Brilliant Fuchsias

Brilliant Fuchsias

The Fuchsias growing on our balcony are doing brilliantly! It’s been several years since I last grew Fuchsias on the balcony & then I had them in the 5 hanging baskets, I’d like to show at least one photo from then but they are all locked away on the HDD of my old computer & I have no access to them for the moment.

This time I bought 3 trays, 4 to a tray, of small plants from the ‘Society For The Blind’ charity shop in town.

Bush Fuchsias just bought for balcony:

I have no idea of what varieties they might be but they have been flowering brilliantly for some months.

I planted them in 3 small troughs, 3 to a trough, on the centre bar around the middle of the balcony railings. As I had 3 left over I put them in other pots on the balcony floor.

I like Fuchsias very much but it can be difficult to keep them over winter as we live in a small flat & there’s not sufficient room to keep them inside during the coldest periods of the winter. I just keep them dry & in their pots on a big, round table in the most sheltered corner of the balcony. I also keep other borderline hardy plants there as well, like Geraniums (Zonal) & Pelargoniums. The 3 types of plant can survive the cold of winter if they are kept dry & protected from the winds. So I will try to keep these alive for next year there as well.

1: Fuchsias & Lobelias on the balcony railings from outside:

2: Fuchsias & Miniature roses in trough on balcony railings seen from outside:

3: Close up of Fuchsia in hanging basket on balcony:

This particular Fuchsia came in this small basket which my brother gave me. Neither he nor I realised the “dead twigs” were a Fuchsia when he gave me it. In fact the basket was full of what I thought might be herbs but, as they seemed practically dead, I put a couple of trailing Begonias in it & they have done extremely well!

4: Fuchsia flowering in strawberry planter on balcony:

5: Fuchsias flowering in green pot on balcony:

6: Fuchsias on balcony from outside:

7: Fuchsias flowering in trough on balcony railings:

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These are the very latest photos which I took on 29th August 2015:

8: Fuchsias on balcony railings:

9: Fuchsias on balcony railings:

10: Fuchsias on balcony railings with Geranium ‘Black Prince’:

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11: I even have a “climbing” Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ on the balcony:

Although I’ve had it 3 or 4 years it has never done very well – in fact I think this year it’s doing better than the previous years – yet it is only now starting to flower for the first time this year & we’re almost into September!

12: Last, but not least, a photo of the strawberry planter with a Fuchsia growing in the top:

“Bloom day”

“Bloom day”

I have so many plants in flower on the balcony that I would love it to be “Bloom day”!

I’ve got a great many different types of flowering plants on our balcony! From Begonias to Morning Glory to Carnations. I also have Zonal Geraniums (at least four different varieties), Dahlias (Dwarf), Lobelias (Self-sown or volunteers), Pelargoniums (3 varieties), Nasturtiums, Petunias, Fuchsias, Gladioli, Sunflowers (self-sown), Gazanias & Sweetpeas! Even a small, bell-flowered Clematis! A couple of Tomato plants & a Spider plant. Not forgetting the 2 species of Lilies: Asiatic & some other hybrid Lilies I grew from seed sent to me by a lady in the USA a few years ago.

I have 4 different types of Begonias alone! Two trailing varieties in hanging baskets; ‘Illumination Salmon pink’ & ‘Illumination Apricot’.

‘Illumination Salmon pink’:

‘Illumination Apricot’:

In another 2 baskets, on the walls at either end of the balcony, there are 2 plants of ‘Mocca mixed’ in each of the baskets with bronze coloured leaves which set the spectacular brilliant red & yellow flowers off wonderfully.

‘Mocca mixed’ in baskets on the ends of the balcony walls:

Then on the balcony railings there are clay pots set in aluminium rings which have Begonias ‘Double mixed’ & ‘Fimbriata mixed’ in them.

‘Double mixed’ on balcony railings:

‘Fimbriata mixed’ flowering in pots on the balcony railings:

Even though they were planted late they have given a wonderful show &, if I can conserve the tubers over the winter, I’ll plant them a lot earlier next year so they are flowering, or at least in bud, when I put them out at the end of May.

It’s curious as I thought last year, 2014, that I would look for trailing Begonias to put in my 6 hanging baskets on the balcony. I had difficulty in finding them in the shops in the town where I live but managed to find them in a street market in a town 8km away. The others I found easily in the shops here. But when the town council started to put out the summer bedding I saw they had also had the same idea as me! They planted out 1,000s of Begonias all over town & they have given a marvellous display all summer!

Balcony (Centre) seen from the outside:

Variegated Geraniums flowering on balcony railings:

Dahlias ‘Diablo’ flowering in white trough on balcony floor:

Sweetpeas flowering on balcony railing:

Florist Carnation (Red) flowering on balcony:

Balsam flowering on table on balcony:

Gladiolus (Red) flowering outside of balcony:

Morning Glory ‘Heavenly Blue’ climbing on balcony:

Morning Glory climbing up strings on balcony:

Gazania ‘Sunrise’ flowering on balcony:

Oxalis deppei ‘Iron Cross’ flowering on the floor of the balcony:

I love these more for their leaves than their flowers!

Spider Plant, also in flower, on the table in the corner of the balcony:

I like it when these plants have flowers! I have a couple more in the kitchen & they can flower several times a year!

I could go on & on …

I think I will leave it here though or this blog will never be published! Perhaps I could do a 2nd part in a week’s time! There are still lots more photos I could put on here as I’ve only included one of each type & could add many others with different varieties & colours!

Shall we put it to the vote? LOL!

