How much water do my potted hostas need now out on my balcony?
Comments (15)
Esther-B, Zone 7a
4 years agoHi, Ken & fellow hosta people. Yes, I moved to Baltimore suburbs at the very end of October. It's taken me this long to unpack 65 boxes. Only thing left for me to do is to arrange my art and photos on the walls. My dear friends Joe & Mimi have ferried down all but 9 of my hostas and heuchies down from their Long Island home on a couple of holiday trips to visit their married children here. I purchased 3 wire shelving units (the kind which simply fold down, by Origami) to hold my hostas and heuchies in a space saving manner so that there's a little of the 12 x 7' balcony for ME left over. I have the 4 tier shelving unit (out of sight in this pic) against the narrow end of the balcony with the brick wall, next to a 2 x 2' garden shed I got and put together to keep my garden implements, fertilizers, pots, etc. together in a neat way. I have the two 3 tier wire shelving units next to the railing on the other side, overlooking the lovely huge courtyard below. My balcony has a southwest exposure, which is good and penetrates the balcony well. Overhead is my upstairs neighbor's balcony, so there is not a lot of sun beating down on mine, but enough for hostas. I think annuals will do OK if arranged right by, or hanging from the railing. No restrictions here on hanging flowers from the railing and there's actually a competition in this complex for the prettiest balcony. I intend to do a horizon job on everyone else for that!
Meanwhile, I love living in the Baltimore suburbs. The neighbors could not be friendlier and are very quiet, yet ready to help if needed. Any store I could possibly want is only minutes away. I have 2 very old time friends here who have been tremendously helpful in my settling in. My cats love having an entire balcony window from which to see their birds, squirrels, etc. There is no parking space problem forcing me to decide whether I should go somewhere and lose my space or not, nor is there bumper to bumper traffic on the way to anywhere at all. There is a Home Depot about 5 minutes away, handy for soil and stuff. I have yet to find where the best nursery is yet, but I have time. Hopefully, I will find my little tiny house next year and will then be able to put the hostas in the yard where they belong.
Thanks for your watering advice, Ken. The hostas haven't had any watering for a couple weeks. The temps have been in the 40s and 50s. Some of the heuchies still have live leaves. I had the hot water urn going for the Sabbath yesterday, didn't use much of the water. Rather than waste it (I have to pay my own water here), I thought I'd use the now-cooled water to moisten the hostas just a bit. I figure I could pour the urn into a bucket and use a 7 oz. plastic cup to distribute the water sparingly.
Question: As you can see, there isn't much headroom on the lower shelves for the larger hostas. Should I move those to the top shelves and move the little guys to the bottom shelf? Thanks.
Hostas on the balcony, glimpse of beautifully landscaped courtyard
I was a gardener from an early age...ran across this photo while deciding which photos and pieces of art to put up on the walls here. You can't see it here in this old photo, but my eyes are actually very green.
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4 years agoEsther-B, Zone 7a
4 years agoEsther-B, Zone 7a
4 years agoEsther-B, Zone 7a
4 years agoEsther-B, Zone 7a
4 years ago
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5