The Liriope is Blooming

It’s nice to have even the tiniest of gardens. In the Midwest we had multiple gardens, window boxes and pots. It was a full time job keeping everything in check. Our Capitol Hill condo had a small patio with a nice sized space for planting vegetables and flowers. Now that we live in northern Virginia our balcony is quite small, but we still have at least a way to plant seasonal flowers. On the back of the very heavy iron loveseat and chair we attached three window boxes with coconut liners. At Christmas time they are filled with seasonal greens and sticks and pansies. Last year we also planted ivy for flowing effect and also the perennial liriope for height. I wasn’t sure if they would last in to spring and eventually bloom. The liriope were cut back in spring and it took a while for the leaves to come back. One basket is ahead of the other two. And finally - about two weeks or so ago - the tiny purple flowers started to show and are now blooming. It’s such a treat to see something come back to life - especially in a window box. My husband has been keeping the boxes well watered because the coconut liners leak a lot. I’m not sure things would be looking this good if we weren’t home every day. So I’m hoping the liriope bloom in the other two boxes as well. We’ll keep our fingers crossed. 

Freeze Warnings and Plants Don’t Mix

I’ve never really worried about it before. Our gardens and window boxes survived harsh temperatures in the Midwest and on our tiny patio garden on Capitol Hill. But since we moved to northern Virginia several months ago we have a balcony garden of sorts. What it is is three “window box” coco lined planters that are zip tied to the back of the seats. In summer, they were filled with petunias and faced out. Now in fall-winter the backs of the seats face toward us so we can see the planters from the living room. Ginkgo gardens helped us with the selections both times. We used to go there regularly when we lived on Capitol Hill and they provided the flowers curbside. The last bunch was pansies, English ivy and liriope. Everything seemed to be going well until freeze warnings were posted last week. It was just too early for a freeze! So I cut off a large piece of plastic from a roll that we had gotten to use on the floor in the foyer so we could “sanitize” every box and grocery bag these last several months. The plastic was wrapped around the containers with staples in place, and then I kept my fingers crossed overnight. The next day the plastic was removed and the plants seemed to look okay. I watered them a bit hoping to avoid root rot, and was happy to see that two new pansies bloomed just today. It was so nice to see that they survived the night. The next additions will be living greens for the holidays. That may be a trick to find this year. 

Colorblast Mango Mojito Sneaky Flowers

If I knew then what I know now I probably would have made a different selection. Since we no longer have our Capitol Hill tiny patio garden we wanted to add some flower arrangement to our small balcony in northern Virginia. We ended up getting coco lined baskets filled with petunias and marigolds that could tolerate full sun. But I wanted to put our own stamp on the flower selections and ordered three different types from Growjoy in Indiana. We hung the planters from the back of the chairs so everything is up close and personal when we sit outside. I can’t imagine not having some sort of an outside space to retreat to. Two of the flowers continue to bloom and flower; but we noticed one of them blooms and then disappears. Apparently the colorblast mango mojito shows it’s face during the day, and shrivels back to nothing the same evening. I suppose it’s no different then the petunias that bloom and shrivel and require cutting back. Since I’m looking at them every day it’s hard to miss. The crows seem to find it all very interesting as we have caught Hekyl and Jekyl hiding food in the baskets. I’ve had a few stare downs with the nervy birds. Although a garden requires a lot of care and attention I do miss our patio that we had in the Midwest. There’s a lot of things I miss these days. But at least we have some outdoor space that we can spend some time in without a mask. I’m not sure what I would have preferred since we haven’t been to a nursery this year. I’ll have to think about it for next year. Hopefully we can do our own planting again. 

Kissed by a Petunia

What a lovely thought. We have a very small balcony, but it is large enough for three seats. On the back of those seats, we attached three coco lined planters and had them filled with white, yellow, and red flowers from Ginkgo Gardens in DC. The condo rules don’t allow hanging anything off the balcony rails so this was a good alternative. We added three more “mail order” plants from Growjoy to add in our personal touch. Our tiny patio garden on Capitol Hill and our home in the Midwest always had several pots and window boxes, so our condo in northern Virginia would be no different, but a bit limited. The flowers from Growjoy arrived in great shape and the soil was still moist. As the weeks passed the flowers have grown. Yesterday my husband slid lower in the chair and was leaning back against the top of the seat cushion for a bit of shut eye. Then, out of the blue, he said he was being kissed by a petunia. For whatever reason it just sounded so sweet. It is actually rather interesting seeing the flowers up close and personal. The tiniest details come alive. The flowers certainly get the attention they need because we are next to them almost every day after our walk in the morning and playing games on the iPad in the evening - weather permitting. The crows seem to like them too. I’ve actually had  few face offs with Hekyll and Jekyll. The balcony has become one of our favorite living spaces.