here's the daily weight training for the past few weeks...

and now back in...
the training will continue until the temperatures will improve...

Awww I love your balcony, Petruska! Thanks for everyone's sympathies. I'm glad to report it looked worse than it was, mostly.

It's been windy here for days, gusts around 40 mph and nothing had blown, so I thought these things were OK. The tiny pots are temporary until these plants get placed in mini gardens. The suggestion to carry them in groups in a larger container is a good one, thanks! Luckily the $55 in tiny succulents I got yesterday at WM (yes, I know, it's weird - about 20 of them, all different!) were in a plastic tub under the carport. I keep it in the car for plant shopping. I don't know enough about what I have to know which wouldn't mind those cold nights, they'll all come in.

DH has offered to add a little safety rail around the front porch for the plants. I'm torn between that being helpful and blocking just that much more sun. It would need to be painted...

Gusts are not unusual here, and that's why I make a really heavy mix for these potted plants. Whatever these gusts were, they tore up the metal roof on the shed behind the burned out empty house next door. It's peeled like a sardine can. Glad this only lasted about 10 minutes, 5 more minutes of that and that roof would be wrapped around our oak tree or in our back yard - at best. Judging from the plants and that roof, we had to have had a gust of at least 60+ mph, it bent the metal in half around the concrete blocks holding it down. (So yes, I have some concrete blocks, as soon as they blow into this yard - LOL! I can't move them though.) I have some bricks, those are easy to move...

There are a couple tiny plants that are just gone but none of the tossed about ones look like they were killed by the experience, just a little bruised & insulted. One little succulent that was really dry and virtually weightless in the peat it was bought in, wasn't even on its' side. Go figure!

It's hard to get back up from this break to go finish straightening & the other stuff on today's agenda...

Petruska-- how cool! Are you in NYC? That looks like a fun place for both plants and a sitting area. I am lucky to only be on the 3rd floor, so very little wind that is any different than lower down. Your stone floor is great! No need to cover that up at all.

Today in the nursery I saw an acanthus-- so beautiful! Glossy, huge leaves. i wish i had known about how glossy and huge they were before-- I would totally have gotten one!

i am now in jersey city on the hudson - right across from downtown nyc, which is where i lived and worked for most of my adult life. as far as the floor - it's a porcelain tile that looks just like slate that we put in. i did a patch design for multi shapes myself and calculated how much and sourced it. then the tiler put it in. i got some 1'x2' extras and put them onto iron stands too. so it all mashes together. next project - tile my old iron table and chairs with mozaic. can't decide what to lay it on weather-wise. don't have marine ply, am not sure about cement board. .. running scared and avoiding the whole thing.
i think british really love acanthus. it's huge. romans loved it too - it's on mozaics. it's monumental. i'd love to have it in my garden one day, though don't even know what conditions it likes.

purple, so sad to see your spill-age. Mother nature has no sense of humor, tomorrow is the first day of spring !!!!

Acanthus mollis is hardy 7-10 and likes part shade/shady conditions here. It was beautiful. Leaves were so glossy and maybe a foot across or more.

Yeah, I thought it looked NY-ish in your view :) You did a lovely job with your tile! Could you use glass as a substrate for your table? I made a mosaic of shells on to glass and it stood up, uncovered for 8 years and then I had to sell my table. It wasn't even close to falling apart. I used a cement mortar as the base.

Now I have a mosaic of shells on a wood based-- folding tables-- on my new outdoor table. I used caulk as the base, but this is covered in a glass top. It isn't an exposed solution like the one on my other table.

this is my current table:

{{gwi:841}}

this is the mortar table:

{{gwi:842}}

This is one where i used a glue to stick the glass down after i cut it, and then grout between the squares:

{{gwi:843}}

This is one I did with caulk as well:

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{{gwi:846}}

{{gwi:847}}

The fireplace is obviously inside, but my current table is done the same way. It has weathered well, but like i say it has the glass cover. It does get rained on though.

