Saw your notice in another thread about needing less time for stuff - I did not want to comment there .. for some reason that I don't know so ... thank you for doing that stuff .. I was sorry to read it and hope someone will be able to pick the activity up will read.
Anyway, sometimes paradise gets soo large - I guess
Edit: Hmm .. or rather ... _________________ Jan
also .. could someone please turn down the thermostat a bit.
Joined: Jan 14, 2010 Posts: 5841 Location: Moon Base
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Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2024 5:59 pm Post subject:
a couple of older photos I hadn't posted yet and some recent ones.
Some kind of leaf miner bug has been attacking the Edelweiss (Leontopodium alpinum),
So far it looks like it will survive but it doesn't really get the chance to grow much larger.
It did have some really nice and unusual flowers though but I had to remove them all.
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This was a week ago. They are a bit taller now, the flower buds are larger and will probably open up a few weeks earlier than last year.
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this jewel is a bit too bright for the camera
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Posted: Mon Jun 10, 2024 6:24 pm Post subject:
blue hell wrote:
Paradise can be soo tiny eh...
It does indeed feel like a little paradise at times which is why I am spending a lot of time with/in it.
I hope I can keep it up now that summer is approaching. The high temperatures usually slow me down a lot
while those same temperatures can cause the plants to explode with growth.
Also because I ordered a lot of bulbs that have to be planted in autumn I will have to tidy up some things that
I normally leave for late winter/early spring of the next year at which point it usually looks like a complete mess.
So hopefully that will keep me going and give me something to look forward to early in the year.
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Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2024 11:51 am Post subject:
Another Solanum Dulcamara appreciation post.
I've seen bees (occasionally) visiting the Phacelia (Blue Tansy), Tagetes (Marigold), Lavandula (Lavender),
Digitalis (Foxglove), Delosperma (Ice Plant) and Hyoscyamus (Henbane) but nothing gets as much attention
as the Solanum Dulcamara.
Here's some bee action. Not the best quality but I think it's clear enough to see (and hear) some bees.
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managed to capture 3 bees in flight with this photo (maybe even more that I haven't spotted)
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'typical' Solanum Dulcamara leaf. They don't all look like this though.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 12:28 pm Post subject:
The lilies are already opening which adds a lot of bright yellow and a nice fragrance to the balcony.
The peppers on the other side of this 'wall of lilies' appear to be doing fine.
It definitely works better this way around than how I did it last year with the peppers in the pots
and the lilies in the planters. For next year I am considering putting multiple lilies in a single larger
round pot together with some of the spring bulbs, but having them in these separate square pots
might be a more efficient way of using the available space.
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One of the 2 planters. There's also some cosmos in there, maybe some buckwheat and there are a couple of snapdragons at the far end.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 12:51 pm Post subject:
I never used twine as a support for morning glories before but it is working great so far.
This also makes it possible to let a plant wind around it for a bit and then tie it to something else,
maybe horizontally or wrap it around something larger.
sidenote, these should have flowers that are white with pink/purple stripes. I was thinking about combining them
with the flying saucers variety which has blue with white stripes (or white with blue stripes) but I didn't seem to
have seeds for those anymore (though maybe still as part of large bag of mixed seeds). However for next year
I already have "Carnevale di Venezia' seeds which should produce a mix of white/pink/purple/blue striped flowers.
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Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2024 1:39 pm Post subject:
In the meantime there are some juvenile crows and magpies flying around and exploring their surroundings.
One of the young magpies decided to come to my balcony to do some exploring and have a ±30min. nap.
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keeping an eye on the young ones from the roof top
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all that parenting makes you hungry (a bit wary because I am pointing a camera at them)
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 11:00 am Post subject:
we're not done yet.
Something has been chewing on the catnip and I am sure it wasn't cats. Took it inside and had a look at it in the evening/night
but couldn't find anything chewing on it, so whatever it was is probably already gone. I don't mind it though. was planning to prune
it back a bit anyway and now something has been able to enjoy it.
I also had a small catnip cutting inside under some lights that decided to start flowering, as did the last of the coleus plants which are
definitely not small.
Some other plants that aren't small anymore is the Borage. I might have underestimated the size they can reach a bit and they're now
easily half a meter in diameter. It's probably because of all the fertilizer I mixed in the soil for the strawberries. I did remove some of
the larger leaves because they were smothering some other plants. I do like it though, large leafy plants always feel a bit prehistoric to
me but if I grow it again I'll probably use a separate pot. I am curious if it will bolt before it starts to flower or just put on more growth.
The Henbane is being a typical Henbane again
10 GROW
20 FLOWER
30 GOTO 10
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 11:32 am Post subject:
some more white flowers
The first snapdragon flowers have appeared. Interestingly these are from a mix (or several mixes) of different colors
while I've also sown a smaller white variety. However, those are really struggling so now I still have white ones anyway.
I do hope they'll bulk up a bit and can survive until next year but they're not getting much sun where they are.
Some of the buckwheat that I've sown in several planters has survived and is now flowering with tiny white flowers.
On the other side of the size spectrum are the 'Mister Pistache' Lillies. Didn't care much for them last year as they
got overshadowed by the larger 'Golden Splendour' ones but those are now done flowering. They look much more
impressive now. There are some buds on the tiger lillies as well that will probably open up by the time these are gone.
Not flowering yet but still doing very well are the morning glories which are slowly starting to cover up the kitchen window.
This should provide some extra shade during the hot sunny days.
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2024 5:12 am Post subject:
The Borage (Borago officinalis) plants appear to be enjoying the weather. They're both full of flowers which are getting a lot of attention from (bumble)bees.
Very nice plant that I will probably grow again but maybe in a seperate pot. Also I think I'd rather have the standard blue variety for a bit more cotrast in color.
