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| So far no more frost in the 10 day forecast. Nights mostly in the 40s. I'm thinking to set some of the plants out. Take a chance. Rearrange the pots, put out the beach mat rugs, and out with the furniture. Baskets need to be hung. The whole thing needs a good sweep first. I would like to believe that the daffodil blooming outside means winter is over. Is anyone else close to starting the season outside? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| OK! I set my stuff out, and although everything looks so bare because so much is still dormant, I see promise.
I rearranged a few strawberries as well as got everything out. Strawberries have the roots from hades for sure. :) Still waiting on a few things to arrive that I ordered: an Agave parryii, nasturtium Hermione Grashof, clematis panticulata, 2 new Viola odoratas (Duchesse de Parme and Comte de Brazza), and 2 types of achimenes to fill in the backs of my window boxes and hide my structural wiring (Peach Blossom and Blue Sparks). |
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- Posted by tempusflits 5 IL (My Page) on Fri, Mar 8, 13 at 16:42
| We've had three snow storms in the last three weeks. But things are melting today. So even though I'm not nearly as advanced as you folks, I still feel progress is being made. Even the birds sound happy. It's coming! |
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| Yes! I always get excited when people further south of me say X,Y, and Z is sprouting, blooming, or whatever. i know that when they get spring, ours is on the way! :) |
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| YES! -The days are getting longer, the temps are getting warmer: let's get ROCKING! We have had a few days of spring here in Copenhagen, but now temps are back down below freezing. I did most of my sowing Tuesday, and the morning glories have already started to show, that they mean business! I ordered Heavenly Blue, but the package says Crimson Rambler, I guess time will tell what I've got. Next week, I'll start emptying out pots, sweeping the floor, and set up my greenhouse (an old aquarium). I've sown so many things, that I just know it'll be yet another season of hardly being able to get out on the balcony. Forget about chairs, they wont fit in between the plants! I've normally avoided vegetables, but this year, I've sown so many: two kinds of tomatoes (Green Sausage and Tumbling Tom Yellow), a chili (Joe's Long cayenne), apple-cucumber, cantalope-melon (I KNOW, I've gone completely mad!), four kinds of basil, Lemon Beebalm, Greek Oregano, three kinds of passion fruit, that I'm not sure I'll see much from, as the seeds are quite old (and they don't store well as far as I know)... and also Cyprus Vine, the morning glories I just mentioned, moonflowers and Octopus Dahlias. Yesterday, I discovered three kinds of seeds that I've collected, and I have no idea what they are, so I'll have to do those as well... and also some sweet alyssum, that have otherwise been sorely missed, which I'll sow everywhere, to bind everything together, along with yellow and green purslain (pigweed), wherever I can fit them in! And some yellow squash, but it's still too early to sow them. -And I'm trying to fight the urge to buy some gladiolus bulbs, I saw on sale today.... I'll probably end up loosing that fight. I know, chilli, tomatoes, cucumbers and melons on a crowded balcony.... I'll be fighting aphids and other critters all summer! -Not to mention turning into a hunchback from carrying buckets of water from the bathroom! That doesn't look bare at all, Julianna. For a spring balcony, I think it looks rather lush! My snow drops shows no sign of flowers (as usual), probably because they are never fed, when they are up and about! -When and how do you feed yours? |
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| If I had sun, I'd be growing a ton of edibles! Unfortunately, I have shade. No tomatoes for me! It looks bare to me because I know I have ostrich ferns, gingers, and other things which should be very tall. I just planted my snowdrops this past fall, but I planned on feeding them as soon as I started watering. At the moment, their pot is nice and moist from rain. |
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| Perhaps I should move my snowdrops to another pot then. They are in the same pot as my daylilies, and I always fear that winter-feeding them, will make the daylilies shoot prematurely, and and I would end up without daylilies. I also had some snow drops in a planter on the railing. They bloomed once... then the following year, they decided spring had arrived in early December, and actually froze back! -My Mum is still laughing over that one! |
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| When i was looking up bulb feeding, most things I found said the bulbs needed to be fed after blooming and were fed the same things as most blooming perennials needed. So it seemed OK to me to do it after the bloom and keep them with other blooming plants. |
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| That looks great! It looks brisk but hopefully, winter is gone for sure for you. How do you hold yourself back from going out and digging up the grass in the middle, lol. All that open land!! |
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| Haha! It looked brisk, but it was about 70 when I took the pics. :) They say tonight and tomorrow night will be 33/34. I brought in my streptocarpellas, but everyone else is just going to have to live :) It should be fine. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Mar 12, 13 at 14:03
| Being up so high helps a bit with iffy temps, cold falls. Good luck!! I'll be taking everything outside Friday with no plans to bring anything back in until November. Hope Ma Nature has the same plan!! This is the hardest part, the last few days...! Blooming here now... Daphne, Daffs, AZALEAS, Oxalis, Lamium, Vinca, Bradford pears, pansies, snapdragons, wax Begonias, blackberry vines, Myosotis (forget me nots,) witch hazel... |
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| The other thing that helps is that since the balcony is recessed, it has 3 sides of protection-- one with French Doors for heat. I looked and this morning everything was fine. I'm keeping the streptocarpella inside for the next 2 nights anyway though. I should post my iris pics in here too :)
My begonias looked fine this morning. The Robin has taken to knocking in the door most sunny mornings. I have not seen a nest yet. Bradford pears in the parking lot are blooming. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Mar 12, 13 at 14:38
| Ooh those Iris' are pretty! You're totally right about the extra enclosure keeping things a bit warmer too. I've even noticed that just being under the porch roof can make a difference between frost-bitten leaves or not. Hope those BP's aren't close enough to stink up your balcony! Usually the ones across the street are bothersome in that way but we've hardly had the windows open lately, not home the past few warm-enough days. C'mon Friday!! |
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| Oh no, they are on the other side of the building, so no where near me :) I do kind of wish I had some trees in the courtyard. I think it would make for a prettier view. I saw a coleus with limp leaves that was over the railing. I think it got the teeniest bit frosted. Its stem was fine though. The boxes looked fine too. I feel like it's going to be a good balcony year. |