Here is a link that might be useful: acanthus

wow, i don't know where to begin! good thing it's a generic thread otherwise they'd ban me...
very impressive! and the use of calk is not talked about either. i actually got some silicone clear for glass tile on wood thing to try for starters.. and then i have some left over thinset from tiling that is supposed to be used on cement board - i can get thin one too at HD, but it's supposed to go on ply backing. i found i product that proofs erg ply for like 20 years - which is good enough for me, but it's fumy, it has to be applied strictly outdoors and i kinda let it go. glass won't do - it goes on iron and heavy pots go on top - so am afraid it will crack. it's outdoors heavy duty plant stand. also iron 'bistro' chairs. i got stone looking tile and marble chips to layout a pattern to go with it.
is cement mortar like for brick laying? of course for me it's like...undoable unless it fits in the pocket to to speak. no place to store or mix or lay out anything. am very interested in calk. what kind? silicone? around the fireplace - is ok then? can you route me to some info so i don't bore everybody here? i am sure i'll still have a few q's ..

sorry for typos, was in real rush. love the your shell work. very unusual. especially that mortar table - the 2nd one. isn't the mortar usually grayish though? i like the grainy texture very much. but it's very bumpy - how do you use it? would be very cool for vertical bas-relief. like the fireplace. very cool.
gotta go again...

LOL! I started this thread, and I totally do not mind! I wanted to talk about what people were doing to prepare for next season/showing off preps. This is your prep :>

The mortar is grey. You can see it between things. Makes things heavy too. You do need to mix it in a bucket/bowl and it comes in 20lb bags iirc. I thought it looked like sand though, and I liked that. The picture may be confusing because i have things sitting on the table. There are flat rock slices and ceramic circles around the rocks for plates and flat rock slices for glasses. It was bumpy :)

I've never seen anyone else really do this, so I have nowhere to steer you. I just thought to try calk on my own. I used silicone and other, and both seemed the same. I don't remember what i used this time-- probably white silicone. I don't know how it would ultimately stand up to lots of use, but it's pretty cheap and very simple to apply and use. Also in my experience it comes off OK-- although I would hesitate to tell you no worried about taking it off. maybe try a bead and see if it works. If it comes off easy enough without ruining your substrate, then if it goes all wrong you can always start over without worrying about having lost your supplies.

You know, Julianna, that's kind of a dangerous hobby you have going there ;-)
Here's what happened to the house of a guy, nearby where I grew up!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sneglehuset

LOL! Well you can tell I would have no such thing-- no plants :P

Supposed to freeze hard tonight! WHY?! Anyway, i drew circles around all the pots i have to make go inside and sent them to my husband, called him at 1am to tell him the terrible news, and he promised to do it this morning. Then snow thursday. This is terrible. :( I hope my achimenes survive. I planted them out and no way will he dig them up for me. Thursday is supposed to be 32 as a low, so hopefully it won't kill the rhizomes. tonight is supposed to be 29 :( then not freezing after that. but yuck. When i get home I'll try to dig up my achimenes.

you don't have to dig - just cover up with a cardboard box, it'll do. or even stack a couple of large plastic pots together, plastic bag inside could help, and put it over the plants. if they are not too big..like a cloche. a clay pot will do too. you can tape over the hole.if you have large bubble gum wrap - tape that up and weigh with smth so it stays put close to the ground. that would do for a few degrees.
vgtar, that's a great house! are there more close-ups?
re: tables.
julianna, i looked closer - the flat tile mozaic around 'the flowers' is very clever for plates. i actually like the bumpy 'unusable' look a lot!
the use of mortar at this point is very questionable for me though ;) 20lb bag and all...on top of my 100 plants..in 1300sqf... am pushing the limits so to speak...holding the sanity with duct tape..well, not my sanity...but...
case in point: antique sewing machine that i COULD have had the other week (on top of my portable, 50 year table kenmore and 2 sergers...) - collectors item too...sigh!
had to make amends, bake pies...
but plants are still welcome... go figure...

Julianna, not much can grow there besides wild rye, as the North sea is right behind that house.
You planted the achimenes in the ground? -I would put them in a pot and keep them inside for a while... see if they would bloom this year ;o)

The snow we didn't get yesterday, has arrived today. However the 15 day forecast looks good... no frost starting on April 1st... and yes, I'm aware of the irony of that date being April Fools' Day!

I went shopping today, and ended up giving in for those Gladiolus callianthus bulbs, I've had my eye on all month... And somehow a small bag of Oxalis 'Iron Cross' also jumped into my basket... The lilies and dahlias told me I was mean for not bringing them home as well, but really, if I can't get out on the balcony, then how is anything going to survive out there? -I might also have to start looking for more pots, I think.

It IS hard to not buy stuff, part of me is pretty darn upset about the wallet situation lately, but the plant part runs my hands apparently... investing in happiness is worthwhile!

Um, it might frost tonight... you can imagine the paragraph I could type, whining about that...

But focusing thoughts on the bright side, let's talk April Fools Day! We'll be in NOLA and my plans for that day are arbitrary except I know I will visit Harold's and American Aquatic Gardens. I'm budgeting the whole morning for these 2 stores, and the short walk to both. Probably won't get anything at the aquatic place, but am told it's too beautiful to not see, website pics are awesome.

I'll take some balcony pics and make a post here about it when we get back, hopefully many will be looking fantastic by the end of the month.

Petrushka: I put it in a google image search... clicking around on some of those pics, should show more results. The house is called Sneglehuset, which means "the snail house" - The house came to look like this, because a local fisherman had asked a girl to marry him. She said that she would, if he could build her a totally unique house, that looked like no other. So he began decorating his house, and kept on going even after they got married. He began in 1949 and didn't stop before 1965.
-When I was a kid, I wanted a house just like it, when I grew up... I think the towers had something to do with it though...

Here is a link that might be useful: Sneglehuset on Google images

Petrushka-- they aren't up yet, and in my wired window boxes. so no moving the boxes, and no real need to cover. i am just annoyed at it all. Either they will survive or they won't. The box will probably not freeze. It's frustrating, as Purple said, it's like 20 degrees different than our original forecast lol.

Vtgar-- oh I am sure something would grow :P Rye can be pretty :) I don't have ground since I'm on the 3rd floor, but they are in boxes. I also don't have the luxury of really coddling things which is why I was disappointed by the size. I am hoping they still work though. This may be my last season on the balcony :(

Purple-- I feel you on the wallet and the frost. The hourly forecast has temps going even to 26. TWENTY-SIX. All my begonias and streptocarpellas were outside last night and it reached 33. I know the begonias would be fine-- but i am worried about the streptocarpellas. My husband told me he brought in everything though, this morning, so hopefully it will be OK. I would never have moved things out if it looked like we would get this kind fo weather while I was gone. I wouldn't be so freaked if I were there. It's like a gardener's worst nightmare of being trapped away from the garden and needing to cover/move things lol.

In happier news, I managed to accidentally purchase some new things yesterday at the nurseries. Heliotrope, saginella aurea, french tarragon, catnip, lobelia springtime blues, sedum ogon, sedum spathhulifolium "cape blanco", senecio blue chalk fingers, 2 eplcs, a clearance phal, and a clearance venus fly trap. The last 4 are for indoors of course. I think I can sneak the VFT into my terrarium, and the orchids between other orchids so it won't be noticed by the spouse. :P

Vgtar - that's an amazing, inspirational place. Loved looking at it, thanks for sharing!

I've been really inspired by the art discussion y'all are having. Has anyone else seen the floor tiled with pennies? I also saw a piece of art recently that was similar to stained glass. The artist had used an old window frame, filled it with broken glass in the shape/colors of a fish, then it was filled with -? something clear and smooth. Really cool. I took a pic with my phone but it sucks.

Quilt and some cross stitch patterns might get your creative juices flowing, they employ simple geometric art patterns.

Ooooh you found Heliotrope! There's probably a reason (like can't stand humidity or 110 degrees) I can't find any around here but I look for it every spring. Hopefully people are just snatching it up faster than I make my rounds. Aaahhh the scent, I love that!

