click on a picture to enlarge and scroll through the images
|
|||||
 
|
Perenial bloom succession is most certainly something to look forward to throughout the growing season! During the long winter months snuggled up in blankets, wandering mind produces dreams and visions of lush foliage, colorful flowers blooming and trailing vines. In february small signs of spring appear as the day slowly become longer only to be shunned as a cold wind hurts my skin. Like vines these dreams entangle themselves into my cold reality as I long for the warmer days. Yet all the while knowing In my heart that they will come, I begin to plan the succession of blooms in my garden. Luckily february is long passed and now at the end of May, each morning I wake to the reality that each day will bring something new on the balcony – the first true leaf of a seedling, a flower, a visiting beetle – there is always something new in the garden. Annuals provide constant flowers on the balcony and new & rapid growth, where perenials offer something different. Not all but many perenials have shorter blooming times and they have there own season of bloom. Perenials also are for the patient gardener since many of them do not flower until the 2nd year. When they do it is spectacular to say the least. Of course any flower in my opinion is wonderous and beautiful. Usually the third year brings such a proliferation of blooms and foliage that usually at the end of the season or the beginning of the 4th year they can be diveded to create even more plants and blooms. So even though february is cold and my patience becomes thinner, it gives me something to look forward in the same way that planting 1 or 2 perenials on the following list you can have something to look forward to throughout the gardening season. Here is the complete list that was prepared by the by the Council on the Environment of New York City which like Cluj it is in zones 5/6. By the way of course there are others that are quite successful but this is a great list to start from. First Blooms of Spring Mid Spring Flowers Later Spring Flowers Early to Mid Summer Flowers Late Summer Flowers/Early Fall I would add many other varieties of coreospis for certain, what about you, which perenial might you add to this list? Please comment below. Happy balcony gardening!
One of my favorite plants is the white petaled osteospermum shown here. In april they were found at the piata @ 10 lei nou each (just under 3 euros). They are a daisy. Daisies belong to the family of Compositae along with thistle, aster and goldenrod family. Compositae includes over 800 genera and 15000 species. Osteospermum is commonly known as the african daisy or south african daisy. They come in other colours but to me nothing can compare to this variety.
Deadheading them as they flower will maintain a profusion of flowers throughout the season. Many people grow osteospermums as annuals, they are however half-hardy perennials or subshrubs. In areas where there are frosts they will not survive during the cold months. You can transplant them to pots and keep them indoors during these months and move them out of doors again in once the danger of frost has passed. They are propagated by cuttings.
There is an excellent site that has all you need to know about this beautiful plant HERE. Happy Balcony Gardening! No these colorful flowers are not throwbacks to the 1960s! Pure and simple these plants fit the conditions of a demanding micro-climate on a balcony, make great additions to your balcony garden, can be grown in containers & beds and are easy to grow. Oh did I mention too that they are PRETTY! Here they are -  Canna  Rudbeckia Hirta  Echinacea purpurea  b. davidii  Rosa Canna - it is a very tall plant grown from bulbs in summer and in cooler climates they must be dug up and stored over winter indoors. You can plant them outside in the Continue reading Flower power made easy on your balcony! |
Nice social network for gardening is here...
Need a gift for your favorite urban gardener? You can personalize the text on this mug with a name or maybe you want to declare you are strictly a balcony gardener - personalize it if you like.
|
|||
|
Copyright © 2012 Your Balcony Garden - All Rights Reserved |
|||||
Recent Comments