Snake Plant Baby

I don't think I talked about this last time because I just noticed it yesterday. My snake plant has another baby. This is the second one. The first one is big now!

Caladium

The Caladium has finally sprouted. I'm so glad it didn't rot. This is suppoed to be white wing which is white with green edges and I think veins. It's not looking that way but I'll wait for it to get bigger.

 

Daylily Scape

A few daylilies are forming scapes. I'm excited to see them bloom! This one is called Painters Palette which is Salmon with a gold throat.

 

The Ferns, Boston and Maiden.

I was surprised to pull out the ferns to water them and they are just so great. I found that if I shelter them under the hibiscus's leaves they don't get burnt and grow a whole lot better.

 

Jacqueline Hillier Elm New Growth

 

Here are the Buds and New Growth. I took off the one by the base because that is just not wanted and not in bonsai.

 

Dimorphotheca aurantica 'African Moon'

 

The beautiful bloom I have been waiting for. The peach on the outside is really more vibrant then I had thought it would be. But it is beautiful!

 

Unknown Seedling

I thought this seedling had looked weird and I was right. This is not a rock soapwort like the others in the neighboring cells. I have no idea what it is but I did just overseed the rock soapwort. I don't remember what I planted in the cells before since I reused the tags for other plants. I'm wishing it to be a Cascade Petunia.

 

In the past few days if seems I have gotten many new surprised from my balcony garden. Yet again patience has payed off as I was hoping it would. It seems every time I finally say that I will throw out that plant that just must be dead with all these months of no life, it comes alive.

I'll post pictures later. I keep going out when the sun just washes my photos out no mater what exposure I put it to. Anyways my bonsai Jacqueline Hillier Elm is alive! I had really thought it would be dead. Just a few days ago I looked at the roots of the little tree and thought for sure if must be dead. I noticed some new growth on the bottom of the tree. This new growth I will have to cut/pinch off because it's close to the base and well that's not wanted in bonsai. There is a bud forming on the top so I will wait long to see if it will bust out with leaves. During fall it started to get new leaves and was looking great but then the winter stripped it of it's leaves. I was scared I had lost it. I really love the little Elm's pretty leaves they are the cutest and so tiny the size of a pinky nail.

I have been patiently awaiting for my caladium to sprout. I was worried that I had planted it a few weeks too early and that the bulb had rooted. It has sprouted and I am excited to get a caladium finally. I still wonder what kind I got and if it was white wing for sure. The nursery I got it from has those open boxes and I'm scared I might have picked up one of the neighboring ones. Just want to make sure what I have so I can put it in the right conditions. I might just put it out by the front door or keep it on my desk like I had planned. Maybe I will bring the invicible hosta on my desk and the white wing caldium to the front door. When I orderd the invicible I really didn't order it and that was the sub they gave me. I wanted a full shade hosta and it's just not growing as well as I think it should be.

Besides those two wonderful things happening I have a spectacular bloom to show. When I saw these seeds online I fell in love with Dimorphotheca aurantica 'African Moon'. It was sold as  Osteospermum but is not, it's a Dimorphotheca. It has bloomed! It is gorgeous but as I predicted the image on the site is not how the color always is. It's white with apricot outlining the inside and outer edges. The apricot is a lot brighter then I had anticipated but it's still so beautiful in my eyes. I used to be a hater of blooms that look like daisies. Now I love the daisy like blooms they are just so cheerful. I transplanted it from it's 4" container into I think an 8" maybe 6" with the Hyacinth beans and the trellis.

Lastly that I remember is probably the one I was really waiting for the most. A few of my many daylilies have scapes! I was getting discouraged because I hadn't seen any sign of scapes just a bunch of foliage still. When I purchased all the daylilies I went a bit nutty. I didn't realize how much room they take and was not prepared with enough containers. I smooshed them into a really large one, a rectangular one, and a smaller rounder pot prob 8". I had read if they are too close and compact they won't bloom. I will have to divide them later on in the year and maybe sell them or give them more space.