I just got a succulent with a similar name - blue chalky fingers, something. If you check out my "compatibility" thread in cacti forum, there's pics of most of my latest hauls.

OMG, I see 30- nights next week. (Nasty foul sailor cussing bleep!)

"managed to accidentally purchase" I'll go along with that if you will! I'm putting it in my travel notes for NOLA trip!!

i kunnat help meself! i had to post my pic. nominally i grow my amaryllis on the balcony - but it blooms indoors. since it's common minerva - nobody is interested much in a specials fourm, but it's a 2nd year rebloom for me and it's a double tetra, so it's now MINE! so i am thrilled.

Purple-- I have seen the floor pennies! And yeah, they have heliotrope here and I remember it when I was in college in TN and at home in NV. I don't know why it's not there. It's not a full sun plant like it claims in high heat, but it does live. Next week has us at 31 2 nights in a row! Lots of 4 and 5 letter words here to describe how I feel about this. So mad. So really mad. Still trapped here too, no book has arrived so I can't go home. And I'm going to be really mad if it never comes and I could have gone home Tuesday but didn't because i was waiting on a book to arrive in the mail.

Petrushka-- yay! That is so exciting! and it looks so pretty!

I'm back to being close again to putting everything out. And here I thought it got to go out for spring!

This afternoon, I've been cleaning and disinfecting 43 pots. It seems it's about half of what I've got. Most of them in a size that is just about right for planting seedlings in, before they go to their final pot... why oh why do I have so many of that size? -and so many black ones? I found out I have few clay-coloured plastic pots in a decent size, that will be good for some of all that basil ;o)

I had an abundance at one time of 4" clay pots. it was insane the number I had. It's funny how one size becomes so prevalent.

I've got a few of those as well.... but I can't really use them on the balcony I think... in case we get a hot summer, I might just as well sit in front of them all day with a watering can, watching them dry out ;o)
The 4" clay pots I get when buying organic herbs... the plastic ones I get with just about any other plant ;o)

Tuesday night it's supposed to frost here. This is ridiculous!!

That Amaryllis is awesome!!!!!!!!

thank you, thank you!
that's one of the 3 that was on a water-wick in the 4 hour sunny corner, fed with AV fertilizer in water.i have another coming double and 2 more to plant next week. total of 6. the other 3 were just in soil with osmo. 2 are off-shooting too.
they have opened after 3 weeks potting+sev days pre-hydration in water. it's quite fast. i am set for easter:).

2 more frost nights. Tonight and tomorrow night. Then, hopefully, everything can go back out!

Well I don't know if Jack Frost is finished with his work here or not. Woke up this morning to the 3rd frost on a row. I've got dead plants and a bad attitude. Looks like Fall out there, not spring. Whine, complain, kvetch, BAH! Hopefully this will all just be a bad memory soon.

Ugh, I hear you. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be like 34 now, instead of 44 at night. I hope that goes back.

Well, hello, everyone! I will jump in towards the end here to introduce myself and say how excited I am to be sooooo close to getting my own balcony garden going for 2013! Petrushka, I am also in NYC, and my 15th floor balcony faces North-northwest on the long side (shade, but lots of sky), and the short side faces southwest and gets about 3 to 4 hours of blazing sun right at the edge (window boxes) before it's blocked by the next building. I've had two years of joyous gardening here so far and am plotting and planning what to do with the full shade part of the balcony this year. The past two years I've just basically run mad for a weekend or two in May at the Union Square farmers market and planted up what I bought, mostly annuals, with surprisingly wonderful results. This year I'm hoping to get some perennials going that will survive outside all winter - lusting after vines and ferns, to create a bit of a screen between me and nearby neighbors. Happy to find a lively discussion going, btw, and very much looking forward to learning from you guys and sharing my own experiences here too.