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| I've got a feeling this year will be a bit of a struggle on my balcony. I've been on sick leave since early December, when I injured my knee, and the hospital staff send me on a looooong walk to catch a non-existing night-bus. -This of course complicated my injury, and it's been a struggle ever since. There has been an f*-up with my sick-leave compensation, because one place took too long to fill out the paperwork, and the next place needed them almost immediately after I got sick, and trying to get my holiday pay is like barking to get a cat down from a tree because you can't actually use your holiday pay, while you are sick (today I was told though, that I might get the holiday pay on Friday, so fingers crossed... should take care of the rent) -talk about Kafkaesque bureaucracies!!! But I digress. All this of course means, that I can't really spend the money I want to on soil and stuff. I'll be trying to re-use some of the old soil by removing old roots and then amend it a bit to avoid too much compacting. I guess it will be a kind of mix between gritty, 5-1-1 and old style bag soil with a bit of (unused) diaper material mixed into it (for water retaining polymers). And then there are my plant-choices this summer... oh my! I've mostly dealt with perennials in the past. But now it's all going to be about tomatoes and herbs and stuff. -The cantaloupe melon is probably the one I fear the most. It get's HUGE, and I will need to trail it in front of all the other pots for it to get enough light... which should be "fun". But with a long hot summer (fingers crossed) and loads of water, I might be able to get a couple of melons out of it... next year I will try the 'Minnesota Midget', as they are much smaller plants, and don't need that long a time to mature as the one I've got. Space will be a problem, a melon, a cucumber, two tomatoes, joe's long cayenne chili (could get fairly big), moonflowers (sprouts have finally emerged :-), morning glories and cypress vine - while only having one gage/ trellis kind of thing, it will basically be a fishing line trap out there, lol. And I haven't really had luck with tomatoes in the past, and I also fear trying to grow a cucumber a bit. Oh, and two of my window boxes have become VERY brittle. One of them has become invaded by couch grass (/dog grass/ quackgrass/ witchgrass), and I'm not sure it will make it, when I'm going to try and remove the grass... we will see how it goes. If it goes to pieces, I think I can reuse the metal holder/ cage it's resting in for some small pots otherwise... But my main concern is being able to avoid soil compacting with reused soil... and actually having ENOUGH soil! |
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| One of the prettiest things I ever grew on a previous balcony was a gourd. The flowers and the fuzzy vine were amazing. I hate moving soil upstairs. I carried all my soil up because I mostly put this thing together when my husband was researching overseas. It gets old! I may need a bit more, but I am not feeling like getting it at the moment. This morning no frost on the ground. No frost on the balcony either! Only one more day of mid/low 30s! |
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| Yesterday we had the most beautiful spring weather... this morning I withdrew the curtains, only to see about 7 inches of snow on the balcony. -And it just kept on snowing all day. I had a look at the forecast, and a week from now they predict around 5 degrees Fahrenheit at night. However, it can change.... if there is one thing you can say about the Danish spring, it would be that it has it's own mind and unpredictable moods. Tonight I went out on the balcony in my socks, just to have a look. It occurred to me, that I might be able to use that thing that is holding the brittle window box to trail my melon. and if then I move things around a bit, I could actually get more light on the balcony for the tomatoes etc. Julianna: I actually thought about one of those lufa gurds in the past. -and then discarded the idea, because they grow so big.... go figure I should forget about that, and decide to grow a huge melon plant instead, lol. Perhaps you could offer one of your neighbours a plant for carrying those bags of soil up for you? -I'm thinking about asking the woman upstairs if I can run some fishing line from her balcony, if I give her a tomato or some herbs in return ;o) -I don't know her, but perhaps it would be what it takes to get to know her. Worst thing that can happen is a "No", right? |
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| Oh yuck! When does it usually stop freezing for you altogether? I am fine carrying my own bags. I should enjoy the exercise! |
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| Well, people around here calculate with getting night freezes until 1st of May, but in theory, we can get it in every month all year round, though summer frost is a rarity, and not something I remember... in May, yes. My balcony is tucked away in a corner of the building, and I have another balcony above it, so it's probably as sheltered as is possible, and I can get away with pretending it's spring earlier than anyone else. In fact, I think the micro-climate on my balcony is more zone 8 than 7 as the rest of Copenhagen is. Worst case scenario, I have to move the more tender plants up against the wall. In general the Danish climate is quite mild but it is also kind of tricky and unpredictable. We can have very cold winters with loads of snow, we can have cold winters with bare frost (plant killer), and green winters with basically no frost at all. Some summers are very cold, and don't feel like a summer at all (like last year), but when we get around 80-90 degrees F, it feels more or less like Thailand, because it's so humid here. Personally, I start to melt around 74 degrees F. -Winters feel colder as well, because of humidity. A couple of years ago, I had a visitor from Colorado. She came from -4 degrees F in Denver, and thought our +9 degrees F where unbearable. Sometimes the weather simply decides to skip a season. Sometimes it hardly rains for months, and sometimes it just wont stop. Our ex-princess (now divorced from her prince), comes from Hong Kong, and once said in an interview, that in the beginning when she lived here, she wondered why everybody was always talking about the weather, but after having been here a little while, it daunted on her, that it really matters a lot. Climatic changes hasn't helped one bit, it's probably just made it even more unpredictable, and now we can get huge rainstorms in the summer (which we didn't before), and more frequent and violent autumn- and winter storms than previously and have had to move the schools' summer holiday, so the kids actually get's it while there is summer. because July weather has moved to August. In general summer is longer now, though, which isn't all that bad. It means we have a chance to grow stuff outside that we would otherwise need a greenhouse for before... like melons, heheh. |
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- Posted by christine1950 5a (My Page) on Thu, Mar 14, 13 at 9:18
| I've enjoyed seeing your balcony, you've given me some great ideas. I moved into this apartment in Dec. this is my first balcony so I'm excited to get mine all fixed up. My previous place I had everything in containers which I brought along with me, on the balcony now I've got hostas, sedums, hen & chicks and I dont remember what else is back there LOL I can already tell I wont be getting alot of full sun, so what do you advise for me besides what I already have. Does anything flower in shade? Also I have to paint and color ideas ?? Christine |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Thu, Mar 14, 13 at 10:37
| Christine, congrats on your new pad! Looks like a great balcony with a lot of potential - and you're obviously ready with those pots. The only thing I see wrong with it is a place to prop your feet, but obviously you probably haven't sat out there much, if at all yet. If you're like me, you'll pull that little step stool closer when you sit down, throw your feet up on it, and sigh in contentment - when it warms up of course! I think all Begonias will bloom in the shade. The little wax ones are the most prolific bloomers of the ones I've had, although the cane type bloom a lot too. Impatiens (I. walleriana) have been a traditional workhorse of the shade-blooming milieu, but more and more gardeners are looking for alternatives because a disease called downy mildew (not powdery mildew) is wrecking them globally. There's a good thread about it in annuals forum if you'd like more details. New Guinea Impatiens are not affected, but although the leaves on these are more interesting, the flowers just don't have that wow factor that I. walleriana does. Other shade bloomers, mostly perennials... If you have an interest in using some foliage AS flowers, you're welcome to click on my profile for the link to my blog which is just one article about this very thing, and some repotting pics. |
