There are a lot of reasons to buy or build a greenhouse. I bought a small one a couple of years ago and put it down the hill from the house but I really can’t get down there much anymore because I am almost (mumble, mumble) years old with a bum hip.

What to do, what to do. The best thing I could think of was to build another one. Why? Well, honestly, some orchids just will not survive in our climate near the lake. And, okay, I am jealous of people who have big beautiful Guaria Morada (Cattleya labiata) orchids.

I killed my first Cattleya and I gave my Phalaenopsis orchids to a friend who had what I don’t have – a nice warm, sunny, glass-enclosed porch to grow them in. She – almost – has a greenhouse.

So, where do you put a greenhouse? Well, it needs to be a sunny location with some wind protection and on a flat surface. Plus it needs to be near the house so I can go back and forth without strain. As it turns out, there is only one place like that, darn it.

Darn it! Well, the first garden I planted in Costa Rica was right behind the guest bedrooms. It had changed and grown over the years and guests loved looking out those broad windows into an Eden. So where does the greenhouse have to go? Yup, right there. Which meant that everything growing there had to move.

Taking out a garden lovingly planted over six years ago was painful – which is why I had my gardener do the digging and transplanting. The worst part was the things that were too big to transplant – the angel trumpet that was 8 feet tall was reduced to cuttings.