Oops I also forgot that my Variegated Dracaena, Dracaena marginata 'Tricolor' is alive. I was just thinking today I should yank it out of the container with the devils backbone in it. When I looked down there are two heads of dracaena on the base of the plant. So if anyone has had these do I just cut back the previous ones severely to the base of leave them and new growth will happen. I'm not sure. Anyways I'm glad it is bad because it is a nice unique plant and adds some nice height and texture to the balcony.

Dracaena marginata ‘Tricolor’

Aeonium 'Kiwi'

I went to the Botanical Gardens today to let go of some stress and relax a bit. Also I needed to acquire some more photos for my blog because it's getting boring seeing the same few plants over and over.

I went into the San Antonio Garden Center for the first time today. I never have gone in there for whatever reason. Today there was a plant sale by The San Antonio Cactus and Xerophyte Society. I've been eying the succulents at work but just haven't got the guts to purchase them.

I walked in and there were all these  plants everywhere mostly in 4 inch or smaller pots but also many in bigger pots too. They had some tables on the right of award winning plants that had been named yesterday. They were spectacular of course and I wish I had taken some photos of them.

 

I thought I would walk around and look at all the cool things for sale but of course not purchase anything. As you can see I did purchase. I went up to one table and started picking up cute succulents when that vendor started talking to me. I had to start asking questions stupid me. She then was recommending stuff I might like that would do good inside or on my balcony. Next thing I know I have 4 plants in a box that I am carrying around while she tries to sell me more.

The Aeonium 'Kiwi' is a cute variegated succulent that will get 2-3 feet tall and 1-2 feet wide. It likes cool sun light shade so it is on my windowsill in the computer room.

Jovibarba hirta f/Belansky Tatra

These little fellows are awesome. I have them on the balcony in hopes what she said is right and they will live out there in the full sun. These were the first things I saw and picked up right away with intent on buying them if they were just right for my conditions. They make little babies (like the one in the upper left corner) that will grow and roll off then grow some more. After picking these up she could tell I was a newbie but one that would fall in love with succulents and strange plants. She then proceeded to show me things similar to these guys. That was when I picked up the Aeonium Kiwi with it's nice variegation and pinkness to the tips.

Adenium Obesum/ Desert Rose

She started to show me different succulents in her few books that she had. She would point out plants and watch my reaction to them and then go from there. She showed me this Desert Rose and said she would cut the price in half since it needed a good home and she thought I would do well with it. Desert Roses are supposed to be easy to begin with. I think she was having a hard time selling it because everyone wanted the much larger ones and I clearly likes to buy things in smaller form but didn't mind them getting larger. She grew this Desert Rose from seed which is good. This means it will have a nice trunk that will enlarge with the plant and possibly make more branches for more flowers.

 

Dutchman's Pipe

She showed me the Dutchman's Pipe and I wasn't too keen on it. She some how bribed me into taking it. I'm a sucker for when people push me to buy plants especially when I am on the fence about them. If I don't like them well then I don't. If I do then I really do. But if I'm not sure what you say can nudge me to buy it or quickly make me not want it. I thought I knew what this looked like but when I went home to search I was wrong. I thought it was the Dutchman's Pipe Vine but it can't be since it looks nothing like that. The only thing that goes by Dutchman's Pipe is the Dutchman's Pipe Cactus also called Night Blooming Cereus or many other names. I had cuttings before of that plant and the leaves look nothing like this. I know that there is a confusing with the Night Blooming Cereus since another plant has same blooms that bloom at night too but it's leaves are not as fleshy and whatever else. I thought it would be the cactus but my leaves don't look anything like the plant when it is grown. I couldn't find any photos of when the plant is small or grown from seed so I have no idea. I am about to email her in a few days if someone does not ID it. I just want to know for sure what I have.

So 4 plants came home with me. 3 of them I am very happy with and the 4th it depends on what it really is to make me really like it or regret it. I think I got a new addiction now to succulents. It would be easy to sell them and not all that much space to do all the propagation.

 

Columbine

Everyone once in a while I attempt at taking some nicer photos of my plants. There is a contest going on that I need to apply to soon. It's a flower photography contest. I'm not getting my hopes up because it's not something I'm extraordinarily good at. I know many people who are professionals or just take stunning photos that I can't even touch with a stick. Just thought I would submit some of mine because you never know right?