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| Vgtar-- interesting to know! I have never been to Denmark. The closest I have been is Hamburg. Part of my family is from Bremen, so I've been there as well. But never Denmark :) I am sure at some point there have been summer frosts here, but I can't even imagine a scenario for that lol. We are probably the sauna you describe. 80%+ humidity, 100*F+ temps. I remember when I moved to the south how I thought i would suffocate-- it felt like a wet washcloth being held over my face all the time. We also have wet winds in the winter. It makes it feel like ice slicing through you. I understand! Hi Christine! I do have several things which bloom in the shade, and even more things I never planted which bloom in the shade. It depends on if you want annuals or perennials. I have a mix of those plus tender perennials I have to carry inside for the winter. I have what is considered full shade, but my shade is bright-- it isn't sun blocked by tree cover or anything. Deep dark shade is much more difficult. Things I have which bloom for me are: begonias, stargazer lilies (I have them in a corner which gets about 2 hours of sun), Trachelospermum jasminoides (not as much as if it had more sun-- it also gets about 2 hours on its wall), impatiens, toad lilies, various bulbs such as crocus, snowdrops, daffodils, iris, hyacinth, grape hyacinth, gloriosa lilies, streptocarpellas, violets, Japanese anemones, sedums, sempervivums, lilies of the valley, lamium, ajuga, setcreasea pallida, begonia heron's pirouette, and balloon vine (cardiospermum). Things which bloom great but that I have against or over the railing to get some sun: pansies, mara des bois strawberries, passiflora incarnata alba and regular, herbs-- thyme, mint, oregano, possibly some others which I have hopes for this season. Things which I have planted that haven't bloomed for me which should this year (either they were planted too late in their season, biennial, or new to me this spring): hedichiums, cobaea, clematis panticulata, foxgloves, lycoris radiata, saffron crocuses. Things which failed to bloom/thrive: tuberoses (figured out i planted them too deep. I left a few in pots and will see this year. When i dug them, they had worked on resettling themselves about 4" higher oops), coleus (just sat still all year), dragon wing begonias (barely one bloom, mostly looked pale and sad-- and found out this is because they need more sun). Things which do not bloom for me because I think they are too shaded but that look great anyway: variegated liriope. Things which seriously failed-- (bloomed maybe 1-3 flowers the whole season): morning glories, thunbergia. I had a theme of fragrant plants which then I decided to add interesting foliage to as well. I also was going more for perennials. You may decide otherwise. I know there are things like torenia, mimulus, ligularia... things like these i didn't use. |
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| Oh yes, and i should mention that that is my list-- of things which are hardy for me (7b) or that I have to bring in and out. You will have a slightly different list. I planted aquillegia seeds and have seedlings, but I don't know how they will do. The begonias that I have had bloom for me are the aforementioned B. grandis Heron's pirouette, tuberous, and wax (B. semperflorens). I;m trying some shrub, cane, and other types this year, but none of those are hardy (just like tuberous and wax are also not hardy). I also had a theme of trying to work in edibles, so thus the passiflora, strawberries, herbs, tuberose, begonias, violas, hedychiums, etc. |
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| Christine: Oxalis, oxalis, oxalis ;-D How dreadful about the Impatiens. Such lovely flowers. It seems to me that torenia might be a good alternative... so many colours to choose from. Corydalis is a very beautiful perennial for shade, with many colours to choose from, and especially the yellow one Corydalis lutea has a long blooming period (from late spring to the first frost). Tuberous begonias Dog's Tooth Violet, Erythronium dens-canis will do well in light shade. If I where you, I would keep the walls white, to reflect the light back on the plants, also because painting it a colour, might suck light our of your apartment, and you could get a very dark living room (or what ever room is behind that balcony). and then perhaps just do accent colours on furniture etc. Colours in the blue and green spectrum are very suitable for a northern exposure, where they really become vibrant (my personal favourites are the phthalo colours, but that really is an individual thing, isn't it ;o) |
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| Julianna, if you have those temps with that humidity every year, I really feel for you! Cold humidity I can live with, I just add yet another layer of clothes. But warm humidity? -Well, there comes a point, where taking of any more clothes, could get you arrested! |
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| True! But you just get used to it. It gets even worse if you go further south. What is hard on many plants is that we don't cool off much at night-- maybe into the low 80s/upper 70s on the really hot days. So lots of things can't take it like delphiniums, etc. |
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- Posted by christine1950 5a (My Page) on Thu, Mar 14, 13 at 19:36
| . Thank you all for the great ideas you have given me, now I have so many plants to choose from,.. |
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- Posted by christine1950 5a (My Page) on Fri, Mar 15, 13 at 12:37
| Look what found my shopping cart this morning, I love it, I'm going to wait a couple of weeks before I re-pot it, right now its in a bit a shock from the cold but she'll be fine I'm sure. Has anyone else picked one up? They also had the green but I think the purple is eye catching. Christine |
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| Nice! I actually love the green, but the purple does have fun leaves. I got some in trade from Purpleinopp, and I planted them in with my Begonia grandis. I thought they would make a fun underplanting! |
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| Very nice plant, Christine! -I'm also a fan of that colour. I've had two kinds. -Initially they looked the same, but one of them stayed more true to colour, whereas the other turned green, when put in shade (inside). One had yellow flowers the other pink... I THINK it was the pink one, that stayed more red, when inside, but I'm not sure. There is a golden variety, that I would love to get my hands on, but I've never seen it anywhere, except on pictures. Don't worry if it dies back a little from temp shock... I think it will shoot right back, as it has bulbs or rhizomes (not sure how to label them). They tend to be quite tough little plants. The leaves can be eaten in small quantities, and has a very tart flavour... great for perking up a green salad or garnishing the coleslaw :-D |
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| Well, it turns out that I now have a male and female robin. looking more likely like I am being scouted as a nesting point! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Sat, Mar 16, 13 at 18:25
| Oh that's cool. It IS spring!! That should be blooming soon, soon as it gets its' feet settled again. Just took this pic with a Sans a I planted in the ground. Why was I anxious for this again? My back hurts, my nails won't come clean, I've got a piece of sand in my left eye, my feet are dirty, hair's a mess, and I just started getting everything "like I like it." Um... |
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| LOl! I know starting around June or so, I'll be wondering why I wanted this warm weather to start. I'll start getting annoyed with watering, and also with not being able to hang out on the balcony. That looks nice! I think it's pretty! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 9:18
| I like it too, happy in shade or sun. There's some with the purple leaves there too, but it's hiding in the shadow, I just put it there about a month ago. Noticed that green dish when I was putting the pic up. That's a water dish for anoles. Probably time to fill it up again, they were everywhere the past couple days! You can see a Canna coming up at the top of the pic too. |
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- Posted by christine1950 5a (My Page) on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 9:37
| very pretty purpleinopp, I'm green with envy, I wont be seeing any flowers for a few months.. |
