Realy its soo beautyfull......i love sunflowers but i can't grow it in my pots.....because my apartment too small...

Rob

More gorgeous sunflowers

Don't know how I missed your comment...it's been more than three months. How is the gardening season going so far for you Rob?

Hey Rob, as always glad to see beautiful pictures of your plants and your camera savvy kitty. Looks like you are into succulents big time...in the fourth picture from top are those desert rose plants on top right? And I love that cactus with yellow flowers. What is it called?

This summer gardening is all new experience for me as I'm gradually getting used to dealing with flower beds and not containers. Have to confess I found balcony gardening far less challenging than this.

Including some pictures of my container garden (can no longer call it a balcony garden) from today:

Do notice the red caladium (it has just one leaf and already coming up with a flower bud)

Once again I bought a gardenia...lets see how long this one gets going

Red amaranth and moss rose

Not it in container but had to show off this butterfly bush :)

Container arrangement with clematis, pelargonium and nasturtiums

A closer look at my newest possession (I bought it as a 5" potted plantling this spring)

I used to have a much larger collection of cacti/succ, but narrowed it down to just my favs. I also like groundcovers (even though I don't have any ground to cover), the one w/ yellow flowers is an Ice Plant, they have the most brilliant colored flowers.

YES!!! Adeniums (Desert Rose), my newest addiction. The larger ones on the right in that photo; are some of my more mature Adeniums. All the seedlings shown to the left (and in the next pic) are also Adeniums. A mix of obesum, swazicum, and Thai soco hybrids.

Rob

Beautiful pictures.. Signed up instantly to check it full

Hi all,

I just hung my shade cloth on the front of my balcony; so I can get my plants out pretty soon.

I'm also anxious to use the new Bonsai bench I built over the Winter.

And my Japanese Maple has quickly leafed out.

Rob

How do you keep a maple alive through the winter in an apt setting?

Paul - Japanese Maple's are deciduous trees, so they need a cold dormancy period. When I bought mine (Sharp's Pygmy"); it was in a 2 or 3 gallon pot, and is rated for zone 5 (-10 to -20 degrees F Which is where I live). However, the rating on the label refers to in ground plantings. If you're growing in a container; you're supposed to add 2 zones which increases the minimum temps.

So I got the largest pot I could find at the time, and wrapped it with 4 layers of insulation. That way the root's would stay warm enough throughout the Winter to survive, and I figured that would give me 3-5 years before the roots grew out to the side of the pot; and became vulnerable to freezing, at which time I'll have to do some root pruning and a repot, or a transplant into a bigger container.

In the mean time; my JM lives outdoors on my balcony year around. I also bought a 2 pack of Large Flannel "Tree Bags" which I cover it with to protect it from freezing winds, and below zero temps. I also mulch on top of the soil, and wrap the trunk w/ "Clark's Tree Wrap" to prevent splitting. (I wrap it in a downward spiral; so water doesn't get in through the seams.)

Here's a mid-Winter pic. This will have been it's second Winter, and has come through like a champ!

Rob

Interesting. Familiar as I am with the issues you mentioned, I don't even try to overwinter anything on my balcony. Our freeze/thaw cycles can be rough enough for in ground plants (not to mention the havoc it wrecks on our roads :-). ), plants on a third floor balcony don't stand much of a chance. The fact my balcony has an unobstructed SE exposure would add to the problem. Very cool that you've found a workable solution. Hopefully, it will continue being a success.

:-)

Opened yesterday.

Rob

Have a plethora of plants on the balcony, currently. Haven't taken many pictures though as little is in bloom, and lately has been too hot for me to want to stand out in the sun to take pictures. Here's a few photos, though ...

I'm such a slacker compared to you all!

^ Portlucaria, a gongora orchid, some baby mixed lithops, a dendrobium nobile, Billy No Mates (an adenium obesum), and part of another dendrobium nobile.

^ Mostly the same, but the two bigger dendrobium are more visible, along with half of a droopy Opuntia.

^ Opuntia again, a mango, and a passionfruit. Sorry things are backlit.

^ I really should learn to hold the iPad at an acceptable angle! From the top: 3 baobabs in a pot, 3 tiny individual passionfruits, 2 baby lemon trees in a pot, a Golden Hahnii sansevieria, a huernia, and a tiny aloe Vera seedling; middle: some lion's paw seedlings, a tray of dirt that is supposed to be parlor palm seedlings, and a tray of dirt that's supposed to be oleander seedlings but isn't; slightly off from that is a tray of adenium seedlings; then there are two egg cartons of adenium seedlings.

^more backlighting... the baobabs, a jackfruit, and another passionfruit.

^ horribly backlit shot of some aloes and succulents, and filth I've yet to clean up.

WOW, What a view!!

Rob

Wow Ariel that's a view to die for. Thanks for sharing that picture.

You are growing jackfruit? Where I grow up jackfruit trees are native and I miss seeing those here. Can't wait to see how your plants shape up.

Rob, are you trying your hands on any new plant this year?

Happy to see this thread still alive and kicking even though I have moved to a house (without a balcony ). i can't boast of my balcony garden anymore but still can't get over the containers, find much easier to maintain.

This year I have planted a hybrid tea rose, my first rose bush. super excited and nervous at the same time, owing to rose's bad reputation of bing high maintainance. But I'm hopeful given my gardenia, which I bought last spring (just the way I do every year and then watch them helplessly die slow deaths over the winter) is alive and setting out numerous buds.

here are some of my container plants from this morning:

Notice the gardenia bud (finally I can call myself a true green thumb)

Peruvian daffodil with diamond ball clematis in the background.

I still love to grow tomatoes in containers (though the ones in ground have become gigantic)

4 years old Jade that I'm shaping into a bonsai

And while I was clicking pictures to upload here, look what a beautiful surprise was waiting for me:

Happy gardening all

The views really are amazing here. I can see most of Bahia de Banderas, including Los Arcos, part of town (a condo development blocks most of the city), and the jungle farther up the hill. It has been nice for a year, but in August I plan to move somewhere (still in Vallarta) more appropriately priced, knowing that I will have to at least give up seeing Los Arcos even if I retain an ocean view.

natureinspired, that bird looks disgruntled that you took his picture. :)

Yes, I'm growing a jackfruit. They do grow wild here. I just planted a seed from a fruit I bought. I've always liked trying to grow in pots things that typically do not grow in pots. That's why I have the jackfruit, mango, & passionfruit. Maybe some day I'll have a house with sufficient land to PIG them. In the meantime, I'll constrain them to pots, probably trimming roots yearly after this year. The moringa seedlings I have (somehow they didn't make it into a picture) are not doing well. The very newest leaves are green, but they quickly yellow & turn white. I'm not sure why. Typically I would say overwatering (which is a definite danger in the summer here), but the pot dries out by noon.

My neighbour has a gardenia just plopped in the stair landing. I'll take a picture later. I especially like your jade. I have a gollum that gets some great colour during the (dry) winter.

I'll try to take some better pictures of things.

ariel - I would take an ocean view over one of the city any day! Which direction does your balcony face (& what floor)?

ni - Yes, I am trying something new this year, an Aloe dichotoma. They have one growing in the ground inside the greenhouse at my favorite nursery. It's one of about 400 "Tree Aloe" species.

I love their peeling bark.

I ordered mine from "Botanic Wonders".

So far it's lost 3 lower leaves, and will hopefully begin showing a trunk soon. They can be grown in containers, but can get quite huge in the ground.

Here's a link w/ a few cool pics of them at night (scroll Right).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/die-leuchtturms/31359443022/in/photostream/

Rob

Oh, I like that aloe!!! I've tried pachypodium densiflorum and p. lamerei seeds because of their unusual forms, but neither germinated.

I'm on the 4th (top) floor & my balcony faces south. From windows, I have views to the west (more ocean) and north (a bit of town but mostly blocked by a big condo).

My balcony faces East.

(Pachypodium l. 4-17- 2017)

Rob

I think I'm just going to have to buy a plant, although I wanted to grow from seed. Densiflorum seems pretty rare though, at least in Mexico.

Gorgeous view you have, Ariel!

Congrats, NI, on your gardenia still being alive. Not an easy plant to grow indoors. They like it cooler and humid. Summer outside makes the former difficult and winter indoors makes the latter difficult to impossible for me. (My winter RH is typically 15%.)

Nice pachys, Rob. Summering them outside?

Yep! I finally got everything outside a few days ago, the weather just hasn't cooperated the last couple years. Here's a few pics I just took, they're not very good, I'll post better ones later; once I get everything organized.

(Sharp's Pygmy Japanese Maple)
Rob

ni, Paul - I've had 4 or 5 Gardenias that I'd bought during the Winter, none of which lasted long.

(Kleim's Hardy)

On a visit to the Bonsai Nursery, they had some Bonsai starter Gardenias, and I bought one (didn't specify type).

Different flowers.
When it finished blooming, I cut it back and repotted it. To be on the safe side; I took a couple of cuttings. After a while; the original plant died, but one of the cuttings did remarkably well.

(1-30-17)

(5-23-17)
Rob

Rob your aloe is so beautiful...didn't know a tree form exists. I am almost tempted to buy one

Thanks Paul, it feels like an achievement indeed :) you are in same zone as I am so keep trying, never know when your plant finds the conditions to be perfect.

Now that my gardenia servived for full 15 months and setting out buds again, I guess I could share my experience and may be it will give some clue to you all.

honest confession: I garden by instinct and application of experience rather than referring to books (googling information doesn't count )

So in all the past years when my gardenia was dying, I was actually living in an apartment. Even though my gardenia would get plenty of direct sun (through SE facing giant glass doors) indoors the conditions were very dry thanks to the central heat. I tried increasing humidity but it never worked. 2 months in, plant would start showing signs of stress and in another 2-3 months leaf drop and dying branches would seal the deal.

last winter was the first season in a house for all my plants. I am blessed to have a sunroom now. The room gets sun from SE as well as SW, so to my husband's dismay I have taken over that room and turned it into a greenhouse during this winter (a tradition to be continued without doubt ).

the room is usually at 60-65 degrees during winter months. And we have radiator heating so indoors dryness is no longer an issue.

1 month prior to bringing the gardenia indoors, I planted it in a much bigger container than what it had come in from store. I fed it with homemade iron infused compost tea and then placed it in a spot where it would get good light as well as atleast 3 hours of direct sun. I did not fertilize it ever again and watered sparingly but making sure it's not under drought stress.

once night temperatures rose to 40 degrees (early April) I brought the plant out, gave it a good shower and let sit outside for about a week before giving a weak does of acidic feed.

by mid May it started setting out new leaves followed by buds to my pleasant surprise. I will side dress the plant with compost this weekend. Can't wait to see the flowers open and share pictures with you all. I hope this infor helps you guys in someway.

Here is another picture of my happy gardenia

Since there is no way for me to provide the cool temps gardenia require, nor practically maintain a higher RH through the winter while living in an apt, I'll just have to live vicariously through you, m'dear. ;-)

ni, Paul - If you ever see a mature (w/ a trunk) Aloe d., you will definitely buy one.

As was mentioned, it's important to know; that Gardenia's like acidic soil. I use Miracle-Gro's "Miracid" fertilizer, along with micro & macro nutes.

I don't know what I did differently w/ this latest cutting, but it look's super healthy. There is a problem though. It's producing a lot of buds, some of which bloom, but others turn black at the base & drop. I hope it does better now that it's outside.

I've lived in a 2 bedroom condo for the last 9 years; with baseboard radiator heating, so I have very low RH during the Winter months. I suppose that some people consider me a pretty serious grower; since I provide my plants with the best possible indoor Winter grow setups I can manage.

(My living room)

Last year I built 2 tabletop greenhouses out of PVC & 3mm plastic; to raise the humidity. It worked pretty well; raising the RH to 65%-70%. It was a bit of a hassle though.

ni, can you show a pic of your sunroom?

Rob

wow Rob that's kind of superbly crazy way to utilize your living room...my family members would have quit living with me had I tried something similar (not that it didn't cross my mind when we were living in apartments). I am adding my sunroom picture as you have requested but not sure why you want to see the room.

One exciting news: As I was settling down for a quite Saturday evening in my patio, a beautiful perfume wafted through the air and hit my nose. That was unmistakable fragrance of gardenia and I was super surprised as I was not expecting the buds to open so early. Also I couldn't see a bloom. Then I looked closely and realized one branch got entangled with the adjacent holy bush and a single blossom was hidden under the holy leaves. I feel like a winner.

so Paul here is more to your vicarious gardenia satisfaction :)

This is a lone flower currently perfuming my entire patio

Sunroom: the sliding door on left faces SE and the series of windows in front gets light from SW.

Adding few more beauties from the container garden:

Happy summer :)

It's just that whenever I hear the term "Sunroom", I always picture something like this.

Rob

Went nursery hopping yesterday, and bought a few new additions.

(California grown Pachypodium lamerei)

(A second one)
(With a baby)
(Bougainvillea)
In addition to the one I bought last year.

Rob

Rob

Balcony garden is finally hitting it's stride. After a cool June, July has been fairly hot, into the 90s last week. Overwintered Poblano has finally started sprouting. Tidy Treats cherry tomato plant has produced maybe 50 fruits so far, more blossoms on the way. Husky plant has tripled in size the past couple weeks. Serrano peppers finally starting to form.

Got a few new additions, along w/ the usual suspects.

(Adenium "Vulcanus")

(Double Pink)

(Agave Colorata)


The claw like spines on the newest leaves, create a textured imprint on each leaf before them.
(Bougainvillea #3 "Purple Queen")
(Adenium "Golden Bell")
Rob

I love that agave

Love all the pictures.

Rob, does bougainvillea overwinter without a lot of fuss? I love this plant but will not buy one if it's as high maintenance as gardenia (one is enough ). Can't struggle with keeping yet another plant alive during the cold months. I see you are in Zone 5 so I became hopeful.

This morning I harvested some of my garden bounties. Here is a picture

Amaranth, Rosemary, Cherry tomatoes, sage and black chilies

ni - That's some awesome looking produce! I can smell the Sage now. Before I discovered Adeniums, I used to love growing aromatic herbs. I had a big French Lavender plant on the way to my bedroom, and every night I would run it between my hands on the way to bed. That aroma always helped me sleep.

I now have 3 Bougainvillea's, and one Gardenia lol. Yes, they need a lot of light during the Winter. Since they only produce flowers on new growth, you don't want them to get really leggy (due to low light), and have that turn woody.

(Bougie #1)

(Bougie #2)
(Bougie #3)

I've posted this pic before but, here's (just) my living room during the Winter months.

I usually have two additional grow set-ups in other rooms.

Rob :-)

I just love those flowers at the balcony pictures. they look stunning. Been reading all your shared stories and pics here! thanks for the ideas!

So, I moved. I still get the ocean view, but I also have a view of town.

More importantly, I have a roof patio that's a blank slate!

And a cell tower ;)

I don't see much of a roof, but look's better than the old balcony!

I have a couple of new additions to my balcony...

(Adenium "Fiery Star")

( Giant Pink Mandevilla

Mandevilla x 'Sunmandecos' )

Just bought the Mandevilla today.

Rob

Haha. It is a fine roof. ;)

i am glad that this forum is a bit more active now: i used to post here sev years back.

i'am across the hudson from downtown NYC on high fl with a balcony and it's very windy here next to the river. facing NE of all exposures is a great blessing for my tropicals, as i don't have to worry about burning them in hot sun.

my pix are not loading today...even after drastic downsizing: never happened before..

will try again later, sorry.

I've been having trouble posting pics the last couple of days too. If clicking on the "Photo" icon doesn't work, try the "Houzz Photo" icon.

Yep, just had to do that now.

Rob

wow, you still have so many plants out - isn't it getting cold at night? at what nightly lows do you bring them in?

i tried 'houzz pic' - but it asked to select 'only houzz site pics' - how do u stuff smth else there?

i found a temp work-around - i dumped them into 'ideabook' - my balcony.

so if you look at my profile and click on it - you'll see them :).

When you click on "Houzz Photo", a window will open, &on the right hand side; there is a "Browse" icon. If you click that, it will take you to your pictures on your PC, then you can choose the pic you want. Once you click on the pic you want, it will take a few seconds to appear in the box where the "Browse" icon was, then click "Insert" (on the lower right) when the pic shows up, and there you go. Hope that helps.

No, I finally brought all my plants inside 4-5 days ago. I don't like leaving my Adeniums out below 55*F. The night time temps now are mostly in the 40's, Winter is here.

Rob

P.S. Just looked at your profile, and there are no "Idea Books".

(Katydid on my wind chime w/ moon in background.)

Rob

your adeniums are fantastic!

we still have mostly around 60F at nite, so 1 have 2 more weeks for tropicals, but i started preparing them for moving indoors - mostly making sure i don't bring mites or scale indoors.

i 1st made my ideabook private, then changed it to public - i guess, it does not show?

i moved it to public one 'my balcony 2017' - hope u can see it now

here's a preview :) using 'houzz pic' - it worked!

jades, ivies, crotons and even leftover poinsettia - june 2017

my 2 calamondins right,caladiums, calla lily and begonias

calla lily and sansevieria back

calla lily, begonias and coleus

It's been really busy for me at work and I could hardly tend to my garden. Glad to see this thread still alive and kicking. We had a scorching week with temperatures reaching mid 80s last week. I was not really worried about too cold nights. But now I will start prepping my tropicals for indoor.

Love all the pictures...beautiful begonias Petrushka. And Rob, as usual enjoyed each of the pictures you clicked. You have an artistic eye for sure :)

love the red and white adenium. What is it called and where can I order the plant from?

because of the pleasent fall temperatures my plants are blooming like crazy...here are few pictures from this morning:

My newest possession, African mask alocasia

Today's surprise bloomer- my tropical hibiscus

Double thousand bells in profusion- infact this had been blooming crazily since late spring

The mandaville has also started setting out lot more buds

Few Tropicals

Geranium rozanne - this one is actually in ground but couldn't help but sharing...I planted it in spring and it's been happily blooming away since then...low maintenance, shade tolerant long blooming perennial...what more could I ask for :)

And lastly I must admit, sharing pictures was a pain this morning. Something went wrong with the new version of software I guess. Hopefully houzz will fix that soon.

enjoy your Sunday folks...happy gardening.

petrushka - I just gave my Sansevieria to my Mom. It was getting too big. Look's like you're making the most of your space too.

ni - Very cool looking "African Mask"! Do you know what kind of Mandevilla you have? Mine is a:

Sun Parasol® Giant Pink Mandevilla

Mandevilla x 'Sunmandecos'

My Red, Black, and White Adenium is called "Fiery Star". I bought it at a local nursery, so I don't know where it came from.

It really put on quite a show all Summer long though. What a lucky find, especially since this particular nursery hardly ever carries them.

Rob

spectacular! does your mandevilla continue to bloom indoors for some time? or just on the balcony?

i tried it once - but my NE exposure does not provide enough sun for them, it barely bloomed at all and then overwintering is not worth it for me...

My ground floor deck is very shady. I grow mostly impatiens, begonias, ‘Gartenmeister Bonnstedt’ fuchsias, coleus, and English ivies.