Winter Pansies and Violas in the Balcony Baskets

It’s the time of year when the flower baskets on the balcony need updating. The summer annuals were looking a bit worn, overgrown, and tired. The only plants that will remain in the baskets are the spikes and the ivy. Hopefully the spikes will survive the winter. So we drove over to American Plant earlier in the week to pick up an assortment of winter pansies and violas. The amount of flowers we need is minimal compared to the huge garden we used to have in the Midwest and even for the patio garden we had on Capitol Hill. All we have now is a very small balcony and the flower baskets with coco liners are strapped to the back of the seats. The flowers will continue to face outward until winter arrives. Then the Christmas branches and greens will be added and the flowers turned towards us so we can enjoy the arrangements from our living room. It’s getting more difficult to bend and move about since my knees aren’t what they used to be! And this time I didn’t need to replace the plastic in the coco liners because they were leaking a bit too much in the spring. So I removed all of the annuals and decided how to arrange the colors and started planting. It’s amazing how just a small amount of live plants and flowers makes everything look so much nicer - and so much neater. The backdrop of the fall colors in the park made the flowers even prettier. It’s hard to believe another season has come and gone. My husband was just saying how glad he is that we live in Virginia where there are actually four seasons.