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| well, we had 'snow flurries' all day yesterday in nyc. but i have been lugging all ivies and cyclamens out for air most days - they all perked up considerably. i also hope that will slow down the mites somewhat... some ivies got really eaten up, showers or no showers. my cyclies are actually in decent bloom (stayed that way thru winter), so i have some color too. i have NE balcony with 4-5 hours of sun in one corner. best color so far - from petunias, but only the ones marked part-shade. some non-stop begonias, but only in sunny corner or against the glass railing. i buy pansies, but they stop as soon as i move them a bit from the edge. stargazers are good - i even overwintered them in pots once. but they only last for a couple of weeks. i buy florist hydrangeas - just for temp show, but they last a long time, so it's worth it for me. they don't overwinter, even the ones marked z4, so i have to chuck them, i got calla lily last summer, but they haven't bloomed yet. mostly i color with caladiums and coleus. oh, and crotons too - they do well in sunny corner until it gets hot, then they go into shade on the east side - i have petra: so yellows and bright burgundy. goes nice with coleus. i overwintered crotons well for 2nd season in a row. but i bag them whole winter against mites (sad lesson). |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 19:59
| I keep finding plants that aren't out yet, but I think I got the last ones today. The porch is a mess, there's several projects going on here, but they're out there. I need to arrange after I'm finished selecting plants for in the ground, to make this years' "wall of foliage." |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Sun, Mar 17, 13 at 20:00
| The other end. |
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| Nice, Purple! New beginnings for the year! They downgraded our temps for this week, but not to freezing. Just ugh. Petrushka-- have you tried some of the clematis? Some will bloom for months and add a lot of color. |
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- Posted by christine1950 5a (My Page) on Mon, Mar 18, 13 at 10:28
| Looks great purple, I cant wait for are temps to be warm enough to put stuff out, tonight they are calling for a storm and we could get get 3-6" purple your pictures make me feel excited to decorate my balcony with all my houseplants |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Mon, Mar 18, 13 at 10:37
| Thanks! I just wish I wasn't such a wimp with my back issues. I'd be happy to help move that stuff off of the porch but I really have to avoid that kind of thing or I'll pay dearly later. But "before" pics are necessary to appreciate the "after!" Maybe I'll get some chain or something more attractive than coat hangers for the hanging pots. Forgot to mention, the 2 light-colored wood box things stacked in the 2nd pic, right edge, are waiting to have mini gardens put in them, Mother's day presents for my Mom and DH's Mom. I've got a thread about that in the house plants forum, will put pics there when there's something to photograph. Doing my best to blow warm air UP to y'all!! |
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| LOL send that hot air please. So true about before and after pics. Before last year's rearrangement, my before pictures are terrible. makes the afters look so much better though! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 9:50
| At 1 AM, the storm that caused this woke me up! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 9:51
| If you have small children in the room, you may want to have them leave before this next pic which might be too disturbing for some viewers! |
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| Oh no! Is everything OK? |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 9:57
| When stuff dries off a bit, I need to go find everything and do the humpty dumpty on it, put it back together. I guess if the other pics were before, these are prehistoric. To add insult to injury, it looks like I need to bring a good number of these plants back inside for a couple nights this week. These weather forecasters are either toying with people, or are really just guessing. NOW they're saying Thursday night could get down to the mid-30's. Oops, off by about 15 degrees a few days ago. At least I won't be bored today, I wanted stuff to do, right? LOL! We were very lucky nothing was damaged but a few plants, the electric stayed on, the giant pecan tree didn't fall on the house, no hail. Whew!! That was close. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 10:31
| I don't know, it's still icky and wet out there. Thanks for asking! Takes more than that to deter me from coffee time, will inspect soon... People and dog are fine, house, cars... sip sip. |
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| Ugh. We're having that same temperature dip. I haven't decided if things need to come in or not. I need to keep checking. So annoyed! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 11:12
| Me too, more with the low temps for 2 nights than that storm. There was nothing starting with a 3 at night as of Saturday. WTH? It was 82 yesterday. Hate it when the north decides to suddenly blow cold air down here. Makes it hard to blow the warm air up... so many more of them... LOL! (blow blow blow) My toes r cold, the sun is coming back, going to inspect... |
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| Sorry about the storm knocking things over! -Here it is kind of the opposite. We have been warned about a huge blizzard for the last week. It should begin last night, and end tomorrow morning... Well, so far, the thinnest branches of the top of the tallest birch outside my building is moving perhaps 1 inch in either direction, and if I scrape all the snow out of the pots on my balcony, I might be able to make a small snowball! -Reading the warning, the weather forcaters put up this morning has been plenty of fun, as it seems more or less like a survival guide: "If your car gets stuck in the snow, turn on the emergency blink, stay in the car and call for help. Do not leave the car, unless you see a building nearby, where you can seek shelter. Turn off the engine to avoid carbon-monoxide poisoning. Turn on the engine for ten minutes, every hour to keep warm, leaving the window ajar." -Obviously it wont get as bad as that, but they are still warning us of the potential danger of going out in this bad weather. rofl Meanwhile, spring has begun in my living room. The tomatoes are competing with the morning glories to be the first to set out true leaves. -Looks like the morning glories will win the race. I'm going to resow the cucumbers and the chillies, as NON of them have sprouted yet. Perhaps I should pre-soak them this time? |
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| Purple, lol -- poor thing. Feel free to come over to Ca where I am melting on my balcony. :-) We had rain once since the end of January and winds were gusty, and rain was going sideways. The power went off and finally I decided I had to bring the balcony plants to at least the back wall so as not to blow away. Soaking wet, I finally finished after 45 minutes and I kid you not, the rain stopped right then and never came back. Well hopefully the weather clears. I don't envy needing to follow the weatherman's reports with alleged temp lows but better safe than sorry. Perhaps you should use those gardening crates outside and clump your favorite but most sensitive pots in it. That way, bringing two crates in if temps drop is much easier than scanning through the hundreds of pots you have? Poor thing! |
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| wow, purple, this looks quite bad. and i am sure it's not the only storm you'll get... can you get some concrete blocks and stack them in 2 rows and put small plants in between? the blocks usually have some holes - so you could stick small pots into them, clay or plastic. and it'll look good too. you can also put them directly on soil - sort of like temp raised bed (or hammer a rebar in the holes and they will stay put). and it will conceal diff pots and make a nice 'planter'. julianna, i have a rather small balcony in a very windy area .. on the 24fl, so big trailers or trelllises are out. and my only partially sunny corner is very precious and i use it to vacation my calamondins,etc. even though i love clematis, i'd rather perk up my crotons :). have to make choices. and the other year i had to bring everything in in august, including furniture due to a 'hurricane'. so lots of limitations are emposed on me. in winter i face another problem: how to bring everything in. so things with corms like begonias/caladiums and bulbs (calla lily and amaryllis) are a big plus. they overwinter in cardboard boxes under shelves. i am waking up calla lilies now and amaryllises are in bud. |
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| here's the daily weight training for the past few weeks... |
