Portable Greenhouses by FlowerHouse

By Tara Kolton

If you've always dreamed of having your very own greenhouse, but simply don't have the time, space, funds, or know-how, good news has arrived. More and more product lines are offering portable, affordable, personal greenhouses, as an alternative to adding a full-sized glass greenhouse to your home. They are easy to set up and come in a wide enough variety to satisfy the needs of the amateur and experienced gardener alike.

FlowerHouse™ is an innovative line of self-erecting portable greenhouses designed by teams of "master gardeners, greenhouse experts, and designers," which come in a wide array of models and sizes to suit just about any garden or home. FlowerHouse™ greenhouses offer durability and functionality at a reasonable price. All greenhouses are constructed with the incredibly durable and lightweight Gro-Tec™ material, which is UV resistant, 100 percent waterproof, and features rip stop protection. They have been carefully designed and tested to withstand high wind conditions (up to 60 mph) and harsh weather such as driving rain, hail, and snow. All FlowerHouse™ greenhouses come backed with a 3-year warranty.

FlowerHouse™ greenhouses can be set up and taken back down rapidly and with ease, with absolutely no tools required. They are adaptable for all different geographic locations and ground surfaces. These portable greenhouses offer many advantages to the home gardener. You can protect your plants from the frost of the fall and winter, and then jump ahead of the game in the spring and begin growing seedlings and vegetables months earlier than usual. Lightweight and portable, they can be easily taken down and stored in the off-season, or you may choose to leave the greenhouse up all year for year-round gardening. The greenhouses will shield your plants from the elements and protect them from insects and birds, while at the same time their screen vents will allow for maximum air circulation, promoting growth and preparing your plants for outdoor living. When the vents and windows are shut, the greenhouse will become a controlled climate, moist and warm, ideal for growing all kinds of plants, including tropical, annual, and perennial plants that in particular require extra care. Your greenhouse will produce flowers that bloom earlier and longer.

The FlowerHouse™ line boasts a large selection of models ranging from small starter SeedHouses™ to extra-roomy DomeHouses™. You can check out the full line of greenhouses offered at www.flowerhouses.com. Here we focus on the three most popular FlowerHouse™ models:

StarterHouse™

• Self-erecting stand-alone greenhouse
• No tools required for quick, easy set-up
• 100 percent Waterproof Gro-Tec material with UV and rip stop protection
• Maintains high humidity for tropical plants, vegetables, herbs and more
• 2 convenient accesses for water hose and power cord
• Dimensions: 34" high x 96" wide x 48" deep
• Four 38" x 42" zippered openings and four 24" x 16" screened vents
• Includes Ground Stakes
• Includes High-wind Tie-downs
• Includes Shade Cover
• Carrying Pack
• Weighs 15 lbs.

The StarterHouse™ model is a compact, lightweight greenhouse ideal for starting seedlings. It can hold up to 16 flats and can be set up anywhere. The StarterHouse™ is designed to bring year-round gardening to the personal gardener and will maintain high humidity levels for growing tropical plants, vegetables, fruiting plants and herbs when the windows and vents are closed. It also serves as a great pond cover for water plants. The StarterHouse™ is perfect for protecting your plants in the winter; with its Gro-Tec material it will protect plants from wind, frost and snow. Convenient features include access for watering hoses and power cords for a heater or fan, which gives your StarterHouse™ a great range of flexibility. The four zip-openings and screened vents allow for superb air circulation, preparing your plants for outdoor conditions while at the same time protecting them from the threat of insects, birds, and other kids of pests.

A city-dweller with an enthusiastic green-thumb, but only a small patio for a garden, found the StarterHouse™ to be a highly effective product to get a head start on her flowers and vegetables for the spring. "I set my StarterHouse™ up (in literally a few minutes) on the patio in March and filled it with 16 seed flats. It is now June and my peppers and tomatoes are begining to fruit two full months earlier than last year!" She reported full blooms in her flower pots and baskets, as well as achieving the satisfaction of saving money by growing her own garden from seed. In the meantime her StarterHouse™ conveniently stores away in a closet, while she plans to take it out again in the fall to protect her plants from early frosts. The StarterHouse™ is a fitting product if you're dreaming of starting a colorful personal garden but are short on lawn space.