Here are some photos I took. None of them I will be submitting because they just aren't submitable in my opinion. Since I took them and like them enough I'll share anyways.

White Petunias

 

Yellow Pansy

 

Sweet William about to fully bloom

 

Hyacinth Bean Vine seedling

Lt Blue Mt Fuji Morning Glory

 

I planted many seeds on 3-28-08. There were new seed packets I bought and seed packets from the end of last year. I planted some seeds of seedlings that didn't make it over the winter and some that didn't germinate a few months ago.

 

The Mr Fuji Morning Glory I sowed popped up on 4-1-08. It only took a few days. I do have some growing but when they were inside something happened and they lost all their leaves. Since then they haven't really showed any sign of being good plants one day. Now I get to see what this new seedling will do. Hopefully it will fair better since it doesn't have to be inside.

Statice Sinuata Blend

 

My statice seedlings were the first of the new seeds to sprout. I'm excited one of my taller plants germinated. I have a habit of picking short plants for my balcony. That doesn't make a lot of interest so I made an effort to pick taller plants to grow. I've never heard of Statice or seen it. I'm not sure that I really like the appearance of the plant. All I know is that it is tall, drought tolerant, heat tolerant, likes full sun, good for cut flowers, and is a perennial here. I'm surprised so many germinated. I might have to do some trading of these extra plants.

 

Heavenly Angels Mix Peony Poppy

 

One little sprout has shown up of the Peony Poppy 4-2-08. I bought a mix that had a dark purple, white, pink, and red mix. I did grow these before but something happened to them inside while awaited the danger of frost to pass. They were doing good and growing well even though slowly then one day they just all dried up. I think they don't like to be disturbed. There were a few instances that the little peat pot fell over and the seedlings were disturbed.

 

Venus Poppy

There are many sprouts of Venus Poppy 4-2-08. This is another one that did well but it didn't make it. Possibly for the same reasons of being tipped over and disturbed. Now that the Poppies have a nice home outside in pots that shouldn't be in danger they should do fine, hopefully.

 

Laurentia

The Laurentia is still growing, still slow. I got 2 seeds to germinate. The other seedling is doing well it's just further behind. I'm glad I got at least one seed to germinate.

Nemesia Mello Red and White

 

This is strange. The Nemesia is doing well. The small seedling was actually the first to germinate. The largest seedling was the last one to germinate. I'm not sure what happened to have one grow so rapidly and the other not so much. The first to germinate also go really long and I'm not sure why.

 

Other seeds that have germinated but don't have the pictures uploaded for:

Hare's Tail Grass- Sprouted on 4-3-08

Hyacinth Bean- planted on 3-27-08 and sprouted on 4-2-08...another seed planted on 4-2-08

 

Laura Bush Petunia

I grew this Laura Bush Petunia from seed. This along with the Celosia were grown for my Herbaceous Plants class as a project. I now how to write a paper on the progress etc. Out of half a flat of seeds I only got 1 laura bush petunia and 1 celosia to make it. By the way the scientfic name for the Laura Bush Petunia is Petunia x violacea. I couldn't find the name in the list so I just put it as Petunia.

Here is my Celosia. It even has a bloom on it already. I don't approve of how the school takes care of their plants. I would prefer they do it organically but they use chemicals which kind of made me wish they would try the organic methods at least. Even though I planted the seeds I really didn't do much else with these plants. This is what I disliked about the project because I would have like to have watered them and fertilized them myself. The helpers there don't always do a good job about watering things. I had quit a few seedlings of the Celosia and Laura Bush Petunias growing but my flat happened to be the one that the misting system dripped on. They also didn't water my flat enough because many of my seedlings just dried up. By the way I really don't like the look of the Cockscomb Celosia which is what I planted. I should have done a zinnia or gloriosa daisy instead.

White Petunias

These white petunias were planted from plugs that the school got. We got to each plant a flat or two and several hanging baskets of Petunias. I'm not sure what happened to my flat but it disappeared. So I took someone elses ...shame on me but I wanted at least one.