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| and now back in... the training will continue until the temperatures will improve... |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 14:29
| Awww I love your balcony, Petruska! Thanks for everyone's sympathies. I'm glad to report it looked worse than it was, mostly. It's been windy here for days, gusts around 40 mph and nothing had blown, so I thought these things were OK. The tiny pots are temporary until these plants get placed in mini gardens. The suggestion to carry them in groups in a larger container is a good one, thanks! Luckily the $55 in tiny succulents I got yesterday at WM (yes, I know, it's weird - about 20 of them, all different!) were in a plastic tub under the carport. I keep it in the car for plant shopping. I don't know enough about what I have to know which wouldn't mind those cold nights, they'll all come in. DH has offered to add a little safety rail around the front porch for the plants. I'm torn between that being helpful and blocking just that much more sun. It would need to be painted... Gusts are not unusual here, and that's why I make a really heavy mix for these potted plants. Whatever these gusts were, they tore up the metal roof on the shed behind the burned out empty house next door. It's peeled like a sardine can. Glad this only lasted about 10 minutes, 5 more minutes of that and that roof would be wrapped around our oak tree or in our back yard - at best. Judging from the plants and that roof, we had to have had a gust of at least 60+ mph, it bent the metal in half around the concrete blocks holding it down. (So yes, I have some concrete blocks, as soon as they blow into this yard - LOL! I can't move them though.) I have some bricks, those are easy to move... There are a couple tiny plants that are just gone but none of the tossed about ones look like they were killed by the experience, just a little bruised & insulted. One little succulent that was really dry and virtually weightless in the peat it was bought in, wasn't even on its' side. Go figure! It's hard to get back up from this break to go finish straightening & the other stuff on today's agenda... |
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| Petruska-- how cool! Are you in NYC? That looks like a fun place for both plants and a sitting area. I am lucky to only be on the 3rd floor, so very little wind that is any different than lower down. Your stone floor is great! No need to cover that up at all. Today in the nursery I saw an acanthus-- so beautiful! Glossy, huge leaves. i wish i had known about how glossy and huge they were before-- I would totally have gotten one! |
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| i am now in jersey city on the hudson - right across from downtown nyc, which is where i lived and worked for most of my adult life. as far as the floor - it's a porcelain tile that looks just like slate that we put in. i did a patch design for multi shapes myself and calculated how much and sourced it. then the tiler put it in. i got some 1'x2' extras and put them onto iron stands too. so it all mashes together. next project - tile my old iron table and chairs with mozaic. can't decide what to lay it on weather-wise. don't have marine ply, am not sure about cement board. .. running scared and avoiding the whole thing. i think british really love acanthus. it's huge. romans loved it too - it's on mozaics. it's monumental. i'd love to have it in my garden one day, though don't even know what conditions it likes. |
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- Posted by christine1950 5a (My Page) on Tue, Mar 19, 13 at 17:42
| purple, so sad to see your spill-age. Mother nature has no sense of humor, tomorrow is the first day of spring !!!! |
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| Acanthus mollis is hardy 7-10 and likes part shade/shady conditions here. It was beautiful. Leaves were so glossy and maybe a foot across or more. Yeah, I thought it looked NY-ish in your view :) You did a lovely job with your tile! Could you use glass as a substrate for your table? I made a mosaic of shells on to glass and it stood up, uncovered for 8 years and then I had to sell my table. It wasn't even close to falling apart. I used a cement mortar as the base. Now I have a mosaic of shells on a wood based-- folding tables-- on my new outdoor table. I used caulk as the base, but this is covered in a glass top. It isn't an exposed solution like the one on my other table. this is my current table:
this is the mortar table:
This is one where i used a glue to stick the glass down after i cut it, and then grout between the squares:
This is one I did with caulk as well:
The fireplace is obviously inside, but my current table is done the same way. It has weathered well, but like i say it has the glass cover. It does get rained on though. |
Here is a link that might be useful: acanthus
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| wow, i don't know where to begin! good thing it's a generic thread otherwise they'd ban me... very impressive! and the use of calk is not talked about either. i actually got some silicone clear for glass tile on wood thing to try for starters.. and then i have some left over thinset from tiling that is supposed to be used on cement board - i can get thin one too at HD, but it's supposed to go on ply backing. i found i product that proofs erg ply for like 20 years - which is good enough for me, but it's fumy, it has to be applied strictly outdoors and i kinda let it go. glass won't do - it goes on iron and heavy pots go on top - so am afraid it will crack. it's outdoors heavy duty plant stand. also iron 'bistro' chairs. i got stone looking tile and marble chips to layout a pattern to go with it. is cement mortar like for brick laying? of course for me it's like...undoable unless it fits in the pocket to to speak. no place to store or mix or lay out anything. am very interested in calk. what kind? silicone? around the fireplace - is ok then? can you route me to some info so i don't bore everybody here? i am sure i'll still have a few q's .. |
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| sorry for typos, was in real rush. love the your shell work. very unusual. especially that mortar table - the 2nd one. isn't the mortar usually grayish though? i like the grainy texture very much. but it's very bumpy - how do you use it? would be very cool for vertical bas-relief. like the fireplace. very cool. gotta go again... |
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| LOL! I started this thread, and I totally do not mind! I wanted to talk about what people were doing to prepare for next season/showing off preps. This is your prep :> The mortar is grey. You can see it between things. Makes things heavy too. You do need to mix it in a bucket/bowl and it comes in 20lb bags iirc. I thought it looked like sand though, and I liked that. The picture may be confusing because i have things sitting on the table. There are flat rock slices and ceramic circles around the rocks for plates and flat rock slices for glasses. It was bumpy :) I've never seen anyone else really do this, so I have nowhere to steer you. I just thought to try calk on my own. I used silicone and other, and both seemed the same. I don't remember what i used this time-- probably white silicone. I don't know how it would ultimately stand up to lots of use, but it's pretty cheap and very simple to apply and use. Also in my experience it comes off OK-- although I would hesitate to tell you no worried about taking it off. maybe try a bead and see if it works. If it comes off easy enough without ruining your substrate, then if it goes all wrong you can always start over without worrying about having lost your supplies. |
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| You know, Julianna, that's kind of a dangerous hobby you have going there ;-) Here's what happened to the house of a guy, nearby where I grew up! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Sneglehuset
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| LOL! Well you can tell I would have no such thing-- no plants :P Supposed to freeze hard tonight! WHY?! Anyway, i drew circles around all the pots i have to make go inside and sent them to my husband, called him at 1am to tell him the terrible news, and he promised to do it this morning. Then snow thursday. This is terrible. :( I hope my achimenes survive. I planted them out and no way will he dig them up for me. Thursday is supposed to be 32 as a low, so hopefully it won't kill the rhizomes. tonight is supposed to be 29 :( then not freezing after that. but yuck. When i get home I'll try to dig up my achimenes. |
