The July Balcony

The July Balcony

As I haven’t shown many of the plants on our balcony at home I thought I would do a blog on what has happened on it during this month of July which is practically over now.

Balcony seen from outside (Centre) on 1st July 2017:

Balcony as seen from street on 15th July 2017:

Balcony seen from outside (Centre) 22nd July 2017

Just 3 weeks separate the first & third photos! As you might expect during July quite a bit has happened, not only have the plants got bigger & flowered even more but there are many new plants on the balcony as well.

For example, as there is no room in the flat for my Amaryllis once the leaves reach their full size during the summer, I’ve been forced to put some out on the balcony, on some shelving I put up for them & then painted green:

This shelving I put up at the far end of the balcony from the door which is also the far end of our living room. There it doesn’t block out any meaningful amount of light.

Plants on the middle bar of the railings & on the floor:

Standard Marguerites from Dick on balcony 1st July 2017:

Fuchsias (Standards from Dick) on balcony 1st July 2017

At the far right you can see that 1 of the 4 standard Fuchsias Dick gave me didn’t survive its repotting & has since died! The other 3 are doing fine:

Fuchsia ‘Jollies Macon’ in pot on balcony 15th July 2017:

Another Fuchsia given to me by Dick (a friend from church).

Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ in square tub on balcony 1st July 2017:

I’m much happier with this Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ than at any other time since I was given a small plant & a few cutting from a member of another gardening forum some years ago.

Can you make out how much she has grown in just 3 weeks? In fact she has been growing at an average of an inch a day during July!!!

The original plant is still growing but has never made this amount of progress in one season. She shares a square tub with 4 other Fuchsia plants

I rooted them all last autumn & managed to keep them alive all winter. Then in late May I planted them all out in this tub. I didn’t know at the time of planting that the tallest one was ‘Lady Boothby’ even though I suspected it might be. I thought I would train it to become a standard 3 ft high. But after a few weeks I was convinced it must be ‘Lady Boothby’ when the original plant started growing & the leaves were identical & the form of growth the same. I then decided it wasn’t a good idea to train it as a standard after all. Now the plant is almost as tall as me!

Variegated Geranium ‘Black Prince’:

This particular Geranium came originally as a cutting from a GoY member who lived in Scotland. It roots very easily & therefore I’ve been able to root many cutting over the years & so keep it alive. I love the nearly black foliage & the pale pink flowers that contrast so well with the leaves!

Variegated Geraniums ‘Vancouver Centennial’:

I bought a plant of this Geranium in Sainsburys on a whim some years ago. Again it roots very easily & I’ve been able to root many cuttings from the original plant.

Variegated Geraniums Green & white:

I’m not 100% sure but I think I bought this Geranium at the same time as ‘Vancouver Centennial’. It also roots with a great deal of ease &, like the above Geraniums, I’m been able to root many cutting form the plant over the years I have had it.

All of these Geraniums are very floriferous indeed & I grow a few plants of them every year.

Begonias on balcony in hanging baskets:

This yellow Begonia is flowering even better now than when I took this photo! Even better than in pots on the balcony railings for 2 years!

Yellow Begonia in hanging basket on balcony 30th July 2017:

Trailing Begonia ‘Illumination Salmon-Pink’:

I’ve had this trailing Begonia for 3 years now (the same as the others, as I bought all the tubers 3 years ago) & it has spent 2 winters in a wicker hanging basket. There were 2 tubers in the basket which grew & flowered for 2 years but one hasn’t returned this year. The other one is this photo above.

I have another trailing Begonia ‘Illumination Apricot’ but it hasn’t begun to flower yet this year. Again I had 2 tubers but one died during the winter.

Wicker hanging basket with Fuchsia buds 1st July 2017:

Double Fuchsia Flowering in wicker hanging basket on balcony 30th July 2017:

The flowers opened a day or two ago.

Tomatoes:

Tomato ‘Moneymaker’ plants in corner of balcony 1st July 2017:

Tomatoes ‘Moneymaker’ underneath shelving in corner of balcony 1st July 2017:

Tomato ‘Moneymaker’ on balcony from inside 15th July 2017:

Tomato plants ‘Moneymaker’ on balcony 30th July 2017:

View of balcony railings from inside 30th July 2017:

With these last photos taken this evening I’ll finish this blog of our balcony during July 2017.

… on the last day of (September) summer

… on the last day of (September) summer

I imagine you all know the nursery rhyme song about the The Big Ship Sails on The Ally-Ally-Oh (on the last day of September), well that is where I get my inspiration for the title of this blog!