Red Petunias

This is one of the hanging baskets. This also is not my basket. I couldn't find mine in the crowd of baskets hanging overhead. I'm short and have a hard time. So I nabbed this one after asking of course.

Also for school I planted some impatient plugs and cocktail vodka begonia plugs. I didn't take any of those home for several reasons. Impatiens wouldn't live with the blazing sun of my balcony. I already have cocktail vodka begonias I don't need more.

Sadly now i have to write a report on how badly my seed venture went. It's upsetting because I plant seeds all the time and I do very well with their success at home. Other students had several and I was the only one with so few to survive. That's okay because I don't have a yard to plant them all in anyways. That is my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Left Side of my balcony garden.

 

Last post I wrote about the right side of my balcony. Now it's time to see my left side. It doesn't have nearly as many plants as the right side does. The storage closet makes it difficult to pack in all the plants. It's the only corner/side I get some shade for part of the day. This is where I put plants that will fry on the other side. There is a downside to the left side besides the storage closet. The left side is where my glass sliding door is. The glass can really reflect the sun and sometimes makes it even harder to have plants live in front of the glass.

 

Lower left corner of my balcony

The lower left corner has the wanna-be bonsais and the plants that can burn or I just stick there just because. This corner doesn't change much at all. It changed yesterday and got some new transplants and a plant repotted. It got some seeds, lost a bonsai, and gained a plant in the course of a month. Even though this is my "shade" corner it really doesn't get much shade at all. My maiden fern does suffer here once winter fades away.

Starting on the left are some Stock seedlings that were transplanted from their other pot. It was getting too crowded for them in their old pot. I thought a new pot and plant in this area would be nice. Behind that is what used to be the variegated dracaena. I left it outside during the winter and don't think it lived. It's said to be a houseplant but the women who gave it to me had it outside but on her covered porch. I don't have a covered porch. Also in the pot with the maybe dead dracaena are some devil's backbone. The old women gave me the whole pot. The devil's backbone I think it's rather past it's prime and could possibly be thrown out. I'm just seeing how it fairs for the next month or two. In front of that pot is the snake plant. These are doing great and new leaves are coming up every few weeks. On the table starting in the back is the Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle Sacramento. The crape myrtle is doing wonderful I'm so excited about it. In front to the left is a peat pot with a hyacinth seed in there that will hopefully grow. The two bonsai pots next to the peat pot have myrtle spurge seeds. There are a few seedlings of myrtle spurge starting to come out. I'll show you the seedling later in the post. The last bonsai pot on the table has the Jacqueline Hillier Elm which I'm not sure made it through the winter. It was starting to get new leaves in November and since then lost it's leaves and hasn't had any signs of new growth. I can only hope it comes back like the Crape Myrtle did. To the right of the table in the back is the newly repotted Hibiscus Rose. It has about 4 buds that should be opening up at the same time in the next few days. It's be great to have more then one bloom open at the same time. In front of the hibiscus to the left is a black pot with the knotweed (it's been trimmed recently...it got really roughed up), snake plant, and some unknown green plant that hasn't really grown. The last pot has the ferns it in. Right now the Boston Fern is doing good. I think the Boston Fern does better on my balcony then the maiden fern. As you can see the maiden fern is brown on the edges. Just a month or two ago the maiden fern was lush and green. Now that it got hotter and the sun has gotten stronger it's not doing well. There are baby ferns that are very slowly growing.

 

Upper left corner of my balcony garden.

Lastly the upper left corner. This corner also doesn't change much. It hasn't changed in many months now. The last addition to this area was the snapdragon. Before the snap dragon nothing much had changed. When I got these plants and pots this was the first place I put them and the place they stayed. This corner is the most lush corner is my opinion. It used to be the most unlush corner when it started. When I bought the plants they were tiny and so small. They quickly grew in no time.

