A Walk in the Park

Not much happening on the balcony so I thought I would post a pic from a walk in Prospect Park with my brother. It was a lovely journey through a haze of hungry dragonflies and we (he) spotted this catbird amidst the chokecherries.

Sunset on the Balcony

Forever September

I don't want winter to come and take this all away.

Experimenting with Nasturtiums

Every spring I optimistically plant nasturtiums and then by midsummer I am looking at shriveled and sickly discolored leaves that are absolutely pathetic and have virtually no flowers. So this year, I am trying an experiment. The last week in August I planted 4 packages of nasturtium seeds. My theory is that as the cool weather hits I will have exploding plants that resemble the spectacular displays I see in midsummer Maine. I just hope a frost doesn't hit before the flowers. Here are some of my many 2 week old babies. (Oh, and the color is back in my petunias - returned as mysteriously as it disappeared.)

 

 

 

 

 

iphone!

Got an iphone! Am playing around with its camera. Here is the white box I was sick of a month ago...Am liking it better. And the other window box I wasn't sure of...Am liking that one better too!

 

 

Cut flowers

My little balcony doesn't have space for a lot of plants that could produce flowers for cutting. But roses work! And this one was getting all spotty so I starting hacking off the most affected branches...ta da...cut flowers!!!!

Ha! One Snuck By!

A couple of months ago I bought a packet of Coreopsis seeds and scattered them in my pots. Then I promptly forgot about them. Recently I thought about the seeds and cursed the nursery for selling me bad seeds that were probably expired and didn't germinate.

Yesterday I looked down and there was a cute little Coreopsis blossom in one of my planters. Then  I examined the leaves and realized I have been very deliberately weeding Coreopsis plants out for the last couple of weeks. This one snuck by, because it is just so freaking crowded in that planter that I didn't notice it and thereby didn't murder it!

 

Coreopsis



Anemic Petunias

Wow, something has sucked the color right out of my petunias. I am not horribly bothered by this - they have an antique faded quality that I kind of like. But I would sure like to know what has done this to them. Have researched it and the two culprits seem to be heat and soil ph. Since it has been really cool, I am leaning towards ph. Also, I fertilized with regular old Miracle Grow about 2 weeks ago.

This Morning

 

Last Month

 

 

Next summer I will run experiments with different types of plant food in different pots of the same color! Will produce a lab report when I have finalized the results....

 

The really exciting news is that Ramona is covered it little buds. I think she is actually going to do it and have a fall explosion despite her war of attrition with the Heuchera! Yippppeeeeee!!!!! 

at least i got one!

Well, I was hoping for the Ramona to do her thing. She put out two flowers this summer. One in July and one in August. I have decided that it must be the coral bells she is fighting with... I stupidly put them in the same pot. They are going to get one more year together, since last year the Ramona did well. If next year is another bust, then that is it....they are going to have surgery to separate their roots. I am going to need sedatives to perform the operation!

 

One crazy faded Clematis Ramona blossom

Back in Love

All it took was a few days in the 70's and I like my flowers again. Also, I did a little rearranging. That is always fun, to see them with new companions. The petunias had a haircut a few days ago and already ready to pop again. I love this technique. Next summer I am going to fill several flower pots full of them and give them haircuts on a rotating schedule so there are always petunias blooming! There are clematis blooming and new buds arriving! All I had to do was wish for it!

This is how I cope with August. I start planning next summer! I like my white roses again and have figured out my design dilemma. I will buy another white rose, and the low down pots will be filled with white, pink and purple. The window boxes will be loaded with vibrant oranges, yellows and some more purple. Can't wait!

I moved some coreopsis so it is right outside the screen door. I love it. Here is the window box shot through the screen.

Mistakes!

Okay, so here it is the dog days of August. No more purchasing for the garden this year. (A personal rule) I am left reviewing the choices I made and watering, watering, watering. All that watering some how makes me focus on the things that are driving me crazy. I know from experience that in September when the garden work load decreases and the tapped out, wasted plants start a new flush of flowering I will experience renewed pleasure from my flowers. Right now all  I focus on is their flaws...signs of mildew, yellowing leaves, poor color combinations and on and on....Kind of like 6:30 pm when you are tired, on your feet cooking dinner and all your children are whining!

Mistake #1
Bad color combination. Ick! I keep thinking how amazing this would be if the million bells were any color but pale pink...Yellow, purple, fuchsia - anything but that washed out pink with the orange portulacas.

