OK, I'll be first. My balcony is 20' x 6', up on the 11th floor. Pics are from on the balcony, can't get "outside" pics without intruding on the neighbors.

This is a "before" shot, back in April, when the perennial plants were starting to show themselves; this shows most of the balcony, but there's about 5 more feet behind where I stood to take the pic:

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Now, my style is what could be called "no space to walk" - it may not appeal to most, but I like it fine. Here's the balcony last month:

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Here's a more concentrated shot, taken about 2 weeks ago while standing in the balcony doorway:

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That's my balcony garden!

PV

I have never posted a pic here before, so I hope this works!

Here is my little balcony "garden" - this is my first year with a balcony, so it's very much a beginner's attempt!

The space is about 4 feet deep by 17 feet long, and it gets almost no direct light (a couple hrs in the late afternoon), so it's been a challenge to find the right plants! Let me know what you think...

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Gorgeous, both of you! I love looking at pictures. It gives me ideas for things i might want to do. ;0)

For example - I have a couple extra window boxes (I moved into a place with a smaller balcony). Why NOT just plant them and put them on the ground with other containers? I have no idea why it didn't occur to me to do that!

i had a Lovely balcony this year..... was my first year to attempt it..... i feel it turned out rather well..... but i'm sad because i am new tho the forum.... and have no idea how to add pics to the messages.....if someone could help me with this.... that would be great !

tandc, it's pretty easy. I use imageshack, but there are other services. Just upload your picture and copy the HTML code (it will be enclosed in symbols), then paste it into your message here. :0)

Here's mine, better late than never...

This is my first year. I'm sure next will be much more green.

My balcony is 15x4. I live on the 2nd floor.

The two large terra cotta pots have Clematis Palette in them. I have three; I'm hoping they'll cover the balcony rails when they get bigger.

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I also have a Clematis Madame Julia Correvon.

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Sometime after the full balcony pic was taken (last month, I think?) I bought a 4' wide arch and two Clematis Asao to climb up it. Here's one of the Asao. The other one got wilt and I had to prune it back.

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Better pics of the flower boxes. Here are the petunias:

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And the... brachycome? I'm not really sure what these are, but I loved them.

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Oh hell, I reorganized my photobucket albums, forgetting that it might screw up the images I just posted. Are you guys seeing the pictures okay?

Okay, *I* can't see the pictures, which makes it pretty reasonable to assume that none of you can either. Let's try this again, shall we?

My balcony is 15x4. I live on the 2nd floor.

The two large terra cotta pots have Clematis Palette in them. I have three Palette; I'm hoping they'll cover the balcony rails when they get bigger.

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Clematis Madame Julia Correvon. I didn't prune it back when I first got it (like I did with the Palette), and the blooms started in August and are still coming. It's covered in flowers right now. This pic was taken a month or so ago.

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I bought a 4' wide arch and two Clematis Asao to climb up it. Here's one of the Asao. The other one got wilt and I had to prune it back. This Asao has a ton of buds coming out, but I'm sure they'll die from cold before they have a chance to open up.

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Better pics of the flower boxes. Here are the petunias:

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And the... brachycome? Dwarf Aster? I'm not really sure what these are, but I loved them.

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Very nice, Violetta! I see you are a clematis aficionado - me too! And I just got 'Madame Julia Correvon' this year as well - to join the other three I've had for a few years.

Your windowboxes are very pretty - nice and lush. Love the brachycome! What's the orange-y flower in the first windowbox pic?

PV

Crap, PV, I just knew someone was going to ask that! I have no idea. If I find the tags I'll let you know - I know they're around here somewhere. They were gorgeous, bushy plants, and the orange flowers opened wide during the day and closed at night. They were fantastic, except that they didn't do well with the petunias. In each box, one would flourish and kill the other. Lesson learned, I suppose!

Here are some more pics, taken yesterday.
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Are those autumn crocuses? How cute! I see your trees are showing their fall colors; here in NYC, the plants seem to think it's still summer, no fall color yet. I suppose that will change soon enough, but the weather has been so weird. Some of my stuff has died back, but quite a lot of it is still gtoing strong.

Here's a part of my terrace, taken yesterday:

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And here's a link to my online album(s), if you'd care to browse thru them.

Garden Photos

PV

Oh my PV, those are gorgeous! You are growing so many things that I've never heard of and I want now! How much sun do you get? My balcony faces south and east, so in the summer it's in full sun the entire day. But in winter here it gets almost no sun at all, so even though we rarely get below freezing (though it does tend to happen here and there), my poor plants are waterlogged until spring. Do you take a lot of yours indoors over the winter?

Specifically, do the coleus stay outside year round? I know people I could easily get cuttings from, and I loved your pot with the different coleus types!

And Dianthus? What is that! I must have it!

Off to google...

LOL, Violetta! Most of the things I'm growing, I never heard of either - until I started hanging out at GW! This place has turned me into a plant freak!

My balcony faces south; in the summer, I get good morning sun on the eastern end and as the day goes on, the sun is mostly along the railing (from 11:00 to about 3:00). My sun-lovers have to fight for space along the railing, plus that's the only place I can grow my tomatoes and peppers. The area that the coleus is in is my "shade garden" - in the summer. In fall and winter, with the sun a bit lower in the sky, the entire balcony is in full sun - too bad it's too cold for anything to grow then!

There are a few things I take inside, like the abutilon and the caladiums, but there are already so many plants inside that I just don't have the room anymore. The coleus pots are so huge this year that they won't make it inside, so I've already starting taking cuttings from them. I just hate to leave them out, they grew so well and are so pretty, but I don't have any choice.

The coleus came from Rosy Dawn Gardens , but I actually grow quite a bit from seed, using the "winter sowing" method. The dianthus - in the carnation family, sometimes called "garden pinks" - were winter-sown this year. The Winter Sowing forum is here on GW - you should check it out. It can become very addicting, which explains why I have so many plants (and MUCH more seed)!!

Glad you enjoyed ...

PV

Pvick: those orangey flowers you were asking about in Violetta's first photo are called Annagallis (spelling could be off, maybe only one 'n' or 2 g's or one 'l'!). And they are cute. I bought one similiar to the one shown called Sunrise. One year I lucked out and found Annagalis Wildcat, that one was orange with a periwinkle blue centre, and they were gorgeous. But I've never found one again, and when I do find these plants in the green house they usually look so spindly and straggly (and unpromising), but take 'em home and baby them for the month before planting out, and then they take off! There's also a blue one that doesn't trail, more shrubby, but the blue is such a beautiful blue, not one copied in any petunia or other blue coloured bloom.

Thanks all for sharing your photos.

Oh! Thanks, kioni. I grew anagallis 'Blue Pimpernel' from seed a few years back - such an intensely blue flower, very pretty! I'd not seen it in any other color. Now I'll have to go looking ....

PV

YES! anagallis wildcat! That's what it was. It was gorgeous and got beautifully bushy, with a ton of flowers... when it didn't get killed by the petunias, that is. I don't think I loved that the flowers closed at night, though. By the time I got home from work they were usually shut tight, so the only time I could enjoy them was on the weekend.

I googled the Blue Pimpernel and it's beautiful. I might need to hunt that down for next year's boxes!

This is great. I really appreciate seeing pictures of everyone else's balcony!

This was basically my second year as a balcony gardener. As you can see, concrete bunker style, 8 x 20 foot.

My first effort at posting photo here. ...not sure how to add additional photos ..

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Here's a couple more?

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This is my view in the winter

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:3748}}

My balcony is just starting to wake up. I really got overeager last fall and planted 175 grape hyacinth in four of my pots. They're all coming up!