This being a gardening forum I’m not about to talk about ships or the months of the year – no, not even the seasons (though these do concern us gardeners quite a bit!)

No, I want to show you the balcony I garden on & from where my avatar name derives.

So here is a view on our balcony as you might have seen it if you had walked past it yesterday (or today or tomorrow for that matter!):

Balcony as seen from the street on the last day of summer 20th September 2016:

Here are some other views taken at the same time as the first one:

Balcony seen from the right hand side:

Balcony seen from the centre:

Balcony seen from the left hand side:

Begonias flowering on balcony railings from the inside:

Trailing Begonias Apricot and Salmon pink on balcony railings:

Dahlia ‘Diablo’ on balcony floor seen from outside:

Dianthus chinensis: China Pink ‘Baby Doll’ on balcony railings:

Carnation (florist red) flowering on balcony railings:

I call this “florist red” because it came originally from a couple of cuttings from a bunch of red Carnations our daughter bought her mum when she lived with us after returning from Spain.

Fuchsia in strawberry planter on balcony:

Fuchsia red and white on balcony floor:

Fuchsia Purple & white in hanging basket on balcony:

Variegated Geraniums ‘Vancouver Centennial’ on balcony:

This is one Geranium a really love!

Gladiolus flowering on balcony railings:

A Gladiolus corm somehow found its way into the trough that sits in the centre of the balcony railings. When I first noticed it it was too late to do anything about it. I was surprised when I saw a flower spike was developing! But, as you can see, it grew & flowered very well & wasn’t broken down by the wind as I fully expected to happen!

Lavatera flowering on balcony:

These are seedlings that I never found space for in the pots, tubs & troughs on the balcony! They have grown & flowered in the same little pots I put them in when I did the first transplant!

There are half a dozen little pots of the red florist Carnations I rooted in the seedtray with the Lavateras. I find this Carnation a doodle to root!

But I don’t just grow flowers I also grow tomatoes! In fact I’ve grow a few plants almost every year of the 15 years we have lived in this flat & I’ve been gardening on this balcony!

Here are a few photos of the yellow cherry tomatoes that are growing on the balcony this year:

Yellow cherry tomatoes ripening on balcony:

Tomatoes seen from behind the Begonias on the balcony railings from outside:

I have enough plants on my balcony to make up a 2nd blog! One of the difficulties is that it is almost impossible to get a decent photo of most of them together as I can’t move away far enough so I can only take partial photos. Look at the two of the Begonias, I took one from the left side & one from the right side yet not all the 13 pots of Begonias are visible in the two photos!

I expect that many of you wonder at the strings you can see in the photos of the balcony – well, wonder no more, here’s the answer:

Morning Glory climbing up chicken wire:Morn

Morning Glory climbing up strings:

Early in the morning on the first day of autumn 2016:

Now we have started the autumn I think I can safely say the summer of 2016 is well & truly over for this year!

Fuchsias on balcony

Fuchsias on balcony

I bought about a dozen plants last year from the Society for the Blind shop in town, unfortunately they weren’t named. :-(( They flowered very well during the summer then I dug them up, cut them back & put them in pots in the autumn. They were kept pretty dry in the mini-greenhouse in the most sheltered corner of the balcony. The majority of them survived the winter even though they were outside.

I planted them up in the centre of 9 hanging baskets in late May, they were making good progress till we went to Spain, to attend to my wife’s mother, for 3 weeks in July.

During that time our son looked after them but unfortunately when we got back home I saw they had, for the most part, dried up!

Obviously my son hadn’t given the baskets enough water! He is new to gardening never having grown anything other than a Pothos in his flat in Spain. He now has his own garden & often asks his father for help!

I cut them back very drastically, leaving no more than an inch of stem on the plants in the hope they will grow back again.

The little plants that surround the dead stems of the Fuchsias are Busy Lizzie (Impatiens) seedlings that I put in the baskets about a week ago. As the baskets have next to no flowers after the Fuchsias died I thought these would make a good show to compensate.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be & only one has survived the drastic cut back. (In the circle)

Hanging wicker basket with Fuchsia & trailing Begonia on balcony:

Fuchsia flowering in green pot on balcony floor:

Fuchsia flowering in strawberry planter on balcony:

Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ on balcony:

‘Lady Boothby’ is supposed to be a “climbing” Fuchsia but with me it’s never got higher than about a metre (3ft).

And to finish this blog here is a photo of our balcony taken from outside:

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:

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!