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2024 5:28 am Post subject:
The petunia is also exploding with flowers
for reference, here's what it looked like when I just got it:
Some of Tiger lillies have opened up adding a splash of tropical colors and a couple yellowish snapdragons appeared.
These are the ones growing in the tiny pot, the other taller pretty much all keeled over so I cut them back. Maybe they will strengthen up a bit but they're not getting enough sun.
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Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 5:36 am Post subject:
Nice plants Eike, love the warm colors on the Nasturtiums.
I did grow those before but they attracted too many aphids for my liking and also got a bit too wild.
If you have the space for them they're very nice filler plants.
Hope they all survive in pots but you have them out in the open so as long as the drainage is ok they should be good. _________________ "My perf, it's full of holes!" http://phobos.000space.com/ SoundCloudBandCampMixCloudStickney SynthyardsCaptain ColliderTwitchYouTube
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Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 8:04 am Post subject:
Morning glories have been doing nicely, especially the 'Milky Way' variety which took over after I cut back the Solanum dulcamara.
I usually don't cut that one back until much later but it wasn't looking so good anymore and already dropping a lot of leafs.
Hopefully it'll come back again next year, it's definitely still alive but maybe very root bound.
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Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2024 5:56 am Post subject:
PHOBoS wrote:
Also because I ordered a lot of bulbs that have to be planted in autumn I will have to tidy up some things that
I normally leave for late winter/early spring of the next year at which point it usually looks like a complete mess.
So hopefully that will keep me going and give me something to look forward to early in the year.
The bulbs arrived a couple weeks ago and so far it does indeed help to keep me a bit more active on my balcony during this time of year.
We've also had some nice sunny days these last few weeks, even a bit too warm for my liking, which makes it a bit more inviting to go outside.
So which bulbs did I actually get?
well, initially I was thinking of getting what appears to be the most common spring bulbs:
- white Snowdrops
- yellow Daffodils
- blue Grape hyacinths
- red Tulips
- pink Hyacinths
Crocuses would also fit in but I don't really like them, at least not in pots on my balcony. They do look great when there are a lot of them
growing in some grass but as soon as they stop flowering, which seems to be after just a couple of days, they flop over and look kinda messy.
The idea was to use the large planters that I've been growing the peppers in this year (worked very well) since they are empty from Oct~May
which is the perfect time frame for some spring bulbs. The reality is a bit different since bulbs aren't done as soon as they stop flowering,
at least not if you want to grow them again the following years. Because of that the first thing I removed from the list were the Hyacinths as
they do flower on the late side. Most Tulips also seem to flower pretty late but apparently they're better grown as annuals- anyway.
Bulbs that flower very early also seemed a bit wasteful since I am not really doing anything on my balcony until March and I can't really
see it from indoors. Combined with the usually unpleasant weather it's not very likely that I'll go outside to look at some pretty flowers.
However, those early flowers are a food source for pollinators and with the mild winters I know that at least the mason bees emerge rather
early so I looked up which flowers would be suitable for them. Apparently they do appreciate snowdrops and crocuses and also Irises.
That did make me reconsider crocuses but as a replacement I got winter aconite (Eranthis cilicica).
The rest of my selection is based on size (don't have much space), color and flowering time so that there should be some flowers at all
times at the beginning of the year. Most of the bulbs have been planted by now and not in the 2 large planters I originally had in mind.
I do still want to put the large Tulips and Daffodils in there but the peppers aren't really done yet.
Also I still ended up getting some late flowering ones, most noticeably the Hyacinthoides non-scripta aka English Bluebells but I've wanted
those for a while now and they're planted in a separate pot (together with the Allium zebdanense).
Here's the full list of what I decided on:
- Galanthus elwesii
- Eranthis cilicica
- Iris reticulata 'Alida'
- Anemone blanda mix
- Tulipa 'Scarlet Baby'
- Narcissus 'Anfield'
- Narcissus 'Minnow'
- Tulipa humilis 'Persian Pearl'
- Tulipa 'Sweet Sixteen'
- Muscari aucheri 'Ocean Magic'
- Allium zebdanense
- Hyacinthoides non-scripta
I got 10 bulbs of each with the exception of the Anemone blanda mix of which I got 20.
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Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2024 6:28 am Post subject:
looks like I didn't post this photo yet from early last month. Initially I was a bit disappointed with the muted colors of the Coleus, especially with all of them looking like
that but I do like how they mix in on this photo (balcony 55). There are still a couple of them growing on my balcony at the moment and they do add a nice touch of
autumn color. For next year I am planning to grow the, ehm let me look that up: Coleus solenostemon 'Wizard Black Dragon' which could be a bit more intense.
I might still grow a couple of these as well, if I have some seeds left that is. They are very easy to grow and do great in both sun and shade, small pots and large pots.
Speaking of small pots, the ones on the left side of that photo were all growing in the small hanging planter I made. They're not the original ones btw, I swapped those
out early on for some that I had growing inside that did much better.
Overall it's a nice filler plant to add some contrast and fill in any gaps. The only thing they don't seem to like is too much water, better to keep them a bit on the dry side.
Also, they flower fairly late and long which the bees appreciate (as do I).
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Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2025 1:40 pm Post subject:
The Iris wasn't the first of the spring bulbs to come up but with the sunshine and sudden increase in temperature it definitely
made it feel like it was spring for a short while.
First ones to come up and flower were the snow drops as was to be expected. There is a lot of visible growth now in all the pots
that have bulbs in them except for the one which with the Eranthis cilicica which should actually be ready to flower about now.
I dug a little bit around in the soil and did spot some green growth so they'll probably just going to take a bit longer.
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so ... thank you for doing that stuff .. I was sorry to read it and hope someone will be able to pick the activity up will read.
rather ...