Ferns are such a good idea. You can also find shade-tolerant bulbs to add some spring color and then move from there. My balcony gets a few hours of sun, but mostly off the railing. On the balcony itself, there are 2 corners on opposite sides which get sun for about 45 minutes each. So I'm pretty much just bright shade. I'll he reporting on how my clematis and cobaea do this year which may be options for you :) Last year my jasmine did well, and that may also be an option for you as long as you don't get too cold. I know Petrushka brought up the problem of wind and vines, so I don't know. I've got that cubby going which is relatively wind resistant.

Does that brick wall sort of protect your lower parts from wind? That could really help.

Currently, it looks like the robin couple are considering one of my window boxes for a nest. I'm excited. I need to post some pictures. I have some hyacinths blooming, pansies, daffodils... and grape hyacinths are coming.

Yes, Julianna, I need to get bulbs out there! The brick wall does offer some wind protection, I keep a lot of containers up on various tables so they snatch a little sun, and run out to put them on the floor when storms come through.

I'll follow your clematis adventures with keen interest! I would kill to have one of the purple ones, but for the place I have in mind, zero direct sun...so I keep delaying.

Good luck with the robins! I'd love to get robins or mourning doves to visit my balcony, but how to do that without also inviting pigeons - who I also like, but who make awful messes - I don't know. So far no problem with any of them, they seem to have noticed that I let my cats come out with me (on a leash, in case a bird flies past and they jump without considering the consequences!).

You could definitely put shade plants then down against the wall which is exciting. If it offers enough wind protection, you could even work with some big leaves plants and whatever else you may become interested in. Do you have a theme?

I'm going to be putting out C. panticulata, with the goal of making a monster that covers my alcove siding. We'll see!

Oh these little guys are totally not cooperative with aiming their butts over the side and not on my balcony. So i dislike that part intensely, but I like having birds more than my dislike of their messes. I would love to have any birds :) Even pigeons. I let my cats out sometimes, but with the birds now I am keeping them in. They are super miffed, as they really would like to play with their new "friends." :)

Dug around and found one achimenes still alive. I don't know about the others-- I just couldn't find them. If they rotted I should have been able to find their corpses, so it means I just didn't run across them yet. Nasturtiums are sprouting! No frost for tonight or tomorrow, so i think we're in good shape.

{{gwi:848}}

Things are starting to fall into place. I'm figuring out how much light qualifies as decent enough ambient lighting. I also figured out that here, in April, arugula becomes nasty in full sun, haha. So off to the shade they went.

I've also fallen into the habit of throwing any house plant I don't much like outside. It's totally survival of the fittest. Despite 50-60% humidity in the house, some of the plants just don't seem perfect inside (like the fern) so it got tossed out and will have to make do, or remove itself and give me back the pot.

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And, I'm thrilled to report that another gardenia bloomed.
{{gwi:853}}

I will say this: I paid almost $20 for this gardenia at a private nursery, and I have two more here that I bought at Lowe's and OSH, respective, for under $10. I am giving them all the same exact treatment and this is the only one thriving under my care. I'm starting to wonder if it's me or them!

Grace-- things are looking great! I think you're definitely figuring it out. The first season in a new place is always about learning the quirks. After that, you have such much under your belt and can really make progress.

One last cold night tonight-- I hope. 37. Not a freeze, and nothing should be affected.

Funny enough, I stuck out my only B Luxurians cutting in a pot-- and forgot it was there. I never covered it or brought it in during all those frosts earlier in March. Found it yesterday-- and it is thriving LOL! I know that planted doesn't freeze much, and this is the proof I guess. It went down to 25, and there was no damage on that little guy at all.

Julianna,

I am originally from the east coast but left during college to the west. This means I never planted a single thing in the east coast. I don't think I ever even noticed a plant.

So I really have no idea what it's like to garden with four seasons. I read all the posts re: frosts, snow, etc. but it's foreign to me.

Until tonight. When suddenly 40pmh winds came through and it dropped to 46. I know to you guys this is basically spring, haha, but to me, it felt like winter. I envisioned pots flying off the balcony or waking up to frosty tomatoes lol.

Enough to do this!

