greenhouse down as soon as we could after the snows had cleared and laid the wood for the base. After that it was another couple of weeks before Phil could get over again to build the frame, but when that started it was pretty quick in going up, though I did have some help from a friend with an SDS drill, as the crazing paving and concrete were too much for the old cordless. Replacing the glass in a 10 x 12 greenhouse is not a job that you can do in a lunch hour, even if you have all the clips. It took about a week to get it from frame to finished (not inc staging), my hands were cut the shreds, it being too awkward to put the clips in if you have gloves on, and one or two (many more) panes of glass are now being recycled due to ‘incidents’.

But the excitement was almost palpable as the staging came together and Mrs A realised that there’d still be room for her to put up deck chair and read the paper on a sunny day, with a cup of tea in hand. So despite the frozen fingers, the glass splinters, the getting soaked when trying not to shear of ally bolts whilst doing a good impression of a circus act atop a step ladder and that feeling of utter desperation when you realise that you’ve put the roof lights in upside down, I’m sure that the summer growing season will bring it’s own rewards. But then again, I don’t have to tell you that do I?

Sorry for the poor photo, I promise to post more as the plants go in and the wall behind is painted white.

Alex.

Fantastic job Alex, Phil's greenhouse has never looked that good, It actually shines!! If you are reading this Phil:

Thanks Rogier. Maybe an open day sometime in the future?

good to see alex i was afraid phil was going over to the dry side! his wealth of knowledge of locations and the distribution of populations within those locations is priceless, there wouldn't be half the plants in circulation if it wasn't for his trips out there