Tuesday, May 15, 2007

What's blooming on the balcony?

It's Gardener's Bloom Day again, so here's what's blooming on the balcony this month.

Nasturtiums ...
Surfinia ....



Surfinia, antirrhinums, nasturtiums, pelargoniums .... and my neighbour's bouganvillea.




The bougainvillea is beautiful, but is a horrible colour clash with the salmon pink of the geraniums. When it first arrived I hoped against hope it was there only temporarily and would soon be moved further away. But no. I think I'm going to have to be the one who gives in and moves the containers around.


All in all it's very quiet this month, after the explosion of blooms in April. The stock and wallflowers are now well over, though they're still there as I'm waiting for the seed to ripen before I take them out, and the seeds that I planted in March/April are now at the bolshy adolescent phase - big enough to take up a lot of space but not yet ready to do anything useful. Coming on well are sunflowers, busy Lizzie, surfinias, marigolds, campanula, mirabilis jalapa and lobelia.


The real bloomers over the last few weeks have been the pelargoniums - red, white and salmon - the begonias - red and yellow - and the antirrhinums, which have been terribly well-behaved this year. With only two exceptions, the yellow ones came up yellow, the pink ones came up pink, and the white ones came up white. A bit boring really.

4 comments:

Susan said...

Your nasturtiums are almost the same color as my Mexican flame vine. Such a brilliant orange.

You have so many flowers for a small space. How big is your balcony?

— Susan from South of the

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

What a lovely and colourful balcony you've got. Quite a lot in flower for Blooms Day. I wish that more people had a balcony like yours!

Carol Michel said...

I continue to be amazed by how much you grow on your balconey. You are a dedicated gardener!

Thanks for participating in bloom day again!

Sue Swift said...

Thank you all for your comments! Yes, my husband frequently mutters about the quantity of flowers too, but not in quite such an admiring tone.

There are actually two balconies, each of which runs the length of the flat, one at the front and one at the back. Each is about ten metres by one. If you look back at one of the February posts, "Cover up" you'll see a photo of about three quarters of the length. Most of the photos come from the front balcony. That's where I have all the plants currently in flower, and just manage to squeeze in a couple of chairs so that we can sit there sometimes. The back has more cupboards and shelves and is where I have the seedlings, and out of season plants. Plus a few things to brighten up the view from the kitchen.

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