{{gwi:854}}

I'm such a wimp! And I brought all of my seed trays in, too. My living room is not looking so hot right now.

I don't know how you guys do this nightly!
And I know some of you have snow still and that a high of 65 is good -- but if this is "spring", give me summer. (Never did I think I'd say that.)

The good news on my balcony is this Columbine that fought through bright shade like a trooper and bloomed. It's usually pushed back to the wall on the ground.

{{gwi:855}}

Sure looks like spring is here so then why am I so cold??!

Grace

Ooooh how pretty!!!!! Thanks for this awesome pic, wow!

Haha I am originally from CA/NV, but moved over here for college/grad school. I did live in IN some as a kid between CA and NV times when my dad was in grad school, but I was too young to do much. I fail to believe in frosts myself :P

Looks lovely though! And I just don't carry things in and out. I did this time once, but I wouldn't have put it out if I realized it was going to late frost. Did I mention though that my B. luxurians cutting was forgotten about and made it through 25*? LOL! It looks far superior to how it was looking prior to the cold too. It obviously didn't frost in that spot, but it makes me wonder if I carried things in for nothing.

Give me another week or two and I'll be back with some pics and such. Right now the papers are dragging me down.

I seeded some columbines this past fall and they came up and now are beginning to make some progress beyond the seed leaves. I have hope for maybe next year.

I've got a thread going, some pics, in HP about putting HP's in the ground, for the curious. Got started too early, and I don't want to say the F word again, but there was _rost! Pics I just put up today show the arbitrary nature of Jack F's antics.

Elmer Fudd and I can tell you, be afwaid, be vewy vewy afwaid!

What's also confusing is that it's colder at higher elevations, but at ground level, cold air sinks into low spots. So if I have pots on my porch (about 3.5 feet above the ground,) they're SO much less likely to get frosted. The roof may have something to do with it, helping the cold slide off into the yard. But if one is on the 8th floor, what's the principle? The 19th floor? Does the increased wind on much higher floors help? Guess it would depend on which way it's blowing...

Covering with a sheet is worth doing on some marginal nights, but GOLLY, you've got to put a lot of faith in the forecasters!

Anyway, I clearly got schooled this year, but don't feel like I'm tempting fate to say it's on now this year. Sorry this pic isn't technically balcony or porch, but it's my view from window next to computer, so gets preference over arranging porch pots. The pot on the ground has an unbelievable amount of tiny plants and cuttings. If half of them live, it should look amazing soon... You'd think when one's using a pot for a 2nd, possibly 3rd time, they'd take that stupid white sticker off. Sheesh.

It still looks good though!

You know, I don't know about how it works. Surely if you start getting too high, frost will be more early and late I would think. I'm on the 3rd floor, but my balcony is covered and recessed so it's like boxed in and I have a longer season and more protection. But if you look at like house roofs, they frost before the ground.

Am finally done with finals and the semester is over. I'll be coming back in a bit to post the photos from my absent time! I've missed talking balconies!

Hey, hope that went well! I haven't done much, it's been cold and raining here, then more cold and rain. UGH!

Hey, Sugi, what's in that pot from Apr. 2, top pic, bottom left in the pot? Cerinthe?

Holy cow that Columbine is pretty, admiring it again.

Purple -- yup, that -- was -- Cerinthe. Ya know, coming back to gardening after many years off, there were some plants I tried to buy that I have had before in my gardens, but as I've found with a couple of things -- they just don't cut it in containers or small spaces like they did in the soil in open land. :-/ Cerinthe was one of them. They had such interesting flowers but the way I had them in that pot, seeing all the grayish foliage --- well, let's just say they are now with their maker. I'd love to be able to do what you do and just plant things into the ground!

Columbine -- yes, quite pretty. Wish I could get it more sun, though. I am curious to see how many of these plants do in the fall/winter when the sun drops again and this balcony gets full, full sun. Temps will drop but all day full sun should make some of these happy and others burn.

Oh, and Purple -- my gardenias told me to tell you goodbye. >~%\_%(>~:^\^

I cannot believe your weather is still so cold/rainy!

