Balcony Flowers

There is nothing like a garden. In the Midwest we had several small gardens, window boxes and pots. It took several trips to the nursery to get enough flowers to fill them all. When we moved to a tiny condo on Capitol Hill almost fifteen years ago, we had a very small patio. It was a unique feature and we took full advantage of it. We had a few pots and a great planting space for perennials. Now that we live in Northern Virginia we have an even smaller balcony. We can’t hang anything off the rails so we came up with an idea to hang the coco liners on the backs of the chairs. That makes three planters that face outward. Last year we had them put together at Gingko Gardens in DC and we picked them up curbside. This year we went to American plant and selected seven flowers that we preferred. In the window boxes are perennial liriope that I put in last fall. I had cut them back and happily they are all returning. Some of the ivy didn’t survive but some of it did. So a few weeks back the new six flowers were planted outside and a seventh was put in the house. But that one didn’t do very well inside. So the pot was put outside, and the plant was cut back and watered. It is finally starting to bloom again. I think it would do better in the coco liners. These flowers get the full sun of the afternoon and require a lot of watering. They have all done well so far and I hope they continue to thrive this summer. There really is nothing like a garden - no matter what the size.