 

 

 

Mistake number #2

 

Putting flowers that are only open part of the day into a window box. What a boring window box this is by 4pm! The portulacas and the ganzania are all snapped shut. This, by the way, is the window box that was entirely created from dividing and propagating flowers from other locations (except for the ganzanias). So except for some new soil, this box cost only $2 to fill this year. So even if it is tired by 4pm, I am still pretty pleased with it. Next year I will do the same thing, but put them in containers lower down that don't grab your attention quite so much. That is clematis weaving its way behind the flowers...Would it be too much to hope for some more buds in Sept???

 

 

Mistake #3

An all white window box...this seemed lovely in theory, but in actuality it is deadly boring and doesn't work aesthetically with any of my other choices. Never again!!!!

 

 

 

 

Mistake #4

 

Chosing a white rose based on the notion that white window boxes would be lovely! Will have to figure out how to work this rose into my conception for next year.

 

 

 

 

 

I guess this is one of the things that makes gardening so much fun...It's never finished. There is always room to make it better. For now I will just keep watering....

 

 





Getting Better With Petunias

I have never been happy with my petunias. Despite efforts to deadhead them, I am always left with a leggy hideous display of spindly yuckiness.

This summer I determined I was going to figure out how to handle them. I have a neighbor who has such beautiful petunias and I asked her how she did it...She said whenever they look scraggly she just hacks them back. Then I read about a technique of cutting them back one third at a time, so you are never left with completely sheared plants. So I have been trying this technique and so far, so good. Will keep you posted.

Petunias

probation

Can't decide what to do with my Ramona Clematis. The Ernest Markhams are behaving themselves and producing a profusion of flowers...The Ramona...not so much! Just one little flower. Part of the problem might be that due to the fact that they are on a terrace, I have been hacking them back so I don't have a lot of unsightly leafless vines, or worse, vines covered in blackened dead leaves, all over the place in the winter. Maybe the Ramona needs old growth to get a decent first flush. We'll see what happens in a month or so. Maybe I can find a place where the dead looking vine won't be a problem and let this clematis do what it wants to do.

 

Ernest Markham, Ramona

 

 

 

Another pic of my new love. Very flower power '60's!

 

 





I Am In Love!

Here it is...my new love. These are the flowers I drew from imagination as a child, come to life. It's like I wished for them and then they appeared!

 

 

 

Ganzania



The clems have arrived but I haven't gotten a satisfying shot yet, so I will just post what I have. More to come.



Every Day Flowers

I am learning to love begonias! I used to look down on them as ordinary and ridiculously ubiquitous. But they are sturdy troopers that have a simple charm when used appropriately. I can't stand to see solid rows of red and white ones all lined up like an American flag minus the stars. But in a pot by themselves or mixed in with some other plants they can be quite becoming and they are hard to murder. Oh, and speaking about ordinary and hard to kill, that's bugleweed (Ajuga) behind the begonia!



 

                                                            

 

white begonias

 

 

 

I also love jolly little violas. I don't know how much longer these little guys will last...the heat is about to be on. But I am enjoying them while I can.

 

 

 

 

violas

 

 

 

My palette is so subdued. I really can't wait for the clematis to explode and add some color to the balcony. My cone flowers are arriving too. They infuse a little life into this cool cool scene!

 

 

 

cone flowers

 



 

 

 

Son of Starry Night

Here are more rose photos...Just in love with the idea of having roses on my balcony! Clems need about two weeks to pop...hope the rose is still going strong then.

 

Starry Night Rose



Starry Night - the sequel

Still revelling in my new roses. Maybe I always will. I tend not to take flowers for granted.

 

Starry Night, Portulaca, Scaveola, Million Bells, Creeping Jenny



Starry Night

Here it is...my first Starry Night Rose. My first rose period. Eagerly anticipated. An experiment. To see if roses can survive on the balcony.

 

Starry Night Rose

 

 



Normandy Poppies

Poppies from blog "my french country home"

sometimes I wish I had more then a balcony to work with!

Barb's Boxes

Here are some pics sent by my friend Barb. I thought it would be fun to include some other Brooklyn gardeners here. I can't figure out how to save them...they don't want to save!!! So they are a different size.

