>The „up-floofing“ of my hydrangea (subspecies is named „Snowball“) begins:
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>Today I finally found a set of table and chairs for my balcony that is not grossly oversized… Balcony is very narrow (90 cm), so big tables won’t fit. But this cute little set did. Here you see it just before the biggest thunderstorm of the last years hit full force (no worries, nothing was harmed, here at least):
Now the summer can really come, it doesn’t get nicer than this, on that table, I will be able to paint outdoors, even.
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>..of all the flowers!
Full bloom:
Blooming soon:
Such velvety colours:
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>See my balcony – I am all set for summer now. *happy grin*
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>…for the hydrangea, LOL!!
Remember how I worried if that:
would thrive?Um well:
It has now outgrown the windowsill and requires to stand alone again, will find it a more stable stand.
Now I am terribly curious which colour it will have this year. ^-^
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>..today the proof that they can be quite the damage to the environment.*g*
First we have a pot with normal horned violets:
And this is the one that is preferred by the local population of sparrows:
(I’ll do my best to get a „caught in the act“ piccie of proof, too, but the little buggers just *know* if I have a camera or not… Without I can approach to 30cm distance – with camera they fly when I come out.)
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>Dear Europe,
when you vote for this years ESC, please use your *ears* and do not let our entry win again. Lena could not sing last time and she still has not learned to sing on key all the time, this song just conceals it better.
The hype around her is already unbearable and I dare not imagine what happens when you make her win again.
So, Europe, please do your part and vote for someone with a good show AND a good voice!Thank you.
And the plants! You did not think you would escape from my flower posts this year, now, did you? Hehehe…Here we go again.
One indoor: Monster got her new big pot so that she will stand more stable, too. *waits for explosive growth now*
And outdoors:
I potted the willow tree. In a real pot with venting it will be way more manageable when the weather gets hot.
Then I recycled the basket in which the willowtree came:
My kitchen window always makes me feel spring-y:
Aren’t the little things awesome? I suppose the fertilizer did a lot to achieve this:
Oh, and my bike is on the way to become a local celebrity, LOL!!
People turn to look when I drive by (and no, I was not wearing polkadots or anything) and when I came out of the homeworker store today I found five (!) people around it in a half-circle, admiring it. (Of all ages, too) -
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I think I spotted the beginnings of blossoms between the top leaves of the tallest branches. *very excited*
Being on time this year:
Also blooming:
Spring-in-the-box:
Seasonal little tree:
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Today I unwrapped my plants when I came home- I have decided that now they have to get along without their warm covers.
The lavender did not make it, but it was pretty worn down already anyway. And if I didn’t know better, I would say that the Stone Heather has been growing in winter, LOL!! Really, was that bush so large before already? o.O
And well…I blame it on my distress about the situation in Japan, so I wanted to save *something*, too, I guess, and when I found a tree in a discounter supermarket, in a dark corner below the salad…well…
One does not see all that much on this quick picture, but it is a small willow tree. I am going to try and cultivate it in a pot when the spring plants around it give up. If it looks very upset, I plan to give it to one of my colleagues with a garden. But actually I do not see why it should not like living in a pot on my balcony… -
>Today I found a new set of curtains for my kitchen, yay! They resemble a bit the ones I got first, currently they are hanging to dry on my balcony door. As soon as I have them up tomorrow, I will take a piccie.
This beautiful sight I found yesterday afternoon- it almost looks like a map with continents and many spread out isles, I think:
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>Now, no worries, we are not snowed in or anything. But the nights are nearing frost in temperature and it is time to prepare the balcony plants for winter, so that they make it safe into next year.
So today, they got their last big fill of water, from now on, they are kinda on diet, LOL!! Also today I went and bought new jute sacks to bundle them up in like I did the years before- this will be done tomorrow, then.
The hydrangea had to be moved, because a) her table is not frost resistant and had to be taken in and b) the place in the livingroom window she has now is warmer than the corner she inhabited before.
(She should not get any larger, or she won’t fit anymore… o.O)Moving the plant and the table resulted in nice autumn-wintery re-decorations indoors, too.
