Heading into Fall ...

15 years ago

and my garden is finally looking like something!

Shockwave petunia got a late start, got beat up by the t-storms, but making a great comeback:
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Zinnia 'Profusion Orange'. By this time last year, they had been covered in blooms for months! But I won't complain - there'll be color up here for autumn.
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And the first teeny zinnia 'Profusion White':
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First blooms on Yvonne's Salvia. Won't get the show we had last year, but it did bloom well into October, so there's still hope. (I had a couple volunteers of this one too, this year. They're beginning to bloom as well.)
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The only plants that have done typically well for me this year are tomatoes! I wish I could get a full shot of the jungle I've created up here with 4 plants! They literally reach out and touch when I walk out the balcony door. I have truly pushed the limit this year! (in the next pic, the one reaching for the skies is 'Black Cherry' - thanks Barbi - strmywthr3!)
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another angle:
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(clicking on any pic will take you to my Flickr album - these pics look much better big! LOL!)

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Comments (16)

booberry85
15 years ago
What great pics! Thanks for sharing. I love petunias & zinnias.
kqcrna
15 years ago
You have made a pretty little piece of heaven up there, PV.

Karen
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dorisl
15 years ago
gorgeous! Those black cherry toms are Rad!
carrie630
15 years ago
love the lush balcony, pvick - those petunias are unbelievable!

Carrie
tiffy_z5_6_can
15 years ago
Your plants are amazing PV!

Do enjoy those tomatoes for me. Can't seem to ws them and get them to grow squat. :O( I'll keep trying though.
drippy
15 years ago
Pvick, you are amazing! I think a lot of people wouldn't believe you could do what you have done on that balcony - you're an inspiration to me; I have to go (hopefully soon) to a 2-bedroom apt with a postage stamp patio, but you can bet I will take up every square inch of it gardening until I have a place of my own again.

Tiffy, have you tried growing tomatoes in large (like 5-gallon) pots?
lisa_neenah
15 years ago
I'm absolutely drooling over your yvonne's salvia. I'vwe never seen anything like that. Can I ask, where did you get the seed?
etravia
15 years ago
Your plants look so lush & healthy! It is amazing all that you grow on your balcony. It makes me want to grow more in containers, so I have more control over moisture & soil!
Maggie
PVick
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, all, for the kind comments!

dorisl - I'm watching those 'Black Cherry' daily, waiting for a ripe one. I've heard they're delicious.

tiffy - I second what drippy asks: have you tried growing toms in pots? Is there some particular reason why they don't thrive in your area? Hard to believe they won't grow for you, seeing as how eveything else you grow is so great!

I LOVE petunias, but I've gotten away from them in the last few years - too busy falling in love with every other plant on the planet. But I'm really liking these shockwaves; I've grown the regular waves before, but think I like these much better.

lisa - Yvonne's Giant Salvia is a tall form of the regular salvia splendens (I think), isolated and shared by a Massachusetts gardener named Yvonne. If you google "Yvonne's Salvia", you'll find a ton of info about it. I originally got my seeds from Emily, a lady with whom Yvonne shared her seeds, and who has subsequently shared them with people from all over. If you do a search here on this forum, you'll find lots of pics - Karen (kqcrna) has some wonderful pics of Yvonne's with the hummers all over them! Keeps your eyes open - there will very likely be offers of seed for trade soon!

See those empty balconies in the back of the pics? That's what mine used to look like before I discovered winter sowing back in 2001! Now I can barely walk out there! Folks probably think I'm a little over the top, but I think it's fun! Most days, anyway ....

PV
MLcom
15 years ago
Ah bet any day those black cherrys will be ripe. Lovely garden. What exposure do you get? How many hours of the day? Guess you dont have my problem of deer eatting all your plants.

ML
sewobsessed
15 years ago
Nice! Very, very nice!
You know, all I could think of when I got to the last pic was, "Look at all that wasted balcony space on that other building. What are those people thinking? Pvick could be using all that!"
;)
agirlsgirl
15 years ago
Pv it never seems to sink into my head that yours is a balcony garden! It is so incredibly beautiful and the sky makes such a great background,it really is breathtaking! Thanks for sharing! :)
albertar
15 years ago
PV
just a quick heads up on the black cherry tomatoes, they may have green shoulders but they will be totally ripe. Their color is a cross between a deep burgundy/and deepy red when ripe. I love them!!!!
Alberta
patrushka
15 years ago
Gorgeous PV! Your balcony is so inviting and lovely. Thanks for sharing your pics.
PVick
Original Author
15 years ago
LOL @ sewobsessed! I had this vision of me swinging like Tarzan from floor to floor, balcony to balcony, tending my gardens! LOL!

Alberta - thanks for the tip on the black cherry toms. Right now, there are lots of fruit, but all totally green ...

PV
mnwsgal
15 years ago
Ha, ha, quiet a visual of you swinging here and yon.

Lovely flowers. Your balcony gardening brings back memories of the days we lived in an apartment and grew veggies and flowers on our balcony. Wish I had known about wintersowing then.

My Profusion White has been slow also though Cherry and Fire have been great. Those petunias are so pretty.

I took some 'Black Cherry' tomatoes to our family gathering where they were pronounced "delicious".

How have your clematis been blooming this year? It has been great here with the most bloom I've ever had. The wet spring got them off to a good start.

Heading into Fall ...

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