IKR! FINALLY was OK yesterday, and gorgeous today. Sheesh!

We've got a case of "eye of the beholder" here, I love foliage that color and weirdly shaped! (Cerinthe.) Not an easy plant or seed to find.

Yeah, I planted things in the ground and a handful seem dead still. Not sure it was a blessing this year, yet anyway. Oh well, 'twas fairly easy to replace plants, already have a new Gynura.

Seems like the rays during the off-season are weak enough to just be appreciated by about any plant. Curious also to see what your plants think!

Are you saying your 'denias croaked?

Weird! Well your post suddenly let me back in! I was kind of locked out of this one particular thread for days lol.

Well my lilies of the valley are almost done. The cobaea has grown a ton. Foxgloves are beginning to bloom. I have strawberries coming on. But mostly, my balcony is just green at the moment. I miss all my spring flowers! I can't wait for some of these things to get going. My begonias are all still small as well, not growing as fast as I want them to grow!

Cool!

I don't know why I've never thought to put LOV in a pot before. I gave up on them in OH because they bloom so early, so short, never wanted to get my knees wet and cold to smell them. They were in a spot with no containment edge either, in a naked zone under a big tree, would have eventually crept into lawn and "better" areas of bed on the other side. Great idea!

Do you need more annuals? Little things you can tuck into other stuff maybe? Expected to bloom for a LONG time... moss roses, pentas, heliotrope, never enough wax Begonias! I should have sent you some Gladiolus bulbs, those can come right up through other plants. Obviously we'll have to trade again!

LOL well I have no sun-- so glads don't work! I have some annuals coming up. Eventually it will be much more bloomy :) This is just the growth time. My heliotrope is blooming as is my ajuga-- but they just seem so small at the moment.

Yeah! My lilies of the valley are doing great in their pots! I love scented things, and scent was my main theme. So They really were something i wanted. I have the majority of them in an old bucket, and during the summer and fall they just add a cool green carpet to one spot. I put moss under them.

My double nasturtium has a bud too. Well it has several buds, but this one bud is showing COLOR. That is exciting! And my jasmine has been hanging out in bud for weeks now.. not doing anything. It is so close to blooming! I wish it would just do it already.

Aha, you're just having a moment like that commercial girl, "we like it, we want more, we want more!" I've probably already mentioned her in this discussion, she's my hero the past few weeks. So you've got a lot going on, but it just doesn't seem like enough. I think you're in good company, with EVERYONE!

I would get more stuff, but I've got everything they have that I want, at least for now. Probably the same in your pots too.

Literally no sun? If you told me that already, I'm too busy remembering the words to 2000 songs instead, you know how those brain cells just do whatever they want. Guess that would explain why I didn't send any, knew that at the time.

Speaking of close, and being forgetful, Mother's Day is Sunday. Is everyone on top of that situation? After lunch, I'm going to "finish" those mini gardens I've been babbling about. Will put pics in the thread on house plants when ready, might b tomorrow.

Julianna, your beautiful mosaics and seashells got my mind going on those quite a bit. You wouldn't know to look at what I've done but believe it, a flood of ideas, not even necessarily related, germinated because of looking at your beautiful work. It made me want to make everything not only more pretty, but much more personally detailed... in general... about gardening in particular.

Haha! Yes! most places on my balcony see no sun at all. A few places see it for 45 minute increments. Off the railing, I get about 3 hours, but non-consecutively.

My pots are stuffed! And I have some more things to go out. I need a new pot.

I keep remembering about mother's day and then forgetting again.

Aww that is nice! I haven't had a chance to use any of my tablecloths this year. I guess the time is now while the weather isn't too hot and the mosquitoes are low in numbers. Frogs in the puddles in the courtyard and now singing love songs nightly. I wish i could get some to live on my balcony and eat all the bugs that try to bite me as I sit there.

well, we are suddenly jumping from 50 to almost 80F and I put out as much as I can. the chairs need to fit in somewhere there in 2 days. I am still uppotting lots. haven't the faintest how to stack it all up.