pretty success

I have accepted by now that the Echinacea, autumn Ferns, Mimosa and Hibiscus on my balcony are not going to grow again. Still dead dry stems, barren ground in those pots.

But, I now have flowers! The Nicotiana is so lovely. It reaches just outside the railings towards the sun, so I had to lean over awkwardly for some photos.

Lots more of these plants still growing up, the broad leaves are quite large.

chill

It's been getting cold. There's a freeze warning for tonight. So it became a little impromptu harvest day for my small balcony garden. I trimmed the Sage, cut the Chives, Green Onions and Swiss Chard to the ground.

I brought my Ginger inside, probably should have done this sooner.

I grouped most of the plants away from the balcony edge and close to the apartment wall, where they might hold some warmth. This side has some Ferns, the Hibiscus, Echinacea, Celery and Geraniums.

The other side has more Ferns, Rosemary, Sage, Chard, Green Onions and pot of Chives.

here pictured after the cutback:

As a last thought, I gathered a bit of mulch from shredded leaves (dead fern foliage, trimmings from hibiscus) and some cut-up coir fiber that used to house my boston fern, and tucked it around the base of my Sage, Rosemary, and miniature Rose.

The rest of the plants will just have to fend for themselves, and see how they survive. I did move the Nasturtium planter off the railing and onto a low shelf against the brick endwall

but left the Petunia planter where it was. It's heavily infested with aphids and I think whitefly, and I don't want that to spread to the other plants.

So that's it. I wasn't expecting it to get so cold so soon.

more death

Yeah, the toll goes on. Whatever this disease is that's killing off my balcony plants, it is still spreading. I thought it was aphids, but now am wondering if it's some kind of air-borne virus. Definitely the Petunias are smothered in aphids; but many of the other plants have pale, mottled scraped-looking leaves and no actual bugs on them when I look close.

Affected plants now include: Petunias (the worst), Echinacea, Nasturtium, Potato, Celery, Mint, Swiss Chard, Miniature Rose, Dogwood sapling in a pot, Mums and my daughter's plant (I forget its identity). Even the Sage, Rosemary and my Mimosa tree, which I thought impervious to harm, are starting to show signs of ill. Quite a few of those are my favorites. I am very unhappy and discouraged by this.

I should just throw them all out before everything dies, but can't quite bring myself to do so. There are still pretty pink flowers on the Petunias, and I even have one Nasturtium bloom...

The good news is a few plant groups seem untouched: the Hibiscus, Green Onion, Chives, Ginger, all the Ferns, and the Basil plants. Oh, and that odd Resurrection Plant, which is still closing and unfolding again according to water supply! It even has green color, so I do think it's alive, wacky thing. The Basil is showing signs of being affected by cooler nights; soon it will end its season. I had hung some to dry in my kitchen but the humidity is too high and the herb leaves simply aren't drying out. I might have to try drying them in the oven again...

My Ferns seem to be doing quite well, most of them are growing new bright green uncurling shoots.

The indoor plants are, for the most part, in good condition- including the young cuttings of Petunia and Stevia which I've brought inside to occupy a windowsill. So I will someday soon here write a happy post about all those.
~
Oh, and I've actually eaten potatoes! Out of my potato bag! Lovely little delicious red things. I am sitting on eager hands waiting for the plant to flower so I can upend the bag and get the rest out. They were tiny things, and I want to let them mature a bit more. Also cut the entirety of the Swiss Chard plant down the other day and put it into a lasagna. There wasn't enough chard so I bulked up the recipe with store-bought spinach, but it was quite good and I think the kids liked it better that way anyhow. So I am still eating a bit of my diminishing garden!

hibiscus

The Hibiscus has grown enough I moved it into a larger pot (vacated by dead norfolk island pine). I'm still wondering what color flowers it will have when large enough to bloom.

mimosa and hibiscus

These two plants I dug up as volunteers out of the old yard and brought along with me have been outside for a while now, to enjoy the spring sunshine. But I think I moved the Mimosa too soon. Quite a few of the delicate leaves have gone pale, dried up and dropped off (see foliage lower left). I'm afraid it was probably too cold for it. I saw its parent tree in the old neighborhood a few days ago and noticed it was just barely beginning to leaf out. So must remember next year, don't put the mimosa outside until well into May.

The Hibiscus also suffered a bit from going out early; some of its leaves got yellow spots but overall it is doing fine now. I have just moved this one up into a larger pot, as I wanted its white one for the aloe vera.