Starting on the left side. The pot on the left contains the Dianthus Pinnochio Mix and the Dr Ruppel Clematis. The pot next to it contains the pink snapdragon. The last pot has Campanula blue clips (not doing well and is still so tiny), Columbine Star Blue and Allium Joystick Mix (which hasn't turned out to be a mix at all). There is also some lemon balm usually on this side but it's to the side of the photo. The lemon balm is infested with spider mites. The spider mites have gotten on the columbine. I'm finally going to throw the lemon balm out like I should have many months ago. I don't use the lemon balm for anything and I don't really like the smell. The scent of the lemon balm reminds me of mosquito repellent. That is not my favorite smell at all.

That's it for the left side of my balcony. Now you have seen it all. Not very exciting I know. It will grow out and be great soon. I'm awaiting for my vines to take over the metal railings. I have the one corkscrew vine that is spreading it's self fast on the right side. The other corkscrew vine just started to grow out little vines and is near the center rail to hopefully start were the other corkscrew vine may stop. I wouldn't be surprised if they overlap. That would be scary if the corkscrew vine did grow that big...it just might.

 

The right side of my balcony with new pots and reorganized.

Since last post I have changed the right side. I told you it changes often. I'm constantly moving things when I get new seeds or plants. I moved some pots around like the corkscrew vine, the jasmine, the devils backbone and the evening primrose.

 

New Pots with transplants and seeds.

Some new pots moved in. I got the rectangular planters finally to put my parsley seedlings and dimorphotheca aurantica African Moon seedlings. I know they aren't spaced right and will get crowded soon but I just can't throw good seedling out. After all it's containers and things will be compact. The three little 4" pots have poppy venus, heavenly angels mix peony poppies, and lt blue mt fuji morning glory seeds in them. The large pot has English Lavender Dwarf Hidcote seeds in it. Now I get the thrill of looking for new spouts again.

 

Myrtle Spurge Sprout

Speaking of new sprouts. Here is the Myrtle Spurge starting to peak it's head of the dirt. I'm glad that it sprouted even though I'm scared. Just not so sure I will like this plant. I guess I will never know if I don't try right?

 

Godetia buds!

I'm very surprised by this discovery. My godetia has buds! I will get to see blooms of this plant after all. I thought it wasn't doing well since all the lower leaves browned and just fell off. It looks to be doing well enough that it will flower. This was the only seed that sprouted after two tries from the same packet. There are even some seeds left for me to try again some day. I'll wait until after the blooms to see if it's worth finishing off the seed packet for maybe a lucky seed to sprout.

Today was the best day I could possibly have. I got my paycheck today. We all know what that means, right? Paycheck day means I get to go buy everything I have been meaning to buy for 2 weeks but had not money to buy. I made my list of all that I needed. The list consisted of many pots in different shapes and sizes but terra cotta color, fish emulsion, and seeds. I've been feeling like my balcony could use some more plants. My husband would not agree with that statement but he really doesn't care. It was a plan today to go to the park and walk around with Kasha our dog. On the way there I just wanted to pick up my garden items to save some gas.

First stop was Family Dollar. Now anyone that has one go check yours out for some nice plastic pots and hanging baskets. I got 2 small rectangular pots for $1 each and a square pot for $1 also. I should have gotten the other larger round pots that were $2 but I thought that the garden center had them cheaper (I was wrong). Left Family Dollar with 3 pots for $3 and a few cents.

Then to the garden center. I quickly ran in and headed to the pots. Sadly they only had three 4" plastic pots. I picked up the three 4" pots a 6" and 10". Then a 6" and two 4" but ceramic. Then over I ran to the fish emulsion, gah 8.99. I'm a cheapy that 8.99 seems expensive to me. I turned around to the other wall and quickly picked out seeds. I normally always get the Ferry Morse seeds just because they are cheaper. This time I got some Botanical Interests seeds also because they had some varieties I wanted and tons of information. I dislike Ferry Morse because they don't have really any information on the plant just how to plant them. It was nice to open the Botanical Interests seed packets and have tons of information on the inside that I could ever ask. I picked out my seeds and checked out. I'll tell you the seeds a little later in the post.

