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stumped
I have been sitting in my apartment dining room, garden books spread all
over, tablet, pen and pencil, the sun is on my back and feels wonderful and I am trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with my flowers this year. I was out this glorious Puget Sound ( zone 8, I think) morning fussing around all my pots and plants and cleaning bird feeders and building a little rock platform in the birdbath so the water trickles nicely from the pump and the birds can wade and splash more easily when I realized that I'M NOT GOING TO HAVE SUN! I have a wonderful apartment that faces the backyards of homes that have kept their gardens pretty wild (lots of tall firs and Madonna) and thick shrubbery along the back fence line. I'm sure for their privacy since this is a 200 unit complex but it also makes it wonderful for me, I can't see their houses and it looks as if I am in my own little private world. I'm on the end of a building and I can't see my neighbors on either side of me and have no road noise at all. The thing is, three very large flowering trees have reached a height and size that this year all my afternoon sun will be blocked and I only get sun in the afternoon. My balcony has solid side walls and a roof so I don't get any light there either. At the peak of summer I will be getting sun from about 2pm on and it will now be as is so poetically described as 'dappled shade' to full shade. I have a very nice lacey leafed maple in a big container as well as a witch hazel, two peony trees, all in their own large pot, not sure how they will do this year, they've always bloomed beautifully. There's an akebia vine on a free standing trellis also but I don't think it will do very well since it 's going to be pretty shaded. The south wall has a winter jasmine and some sort of purple clematis (one of those unmarked "dead" things rescued from a pile at Home Depot) that is growing up and across the front of the ceiling, it blooms like crazy. The north wall has sweet autumn clematis that is covering a trellis on the wall (it gets the most sun) and grows also out and across the top of the ceiling. I don't know how better to describe this except that the two clematis form a picture frame type effect and I am facing towards the west. I have three large long window boxes hung on brackets on the outside of the railing, two have flowers to attract humming birds and one is my herb garden. I like my large pots to be really full and lush with color but what I had last year requires more sun than what I will get to do well. I'll probably get about an hour or two of bright sun just before it sets later in the summer. I have some hostas and small astillbe and two dwarf iris already, I've also got a few begonias tubers started that I've had for years but I'm just not sure what else to plant that will do well that has FLOWERS and hopefully SCENT. It also needs to have a long blooming season since I really don't have the space for layered planting as I did in my large home garden to keep color all season. I'm just sort of stumped here. I'll tuck some impatients in because I've always liked them, I've never personally cared for coleus so that is out. So are hanging baskets, I have a huge apple tree branch mounted on the ceiling with little fairy lights and the sweet autumn clematis has begun to claim that as another feature on which to climb and twine. The birds also like to gather there during storms. I can't have anything too tall and some that sort of drape over the sides would be lovely. My balcony isn't really all that large, 10ft by 4 ½ ft and any area for hanging has been taken for my bird feeders, I have a narrow a path (trail?) from one end to the other to tend things, a BBQ party is not high on my priority list. This balcony is off my living room and has a sliding door which I like to leave always open and so I'd really like to have the scent of flowers if possible. No, let me rephrase that, I WANT lots of flowers that smell really good! With the sound of the water and my birds it would be quite pleasant. I like solid, lush plantings, more is better and a whole lot more of MORE is the best. I just water and feed like crazy and so far that system has worked well. If anyone can give me any suggestions to fill the bill with dense waves of color and scent and grows in the shade I would really appreciate it. Val My son gave me a digital camera so I guess I also need to make a garden web page. I don't have a clue as to how to do this though. I took some really good pictures with it and I think sort of a seasonal progression would be nice. You really can have lots of garden stuff in a very small space. I see all these condos and apartments that look so bare and think, "You really ought to plant something!" Maybe it would inspire them. |
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