There were two more of each of these plants; one has died and the other is  still just a bare stem. So I think at least until they are much larger, these two will continue to come in during winters.

sun!

It is so lovely and warm, and the air smells like spring. I'm shifting the overwintered plants outside onto the balcony nearly every day now, but still bringing them in at night until they're properly acclimatized again. Here's pics of a few of them enjoying the sunshine and mild breeze: Stevia

Mimosa (this one has grown a lot!)

Hibiscus

Tarragon (not grown a lot. Hoping it does better with summer).

Lettuces and my few Broccoli in propped-open coldframe.

I also set outside the Bell Pepper, Rose and Curry Plant but they didn't all photograph well with the striped shadows cast by balcony railings.

And here's an empty pot. It used to have a Garlic in it, but suspect a squirrel thought I had hid treasures under the leaf blanket and dug it up. I'm hoping he didn't like it, and won't come back for more.

The other Garlics are all doing great!

There's Mints and on the right Chives behind these Garlic pots.

signs of spring

The days are slowly getting warmer, though the nights and early morning still bitter cold. I've begun putting a few of the outdoor plants that wintered inside in the fresh air on the balcony when it's sunny. Bring them in again at night, still. Here's the little Rose and the Hibiscus (the hibiscus that spent the winter outdoors hasn't begun to regrow yet).

The more tender outside plants (or ones I just enjoy looking at still: pepper, mimosa and stevia) aren't venturing anywhere outdoors yet.

That baby tree I rescued off my own compost pile back in the fall has red buds all over it. So it's still alive!

box

I've built myself a new "greenhouse" box from scrap material again. A week or so ago saw from my kitchen window a man carrying a wooden frame through the courtyard- both my daughter and I remarked on what a useful thing it would be. And then not ten minutes later when we went out to our car, there it was, sitting by the dumpster. So I brought it in, and simply stapled around the sides and top some plastic sheeting (that once packaged a mattress). I didn't need a peaked roof this time, as the balcony gets so little rain.

It's already been put to use outside, hardening off some Peas, Dill and the one sprouting Hibiscus.

spring?

Another plant has suddenly decided it's spring here. This is the little potted Hibiscus that dropped all its leaves just about two weeks ago!

changing color

One of my little potted Hibiscus plants that had been kept indoors with green foliage is suddenly changing its appearance. I put it outside during a spate of mildly warm, spring-like days and then forgot to bring it inside again. It sat out for two chilly nights and then when I remembered, the leaves had already been triggered to change color and fall off.

They're kind of pretty.

houseplants

After a few days of shuffling I think I've figured out where each of my houseplants will be happiest. They all have slightly different light requirements so it took a bit of time observing where the sunlight comes in to see how they'd all do best.

Most of the plants are in the big kitchen window. I've got quite a few Jades (crassula)

my Crotons seem happy with the new light levels; they're already sprouting new leaves (but not lower down on the stems like I'd hoped, in the crown)

The African Violets still show no sign of blooming but look healthy

The other Hibiscus and Marjoram are inside- to see which do better overwintering, indoors or out-

as is the one surviving Mimosa (silk tree) baby- the other one lost all its leaves and hasn't recovered. This one seems to like the warmth inside the house; it is sprouting new growth which makes me so happy. I've always been fond of ferns (but don't have any) so find the fern-like foliage of mimosa especially attractive.

and I kept the little Tarragon plant inside, too. It seems to be growing new leaves at its base, so I hope this one does better now.

The centerpiece on the table is the Poinsettia, looking lovely.

My big Spider plant is always so droopy. I'm afraid I err in overwatering it...

the little SIP one hanging on the wall looks a bit better

I've also got inside here the big Bell Pepper in a pot

(still producing!)

and a pair of Basil plants- they seem happier inside, are sprouting new leaves near the base.

In the living room area the tall Avocado (seems to be suffering a bit of shock)

and my dumb-cane Dieffenbachia which looks the best it has in a long time.

In the tiny office/bedroom I've got my dragon-tree Dracanea (looking more handsome than ever!)

and the little mini-Geranium (odd appearance because I pinched out some stem tips but not others)

also the Creeping Charlie- this one is struggling. It keeps getting leaf burn and dropping them.

But there is also plenty of new leaves growing so I'm hoping it continues well. Moved it back from the window some.

Phew! I didn't realize I had so many plants. And I missed a few- there's also one (nearly dead) venus flytrap, the pothos, the cyclamen.... will get more pics and update again soon.