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| you don't have to dig - just cover up with a cardboard box, it'll do. or even stack a couple of large plastic pots together, plastic bag inside could help, and put it over the plants. if they are not too big..like a cloche. a clay pot will do too. you can tape over the hole.if you have large bubble gum wrap - tape that up and weigh with smth so it stays put close to the ground. that would do for a few degrees. vgtar, that's a great house! are there more close-ups? re: tables. julianna, i looked closer - the flat tile mozaic around 'the flowers' is very clever for plates. i actually like the bumpy 'unusable' look a lot! the use of mortar at this point is very questionable for me though ;) 20lb bag and all...on top of my 100 plants..in 1300sqf... am pushing the limits so to speak...holding the sanity with duct tape..well, not my sanity...but... case in point: antique sewing machine that i COULD have had the other week (on top of my portable, 50 year table kenmore and 2 sergers...) - collectors item too...sigh! had to make amends, bake pies... but plants are still welcome... go figure... |
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| Julianna, not much can grow there besides wild rye, as the North sea is right behind that house. You planted the achimenes in the ground? -I would put them in a pot and keep them inside for a while... see if they would bloom this year ;o) The snow we didn't get yesterday, has arrived today. However the 15 day forecast looks good... no frost starting on April 1st... and yes, I'm aware of the irony of that date being April Fools' Day! I went shopping today, and ended up giving in for those Gladiolus callianthus bulbs, I've had my eye on all month... And somehow a small bag of Oxalis 'Iron Cross' also jumped into my basket... The lilies and dahlias told me I was mean for not bringing them home as well, but really, if I can't get out on the balcony, then how is anything going to survive out there? -I might also have to start looking for more pots, I think. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Wed, Mar 20, 13 at 12:19
| It IS hard to not buy stuff, part of me is pretty darn upset about the wallet situation lately, but the plant part runs my hands apparently... investing in happiness is worthwhile! Um, it might frost tonight... you can imagine the paragraph I could type, whining about that... But focusing thoughts on the bright side, let's talk April Fools Day! We'll be in NOLA and my plans for that day are arbitrary except I know I will visit Harold's and American Aquatic Gardens. I'm budgeting the whole morning for these 2 stores, and the short walk to both. Probably won't get anything at the aquatic place, but am told it's too beautiful to not see, website pics are awesome. I'll take some balcony pics and make a post here about it when we get back, hopefully many will be looking fantastic by the end of the month. |
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| Petrushka: I put it in a google image search... clicking around on some of those pics, should show more results. The house is called Sneglehuset, which means "the snail house" - The house came to look like this, because a local fisherman had asked a girl to marry him. She said that she would, if he could build her a totally unique house, that looked like no other. So he began decorating his house, and kept on going even after they got married. He began in 1949 and didn't stop before 1965. -When I was a kid, I wanted a house just like it, when I grew up... I think the towers had something to do with it though... |
Here is a link that might be useful: Sneglehuset on Google images
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| Petrushka-- they aren't up yet, and in my wired window boxes. so no moving the boxes, and no real need to cover. i am just annoyed at it all. Either they will survive or they won't. The box will probably not freeze. It's frustrating, as Purple said, it's like 20 degrees different than our original forecast lol. Vtgar-- oh I am sure something would grow :P Rye can be pretty :) I don't have ground since I'm on the 3rd floor, but they are in boxes. I also don't have the luxury of really coddling things which is why I was disappointed by the size. I am hoping they still work though. This may be my last season on the balcony :( Purple-- I feel you on the wallet and the frost. The hourly forecast has temps going even to 26. TWENTY-SIX. All my begonias and streptocarpellas were outside last night and it reached 33. I know the begonias would be fine-- but i am worried about the streptocarpellas. My husband told me he brought in everything though, this morning, so hopefully it will be OK. I would never have moved things out if it looked like we would get this kind fo weather while I was gone. I wouldn't be so freaked if I were there. It's like a gardener's worst nightmare of being trapped away from the garden and needing to cover/move things lol. In happier news, I managed to accidentally purchase some new things yesterday at the nurseries. Heliotrope, saginella aurea, french tarragon, catnip, lobelia springtime blues, sedum ogon, sedum spathhulifolium "cape blanco", senecio blue chalk fingers, 2 eplcs, a clearance phal, and a clearance venus fly trap. The last 4 are for indoors of course. I think I can sneak the VFT into my terrarium, and the orchids between other orchids so it won't be noticed by the spouse. :P |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Fri, Mar 22, 13 at 10:54
| Vgtar - that's an amazing, inspirational place. Loved looking at it, thanks for sharing! I've been really inspired by the art discussion y'all are having. Has anyone else seen the floor tiled with pennies? I also saw a piece of art recently that was similar to stained glass. The artist had used an old window frame, filled it with broken glass in the shape/colors of a fish, then it was filled with -? something clear and smooth. Really cool. I took a pic with my phone but it sucks. Quilt and some cross stitch patterns might get your creative juices flowing, they employ simple geometric art patterns. Ooooh you found Heliotrope! There's probably a reason (like can't stand humidity or 110 degrees) I can't find any around here but I look for it every spring. Hopefully people are just snatching it up faster than I make my rounds. Aaahhh the scent, I love that! I just got a succulent with a similar name - blue chalky fingers, something. If you check out my "compatibility" thread in cacti forum, there's pics of most of my latest hauls. OMG, I see 30- nights next week. (Nasty foul sailor cussing bleep!) "managed to accidentally purchase" I'll go along with that if you will! I'm putting it in my travel notes for NOLA trip!! |
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| i kunnat help meself! i had to post my pic. nominally i grow my amaryllis on the balcony - but it blooms indoors. since it's common minerva - nobody is interested much in a specials fourm, but it's a 2nd year rebloom for me and it's a double tetra, so it's now MINE! so i am thrilled. |
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| Purple-- I have seen the floor pennies! And yeah, they have heliotrope here and I remember it when I was in college in TN and at home in NV. I don't know why it's not there. It's not a full sun plant like it claims in high heat, but it does live. Next week has us at 31 2 nights in a row! Lots of 4 and 5 letter words here to describe how I feel about this. So mad. So really mad. Still trapped here too, no book has arrived so I can't go home. And I'm going to be really mad if it never comes and I could have gone home Tuesday but didn't because i was waiting on a book to arrive in the mail. Petrushka-- yay! That is so exciting! and it looks so pretty! I'm back to being close again to putting everything out. And here I thought it got to go out for spring! |
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| This afternoon, I've been cleaning and disinfecting 43 pots. It seems it's about half of what I've got. Most of them in a size that is just about right for planting seedlings in, before they go to their final pot... why oh why do I have so many of that size? -and so many black ones? I found out I have few clay-coloured plastic pots in a decent size, that will be good for some of all that basil ;o) |