Off to the park we went. Me and my husband hadn't been to this park. I really wanted to go bike riding. Sadly my husbands car is out of commission for the moment. We always hook up the bike holder to his car because it scratches really badly and his car is old. My car is new 2005 and it will not get scratched. Anyways we went walking instead and brought Kasha with us. I was in a hurry because of her. She's not a fan of the car and squeaks and just is very uncomfortable. We walked for quite awhile. This has been the first time in a long while that my husband and I have gone to a park. When we lived in New Hampshire that is what we always did. We'd walk around and bike at the state parks. Sadly the ones here don't have beaches or lakes...at least not the ones close by. It was fun anyways without the water. Many trees and winding paths. There were tons of mountain laurels. I could smell them when they were coming up before I could even see them. My husband was uninterested of course. He'd yell at me to keep walking because I'd always stop to smell and admire the flowers when I saw one.

Now to my seed purchases. I know it's probably getting late to plant seeds here. That sounds strange since I know many people further north haven't been able to start all their seeds. Our last frost date is March 15-24 or somewhere around that. Many of the seed packets say sow how ever many weeks before last frost date...oh well. I'm sure it will be okay. If things don't work out well I'll learn from my mistakes.

Lobelia Crystal Palace

Hare's Tail Ornamental Grass

Rock Soapwort

Lavender English Dwarf Hidcote

Statice Sinuata Blend

Those were all the great seeds that I purchased. I needed some spreading plants and some tall plants for my containers. Even though I'm sure my containers will probably only be one plant each as they mostly always are. When I got home I went straight to planting and transplanting and repotting. I repotted the hibiscus. I had a feeling it was really root bound and I was right. This time I was patient and let it get used to my balcony before transplanting it right away. It was a struggle to get it out of it's container. After that I took out some stock seedlings from the stock and bijou sweet pea pot. There were too many in the container so I put 4 in a container of their own. Then the parsley big mountain and the dimorphotheca african moon were transplanted into their own rectangular pots. I planted some poppy venus and some heavenly angels mix peony poppy seeds in their own 4 inch containers. I put a seed of the lt blue mt fuji morning glory in a 4 inch pot since the others aren't really fairing well like I had hoped. The Lavender english dwarf hidcote went into it's own 6 inch pot. The rest of the seeds were planted in the tray that I have been growing seeds in. I had a caladium bulb that I bough a month or so ago. The caladium bulb was planted in the square planter and put right beside my computer. The ghost plants were thrown out since they were not doing well and I just didn't like them. The nice caladium is replacing the ugly ghost plants. Hopefully the caladium likes it's home by me and the computer.

What a busy day it was. I noticed that my myrtle spurge was starting to come up in one of the pots. Hopefully it comes up in the other pot too. No sign of the hyacinth bean coming up that I planted a few days ago after the spurge.

Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle "Sacramento". This is what it looks like now.

It's time to talk about my special tree. The Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle Sacramento. I bought it from a local nursery last year. It was purchased not because it was weeping or dwarf or a crape myrtle. I had plans to make it into a bonsai. Now as you can tell it did not work. The trunk overlaps so it can't work for a bonsai unless I cut one off. I just don't feel comfortable doing that right now. It may never become a bonsai but it'll still be my mini tree.

 

What it looked like the day I bought it.

When I purchased the crape myrtle it looked beautiful. It was in bloom with great foliage. The nursery helper had told me it gets about 2-3ft. Now I had plans to keep it the size it was which is about 14 inches tall. I believe this was the first plant I got or one of the first. Being so inexperienced I didn't acclimate it to my blazing grill of a balcony. I went and purchased a wooden planter because I wanted something rectangular but not thin rectangular. The wooden planter was the only one I found that wasn't so slim. Then I went and found a stand/table to put it on. I even bought stain for the planter because I didn't like the color. All those items were bought the day after I bought the crape myrtle. Then I stained and waiting for it to dry. I thin mixed my own soil. Which it wasn't what is recommended but thankfully I mixed and didn't just use the plan potting soil I had or the tree might be dead by now. So here is what I mixed...please do laugh at me. It was some potting soil and orchid mix...yep orchid mix. Orchid mix really is still good because it's just a bunch of chips and charcoal with other stuff. I had a good mix even though I wasn't potting an orchid.

 

No more leaves.