Brilliant Fuchsias

Brilliant Fuchsias

The Fuchsias growing on our balcony are doing brilliantly! It’s been several years since I last grew Fuchsias on the balcony & then I had them in the 5 hanging baskets, I’d like to show at least one photo from then but they are all locked away on the HDD of my old computer & I have no access to them for the moment.

This time I bought 3 trays, 4 to a tray, of small plants from the ‘Society For The Blind’ charity shop in town.

Bush Fuchsias just bought for balcony:

I have no idea of what varieties they might be but they have been flowering brilliantly for some months.

I planted them in 3 small troughs, 3 to a trough, on the centre bar around the middle of the balcony railings. As I had 3 left over I put them in in other pots on the balcony floor.

I like Fuchsias very much but it can be difficult to keep them over winter as we live in a small flat & there’s not sufficient room to keep them inside during the coldest periods of the winter. I just keep them dry & in their pots on a big, round table in the most sheltered corner of the balcony. I also keep other borderline hardy plants there as well, like Geraniums (Zonal) & Pelargoniums. The 3 types of plant can survive the cold of winter if they are kept dry & protected from the winds. So I will try to keep these alive for next year there as well.

1: Fuchsias & Lobelias on the balcony railings from outside:

2: Fuchsias & Miniature roses in trough on balcony railings seen from outside:

3: Close up of Fuchsia in hanging basket on balcony:

This particular Fuchsia came in this small basket which my brother gave me. Neither he nor I realised the “dead twigs” were a Fuchsia when he gave me it. In fact the basket was full of what I thought might be herbs but as they were practically dead I put a couple of trailing Begonias in it & they have done extremely well!

4: Fuchsia flowering in strawberry planter on balcony:

5: Fuchsias flowering in green pot on balcony:

6: Fuchsias on balcony from outside:

7: Fuchsias flowering in trough on balcony railings:

These are the very latest photos which I took on 29th August 2015:

8: Fuchsias on balcony railings:

9: Fuchsias on balcony railings :

10: Fuchsias on balcony railings with Geranium ‘Black Prince’:

11: I even have a “climbing” Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ on the balcony:

Although I’ve had it 3 or 4 years it has never done very well – in fact I think this year it’s doing better than the previous years yet it is only now starting to flower for the first time this year & we’re almost into September!

12: Last but not least, a photo of the strawberry planter with a Fuchsia growing in the top:

Spring ending; summer about to start, on the balcony

Spring ending; summer about to start, on the balcony

I know I haven’t written a blog on our balcony in a very long time so perhaps this period of transition between the two seasons is the best time to show a little of what has been flowering on the balcony during the spring.

Balcony seen outside from the centre on New Year’s Day 2015:

Balcony seen outside with snow beginning of February 2015:

Balcony as seen from outside a few weeks later:

Balcony as seen from outside on 1st day of spring 2015:

Another view of the Balcony from the outside as seen from the left:

The sharp-eyed amongst you may realise the caption on the photo doesn’t correspond to the right but the left!

This is the very last photo of the balcony in May 2015:

The balcony doesn’t look very good at present – but then periods of transition never do!

You may have noticed my hanging baskets are planted out & hung up again. They don’t look very good either at present but I can’t afford to buy in baskets nor more mature plants to put in them. The baskets each have a couple of trailing Begonias in them & bush Lobelias around the sides. I don’t like hanging Lobelias as they get in my face all the time when I’m doing anything on the balcony. I did put trailing Lobelias in one year but didn’t like them for that reason. These small plants will soon grow & hide most of the baskets they are in.

My computer has broken down & I no longer have access to my photos on its hard drive. ;-(( So I’m posting this from another computer until I can regain my photos. (Not all of them are lost as many have been kept in my G+ account. I just need to locate & download them to another computer.)

I may not be on GoY very much in the foreseeable future but I will log in from my smart phone & make comments but will not be able to put photos on GoY.

This blog has been several days in the making as I started it before my computer went west!

Planted Busy Lizzies (Impatiens)

Planted Busy Lizzies (Impatiens)

Yesterday was such a warm day that I spent a couple of hours on my balcony planting the two tubs of Busy Lizzies that I bought at the supermarket last Saturday.

I have filled the two wall pouches again with them, it’s the first time I’ve done it with “plug plants”, other years I’ve grown the plants on for a few weeks & then put them in the pouches or I’ve grown them horizontally for a few weeks. This year I’ve no space to grow them inside the flat so they went into the pouches directly onto the walls in the balcony. If frost is predicted I shall bring them if for the night.

As there is only space for 12 in each pouch I was left with another 12 plants of both the colours I used! What to do with them? ??? Well, I planted one of each colour in individual small pots & put them on one of the bedroom windowsills. My wife had bought some mini daffs a couple of weeks ago & put them on this windowsill but as these had now finished I swapped them for the two Busy Lizzies! I put the daffs in the Camellia pot! I had intended to buy some more Daffs to put in the pot in the autumn – now that won’t be necessary!

I have two conical hanging baskets on the balcony, I think I bought them back in 2003. I have had them planted with Ivy Leaved Geraniums ever since. The same plants have been hanging in the balcony ALL this time (including the winters) & I’ve never changed the soil nor taken the plants out! I’ve made holes in the sides to add Lobelias or dwarf Nasturtiums.

So this year I took the baskets down emptied out the soil & replanted them with new soil. I then planted Busy Lizzies in the holes in the sides & added a few more in the top!

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos of the Busy Lizzies to add to this blog to illustrate the text!

This photo was taken in July 2007

This photo was taken in July 2005

This photo was taken at the end of the first week of September 2008