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| I had an abundance at one time of 4" clay pots. it was insane the number I had. It's funny how one size becomes so prevalent. |
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| I've got a few of those as well.... but I can't really use them on the balcony I think... in case we get a hot summer, I might just as well sit in front of them all day with a watering can, watching them dry out ;o) The 4" clay pots I get when buying organic herbs... the plastic ones I get with just about any other plant ;o) |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Sat, Mar 23, 13 at 11:22
| Tuesday night it's supposed to frost here. This is ridiculous!! That Amaryllis is awesome!!!!!!!! |
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| thank you, thank you! that's one of the 3 that was on a water-wick in the 4 hour sunny corner, fed with AV fertilizer in water.i have another coming double and 2 more to plant next week. total of 6. the other 3 were just in soil with osmo. 2 are off-shooting too. they have opened after 3 weeks potting+sev days pre-hydration in water. it's quite fast. i am set for easter:). |
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| 2 more frost nights. Tonight and tomorrow night. Then, hopefully, everything can go back out! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Thu, Mar 28, 13 at 9:13
| Well I don't know if Jack Frost is finished with his work here or not. Woke up this morning to the 3rd frost on a row. I've got dead plants and a bad attitude. Looks like Fall out there, not spring. Whine, complain, kvetch, BAH! Hopefully this will all just be a bad memory soon. |
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| Ugh, I hear you. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be like 34 now, instead of 44 at night. I hope that goes back. |
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| Well, hello, everyone! I will jump in towards the end here to introduce myself and say how excited I am to be sooooo close to getting my own balcony garden going for 2013! Petrushka, I am also in NYC, and my 15th floor balcony faces North-northwest on the long side (shade, but lots of sky), and the short side faces southwest and gets about 3 to 4 hours of blazing sun right at the edge (window boxes) before it's blocked by the next building. I've had two years of joyous gardening here so far and am plotting and planning what to do with the full shade part of the balcony this year. The past two years I've just basically run mad for a weekend or two in May at the Union Square farmers market and planted up what I bought, mostly annuals, with surprisingly wonderful results. This year I'm hoping to get some perennials going that will survive outside all winter - lusting after vines and ferns, to create a bit of a screen between me and nearby neighbors. Happy to find a lively discussion going, btw, and very much looking forward to learning from you guys and sharing my own experiences here too. |
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| Ferns are such a good idea. You can also find shade-tolerant bulbs to add some spring color and then move from there. My balcony gets a few hours of sun, but mostly off the railing. On the balcony itself, there are 2 corners on opposite sides which get sun for about 45 minutes each. So I'm pretty much just bright shade. I'll he reporting on how my clematis and cobaea do this year which may be options for you :) Last year my jasmine did well, and that may also be an option for you as long as you don't get too cold. I know Petrushka brought up the problem of wind and vines, so I don't know. I've got that cubby going which is relatively wind resistant. Does that brick wall sort of protect your lower parts from wind? That could really help. Currently, it looks like the robin couple are considering one of my window boxes for a nest. I'm excited. I need to post some pictures. I have some hyacinths blooming, pansies, daffodils... and grape hyacinths are coming. |
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| Yes, Julianna, I need to get bulbs out there! The brick wall does offer some wind protection, I keep a lot of containers up on various tables so they snatch a little sun, and run out to put them on the floor when storms come through. I'll follow your clematis adventures with keen interest! I would kill to have one of the purple ones, but for the place I have in mind, zero direct sun...so I keep delaying. Good luck with the robins! I'd love to get robins or mourning doves to visit my balcony, but how to do that without also inviting pigeons - who I also like, but who make awful messes - I don't know. So far no problem with any of them, they seem to have noticed that I let my cats come out with me (on a leash, in case a bird flies past and they jump without considering the consequences!). |
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| You could definitely put shade plants then down against the wall which is exciting. If it offers enough wind protection, you could even work with some big leaves plants and whatever else you may become interested in. Do you have a theme? I'm going to be putting out C. panticulata, with the goal of making a monster that covers my alcove siding. We'll see! Oh these little guys are totally not cooperative with aiming their butts over the side and not on my balcony. So i dislike that part intensely, but I like having birds more than my dislike of their messes. I would love to have any birds :) Even pigeons. I let my cats out sometimes, but with the birds now I am keeping them in. They are super miffed, as they really would like to play with their new "friends." :) |
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| Dug around and found one achimenes still alive. I don't know about the others-- I just couldn't find them. If they rotted I should have been able to find their corpses, so it means I just didn't run across them yet. Nasturtiums are sprouting! No frost for tonight or tomorrow, so i think we're in good shape. |
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 Things are starting to fall into place. I'm figuring out how much light qualifies as decent enough ambient lighting. I also figured out that here, in April, arugula becomes nasty in full sun, haha. So off to the shade they went. I've also fallen into the habit of throwing any house plant I don't much like outside. It's totally survival of the fittest. Despite 50-60% humidity in the house, some of the plants just don't seem perfect inside (like the fern) so it got tossed out and will have to make do, or remove itself and give me back the pot.
And, I'm thrilled to report that another gardenia bloomed. I will say this: I paid almost $20 for this gardenia at a private nursery, and I have two more here that I bought at Lowe's and OSH, respective, for under $10. I am giving them all the same exact treatment and this is the only one thriving under my care. I'm starting to wonder if it's me or them! |
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| Grace-- things are looking great! I think you're definitely figuring it out. The first season in a new place is always about learning the quirks. After that, you have such much under your belt and can really make progress. One last cold night tonight-- I hope. 37. Not a freeze, and nothing should be affected. Funny enough, I stuck out my only B Luxurians cutting in a pot-- and forgot it was there. I never covered it or brought it in during all those frosts earlier in March. Found it yesterday-- and it is thriving LOL! I know that planted doesn't freeze much, and this is the proof I guess. It went down to 25, and there was no damage on that little guy at all. |
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| Julianna, I am originally from the east coast but left during college to the west. This means I never planted a single thing in the east coast. I don't think I ever even noticed a plant. So I really have no idea what it's like to garden with four seasons. I read all the posts re: frosts, snow, etc. but it's foreign to me. Until tonight. When suddenly 40pmh winds came through and it dropped to 46. I know to you guys this is basically spring, haha, but to me, it felt like winter. I envisioned pots flying off the balcony or waking up to frosty tomatoes lol. Enough to do this!
I'm such a wimp! And I brought all of my seed trays in, too. My living room is not looking so hot right now. I don't know how you guys do this nightly! The good news on my balcony is this Columbine that fought through bright shade like a trooper and bloomed. It's usually pushed back to the wall on the ground.