Soon afterwards, probably a few weeks, all the leaves went goodbye. Now it wasn't time for that because all the other crape myrtles around me still had leaves and flowers. I didn't think much of it and just assumed oh transplant shock it should come back soon. It was bear for many many months, about half a year with no sign of life. I hung on to my crape myrtle and still watered it in hopes it was alive but just sleeping.

 

Signs of Life.

At the beginning of march all my waiting paid off. I was wishing and hoping that it would still be alive. Around me I was paying attention to the other crape myrtles that were starting to get buds. I hadn't seen any on mine yet. They appeared soon, the signs of life. Some great buds popped out all over the tree. I was beyond excited as you can imagine. I had killed quite a few other plants on my balcony. To not have killed one of my first purchases is a miracle.

 

Crape Myrtle now

It's now going strong and growing like crazy. I can't wait to see the flowers again.

Center of the right side of my balcony.

I've been avoiding showing my balcony. I'm not sure why I just don't feel I've made the jungle I envisioned. Like I mentioned before I have many times just stuck plants where there is room in a container. Things look a bit different now. I'm always moving containers around so it never stays the same for too long. Let me show you the right side of my balcony. If you come out of my sliding screen door this will be on the right.

Here you see the big green planter. The green planter right in the middle contains many things and is always changing when things die. Right now it has dianthus tall double flowering mix, grape hyacinths, one hyacinth woodstock, a candytuft, phlox of sheep seedlings, and possibly dusty miller seedlings. Right in front is a tray with little pots most are plastic some are peat. There is the dieing sweet basil, the two dead coleus, and needpoint ivy in peat pots. In plastic pots there are dimorphotheca aurantica african moon, mt fuji morning glories and gaillardia razzle dazzle. In front of that tray is my seed tray that has parsley big mountain, laurentia, nemesia mello red and white, and more dimorphotheca aurantica african moon.

Upper right side of my balcony to the left of the green planter.

 

This is the upper right corner of the balcony. Here to the left and in front of the large green planter in the orange pot is the cocktail vodka begonia. It likes this spot a lot. I had it somewhere else and it wasn't happy. To the left of the begonias in the large container in the corner is the juanita hatten bougainvillea. It doesn't look like much now but hopefully it will come back soon. In front of the bougainvillea are some daylilies..not sure what varieties any more, maybe cold harbor and windsor castle. In front of the daylilies in the black container is the unknown jasmine. I'm not sure if the jasmine would do well somewhere else. I haven't bothered to move the jasmine but maybe I should. To the left of the jasmine is the not fairing well two woodstock hyacinths, the thriving candytuft, and the not so well godetia. If front of that container is the evening primrose. No blooms on the primrose yet but there are many buds. Lastly to the right of the evening primrose container are the newly transplanted grape hyacinths. They were in a glass bowl and just weren't doing well. It was intended for them to be forced inside but I never brought them back in one day.

Lower right side of my balcony to the right of the green planter.

 

Lastly my bottom right corner. Probably the corner I like the most. Things do fairly well here because they get sun but aren't blasted like the upper right corner. Lets start in the back. Right behind the white container and super large container hidden is the corkscrew vine. It's nicely climbing it's way up the railing. Pretty soon I'm going to have to make it go to the left. The white container has stock tudor tapesty and sweet pea bijou mix. To the right of that is the super big container in the corner with many dayliles. Each is a different variety of daylily I'll see which is which when/if they bloom. To the left of those two containers is the flowering pansy. In front of the pansies going left to right is mint, then corkscrew vine, then the minerva amaryllis. The large rectangular container has daylilies and grape hyacinths. To the left of the rectangular container is woodstock hyacinths in the glass vase (shame on me) and devils backbone (someone kindly found out what my mystery plant was). To the right of all of that are 3 little pots. 2 pots have gaillardia razzle dazzle seedlings and 1 has a grape hyacinth. There is another little pot hidden between the pansy and mint that has more grape hyacinths.

That is my right side. It contains the most of my plants. I know it's ugly I should have spared your eye. Nah I like my corner. It's my first spring so next year I'll know what to do better and actually plan. Sorry for all the misspelling and grammar mistakes I'm horrible at my own native language, english.