Daffodils on balcony (railings)

They are beautiful Balcony - daffodils are so rewarding and really boost the morale - I lost my pansies and violas in my window boxes - that was due to the wet soggy weather we had here for so long - thanks for sharing - Jane

They have done you proud, love them.

They have certainly done well for you and because some started to bloom earlier this winter they seem to have been around for ages, I noticed around here that it was the larger yellow ones that flowered first in the gardens and the countryside, I do like the smaller varieties especially in the troughs and pots, they stand up against the wind better as well.... Not many pansies survived all the wet for me either...

You have a lovely display there. Daffodils have such a long season -in the next village to us a bank has been planted with some earlies that are often out for Christmas but this winter flowered in November -I wanted to shout at them to go back and wait... Our last ones are some very tiny multi headed ones , white with orange cups, but I don't know the name. I can't keep either violas or pansies - no idea why they seem to hate it here!
The second of the Amaryllis you sent me will soon be in flower - looking forward to finding out what colour it is!

I've said it before.....you do splendidly to provide so much colour for your neighbour's to see all in that small space.

How amazing is that!!

I wonder if the Violas and Winter Pansies suffer from shock because they spend all their early life in heated polytunnels?

When I've tried growing them they've been planted out in the autumn when the weather was still quite mild. Perhaps it isn't sheltered enough for them here.

I must say I agree that Daffodils have a long flowering season. As you can see by the dates on the photos I've had them in bloom since the last day or two of January & now we are almost at the end of April!

Admittedly they are not the same plants that started 3 months ago but even so the first few lasted a good 2 months! The rockery ones have lasted almost the whole of April. They only cost me 99p a packet & I think I bought 3 packets of each with about 10 bulbs in each. Quite a bargain when they can last for many years & increase along the way!

I have some Tete-a-Tete that I've had for many years now only as I garden on a balcony I can't leave them "in situ" all year round as I need to change the pots over & put in summer flowering plants. I've already started off my Begonias from last year & they have sprouted & are forming their first leaves. I expect them to start to flower before the end of May. At present they are in small pots but in a month's time I will empty out the pots of Rockery Daffs & put the Begonias in their place.

As for the Pansies & Violas almost all of them have died. I have no idea why. It can't be because of excessive rain as a good deal bounces off the leaves when it rains & doesn't wet the pots excessively. I've had no luck for some years now. Sometimes it has been the fault of an infestation of an itsy, bitsy tiny grey/white aphid that covers all the green areas so the plants look covered in grey/white fur! But this year, in spite of such a mild winter, there have hardly been any. Even the normal green aphid seems to be a lot scarcer this year!

The council plants Pansies every year in the flowerbed in the gardens that surround our block of flats (see some of my old blogs where I talk about "Vandals"!) & they don't do very well either.

I could show you photos of years ago when I had 3 hanging baskets full of flowering Pansies as well as the pots on the railings & the troughs! Unfortunately I'm unable to repeat that performance any longer! ;-(( In fact I've decide that from this autumn I shan't be planting Pansies & Violas any more on the balcony - but what can I put in their place? Any ideas anyone?

We all bought different bulbs this Autumn. My dwarf Tulips are flowering happily now in my balcony baskets in last year's compost. Will remove this soon and replace with recycled Gerbil compost for summer Fuchsias and Geraniums.
What do you recommend as the best way to keep them for next autumn after they have died down naturally ? I have some in tubs which I plan to just remove to behind the greenhouse and see what happens.
My Pansies and Violas were alright in the cold greenhouse until December, then it was too cold for them. Saw a programme on T/V showing millions of them being grown in an enormous greenhouse. It just made me feel tired thinking of all that work, but they were flowering quite happily, waiting to be sent out to garden centres.
Methinks they should not be planted outside.

Pansies & Violas are amongst the most hardy of plants we can grow in our gardens (& balconies!) they shrug off the coldest weather without the slightest worry! That's not what is killing them but what is I don't know!

Once I thought it was the itsy-bitsy grey/white aphids that smother them but this year there has hardly been any sign of them. But still my plants have died. I even thought of some grub that eats the roots as they seem to collapse & look as though they are dying of thirst. I've pulled a few plants out of the toughs & pots & have broken open the rootball but the roots seemed alright & there was no sign of any grubs. Dry they certainly weren't! Nor were any of them waterlogged.

The is a flowerbed on the corner of the gardens that surround our block of flats & the town council gardeners have been planting Pansies in it every winter for many years now. The last few years lots of these plants have died off as well before they could get started on the spring flowering.

It's quite a mystery!

Its shock.
Get some seeds, grow your own outdoors next year, and see what happens.

I plant mine outside in the autumn so there's no shock, and they still fail to thrive. Its so mild here we had no snow and hardly any frost.

I'm sorry to disagree with you Dian but that's not what's killing the Pansies & Violas. My plants at least were growing perfectly well & flowering during the autumn - long before any cold spell came around. The same could be said of the council planting, yet most have just collapsed & died for no apparent reason.

It could be a fungal infection but there is nothing visible on the plants. The compost was fresh last year, i.e. it hadn't grown Pansies or Violas in it before. So a build up of something noxious to Pansies & Violas can't be considered. The same can't be said of the flowerbed in the gardens of our block as the council gardeners have been planting Pansies there every year for many years.

So the mystery continues! Where's Sherlock when you need him? (At least his horticultural counterpart!)