Sure looks like spring is here so then why am I so cold??! Grace |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Apr 16, 13 at 9:16
| Ooooh how pretty!!!!! Thanks for this awesome pic, wow! |
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| Haha I am originally from CA/NV, but moved over here for college/grad school. I did live in IN some as a kid between CA and NV times when my dad was in grad school, but I was too young to do much. I fail to believe in frosts myself :P Looks lovely though! And I just don't carry things in and out. I did this time once, but I wouldn't have put it out if I realized it was going to late frost. Did I mention though that my B. luxurians cutting was forgotten about and made it through 25*? LOL! It looks far superior to how it was looking prior to the cold too. It obviously didn't frost in that spot, but it makes me wonder if I carried things in for nothing. Give me another week or two and I'll be back with some pics and such. Right now the papers are dragging me down. I seeded some columbines this past fall and they came up and now are beginning to make some progress beyond the seed leaves. I have hope for maybe next year. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Tue, Apr 16, 13 at 12:19
| I've got a thread going, some pics, in HP about putting HP's in the ground, for the curious. Got started too early, and I don't want to say the F word again, but there was _rost! Pics I just put up today show the arbitrary nature of Jack F's antics. Elmer Fudd and I can tell you, be afwaid, be vewy vewy afwaid! What's also confusing is that it's colder at higher elevations, but at ground level, cold air sinks into low spots. So if I have pots on my porch (about 3.5 feet above the ground,) they're SO much less likely to get frosted. The roof may have something to do with it, helping the cold slide off into the yard. But if one is on the 8th floor, what's the principle? The 19th floor? Does the increased wind on much higher floors help? Guess it would depend on which way it's blowing... Covering with a sheet is worth doing on some marginal nights, but GOLLY, you've got to put a lot of faith in the forecasters! Anyway, I clearly got schooled this year, but don't feel like I'm tempting fate to say it's on now this year. Sorry this pic isn't technically balcony or porch, but it's my view from window next to computer, so gets preference over arranging porch pots. The pot on the ground has an unbelievable amount of tiny plants and cuttings. If half of them live, it should look amazing soon... You'd think when one's using a pot for a 2nd, possibly 3rd time, they'd take that stupid white sticker off. Sheesh. |
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| It still looks good though! You know, I don't know about how it works. Surely if you start getting too high, frost will be more early and late I would think. I'm on the 3rd floor, but my balcony is covered and recessed so it's like boxed in and I have a longer season and more protection. But if you look at like house roofs, they frost before the ground. |
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| Am finally done with finals and the semester is over. I'll be coming back in a bit to post the photos from my absent time! I've missed talking balconies! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Sat, May 4, 13 at 8:27
| Hey, hope that went well! I haven't done much, it's been cold and raining here, then more cold and rain. UGH! Hey, Sugi, what's in that pot from Apr. 2, top pic, bottom left in the pot? Cerinthe? Holy cow that Columbine is pretty, admiring it again. |
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| Purple -- yup, that -- was -- Cerinthe. Ya know, coming back to gardening after many years off, there were some plants I tried to buy that I have had before in my gardens, but as I've found with a couple of things -- they just don't cut it in containers or small spaces like they did in the soil in open land. :-/ Cerinthe was one of them. They had such interesting flowers but the way I had them in that pot, seeing all the grayish foliage --- well, let's just say they are now with their maker. I'd love to be able to do what you do and just plant things into the ground! Columbine -- yes, quite pretty. Wish I could get it more sun, though. I am curious to see how many of these plants do in the fall/winter when the sun drops again and this balcony gets full, full sun. Temps will drop but all day full sun should make some of these happy and others burn. Oh, and Purple -- my gardenias told me to tell you goodbye. >~%\_%(>~:^\^ I cannot believe your weather is still so cold/rainy! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Wed, May 8, 13 at 11:43
| IKR! FINALLY was OK yesterday, and gorgeous today. Sheesh! We've got a case of "eye of the beholder" here, I love foliage that color and weirdly shaped! (Cerinthe.) Not an easy plant or seed to find. Yeah, I planted things in the ground and a handful seem dead still. Not sure it was a blessing this year, yet anyway. Oh well, 'twas fairly easy to replace plants, already have a new Gynura. Seems like the rays during the off-season are weak enough to just be appreciated by about any plant. Curious also to see what your plants think! Are you saying your 'denias croaked? |
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| Weird! Well your post suddenly let me back in! I was kind of locked out of this one particular thread for days lol. Well my lilies of the valley are almost done. The cobaea has grown a ton. Foxgloves are beginning to bloom. I have strawberries coming on. But mostly, my balcony is just green at the moment. I miss all my spring flowers! I can't wait for some of these things to get going. My begonias are all still small as well, not growing as fast as I want them to grow! |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Wed, May 8, 13 at 12:15
| Cool! I don't know why I've never thought to put LOV in a pot before. I gave up on them in OH because they bloom so early, so short, never wanted to get my knees wet and cold to smell them. They were in a spot with no containment edge either, in a naked zone under a big tree, would have eventually crept into lawn and "better" areas of bed on the other side. Great idea! Do you need more annuals? Little things you can tuck into other stuff maybe? Expected to bloom for a LONG time... moss roses, pentas, heliotrope, never enough wax Begonias! I should have sent you some Gladiolus bulbs, those can come right up through other plants. Obviously we'll have to trade again! |
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| LOL well I have no sun-- so glads don't work! I have some annuals coming up. Eventually it will be much more bloomy :) This is just the growth time. My heliotrope is blooming as is my ajuga-- but they just seem so small at the moment. Yeah! My lilies of the valley are doing great in their pots! I love scented things, and scent was my main theme. So They really were something i wanted. I have the majority of them in an old bucket, and during the summer and fall they just add a cool green carpet to one spot. I put moss under them. My double nasturtium has a bud too. Well it has several buds, but this one bud is showing COLOR. That is exciting! And my jasmine has been hanging out in bud for weeks now.. not doing anything. It is so close to blooming! I wish it would just do it already. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Wed, May 8, 13 at 12:48
| Aha, you're just having a moment like that commercial girl, "we like it, we want more, we want more!" I've probably already mentioned her in this discussion, she's my hero the past few weeks. So you've got a lot going on, but it just doesn't seem like enough. I think you're in good company, with EVERYONE! I would get more stuff, but I've got everything they have that I want, at least for now. Probably the same in your pots too. Literally no sun? If you told me that already, I'm too busy remembering the words to 2000 songs instead, you know how those brain cells just do whatever they want. Guess that would explain why I didn't send any, knew that at the time. Speaking of close, and being forgetful, Mother's Day is Sunday. Is everyone on top of that situation? After lunch, I'm going to "finish" those mini gardens I've been babbling about. Will put pics in the thread on house plants when ready, might b tomorrow. Julianna, your beautiful mosaics and seashells got my mind going on those quite a bit. You wouldn't know to look at what I've done but believe it, a flood of ideas, not even necessarily related, germinated because of looking at your beautiful work. It made me want to make everything not only more pretty, but much more personally detailed... in general... about gardening in particular. |
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| Haha! Yes! most places on my balcony see no sun at all. A few places see it for 45 minute increments. Off the railing, I get about 3 hours, but non-consecutively. My pots are stuffed! And I have some more things to go out. I need a new pot. I keep remembering about mother's day and then forgetting again. Aww that is nice! I haven't had a chance to use any of my tablecloths this year. I guess the time is now while the weather isn't too hot and the mosquitoes are low in numbers. Frogs in the puddles in the courtyard and now singing love songs nightly. I wish i could get some to live on my balcony and eat all the bugs that try to bite me as I sit there. |
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