The Balcony Flowers

We have a very small balcony. And on the balcony there are three flower baskets. Since nothing can be hung from the balcony railings, we placed the baskets on the back of the chairs using zip ties. So the baskets face out away from our view. During the winter we turn the chairs so the baskets face the living room. That way we can enjoy the Christmas decor and greens. In the spring and fall we change out the flowers to whatever is more seasonal. The spring/summer are more annual in nature; in the fall/winter pansies and violas are planted. And of course there is always ivy for trailing plants and spikes for something tall. We also have a small miniature rose plant in a pot that my husband has nurtured for the past two years. This past winter was pretty brutal and we didn’t think anything would survive the almost below zero temps! As the sun begins to warm the balcony - especially in the afternoon in to the sunset - the brown stems of winter are slowly turning green with a bit of green leafy additions. I cut back the spikes but they didn’t survive. But the ivy is doing well and the violas are doing much better than the pansies. It’s just so wonderful to see any sign of life. But the biggest surprise is the miniature rose. It too is doing well. One of these days we will refresh the baskets. We always had gardens in our Midwest and Capitol Hill homes. This is just enough to keep us occupied. 

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. 

American Plant Pansies and Violas

It’s that time of year - again. I haven’t really felt like getting the flowers for fall/winter for our tiny balcony garden. It’s been cloudy and rainy all week and just doesn’t put me in the planting spirit. And a couple of the summer annuals are still blooming. We only have three baskets to fill and it’s nice that we can continue doing what we have always done - just on a much smaller scale. The baskets hang from the backs of the chairs and face the street. In fall we turn the flowers towards us so we can view them from the living room. The cushions are removed and stored inside. So we drove over to American Plant in search of winter pansies. Before we got to that section we passed by the always colorful sights of the season - pumpkins, gourds, and mums that were everywhere. Many of the pumpkins and gourds were quite creepy looking - not your average round and smooth specimens. Of course there were Halloween decorations too, but I prefer the natural to the man made products. There were fields of mums in all colors. But we don’t have the space for anything like that. Yellow pansies are always a favorite and we ended up picking twelve small containers - four items for each basket. I’m going to leave the spikes and the ivy in and hope to squeeze in the rest of the red and white pansies and violas. Even though it’s a small space it does take time to get it right. So I’ll wait for a sunny day to do the update. I can’t believe summer is over! 

Changing the Balcony Flower Baskets

It’s that time of year again. The balcony coco lined flower baskets need an update. The summer annuals are fading. Luckily the ivy and the liriope continue to do well. We planted them last year in late fall and they survived the winter and did well all year. So we took a ride to American Plant to find some winter pansies that would last in to the holiday season. With that in mind we found six white, yellow, and red/yellow plants. It was harder to remove the annuals than I thought it would be - but I should have left the gerbera daisy intact. It might have survived the winter, but I didn’t give it a chance to find out. That makes me disappointed! It also filled an empty space in the basket. Anyway, I ended up pulling out the old, then planting the new pansies. The baskets are tied to the back of the love seat and chair because we can’t have anything hanging from the balcony rails. Once the cushions are removed for the season we turn the chairs outward so the flowers face us in the living room. When Christmas comes we add the traditional greens and sticks. So for now the flowers look nice. I may cut an ivy and root it to fill in the blank space. The seasons come and go faster than ever. I’m not sure I like that. 

Clover Seeds and Winter Pansies

When we moved to DC twelve years ago we had a professional landscaper plan and implement our little patio garden. Things have changed over the years. This little patio garden has been ripped up at least two times for building related issues. Over the last few weeks more work was done to the building foundation that required digging up the garden - again - two feet wide all along the wall. So we lost our trellis with purple sage, two other bushes, a climatis vine, and the grass lawn. So we needed to figure out what we should do this time. Rather than plant grass along the wall, it seemed like clover seeds might be a nice alternative and we wouldn’t mind as much if it gets ripped up the next time. The grass never filled in anyway, and I read that at one time clover lawns were all the rage! So we asked the groundskeeper if he could get some mulch and fill in the space, rearrange the stones so they wouldn’t wobble, sprinkle the clover seeds, and plant a few winter pansies on the side where we lost all of our annual plants. If nothing else the area now looks neater, and will be even better when the clover starts to grow, fill in, and the green overtakes the brown mulch. Hopefully there will be a few sunny days and warmer temps ahead for the garden to get readjusted. At least we don’t have to look at a trench anymore. 

Ginkgo Gardens Trip

Every once in a while we need to freshen up the patio garden with some seasonal flowers. Unfortunately, the garden was ripped up this month for a building foundation update and half of the area along the wall of the building needs to be redone. This is probably the third time our little garden has been upended from building “fixes.” When we first moved here twelve years ago we had a professional garden designer draw up some plans and then install new dirt and stones with all the plants, shrubs, little myrtle trees, and flowers. Now the vines that were growing on the fence, the sage that was growing on the trellis, two bushes, and all the grass are gone.  So we took a trip to Ginkgo Gardens in the neighborhood to see what might look nice in the interim. The bare spot next to the birdbath that faces the kitchen needed some attention, so we got a few winter pansies to fill in the space. We are hoping to add some fresh dirt to the perimeter because the area has clay and stone now from the destruction and looks awful. Aside from that, an air plant caught my husband’s eye to put in the tiny vase that sits on our dining room table. So now half of our garden looks reasonable with some of my original mums about ready to flower. I caught a cardinal pair last week checking out the place again - they love the little birdbath and hiding spaces along the fence. Hopefully the work that was done will actually do some good. I really don’t want to go through this again.