Take A Look At My Nook Continued

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.


Corkscrew vine making it's way up and to the left

Lastly I'll leave you with the beast of the balcony garden. I still can't believe this is the fasts largest growing thing I have right now. This corkscrew vine was the sickest plant I had just not to long ago. It had some mildew or something and all it's leaves fell off. Now it's climbing it's way up up up. The middle vine finally reached the second top bar. Now it is being wound to the left. The far left vine will get wound up the top bar. The far left vine will probably just get around the other bars...maybe. You can see I really didn't think it deeply about where I was going to wind these besides up and left. I'll figure something out I'm sure.

Sorry for the long post! There was just so much to say today.