Mini-Daffs & Crocuses in brown trough on balcony railings 07-04-2013

Great contrast, Balconey. :-)

I love to see these plants flowering together every year in the spring! They bring so much joy to the end of the winter & as spring gets under way! I also had them overplanted with Pansies but they all rotted after such a wet, cold November. I'd grown them from seed & planted them over the tops of the pots & troughs. One trough was planted up with Pansies bought as plugs from the supermarket where my wife works & they survived best of all but even they have now given up the ghost! :'-((

Am gonna try pansies & sweet williams for next year. Lol.
Would I be right in thinking that there's a winter flowering pansy?

Yes, there is & that is what I use

Excellent, buddy.
I love it, when a plan comes together. Lol.

I sowed my own Pansy seeds last year. I later transplanted the small plants into my pots & troughs in October when I planted my Daffs & Crocuses. Unfortunately with so much rain & cold during November & December they rotted away! :'-((

Only one trough that I'd planted up with Pansies I bought in October from the supermarket where my wife works survived till a few weeks ago. But even they died during the last cold spell we had. :-((

The Daffs & Crocuses are flowering lovely now as you see in the photo above!

That's what worries me the most, buddy, when seasoned gardeners like you are doing everything by the book, yet plants are still failing or even dying.
My neighbours are expecting so much from that wee strip & I'm having to point out the difficulties being faced by folks with a lifetime's experience & asking them to put a wee bit less faith in their belief that it's going to look like an RHS show. Lol.
Faith...that's the bottom line, I guess. ;-)

I do few things "by the book" as you say! I expect a lot from my balcony as well & feel disappointed when things don´t turn out how I envision them!

My balcony at present disappoints me! It's not turned out how I envisioned it to be last October! :-(( It looked much better last year! But even that was disappointing because all my Pansies & Violas died as well!

When the covering plants die it leaves the pots as a mass of green leaves with no interest for at least a month or more! I can't put out my summer bedding plants before the middle of May at the earliest.

So all April, except this year due to the very late spring, & most of May I have no flowers as that is when the Pansies & Violas are at their peak of flowering! As they die early it also means that my pots have nothing of interest during the months from October to February or March!

I put in Pansies & Violas to give me a few flowers during the milder spells of the winter & then for their main flush in April/May. They also help to hide the untidy leaves of the bulbs. This has worked well other years but not for the last 2!

I'll be sowing pansies, violas & sweet wiliams & hoping for the best.
I'm also looking at maybe planting two or three small trees this Autumn to give a bit of shade to some plants I want to try out next Winter/Spring like cyclamen coum.
There's never a dull moment, is there? Lol.

I've been out planting trees today! I helped plant 23 Betula jacquemontii trees at a Leisure Centre in a town a few miles from us.

These are very nice trees. I happened to see one in the Cambridge Botanical Gardens a few years ago. I remember the tree very well so today when I saw the labels on the trees they brought back the memory of the tree I saw &photographed.

I've gone from never having planted a tree in my life to planting around 20 today!

My wife says now I only have to write a book! In fact she knows very well I DID start one about 13 years ago. Though I haven't written a line in at least 9-10 years!

Balconey, you should take up where you left off!
I take it that it's about, or at least has a section on gardening?
Add in a section for dummies like me, or start a new book on the same theme.
Be honest...have you ever seen a book written for a rank beginner, starting at square one?
No, me neither, because there isn't one.
Simple step by step instructions for assessing soil types, planning, ground prep, sowing, planting, etc.
Even indoor and patio/balconey (Sorry mate, Lol.) gardening.
Or a series of books for dummies.
And when you're a world famous multi-millionaire I can say to folk "Yeah, that's my buddy." Lol.
I like the betulas, especially pubescens & oaks, too.
How large were the ones you planted?
I rarely got the chance to plant adult trees, maybe 2 dozen times, dealing mostly with 2-3yr old 'whips'.