 



Can't decide

Sometimes I love this grouping and sometimes I don't. I did it for the front of the complex to go with the brick. I didn't want anything too splashy. It's lower down in front of our door not our balcony. I can't decide whether it is too brown and dreary or whether it is muted and soothing. Maybe I'll like it better when the nasturtiums are blooming.

 

 

 

Coleus, Nasturtiums, Geraniums, Sedum, Creeping Jenny



Plucked and Stuck

I love breaking off pieces of my sedum and portulacas and just sticking them into bare soil. It's fun to watch them grow and a cheap, cheap, cheap way to fill up your containers. The Ganzania were purchased. Everything else was plucked and stuck. Can't wait to see this in September!

 



 

Ganzania, Creeping Jenny, Sedum, Dianthus

 

 

 

Besides ganzania another new flower for me this year is coreopsis. I am hoping they come back next year - they are light and airy, perfect to keep terrace claustrophobia at bay.

 

 



 

Coreopsis

 

 

And here they are from another view.

 

 

 

 

And just in case you are interested in seeing what is in that corner that has been cut off...here you go!

 

 





 

 

I didn't plant enough pansies!

Last year I went to Home Depot and went nuts buying pansies. I just scooped up huge flats of them, they were cheap and they make me so happy. For some reason, this year I did not indulge this pansy passion. And now I regret it. It's too late to plant pansies. I miss their sunny faces. So I am posting this picture from last year.

 

Pansies





Timing

Just waiting for my roses to open...I want to see all these flowers together. I fear that the dianthus will fade before the roses pop...Oh well, just an excuse to go buy some geraniums to replace the pink!

 

 

 

Scaveola, Dianthus, Portulaca, Starry Night Rose



Preventing Claustrophobia

With a tiny balcony it is important not to feel too closed in. Last year I had spectacular window boxes filled with cascading scaveola and jolly hot pink geraniums. But when I sat down out there I was staring straight into this wall of flowers. There was no sense of space or a horizon. This year I have many fewer window boxes draped over the edge of the balcony and I am sticking to whites with the one I have. I have them blocking the ugly view...the pretty view just has a pot of strawberries to peer through. Fresher, calmer, cooler....

 

Bacopa, Creeping Jenny, White Geraniums, Violas



Weird Angles

Because my balcony is only 10 feet by 3 feet it is very hard to get perspective. I find my best viewing angle is to lean out my daughter's window and look at the balcony from the side. If I try to look up from the street you can't see much, because it is on the third floor. And if I try to take it in sitting out there, I am so close I am seeing all trees and no forest. For taking pictures, I often find I like the shots from above a container, because it gives you that sense of layers that an actual garden has.

Portulaca love

I am loving my portulacas. I wish my camera could get the color right. They are a spectacular orange, like a mango blended with a tomato! Not nearly as pink as they appear here.

 

Portulacas



Stubborn Clematis

The trouble with clematis on a balcony is that they always want to turn their faces away and look outward...a stubborn and independent child. I have to force them to address me by tying, twisting and bending them so that they are looking at me when I sit on the balcony. Well, at least one or two. The rest just do what they want.

 

Ernest Markham Clematis



OH NO!!!!

I have just realized to my horror that a window box of what I assumed were anemones taking their time to bloom, is instead full of some unidentified and I fear unwanted invader. I am freaked out!!! Two gardening freak outs in a row. I am posting pictures of my anemones from last year to make myself feel better.

 Sylphide Anemone, Crocuses, Pansies and Hyacinths

 

 

 

 

 

 



Planternal Instincts!

How did I know? Yesterday morning I was infused with a protective anxiety for my clematis. Since it just unfurled you would think that I would  relax and glory in it's gloriousness for a week or so. But no, yesterday morning I was writing about saying goodbye to it and what happens...Last night we are hit with a high wind advisory. Total werewolf city. Clouds rocketing past a full moon, wind moaning, trees bending. And when the light comes on this morning, what do I see on my balcony? A very battered newly hatched Ernest Markham Clematis. Poor baby...

 

 



Flower Anticipation

My problem with perennials is that you are always saying goodbye. I have been waiting and waiting for this clematis to open. Now that it has obliged, I want it to stay forever. As soon as my flowers appear I am beginning to say goodbye. I almost prefer the anticipatory stage before they bloom because I don't want to see them fade! Thank goodness for happy little annuals that will bloom on endlessly!

Ernest Markham Clematis