My balcony during 2019

Wow! I really admire people who make absolutely every inch count Balcony! And it looks fabulous, even well into autumn. Love all your orchids on the wall too. Do you take those inside the house for winter?

Gosh it looks like one of the garden centre displays, but better! Lots of work but lots of reward, well done!

Goodness, no wonder you are being tempted to cut down on the work a bit! How do you manage all that potting up etc with just the balcony to do it on? Quite a feat! The neighbours are lucky to have that display to look at. Interesting what you said about planting schemes often looking better see from the side - I've often noticed that in our garden and find it rather frustrating! Perhaps the thing to do is to plan it from one side...

You have such a lot in that small space. It must be a pleasure for passers by to see, and give you a lot of pleasure too.
Pity you couldn't take over some of that boring grassy area in front of your flat. It would look much better :)

Thank you all for your likes & comments - which I always find interesting! :)

Karen, I don't know what plants you might be seeing but there are no Orchids on the balcony! The only flowering Orchid I have is in our small kitchen window but I don't think I've ever uploaded any pictures of it or if I have then it must have been last year or the year before!

I have two black hanging baskets on the walls at either end with mostly trailing Begonias & a Geranium as well as trailing Lobelias. But no Orchids!

Thanks, Sunnydais, for the compliment on the balcony looking better than a GC! I enjoy the work & this year the display has been better for some things than others.

Yes, Stera, I'm glad you can see that I need to cut down on the work but more than that I would like to stop changing the display 2 times a year in the white troughs on the balcony floor. It really & truly is back breaking & I suffer with pain in my back for days afterwards not to mention while I'm doing the work!

I have an advantage with the balcony in that I can see it from 3 different view points from outside as well as two view points from within the balcony itself - something that can only really be done if you have island beds in your garden that you can walk around & see from every direction!

Hywel, you are right it does give me pleasure & sometimes people passing by when I'm watering or doing some other work on the balcony will stop & comment how nice it looks! THAT gives me pleasure because I know I'm providing a visual display that others like as well!

Many people have commented over the years how nice it looks but nobody in the block (of 25 flats) has tried to imitate me over the 18 years we have lived here! I used to think it was because few people used to stay more than a few months before moving elsewhere but in the last 5-6 years people seem to be staying for periods of a year or two or more. They can see what's possible but nobody has really shown any interest. :(

That's not to say that nobody has any interest in growing plants on their balconies. I can see from the ground a couple of balconies with a few plants but I also have the advantage that being on the ground floor our balcony is a little wider than those above us. There is a lady on the 7th floor who has what look like Orchids growing in her kitchen window. So it is possible to grow plants even when you have no garden!

well that is a labour of love and I think it sets a wonderful tone and as you say it is a shame that few try to do it.
have you approached any of your neighbours to see if they want to help/copy/share plants?

It's like around here then, my garden is crammed with plants and when I am in my little plot down by the back road, or in the front garden, passers by comment on how colourful it is etc … but hardly anyone around here has (what I call) nice gardens. In fact many of them are in an awful mess :(

I am amazed by the last photo.It must get quite dark in the house but full of colour outside.

Balcony I just thought if you used flowering shrubs in (bit bigger?) troughs rather than bedding, with perennial bulbs for various times of year planted between it could save you a lot of work even if it wouldn't be quite as spectacular? I seem to remember you were wondering about this a year or two ago?

I think you have set the bar remarkably high Balcony, although I love gardening I would think twice before putting plants on a balcony if I were a neighbour of yours! There are a couple in our road who have green fingers and an eye for displaying plants, their front garden is beautiful all year round .... the rest of us have high hedges or simply lawns with the odd hanging basket .... I have all three ;-)
Thank you for sharing this year on your balcony with us, what a good year it has been!

Looks fab Balcony! You’ve achieved so much diversity in a small area, so well! It’s great how you’ve placed and organised all your plants too. Just hope other people with balconies are inspired too! ;)

Wonderful.
Thank you for showing the evolution of plants from the beginning to full bloom. I admire your competence and dedication to replanting everything again after winter. For almost 20 years all I had was a balcony to plant. Many plants died from my own incompetence, whether in caring for the plants, watering too much or too little, pest attack, too much sun or too much shade, etc. Congratulations on the layout and health of the plants.

