Plant Suited to VERY Hot/Cold and Sunny Environment

by Rosalyn
(Strathcona County, Alberta, Canada)

I live in a passive solar house of which the south facing wall is ALL windows. This side of the house has a wall cutting it off from the rest of the house making it a sort of greenhouse. The greenhouse is used to heat the house on winter days and cool the house on summer nights. For this reason the temperatures can be fairly extreme. On cloudy days and winter evenings it stays room temperature or a little cool. On summer evenings we open up vents and doors and the wind comes through, and it gets quite cool. On sunny days it is HOT and very sunny. There are three levels, the third having the most extreme heat (+60 degrees celcius)!

I have tried a few plants on the second level and all have died and a few on the first level. The only one that seems to like the first level so far is a hibiscus, however, I recently recieved it and, therefore, it has not felt the cool summer temperatures.

Do you have any suggestions for plants that would do well in this type of atmosphere?

Thank You!


Rosalyn, thanks for your question. However, at this time I don't have a good answer for you. Indoor plants tend to thrive in environments, which the climate does not fluctuate much. It sounds to me you at the opposite end of this reality. I will have to research this topic more, so that I can provide a accurate answer.