The July Balcony

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The July Balcony

As I haven’t shown many of the plants on our balcony at home I thought I would do a blog on what has happened on it during this month of July which is practically over.

Balcony seen from outside (Centre) on 1st July 2017:

Balcony as seen from street on 15th July 2017:

Balcony seen from outside (Centre) 22nd July 2017:

Just 3 weeks separate the first & third photos! As you might expect during July quite a bit has happened, not only have the plants got bigger & flowered even more but there are many new plants on the balcony as well.

For example, as there is no room in the flat for my Amaryllis once the leaves reach their full size during the summer, I’ve been forced to put some out on the balcony, on some shelving I put up for them & then painted green:

This shelving I put up at the far end of the balcony from the door which is also the far end of our living room. There it doesn’t block out any meaningful amount of light.

Plants on the middle bar of the railings & on the floor:

Standard Marguerites from Dick on balcony 1st July 2017:

Fuchsias (Standards from Dick) on balcony 1st July 2017:

At the far right you can see that 1 of the 4 standard Fuchsias Dick gave me didn’t survive its repotting & has since died! The other 3 are doing fine:

Fuchsia ‘Jollies Macon’ in pot on balcony 15th July 2017:

Another Fuchsia given to me by Dick (a friend from church).

Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ in square tub on balcony 1st July 2017:

I’m much happier with this Fuchsia ‘Lady Boothby’ than at any other time since I was given a small plant & a few cutting from a member of another gardening forum (who also used to post on here as well) some years ago.

Can you make out how much she has grown in just 3 weeks? In fact she has been growing at an average of an inch a day during July!!!

The original plant is still growing but has never made this amount of progress in one season. She shares a square tub with 4 other Fuchsia plants

I rooted them all last autumn & managed to keep them alive all winter. Then in late May I planted them all out in this tub. I didn’t know at the time of planting that the tallest one was ‘Lady Boothby’ even though I suspected it might be. I thought I would train it to become a standard 3 ft high. But after a few weeks I was convinced it must be ‘Lady Boothby’ when the original plant started growing & the leaves were identical & the form of growth the same. I then decided it wasn’t a good idea to train it as a standard after all. Now the plant is almost as tall as me!

Variegated Geranium ‘Black Prince’:

This particular Geranium came originally as a cutting from a GoY member who lived in Scotland. It roots very easily & therefore I’ve been able to root many cutting over the years & so keep it alive. I love the nearly black foliage & the pale pink flowers that contrast so well with the leaves!

Variegated Geraniums ‘Vancouver Centennial’:

I bought a plant of this Geranium in Sainsburys on a whim some years ago. Again it roots very easily & I’ve been able to root many cuttings from the original plant.

Variegated Geraniums Green & white:

I’m not 100% sure but I think I bought this Geranium at the same time as ‘Vancouver Centennial’. It also roots with a great deal of ease &, like the above Geraniums, I’m been able to root many cutting form the plant over the years I have had it.

All of these Geraniums are very floriferous indeed & I grow a few plants of them every year.

Begonias on balcony in hanging baskets:

This yellow Begonia is flowering even better now than when I took this photo! Even better than in pots on the balcony railings for 2 years!

Yellow Begonia in hanging basket on balcony 30th July 2017:

Trailing Begonia ‘Illumination Salmon-Pink’:

I’ve had this trailing Begonia for 3 years now (the same as the others, as I bought all the tubers 3 years ago) & it has spent 2 winters in a wicker hanging basket. There were 2 tubers in the basket which grew & flowered for 2 years but one hasn’t returned this year. The other one is this photo above.

I have another trailing Begonia ‘Illumination Apricot’ but it hasn’t begun to flower yet this year. Again I had 2 tubers but one died during the winter.

Wicker hanging basket with Fuchsia buds 1st July 2017:

Double Fuchsia Flowering in wicker hanging basket on balcony 30th July 2017:

The flowers opened a day or two ago.

Tomatoes

Tomato ‘Moneymaker’ plants in corner of balcony 1st July 2017:

Tomatoes ‘Moneymaker’ underneath shelving in corner of balcony 1st July 2017:

Tomato ‘Moneymaker’ on balcony from inside 15th July 2017:

Tomato plants ‘Moneymaker’ on balcony 30th July 2017:

View of balcony railings from inside 30th July 2017:

With these last photos taken this evening I’ll finish this blog of our balcony during July 2017.

• 30 Jul, 2017
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