Thanks again for the comments which I love to receive! :)

Seaburngirl: No, I haven't been in contact with any of the neighbours, we see very few of them & then it's only to say "hello" & "goodbye" or "thanks" when someone holds the main door open for you!

Our flat is right next to the entrance door to the building so we see next to no-one as we enter or leave. There are a couple of neighbours we have had more contact with but they haven't the slightest interest in growing plants!

Hywel, it's nice to have someone comment on your garden/balcony,isn't it? Shame there aren't a lot more people like us here on GoY! :D :D :D

Linda, you might be surprised actually about the amount of light that gets in through the plants on the balcony! For a couple of months at the end of summer/beginning of autumn the tomato plants do block out quite a bit of light but still the sun manages to find opening to get in through & sunlight reaches the furthest extreme in our living room! Around the time of the equinoxes while I'm sitting here at my computer I often have to close one of the curtains because the sunlight is blinding me! In some of my Amaryllis flower photos you can clearly see the shadows of the plants cast on the wall behind them! Towards the end of October/beginning of November I have to take the tomato plants down then all the available sunlight can get into the living room! Our balcony faces south-west so gets all the sunlight available all year from about 11am till sunset.

Steragram, you have a good memory! Yes, last year you will remember my son paid for 3 small shrubs (as a birthday present) for me to put on the balcony, in the 3 white troughs on the floor up against the railings, unfortunately they died before they could even get established due to the months of very strong sunshine & heat we had last summer. :( I haven't put in any more this year. But my idea was to have a shrub of two in each of the white troughs & put in some spring bulbs & other small bedding plants & to stop the twice yearly emptying out & replacing of the compost & bulbs/bedding plants. I haven't bought any bulbs to put in them this year. I will just put a few Pansies in them until it's time to replant with summer bedding again.

Xela, thank you for your appreciation of my efforts to brighten up our balcony! :) You needn't worry about the balconies above they could all be potentially planted up like ours & there would be no danger to anyone on the floor below. These are not flying balconies, they are all built into the structure of the block of flats. They are more like an exterior extension of our living rooms. The balconies on the 3 ground floor flats project outwards from the ones above by about a foot or so & our railings are therefore further out than the flats above us.

I thought a succession of photos through the year following the development of the balcony month on month & from 3 different angles might proof of more interest rather than a succession of "stills" just showing the centre through the months, which was my first intention!

Kate, thank you so much for your lovely words!:) I'm glad you like the way I have the balcony organised! My wife always accuses me of a "lack of aesthetics" on the balcony but it looks as though not everyone agrees with her! :D :D :D

Aleyna, I'm so pleased you liked the idea I had of creating a blog that showed how the balcony has evolved during the year! I putt he first one, of February, to act as a kind of starting point for the journey through the following 8 months of the year. It's starkness in in direct contrast to the height of summer when the balcony practically disappears under the foliage & flowers that are growing on it! I have to put up with the "bare bones" of the balcony for at least 3 months of the year! It makes me sad when I return home during those months & see such bareness. :(

As always it looks amazing, I applaud you every year and you do deserve it Balcony, I imagine your back is relieved to get a few weeks of respite even though you find it sad, lol..must be so rewarding when you are receiving comments from the passing public, I like the way you have documented the progress from the start....A very good blog...

Looks really good throughout the year. Added to GoYpedia All Year Interest.

I have really enjoyed reading through this blog Balcony, so much time and effort has gone into producing such fabulous displays, well done you!

Lincslass, thanks for your applause & your lovely comments! :) It's a few days at the end of October & May every year that I do the change over from summer bedding & then to winter bedding. It's these couple of weeks every year that are so painful for my back! Yes, I do like it when people say how much it brightens up the block of flats! It makes it all seems worthwhile when people enjoy what I've created! :)

Thanks, TT, for adding our balcony to GoYpedia All Year Interest! I don't think it really qualifies as all year interest really as there are 3 or 4 months when there is very little to see, perhaps just a few poor Pansy flowers! The picture of the balcony in February this year demonstrates what I mean!

Thank you, also, Shirley, for reading this blog & liking it so much! As you rightly say it does take a bit of time & effort but as I enjoy "pottering around" & trying to create something different from the previous years it's not "work" & if other people find it enjoyable then all my effort is well paid for!

I would like to inspire in people the joy of growing plants & making lovely displays but I've yet to hear anyone say my work has inspired them to try & do something similar in their garden! :(