SpringHouse™

• Self-erecting stand-alone greenhouse
• No tools required for quick, easy set-up
• 100 percent Waterproof Gro-Tec material with UV and rip stop protection
• Maintains high humidity for tropical plants, vegetables, herbs and more
• 4 convenient accesses for water hose and power cord
• Dimensions: 78" high x 72" wide x 72" deep
• Two 36" x 60" screened doorways
• Includes Ground Stakes
• Includes High-wind Tie-downs
• Includes Shade Cover
• Carrying Pack
• Weighs 25 lbs.

The SpringHouse™ is a tall and spacious greenhouse model, and its height offers plenty of room for shelves to stack your plants and flats. The two large screened doors allow for optimum air circulation to promote plant growth and prepare plants for outdoor conditions, while again offering protection from insects, birds and other pests that like to feast on plants. The doorways feature straps which conveniently hold them open while you work or ventilate the greenhouse. Furthermore, plants in the SpringHouse™ remain protected from wind, frost and snow during the hardening off period in spring.

Closing the door-vents in this roomy greenhouse will make it an ideal location and climate for growing an extensive collection of plants, ranging from larger tropical plants to your smaller annuals and perrenials. The SpringHouse™ can create humid conditions in any geographic environment, and will set up on both soil or hard surfaces, with stakes and tie-downs that secure the greenhouse in high winds. With its durable Gro-Tec material, it can be left standing all year long. With the SpringHouse™ you can start and protect your plants and flowers and keep building your garden all year-round. If you have some yard space to spare and want to start expanding your personal garden, the SpringHouse™ is a good choice.

DreamHouse™

• Self-erecting stand-alone greenhouse
• No tools required for quick, easy set-up
• 100 percent Waterproof Gro-Tec material with UV and rip stop protection
• Maintains high humidity for tropical plants, vegetables, herbs and more
• 4 convenient portholes for water hose and power cord
• Dimensions: 78" high x 96" wide x 96" deep
• Two 36" x 64.5" doorways
• Eight 30" x 15" screened vents
• Includes Ground Stakes
• Includes High-wind Tie-downs
• Includes Shade Cover
• Carrying Pack
• Weighs 35 lbs.

The DreamHouse™ greenhouse model offers even more space yet than these other two greenhouses, and an opportunity for endless expansion. This portable greenhouse features a unique zip-together design where one DreamHouse™ can be zipped to another DreamHouse™ and so on infinitely. You can create a professional-sized greenhouse of your own which is easy to take down or change. Two large screened doors and eight screened window-vents provide optimum circulation, while also preventing from the threat of garden pests. The DreamHouse™ provides the perfect environment for starting your garden early, while protecting it from the harsher elements. Again, with this greenhouse you can control climatic conditions in any geographic location, with convenient hose and power cord access allowing easy control of humidity and temperature. Eighteen ground stakes, eight wind tie-downs and three pre-assembled fiber poles will firmly hold down your DreamHouse™ in place in any weather. This expandable greenhouse model offers all the space you need for shelving units and plants of all sizes and varieties, and is an ideal choice for any gardener with grand ambitions.

A family in Arizona was pleased with their purchase of the DreamHouse™ for their gardening needs. The family reported while not as quick to set up as the compact StarterHouse™, the still easy set-up process was well worth it. Customers remained impressed by the sturdiness and durability of this lightweight greenhouse: "It is exposed to strong winds from the south and west, but is quite stable, rather surprising as I was expecting it to become a large kite," wrote one customer. This is a greenhouse that is suitable for year-round gardening, despite the outside conditions. The family looks forward to getting plenty of use out of their spacious DreamHouse™ greenhouse for seasons to come.

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