Changes afoot - on the balcony! (Part one)

Good to see initiative like this.
The birds wont be able to get at the yellow ones on the
balcony.

I've never noticed that the birds damage the yellow Crocuses! In fact there are several large beds of yellow Crocuses, planted many years ago, here near town, which I've never particularly noticed were attacked by birds.

On our balcony there are a few yellow Crocuses every year & again I don't remember them ever having been attacked by the birds. Sparrows often come into our balcony searching for spiders & their webs. Every year when they're building their nests I've seen them fly off with cobwebs in their beaks. I can't say I've seen them fly off with spiders but I've read articles where they talk of Sparrows looking for spiders to feed to their young.

20 pence per pansy a good buy.

wow, you've been busy, and the balcony will reflect that. Those pansies were certaincly cheap! you should get a lovely display over the next few months.

Must be something they do in Northamptonshire. I never
buy yellow Crocus bulbs. Waste of money.

Thank you guys for taking the time to read my blog! :-))

My wife & I also thought they were a good buy! :-))

Just this morning I managed to get a couple of photos of the Pansies in pots on the balcony railings as well as some of the balcony as a whole.

Yes, Fran, we are looking forward to a lovely display as well! I like Pansies & Violas because they give colour all winter before their main burst in late spring!

I'm just hoping they do what they are supposed to do as the last 3 or 4 years have been a disaster! But what else could I use to take their place?

Apart from the ones we bought I have transplanted a lot of seedlings that grew from the Pansy 'Rocky' we bought in the same town back in May this year. One seedling has produced a flower & from what I can remember of the original plants (they are all dead now) this looks the same. I wasn't expecting them to come true from seed! But that's a bonus! I'll have to wait till the spring probably before the rest of the seedlings start to bloom. Only then will I know if they really do come true from seed.

@Diane: No, I don't think it's a case of just being Northants as I'm sure I've heard other people comment on them having the same problem with Sparrows destroying their yellow Crocuses. In February or March when they bloom I'll let you know if my yellow Crocuses are attacked or not.

lol one of my neices had plastic flosers in her hanging basket. I tried it, first bit of wind, they all took off along the baloncy!

Your in for a brilliant display, and I am looking forward to seeing what's going on 'downstairs' :)

@Fran: I've never liked plastic flowers so we never have them in our house. But I do like the silk ones or imitation silk at least! They are so much more realistic.

I've seen a few hanging baskets with plastic flowers & I dislike them completely! My baskets made not look like the "professionals" but they give me a satisfying feeling of knowing I made them & they will evolve over the course of the summer - no 2 weeks do they look the same! I've got plenty of photos to prove it as well! Who could possibly like, let alone enjoy, baskets that look the same 365 days a year? Well even they change - for the worse! The flowers fade, change colour or just accumulate dust! Even if it is so slow we don't realise it's happening - till we see photos of when they were first put out to now, perhaps a year or two later. They really look horrid!

Thanks, Gee, I've got the couple of photos I wanted now I will make up the next blog about what's going on 'downstairs'. I'll probably do it on Sunday so maybe Sunday evening it will be online.

lol yes, plastic is hardly realistic - especially the ones that came free with soap powder! I did have some artificial flwoers years ago, but i wanted *real* ones; sadly, my then flat wasn't built to have real plants in every room.

Going to look so pretty next springtime Balcony, I love pansies and violas, even on the dullest of days the little faces are a cheery sight, the sparrows always shred yellow crocus in my garden, then they move onto my red polyanthus, thinking back they do the same with the blue ones as well, lol....Wouldn't mind but I spend a fortune filling their feeders and tables....
I have replanted my mangers at the front and did pop my tulips in one day last week but as you know I've been stuck indoors with the dreaded paintbrushes, just got to put everything back now, haven't chosen new carpet yet so tomorrow I'm treating myself to a day outside around the borders, finish removing the last of the summer bedding might even have a wander out for some more pansies to fill the gaps....

I've liked Pansies ever since I was growing up as a kid in London! I can still remember picking off seed capsules from each different colour flower to sow in the garden at home - I didn't realise then they were hybrids & wouldn't come true from seed!

I done this combination planting for most of the years we have lived in this flat (13) & some years it has been a fantastic success story but over the last 4 or 5 it has become a disaster story! I hope this year will be a repeat of the successful years & not the disastrous ones!

The birds don't seem to bother my plants at all. Yet they will come into the balcony sometimes in search of cobwebs & spiders. They've even stripped the seeds from Sunflower heads I've left to dry on the balcony table. I used to think it was mice eating the seeds.