The other windowsill got the lantern back:
And the table of the hydrangea was scrubbed clean and can now serve a very decorative purpose in the corner behind the door. During the heating period, the door is mostly closed, so what’s behind it is visible. And so I thought I could make the corner pretty.
(No worries, that plant is fake)Where I bought the jute sacks, I found this pretty light, too and really could not resist at all:
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>… and on my balcony, too. Today it was sunny but cool weather, ideal to do gardening and maintenance work on the balcony. So I got some plants to replace those who did not survive the tons of rain after the heatperiod. Also my Bornholm Marguerites were no longer truly fit, having spent themselves with their many blossoms.
So on my balcony reside now the following plants:
In the corner with the kitchen window are the heather that now replaces the marguerites and my hydrangea:
Closeup of a blossom of the hydrangea:
All those are winter hardy and should return to life after the oncoming cold season.Since the marigolds died, I put a flower pot with one Chrysantenum left and right my still lively third flowerbox:
(I had planned to have several of these in the flower boxes, but the first two already died on me…this is not my type of plant. Ironically, it was those I paid full for. The ragged red one that the flower-lady did not want any money for because it looked so desolate has not only survived, but also recovered, LOL!!)And the other window:
The dalia seems to like it there. The little plants next to it apparently, too. -
>… because I forgot a close up of my lovely Million Bells.
The come in many colours and I want some for next year again, so much is already for certain.The hydrangea looks like this- there are tiny pink sprinkles all over the blossoms that slowly turn greenish. It looks as if someone has sprayed some fruitjuice on it:
Two tiny lavender seedlings which I pulled from between the stones with the roots intact- so I thought, I am trying to cultivate those now.
(Please ignore the dirty window sill, aheehee…) -
>…it has been a while, hasn’t it? On my balcony, the plants hated the recent downpours of rain- all plants? No, one flowerbox full apparently loves it and really exploded since the weather got cooler and more rainy:
For comparision- they looked like this, when they were new:
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>We’ve just had a thunderstorm with kinda epic bucketloads of rain- this was topping everything I’ve seen here before. Watch the water rise, LOL!!
Aaah, help?
The neighbours below have no roof over their balcony at all…watch the little currents forming around the plastic table. o.O
Thankfully the drains did manage it all, if slowly, especially after a little help (poking), so the flood has now gone.
I could bet that some cellars are flooded here in the area now, the firefighters are rushing out very busily. -
>…one day I will have bored you all senseless, muahaha. Um, yeah.
‚Cause I can’t stop taking pics of this one:
(Today I went to the market booth where I got it and thanked the seller for having such excellent plants. He was so very happy indeed.)And the new plants in the flowerbox where the maguerites were- it is either a bad year for those or they simply don’t like me, LOL!!
It contains „Million Bells“ (a subspecies of petunias, often found in „hanging gardens“)
and one „Verbena“:
Both come in many colours.And then this one wanted to come, too, LOL!! I know, I have complained about these looking like mutant Equisetum (horse tail/ Schachtelhalm) before and now suddenly have one and then it is even not white but rather urple… I know, I know… But sometimes you can fall in love on second glance with flowers, too. ^==^;;;
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>Everyday it grows larger and more gorgeous! I never had such a beautiful plant ever before:
View directly from above, when set on the floor for watering:
As for Firely- that one has now reached a juvenile state (not grown up) and all of us do hope for a last decent colour change, LOL!! Psychodelic Unicorn:
Azâr:#White…# *growls*
Mielahis: *slightly awed*#…and…URPLE…# -
>… now I know why this variety is called „snowball“!
Bottlefeeding it during the day did not only save its life, it did also speed the blossoming process some.
Also found a „new“ spider-species in the flowers- while the balcony(and from time to time my kitchen) is haunted by tiger-striped jumping spiders (cause they can squeeze in through any opening on the window…), there was one that was almost translucent, but striped also and very small, about 0,5cm. Never seen those before, maybe I will find an image on the web…
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>The hydrangea is fluffing up now:
And yesterday’s full moon over the parking lot- it looked much bigger for real, but the photo does at least capture the intensity a little:
